A seventh-grade scheduling error flipped Jessica Willis’ academic and artistic worlds upside down.

A self-described band kid who played the alto saxophone, Willis’ San Antonio-area school accidentally enrolled at least 10 students in a theatre class.

On that fateful day, Willis was greeted by the red-headed theatre teacher, Mr. Miller, who, she said, “walked in guns a-blazing.”

Jessica Willis started acting after a scheduling error landed her in a drama class. She’s never looked back. Photograph by Glen E. Ellman

“He was so confident,” Willis said. “He was like, ‘If you guys were put in the wrong class, you can go to the office and fix it.’ ”

Willis decided to stay put.

Now a senior musical theatre major, she said her family members, especially her mother, picked up on her fervor for theatre right away. Cheryl Faimon soon registered her for what Willis calls “a low-key crazy production of Rent” at Magik Theatre in central San Antonio.

Willis continued to act through high school, by which point she had become deeply involved in the local theatre scene. She didn’t plan to attend college, instead intending to launch her career. Willis’ mother convinced her with wise words: “You would be crazy to not go to college for something that you love.”

Horned Frog Influence

Honora Sanchez ’13, Willis’ film and graphic design teacher at San Antonio’s Henry Ford Academy Alameda School for Art + Design, played a role in her pupil picking TCU.

Sanchez’s father, Herman Sanchez III ’79, who majored in theatre, molded his daughter into a Frog fanatic. Honora joined the Pride of TCU marching band, which led her to witness the Frogs’ Rose Bowl victory over Wisconsin on New Year’s Day 2011.

Sanchez and Willis connected when the former organized a student filmmaking club. Willis began taking on starring roles in the club’s films.

Willis said she saw Sanchez as “a guiding light” during high school. “I love her to death [and] she was like, ‘You could be a Horned Frog.’ ”

Even in a notoriously competitive major, Willis found a home at TCU. She said classmates marvel at Theatre TCU’s internal culture.

“People care how everyone is doing. We really are like a family, and the energy is different,” she said. “All I’ve experienced is kindness and love from everyone.”

She’s Got Range

During her college career, Willis has performed in everything from José Rivera’s apocalyptic Marisol to Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize-winning satirical The Skin of Our Teeth.

She took on several roles during a 2023 Magik Theatre production of Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. In one scene she played Sally Jackson. In another, the bubbly Silena Beauregard and later the ancient Oracle.

Jessica Willis, right, plays an angel in “Marisol.” Photo by Amy Peterson

The Oracle “is probably thousands and thousands of years old,” Willis said. “So, I just walked around as creepily as I could.”

In addition to her versatility as an actress, Willis is a serious student of the craft.

Sanchez said it’s difficult to slip mention of a movie or pop culture item past the 22-year-old. “Jess was one of the kids that almost always got every single one of my references.”

This skill set will benefit Willis — who was also an understudy and makeup designer in How the Other Half Loves — as a musical theatre performer and a future director if she chooses, said Penny Maas, associate professor of theatre.

“She’s so well versed, so well-rounded, so savvy and knowledgeable about our industry,” Maas said. “She embraces the information and isn’t afraid to do the deep dive into some of these things that take time and energy.”

Community Within Community

In addition to taking her talents to the professional acting circuit, Willis has established herself as a campus leader via her duties as co-president of Theatre TCU Black Excellence.

Willis said the student organization made a sizable impact on her college experience. The summer before her first year, members of the group were messaging her on Instagram, inviting her to meet.

“They’re one of the reasons why I stayed and am still here,” said Willis, who joined the group at the start of its second year. “We’ve just continuously grown.”

The group — its mission to “Educate. Uplift. Inspire.” — consists of dancers, singers and actors, and also poets, choreographers and a neuroscience major for good measure.

As co-president, Willis is responsible for securing performance spaces and heading rehearsals ahead of the group’s two annual shows. During the fall semester, she helped direct Blackout, a cabaret that focuses on a different theme every year, each highlighting the Black experience in the United States.

The spring production, TCU Sings, “a celebration of Black artists,” as Willis describes it, is open to all students who wish to audition. 

Students lead the casting, light and sound design, music and choreography.

Maas, for whom Willis works as a teaching assistant, said her leadership qualities are transferable across settings. “It’s one thing for her as a senior to be TA’ing for some sophomores. There’s a couple of years difference there,” Maas said. “But it’s another thing to run an organization like that that is campus-wide.”