Courtesy of Matthew Lawrence (From left to right) SPU alumna Bethany Wallace, Larry Albert and Alyson S. Branner in "The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen's Guild Dramatic Society's Production of A Christmas Carol." Bethany Wallace is making her Taproot Theatre main stage debut in the production.

The acting bug bit Bethany Wallace at a very young age.

She sat in the audience at an elementary school play and watched her brother act, transforming into a person she never knew existed. It astounded her, she said in a phone interview.

Acting intrigued her from that moment on and later became her passion. She decided to pursue it at SPU, she said, which was the beginning of her career.

"I loved it," Wallace said about her acting experience at SPU. She said she wanted to "be a light" for God in the acting business and that getting a solid educational foundation in a Christian setting saved her a lot of struggle. It also answered a lot of questions about the compatibility of being both a Christian and involved in theater, she said.

She graduated from SPU in 2002, receiving a lot of support from staff and fellow students. And the support continues. She made a special mention in the interview of SPU theater professor George A. Scranton, who still teaches numerous classes on campus.

Scranton was there for her during her school career and afterward, Wallace said. He goes to her shows, supports her endeavors as a playwright and remains a father-like figure in her life, she said.

Wallace said she enjoys leading a busy life concentrating on a career of playwriting and teaching acting at local schools with a little bit of performance thrown in. Her husband and 16-month-old son are her main focuses at the moment, she said. Though she loves being a mom, Wallace has limited her acting ventures to one play per year, she said.

Wallace is currently making her Taproot Theatre main stage debut in "The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen's Guild Dramatic Society's Production of 'A Christmas Carol'"--a comedy play within a play in which she plays the character Felicity.

A typical day in Wallace's life has her teaching for a few hours in the earlier part of the day followed by a string of preproduction activities, such as running through lines, performing vocal warm-ups in the car, reviewing notes from the producers or spending a couple of hours in makeup and costume, all while being a wife and the mother.

Wallace said she has never regretted her decision to follow her dreams, and though her career in theater has had its ups and downs, she knows it's where God wants her and that it's what she loves.