Junior Gabe Watkins-Mocumbi has been acting since he was in 6th grade and is a respected actor within Battle. He was invited to The International Thespians Society Missouri Conference (ITS) which is a weekend long state competition/festival because of his merit as a performer.

During his high school career, he’s been in two musicals and two plays. His freshman year, Watkins-Mocumbi portrayed Galen, Grey’s understudy in “Anatomy of Grey” and last year he acted as Oliver Warbucks in the musical Annie. This year, he landed a main role as the Beast in Disney’s musical “Beauty and the Beast” and acted as Orgon in the “Tartuffe” play.

Before high school, however, Watkins-Mocumbi participated in acting through the youth theatre TRYPS. “My most memorable moment may have been the first time I was cast as a lead, Shang in Mulan, I know, weird” He joked, “Or when I had a mental breakdown during rehearsal and my director helped me through it.”

Watkins-Mocumbi enjoys the freedom acting brings and the ability to step into someone else’s mind and will continue to act in college; he’s not sure about finding a career in acting. He said, “It’s not that I don’t want to pursue it as a career, but more the fact I don’t know if I have the drive to compete with other people in that field.”

Watkins-Mocumbi is projected to graduate in the year 2021.