Personal Narrative: Mrs. Winthrop In The Secret Garden

I got a glimpse of the Gilford High School drama department my freshman year by doing hair for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and fell in love. I wanted so badly to be more of a part of it all, but after Christmas I ended up in Laconia for the remainder of the year. Sophomore year I came back to Gilford and was in the production of West Side Story that fall. In the spring I teched, as props manager, for Eurydice and All in the Timing. My junior year, I performed in A Chorus Line. Then that spring I teched for Epic Proportions. Now in the beginning of the third month into my senior I am about to perform in one of my last shows here at Gilford. I was cast as Mrs. Winthrop in The Secret Garden. Though we have quite a bit of the
year left it's kinda crazy. I found a home within the walls of the theatre here. Every summer I have left the school and waited for the summer to come to an end so I could go home (though at times I was happy to wait). But now, I am staring into the face of the real world and I am scared. This is kinda it, I don’t get to come home next year. The sheer amount of memories I have made in the past couple of years are going to stick with me. The NHETG workshops at Plymouth state, dinners at Friendly's with cast and crew after the show, our weird traditions, me and others running into the rain, losing the suitcase and finding it months later, the trippy rainbow paint, going to regionals then states, then always hoping for New England's. I think ONE of my favorite memories was from junior year at states. Every member of cast and crew came together and held hands and waited for Gilford to be called for New England's. Nothing mattered, all the differences were gone and we came together as the family that we all begrudgingly were. I just don’t want it to end, I don’t want to lose probably the biggest part of my life. But new adventure await me and I’m ready to fly away. Thank you Gilford PAD for becoming home.