Mason Higginbotham is turning a childhood necessity into an avenue for students to explore their creativity.

“I grew up with a very poor family where I had to sew my own toys … I built an Iron Man suit out of scraps that had a working light bulb for the arch reactor,” Mason said. 

“I’ve always wanted … to give kids opportunities because I believe there should be a third place where kids can go to learn skills. And not all of them want to be in theater, but they want to learn how to 3-D print; they want to learn how to code; they want to learn how to make things.”

Mason, a 24-year-old Master’s of Arts in Theater student, is in his third year of teaching theater arts at New Boston High School. 

He first began his journey into theater as a high school student at Texas High. He said it was a way of following in his brother’s footsteps and meet girls.

“…I was like, ‘That sounds interesting.’ And, you know, I was a high school boy and there were girls in theater … I can do the tech stuff, I can build stuff, do all the manly stuff,” he said.

His first year, he worked in the technical and production sides of his high school theater program before trying out and winning a leading role in the high school musical. He continued to learn and grow in theater arts throughout high school and into college, where he earned his Bachelor of Science degree majoring in Theater with a minor in Film Studies from the University of Central Arkansas.

While Mason enjoys teaching at the high school level, his ultimate goal is to open a business where he can create a makers’ space for anyone interested in exploring creativity, no matter their economic status.

“I want anyone to have the opportunity to do things they can’t afford … I don’t want there to be barriers for a kid to want to be able to be creative,” he said.