Phase Autobiography
The summer of 2014, my mother signed me up for a drama camp at Steel River Playhouse. Who could have known that the adventures and experiences there would change my life forever. These incidents occurred because of my ever-loving, loyal parents and a flippant camper named Grace. Grace befriended me on the first day of camp. This first day created a joyous, light feeling. I was exhilarated that I made a friend so expeditiously. Soon, I realized that Grace was not a amiable as I thought she was. I allowed Grace to walk all over me because I was too passive to stick up for myself. Being a part of the play changed my life and it helped me overcome a problem in my life. When my mom registered me I never thought that I could ever go from a shy girl to a self-assured actress. At the beginning of camp, I was excited, thinking I would interact with new campers. As I arrive at the Steele River Playhouse, I came to realize that everyone there had already done plays before. I was an outcast. I befriended Grace, a girl who seemed to know everyone. When writing down stories at camp, Grace was always the lead. She explained that I was meant to be an understudy. A week had past and it was time to audition for the final showcase. I did not to partner with Grace for the audition. Being her friend was exhausting both
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Obtaining the monologue transformed my life. I became more confident in myself and am no longer nervous speaking of performing in front of crowds. I overcame my shyness and began to make acquaintances quite dexterously. Receiving the monologue caused me to pursue more theatre opportunities. Grace helped me learn that if someone is not a true friend and they are hurting you, it is alright to let them go. I resolved my problem with Grace by letting our friendship go and cutting ties wither. I am now confident and will continue to do more acting opportunities in the
In elementary, I was known as the best player for my patience and understanding of every piece we played in orchestra. “Your daughter is my best student in all 4 schools that I teach,” exclaimed my orchestra teacher, Ms. Nichols, to my mother. Ever since then, I have been practicing my violin every minute of every day. At the end of my sixth grade year, I received a letter stating that I have been invited to audition for the East Valley Youth Symphony. The desire I had to audition felt like someone hitting me with a hammer.The tears of joy that fell from my parents’ faces were overwhelming, but I knew there was no reason to celebrate because it wouldn’t be easy to get into. At that instant, I had a panic attack and couldn’t stop until the next morning.
Sitting on a colorful blanket and listening to my mom read books from Disney was my first memory of learning how to read. She could read word by word, making those face expressions that used to make me feel excited and of course she would show off the pictures. She finished reading and then she gave me a little purple notebook, where I used to practice how to spell my name and practicing the alphabet. Those are the first memories I have about learning how to read and write.
To say that theater is what changed my life would be a lie, it wasn’t the productions themselves that changed me, but the people I met there. Most important of those, was Kristen Mackie. However, at fourteen I wasn’t exactly doing hand stands after my first encounter with her. To set the stage, imagine being close enough to see the spittle fly from the snarling mouth of a woman whose rage seems to be seeping out of every available pore of her body and then finding out that she’s the teacher of the club you just joined. Unsurprisingly, our relationship didn’t seem to improve much after that point, and I found myself trapped in a commitment I wished desperately to escape from.
"I’m so nervous,” I complained to my mom as we walked into the Waukesha Civic Theatre. “What if I’m not good enough. I haven’t even prepared that much!” It was a crisp September day and some leaves had already started changing color. On the way home from school my mom told me about a play that the theater puts on near us every year and thought I would be good for it. Since I had only heard about the audition that day, it gave me a few hours to pick my song and be prepared for whatever part they wanted me to read. The next song that came on the radio was the song “Edge of Glory” by Lady GaGa and because it was in my vocal range I thought it would be good for me. Little did I know that this audition would change my view of theater.
I have many memories related to reading and writing. Throughout my life I have always been involved in the written word, and it was almost always a positive experience for me. The only exception to this is when I was actually trying to learn how to read and write.
During my high school experience, I have truly embraced the arts, specifically performing arts. Tri-School Theatre (an extra-curricular, educational theatre program) has been a great opportunity where I have been able to appreciate my talents while learning about theatre with other students. Being an active leader in this program, I constantly collaborate with students for rehearsals and events; after my junior year of high school, I was nominated to be an assistant director for a children’s production, Aladdin Jr. Having much enthusiasm for the arts and promoting theatre at school, I was thrilled with this opportunity. Theatre has strengthened my self-confidence,
It was the winter of 2014 when my mother forced me to go to The Corner Health Center Theatre Troupe. I was livid, and acting at the time was something that I was terrified of. I felt as if I was a bird being pushed from the nest too early. I knew there was no possible way that I could be able to: one,talk to strangers, two, learn a script,
I like to think of middle school as the experimental period of your life before you can actually do anything once you get to high school. This is most certainly is true for me, not just because of my questionable fashion choices or hairstyles, but because I had gone through several different phases of wanting to pursue theater. Yep, you’re just a lucky one aren’t you? Another theater story. However, this story is a bit different from the last one. Yes, it is a story that shaped me into the person I am today, but not necessarily for the reasons you may have in mind. This is the story of one of the most shocking experiences I have ever endured throughout my time in middle school (and my life as a whole); a story about
This past year my parents began the process of getting a divorce. Less than a week after my birthday, July 24, they had their first court date. Almost every day since then I have had a rehearsal or performance for a community theatre show. I received an unbelievable opportunity in August of this year. I was cast as a lead in one of my favorite musicals. The show was Heathers: The Musical and I had the opportunity to play Heather McNamara. The show has since ended, however the lessons I learned from the show will live with me forever. The show deals with heavy subjects such as bullying, eating disorders, suicide, depression, and date rape. Being an individual who has been bullied and has faced issues with depression, this show brought out sides of me I had never shown. This production taught me to talk about issues that may be more difficult to discuss. Heathers not only helped me get through the months after my parents’ divorce process began, but it taught me so much about myself and others. Producing a musical with such heavy content forced the cast to grow closer and to talk about issues that most teenagers face today. Theatre has become the place where I feel most
When first starting; theatre only seemed like a hobby. Performing did not sound like an ideal career for my life. Being familiar with performing, joining theatre seemed to be a simple task. Prior to high school, my only experience was a play in middle school, but no performances that made my heart yearn for more. Freshman year, I took theatre as a class, but was not interested in getting involved with events outside of the course. After a year of convincing from my teacher and peers, we settled on an agreement that I would audition for the upcoming show my sophomore year: Tarzan. After auditioning, being cast, and beginning to work with my director and peers, I felt a renowned connection to those around me, and to the art itself. After our first full run of the show, the flame was ignited. There were fireworks; a feeling that had never experienced in all my years of performing. At last, the passion was coming from within. From that point I was excited to watch my theatre career kick off: but that wasn’t the case. That wasn’t the case at
I started to doubt the video. I mean we laughed at it, but would anyone else? I had seen so many other videos that week and none of them got much of a reaction from the class. A chuckle, maybe, but nothing more than that. I expected the same. So the day I showed it in class, I just said my name and pressed play. Honestly, I just wanted to get it over with. There was a few chuckles before, “I won’t miss you anyway, you trick”, the class erupted. There aren’t words to express how good I felt in that moment. That day and all week, I was overwhelmed with praise, from some people I didn’t even know. By Friday, all of Mrs. Freda’s classes had seen it and I became somewhat a celebrity, Andin too. All anyone talked about in class was our video; every other video was compared to it, but none of them came close. The most profound thing I remember is that everyone kept asking what’s next. “Are you going to be in the play?” “Are you going become an actress, now?” I never thought about becoming an actress before. Yet, I found myself really considering this path, but I wasn’t going to dive in. I wanted to prove myself, one video wasn’t enough. I convinced Andin and together, we set to work on a 2nd script which we shot over the summer. We put both of the videos on YouTube and the 2nd, The Housewives of Rome 2, got twice as many views. I couldn’t believe it.
Since I was eleven years old, I have known that I wanted to act. It was something that my parents never particularly encouraged, nor supported, but the seed was planted. I was sixteen when I first stepped into my high school’s theatre for my first day of drama class, and it changed my life. I felt at home and I would even call it the point of my salvation. From discovering the theatre and joining the world of the performing arts, I have grown so much as a person and have found a sense of self and purpose that I didn’t have before. I could not have imagined that I would, or even could, have the immense passion for acting and theatre that I have today, and it is beyond me how I became so lucky as to find something that makes me so incredibly
Before my senior year of high school, I was a very shy, closed-off individual. However, my last year I wanted to change that. The primary way I sought to do this was through participating in high school theater. If I was given $10,000 and 30 days, I, Jacob Smith, would put forth these resources towards the improvement of Roxana High School’s drama department.
In my eighth grade year at Sierra Middle School Ms. Anderson, the drama teacher, announced that our school would be performing the musical “Oklahoma.” Although I had never seen the musical, I knew that it was widely known, and I had a lot of enthusiasm. Auditions finally rolled around, and I auditioned for the three female ‘leads’ (truly the lead is different depending on how each of the parts are portrayed): Laurey, Ado Annie and Aunt Eller. After almost three days of stressful waiting I grabbed my friend
Every year, my school performs a stunning musical, and I wished to be a part of the show, my junior year, but it was too late for me to try out for a part. Therefore, I joined stage crew. Those three months were the best months of that entire year as everyday was full of arduous work, accomplishments, and enjoyment. Even though I was working in the background of the musical, the encouraging attitude of the musical theatre scene, and every person included, brought a sense of joy to me. I will continue with my admiration for musicals by trying out as a dancer my senior year in the