When I was in 4th grade, I had a horrible experience in a musical. I was being bullied a lot, but I still performed. I was a background character, but I think this was my first call to theater. I knew I wanted to do more even after that horrid experience.

Flash forward to Sophomore year, after a horrible breakup, being hate-crimed and assaulted, I got into another musical. I was not well at this time, but I still went through with it and I was so glad I did: this musical helped me get through that year and it will forever be engraved in my memory in a positive light; even as I was a supporting character, it was still a wonderful experience.

Finally, in my Junior year I got one of the leads in the show Peter and the Starcatcher, with a lot of my friends as supporting roles and leads. This brought us all so much closer; I finally felt like I was doing something big, and it was such a wonderful experience. I took the show much more seriously than I had taken any other shows, avoiding any confrontations in school and keeping up with my schoolwork. While this was exhausting, it was more than worth it when I finally got on the stage and saw my family and friends in the audience cheering.

I was smiling ear to ear, and it was amazing.

I felt as though a lot of authority figures in the school saw me as a troublemaker because of my sophomore year and it felt as though I was finally being seen for who I was and not the rumors that were being spread about me. This show -amongst the other shows I’ve been a part of  – has brought me closer to new people, made new friends and learned new things about myself and
others.

I am so excited for more shows to come and to see where this could take me in life.

I wanted to say thank you to Melanie and Missy for looking past my sophomore year and rocky start to this year; they still welcomed me into the show with open arms and were patient with me as I struggled with memorizing and coming out of my shell a bit. I loved this show and I am so excited to work more with theater and thank all of the cast and crew for a wonderful experience.