“When I was doing theater, I was very successful at believing that I was great, God's gift to the theater.” I understand how Morgan Freeman felt when he was doing theater. When you are on stage, everything else just fades away. It doesn’t matter if you’re the main lead or just a swaying tree in the background. You feel as if all eyes are on you and you want to give them the best performance of all time. I believe the best part about performing is being someone else for a brief period of time because it can be so challenging and so fun at the same time. If I had to write a short story, film, or play about myself in the past four years, the one moment that my audience would most remember would be my performing on stage during “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, “Cinderella”, or “Clue” because in those moments that I was being someone else, I felt that everyone saw who I really was.
My first musical was during my sophomore year and it was “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.” Everyone thought it was terrible. The cast kept on comparing it to last year’s musical “Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat” – which I wasn’t in. I had no confidence in singing and I felt I had no rhythm, but I saw my best friend Bloo have a lot of fun in it last year and he made me promise to try out next year. During the tryouts, I was told that I had an ability to sing, was able to dance, and should join the top choir: the Goldenaires. As pleased as I was about the news, I told myself to focus on this year and try to get a lead role. I didn’t get one but thinking back, I’m glad I was given a small role and was placed in chorus. In chorus, I learned that there are no small roles, only small actors, something I try to live by in real life. During “Cinderella”, I was given a bigger role and even more time on stage, something I cherished a lot. My moment happened during “Clue”, when I landed Professor Plum. I was so excited to finally have a lead role. I thought having a lead would make the experience on show night different but it wasn’t. They were all the same for me. Even when I was in the back, I felt so proud that I could be part of something bigger than myself. When I was a lead, I felt as if I was bringing great honor to the theater. I was another person who could dance and sing all his problems away and I loved it.
It’s now my senior year. This year’s musical is “Thoroughly Modern Millie.” I thought my theater career would only go up but I didn’t land a lead. I missed most dance practices due to Band. Therefore, I’m not in most of the dances. Most people thought I would be so upset and I was a little. I was upset I couldn’t challenge myself more as a lead but I could still be a great chorus member. They say a chain is as strong as its weakest link and I won’t be that link. I believe that this performance, one that I will be nobody in, will be my greatest. I will show that there are no small roles and I will be the biggest actor ever to grace that stage, because I love to perform. I perform every minute of my life and I will not stop. I will be nobody and I will do it with grace because I’m” God’s gift to the theater.”