Personal Narrative: A Career In Theatre

The curtain is closed and the lights go dark as the stage manager signals everyone to places. The sound of a phone ringing screeches through the speakers as the curtain begins to open, revealing the bright lights shining down on us. My heart begins to beat harder and harder. As the third ring approaches I take a deep breath and begin my solo, “Hi Nancy!” We dance around the vibrant set opening the show with a bang. As the scene ends, I hop down from my partner, Michael’s, arms and scurry backstage with the rest of the teenage cast. Another show had begun. My interest in singing and dancing was apparent from a young age. My grandmother used to videotape my homemade musicals, complete with made up songs and props I found around her house, on a cassette tape. For Christmas in third grade I received the new iPod Nano and I was completely overjoyed. It was rare to
find me without headphones on. Another one of my favorite gadgets was my karaoke machine. I would have friends over after school as many days a week as I could so that we could sing and dance around my living room reading the words we barely knew off of the small gray screen. In fourth grade, my “boyfriend” had just participated in a musical at our local musical theater group.
He loved his experience in the theater and begged me to come audition for the next one with him. This sounded like a great idea, but I had never been on stage before in front of an audience. I was determined to not let my nerves get to me, though. On August 22, 2010 I nervously stepped foot on the stage and as I was shaving, sang “Defying Gravity” from Wicked in hopes that I would be placed in the cast of The Wizard of Oz. I was excited yet terrified, but I had no idea, yet, what an impact this theater would have on my life. I had “caught the theater bug” and participated in over twenty shows over the next seven years. I took voice lessons and a few dance lessons here and there to work on my talent and prepare for upcoming auditions. There were times of excitement when my hard work paid off and I received the role I wanted, and there were tough times when I felt very prepared and didn’t get cast in the show at all, but I was not ready to give up and only worked harder to get ready for my next
audition. I learned more than just singing techniques and dance steps, though. The theater introduced me to hundreds of new friends of all ages and backgrounds, taught me to work hard for what I wanted, but to not get upset if things do not work out exactly how I had planned, and most importantly I found a confidence in myself that I did not have before.