In the Fall of 2021, rehearsals for our holiday concerts were in full swing, except with social distancing. It was exciting and a relief to be back together but it also felt unsettled and disconnected. Taking the stage together in December lifted the fog and demonstrated why I stuck through the uncertainty. There was a noticeable energy across the auditorium radiating between and among the audience and performers. Each audience member was fully present, ready to listen and hear young people’s voices. The older singers felt the gravity of the moment and amplified the nuances in our music to elevate the entire performance. I could sense that all of us became aware of what we had been missing. I was grateful for that particular concert but also for the recognition of how central music & performance is to my life. This realization played out again in January of my junior year when my grandmother passed away. This was not a surprise as my dad traveled frequently from Chicago to South Florida to attend to her care for her declining health. Nonetheless, the pain and sadness took much of my focus. Music provided a way to cope. My high school choir was working on a piece submitted by a classmate for a composition contest which explored the five stages of grief told in five different languages. The choir had started this work in the Fall, but the song took on new meaning now. In the weeks that followed I was able to use this music to manage my grief and process my emotions. Circumstance and my age provided me with a deeper appreciation for the power of music - a feeling that I want to pursue further and share with others. As I considered what I would study in college, vocal performance was an obvious answer. Music and performing have been an instrumental part of my life since Day 1. College will provide me with the opportunity to intensely study music and its function as a universal language. I know that this will bring me joy, which I have felt performing on a grand stage but also when singing while having a bowl of cereal before school. It has helped me make sense of events that happen in my life, and I suspect it has done so for many others. Music connects people in a language they may not speak but they can certainly feel. I look forward to growing as an artist in college so that I can wield this language boldly to use that connection to lift up others.

You take those first steps onto a stage, feel the heat from the lights on your skin, and find yourself dropped into a scene about unfolding relationships. Are the characters on stage friends? Family? Adversaries? How do these characters go on a journey together? I experienced it this summer in a performance of All Shook Up The Musical. I experienced it in school productions. It is always a bit different, but it is exciting and thrilling every time. I enjoy learning about how I react to these feelings and what it brings to my performance on that day. For this reason, I have chosen to pursue a career in the theatre. The stories being told on a stage can affect an audience in more ways than one, through a humorous comedy or moving them to tears. Having opportunities to perform means that, as the ones telling the stories, we get to come together as a community to tell those amazing stories through art. I love having a variety of opportunities to perform because it provides a way for me to express myself and connect with cohorts of similar interests. The aspect of community in theatre is an organic experience where it brings the audience from all walks of life together as they are told a story through acting, singing, and dancing. Plus, the community built within a cast leads to lifelong friendships. Through the formation of camaraderie amongst a cast, performers are allowed to become vulnerable around one another, leading to more sincere and real performances by those actors. Having connections with your castmates can lead to a “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” situation, where you discover that a new fellow castmate has performed with a different former castmate, thus expanding my universe. These connections could go all the way up to the Broadway level, and forming connections not only with castmates but directors and artistic staff could reap major rewards in your future. Another benefit of performing as characters means you can drop yourself into a new person for the time being, forget about the stress of the real world, and just have fun. Unless, of course, the character and show you are in necessitates leveraging those stresses. The stage is an actors playground, and having opportunities to dive into a new world provides a revised outlook on the real world. I am excited to explore the craft of performance to continue to learn more about myself as a part of the theatre and the world around us.

You take those first steps onto a stage, feel the heat from the lights on your skin, and find yourself dropped into a scene about unfolding relationships. Are the characters on stage friends? Family? Adversaries? How do these characters go on a journey together? I experienced it this summer in a performance of All Shook Up The Musical. I experienced it in school productions. It is always a bit different, but it is exciting and thrilling every time. I enjoy learning about how I react to these feelings and what it brings to my performance on that day. For this reason, I have chosen to pursue a career in the theatre. The stories being told on a stage can affect an audience in more ways than one, through a humorous comedy or moving them to tears. Having opportunities to perform means that, as the ones telling the stories, we get to come together as a community to tell those amazing stories through art. I love having a variety of opportunities to perform because it provides a way for me to express myself and connect with cohorts of similar interests. The aspect of community in theatre is an organic experience where it brings the audience from all walks of life together as they are told a story through acting, singing, and dancing. Plus, the community built within a cast leads to lifelong friendships. Through the formation of camaraderie amongst a cast, performers are allowed to become vulnerable around one another, leading to more sincere and real performances by those actors. Having connections with your castmates can lead to a “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” situation, where you discover that a new fellow castmate has performed with a different former castmate, thus expanding my universe. These connections could go all the way up to the Broadway level, and forming connections not only with castmates but directors and artistic staff could reap major rewards in your future. Another benefit of performing as characters means you can drop yourself into a new person for the time being, forget about the stress of the real world, and just have fun. Unless, of course, the character and show you are in necessitates leveraging those stresses. The stage is an actors playground, and having opportunities to dive into a new world provides a revised outlook on the real world. I am excited to explore the craft of performance to continue to learn more about myself as a part of the theatre and the world around us.