How theatrical!

Ah, the theater! My greatest passion of all! It combines everything I adore most into one magical thing. My love of writing fits into playwriting, my love of art and design fits into theater production and set/costume design, and my love of music fits into musical theater (my major!). While I’m not the best at acting quite yet, I can’t deny that I love it and want to learn more and more about it throughout college.

I guess I technically started “acting” when I was really little, in the plays I performed in third grade, but I wasn’t really taking it seriously. I just thought it was fun. I loved to be theatrical and bold and funny. I didn’t put much thought into it besides that.

My first time making serious attempts at acting was in high school. In freshman year I decided to audition for the school musical, and I was granted the integral roles of Tree and Gate. Although I didn’t have the first clue about how to act, I knew that I LOVED performing in musicals. I wanted to do it more. And I did.

I auditioned for the next musical, and this time, I was a lead. Getting on that big auditorium stage in full costume surrounded by a beautiful set was euphoric. I was like, “woah. THIS is what I love. THIS is what I want to do.” I had never felt so much excitement and joy for anything I had done before. From that point on I joined every play and musical at my school.

Here’s a short trailer I put together of our musical from my junior year:

And here’s my performance in the musical we did my senior year:

These videos mean a lot to me. They capture me in my moments of pure passion and love for what I’m doing. I hope my joy comes across to whoever watches me perform.

I also joined improv in my junior year, and was a part of the Varsity Improv Team (cool, right?). While improv in front of a paying audience can be TERRIFYING, it taught me so many things that I carry with me today. I learned to follow my instincts and make confident choices. I learned to let go of my nervousness, stiffness, and hesitation. I became much more bold and loose as an actor and as a person.

Although I’ve been in productions for all four years of high school, I feel that I’m only truly starting to learn about acting now, in college. I can already see how becoming an actor and gaining all this knowledge is changing who I am as an intellectual. I’m learning to dig deeply into myself. I’m becoming a reflective, vulnerable, empathetic person. I’m learning to be more specific. I’m learning to ask lots of questions. I’m learning to be attentive. I’m learning to really listen and really see the things in front of me.

Theater has given me so many gifts that I’ll always keep with me. I’m so happy I chose to pursue my greatest passion, because it’s making me a better person and intellectual with every day that I keep learning.