Theatre

I am a thespian. I have been a thespian for a very long time. I have been in countless productions and played parts ranging from a mother to a child to a historical figure. I've been a flapper, a storyteller, a high school student, and a muse. I've sang and danced and acted all upon the stage.

And I have loved every minute of it.

There is no better feeling in the world than performing in front of an audience. Their laughter or tears is a small pat on the back for a good performance. Any emotion evoked from an audience member is a good thing. That's what makes theatre so great. Every performance is different. Some audiences laugh during awkward moments. Other stare in silence. A laugh one night may not occur the following. It's unpredictable and sometimes improved and it's wonderful. It's my form of a drug. There is a certain high that a person gets with applause.

The theatre world is one filled with many interesting characters, on the stage and off of it. It's an accepting place where a person can be an individual and be looked at as just a normal person. There is no judging. Because everyone is different in their own special way (as cliche as that sounds).

I've acted with many different theatre groups but my favorite by far was my high school theatre department. We were more than friends or scene partners. We were a family. We all fell in love with the same passion and bonded over our experiences together. There were fights and hard feelings, but those came with casts lists, rather than petty, trivial banter. We won together and lost together in the terms of the Freddy Awards. And at the end of the night, we knew what a stellar performance we had all done with everything. We supported each other through the highs and lows, good times and bad. And I miss it greatly.

This fall, I assistant stage managed for Lehigh's Twelfth Night. It was a new experience for many reasons. Not just learning a position I had never tried, but starting over again in a department that was not familiar. Their stage I couldn't call home. Their black box was not a place where I spent the majority of my days and nights. It was hard to adjust to. Starting over is never easy. Especially in college. Leaving the nest into unfamiliar territory is scary in so many ways. But just like any theatre group, Lehigh accepted me into their family.

Do I still miss theatre from high school? Of course.

There are days when I wish I could just go back.

But I can't.

And moving on is only for the best. It is time to make new memories.