My Experiences in Theater
My theater “career” started at the beginning of my freshman year of high school. This was my school’s opening year and the program was new. Before then, I didn’t have much interest in theater but my friend convinced me to audition for the musical due to my recently found interest in music and singing. I thought this was alright since I enjoyed singing and it felt like a good way to help out a new program. But little did I know, I would have to act.
“It took up a lot of my out-of-school time and required a lot of my focus and energy; at first I was skeptical”
I had to learn blocking for dances and scenes, I needed to memorize music, I needed to learn how to use makeup and perform quick changes for costumes. It took up a lot of my out-of-school time and required a lot of my focus and energy. At first I was skeptical of this whole “being a thespian” thing since it didn’t really appeal to me.
I wasn’t completely sure what was expected of me for the production and I fell behind a little. Eventually, I came to enjoy the whole experience, once I got acquainted with people and performed a few shows with them. The first show I performed was Cinderella. And, for those who are unfamiliar, it is a story about a young woman named Ella, given the nickname Cinderella by her “evil” stepsisters since she often had to clean the chimney and was covered in soot and cinders. Eventually, Cinderella meets a young prince by the name of Christopher whom she takes interest in. A while later, she also meets a fairy godmother who helps her disguise herself as a noble so she can go to a ball, hosted by the prince, and see him again.
It is a classic story that most would recognize instantly, making it a good first for both me and our theater troupe. For this production, I was in the chorus, which had me play a few different roles, such as a knight or a towns person.
We mostly worked after school on most days with a few Saturday rehearsals worked in as well. My second show was a romance comedy show by the name of Almost, Maine.
For this show I decided to try out tech where I had to work on building the set and working some of the effects “behind the scenes.” This was far less stressful for me and I enjoyed getting a feel for both aspects of the theater experience. While working in theater, I’ve been able to have many great experiences and make quite a few friends.
During my second year, I got to help in two more great shows and meet even more people. For our first show of the year, we performed a modern rendition of a Greek play called Eurydice where a woman, by the name of Eurydice, marries a man, Orpheus, but soon dies and is sent to the underworld where she is reunited with her dead father. During the show, she has to decide whether she wants to stay with her father or return to her husband.
For this show, I was a technician once more. This time I worked with the lighting aspects. I got to help hang, focus, and provide power for all the lights we used in the show. In addition, I operated the spotlight for a majority of the production.
For this show, we ended up going to what is called the State Thespian Conference where theater troupes from all over the state gather and perform shows, monologues, one acts, and more to compete against each other.
There are also workshops for students to attend so they may learn better acting techniques and important skills for being a technician. And at night everyone gathers in the auditorium to watch the main stage shows, like our own show. It was a great experience for us all, if not a little stressful. To prepare for state, we had to rehearse a lot more than we normally would have and had to practice taking down the set and putting it back up in the time we were permitted.
Since there were very specific rules to follow, we were given only a few hours to get everything set up and ready to go before the show started. After state, we jumped right into our musical of the year, the Wizard of Oz.
This being another classic, most should be familiar with the story. For those who aren’t, the Wizard of Oz is about a girl from Kansas named Dorothy who finds herself stuck in a magical land called Oz after her and her dog, Toto, get caught in a tornado. The story is about her finding her way back home while gaining some friends, and enemies, along the way. Throughout the show, her main companions, besides her dog, include the Scarecrow, the Tin man, and the Lion. Their journey begins with all of them wishing to visit the all-powerful Wizard of Oz so that he might grant them a request.
“This, like every other show, required a lot of time, work, and focus to complete”
During this show, I was, once more, a chorus member. My roles during this show were an Ozian, one of the people who lived in the great Emerald City, where the Wizard of Oz resides, and a Winkie, one people the Wicked Witch of the West enslaved and made her soldier. This, like every other show, required a lot of time, work, and focus to complete.
Andrew can be seen dancing in the far left in the orange red shirt!
We had rehearsals almost every day and almost fell behind towards the end. We had a few mishaps along the way but we eventually pushed through it. It had been a long year for us but we worked hard and made it through, ready for more in the future. All in all, theater has been a great experience for me and I never thought I could enjoy putting myself up on stage in front of hundreds to perform for them and give them a good show to remember. None of it would’ve been possible without the people I have gotten to work with.
