There are many musical theatre characters that resemble: Summer from School of Rock, Marcy from The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, but I see myself the most in Frank Abagnale, a con artist in Catch Me If You Can. Frank spends the course of the show pretending to be someone else, finding jobs that he has no qualifications for. He passes the bar exam without going to law school, becomes a pilot without flying experience and works as a doctor without any medical knowledge. Like Frank, I often pretend to be another person and I end up being successful even though I should not be. Unlike Frank, my pastime is a bit more legal: theatre. I auditioned for my first show in August of 2009 and in that moment, my life changed. At nine years old I was hopelessly uncoordinated and woefully socially inept, a product of my Asperger’s Syndrome and ADHD. I had a unique brain and was often described as ‘bright but quiet.’ My teachers and parents had no idea what to do with me, I failed at every sport attempted and had no discernable artistic talent. I was an unlikely candidate for theatre, different from the graceful dancers and extroverted actors I was surrounded by. But theatre gave me things that no doctor, teacher or therapist could. Through theatre I, though at a slower pace than my peers, came to understand humans. After countless hours of rehearsal and lessons on character development, I slowly learned what each facial expression meant and how body language signaled another
The past four years, I have breathed, slept, eaten, thought and immersed myself in all thing pertaining to theatre. This is where I discovered to truly work in a team, where I could be without fear of being something I am not, and where I have found peace in the maddening swirl of day to day life, ironic in the fact that theatre is a hectic world. This world is where I have made my best friends and found people I know I can count on and that I insist can depend on me. If I have learned one thing from my experiences in theatre, it is to strive and achieve
Above all, I wouldn’t be where I am today without theatre. Without the chance to perform throughout my life, I would be disconnected from the wide array of communities and histories that’s been imbedded in my daily routine. Unfortunately, it’s speculated that the theatre is a dying art form, because of the expanding popularities of movies (“Is”), but I think that it’ll remain a well renowned part of expressing imagination and interpreting history as years pass; it only takes cooperation with school faculty and young students that go above and beyond to change their
Theatre and Musical Theatre has been a form of entertainment since before North America was “discovered”. Broadway shows have been dated back to the early 1920’s and 1930’s. By 2016, over 25,000 tickets are sold to Broadway shows in a week. Thousands of people enjoy the shows that are featured on Broadway but have no idea the work and process that brought it to life. The process of getting a show on to Broadway can be broken down into three phases: pre-production, staging, and performance/promotion.
I grew up in a family of artists. My parents were singers and musicians. I began acting in shows during elementary school. As an adult, I acted in community and regional theaters. I performed in Urdu and Punjabi languages. I grew up in a culturally diverse household and community. This enabled me to relate to different personal and societal experiences, and to live out my own and other people 's stories through my acting. Also, my collaborative nature, strong sense of imagination and interest in poetry, literature, politics, public affairs and human experience has helped me play many roles effectively.
Ever since I can remember I have loved theatre. It’s been a constant presence, and an important touchstone, in my life. However, for as long as I’ve loved theatre, I have also been ridiculed for my enjoyment of it. As a child, my interest was tolerated as something precious, something I was bound to grow out of. My parents and teachers would sit in the audience, clapping and cheering me on, all the while thinking to themselves “I bet she’ll make a great lawyer one day.” They thought, like most of society, theatre was an unnecessary luxury; a pastime for the rich and powerful, for those who didn’t have to worry about putting food on the table, or clothes on their children’s backs. Certainly not
When your interest is as broad as theatre it’s almost impossible for your identity to not be represented. However, like many of my peers, I’ve struggled to find my identity and have floated between different adjectives for the past seven years. Luckily for me my love for Broadway guided me to a perfect show that let me know it’s okay to be confused about who I am.
When I was three years old, I could be found standing on fountains at the local mall and putting on concerts for passers by. Now, at 18 years old, the same joy I felt singing in the middle of a mall is what I feel crafting stories on stage and pursuing a character’s truth. Throughout the years, theatre has been an immensely important creative outlet for me, and the confidence I have found on stage has translated in my real life, making me a stronger person. As I pursue higher education in this field, I am excited at the prospect of continuing my studies at the University of Michigan, and being able to take advantage of all the opportunities I am so passionate about.
The first time that I watched a performance was when I was nine. My older brother got a lead in a production and my parents forced me to go. Once the house lights turned off and the stage lights came on, I felt like it was just me and the actors. I was caught. Acting was a crime and I the criminal. The lighting, the facial expressions, the blocking, it all captured my attention, and I couldn’t let it go, I can’t let it go. When the play ended, I asked my brother what I could do to get the chance to get up on that stage and he said, “Act,” Since that day, the only thing I did was act. I looked for monologues online and started getting really involved with other people that also enjoyed theater.
My ambition throughout the next seven weeks: help these children escape reality by learning about the arts. Unfortunately, many of these children came from difficult home-life situations; yet, they enthusiastically prepared for the show. Sometimes it was a struggle to take on infinite tasks and others’ responsibilities while maintaining a positive environment for these children. Filled with laughter and intense hard work, rehearsals flashed by like the speed of sound. Opening day arrived. Peeking through the curtain and seeing the room’s seats quickly fill became bittersweet. It reminds me what you see after a downpour: how the rain shares a beautiful rainbow but slowly fades from the sunlit sky. Despite laborious hours, these young actors/actresses shined onstage, and the next day, the experience would end at the final curtain
I never took myself as much of an actress, even though I chose the role. Every day, I go in the dressing room and put on my costume. My hair and makeup were done, and it’s show time. The bright spotlight comes directly onto me. The curtains open and it begins. I give the performance of a lifetime. It’s amazing how much the audience believes the story they’re being told. They’re gullible, but they’re not dumb. They know when the show goes sideways and that’s when they begin to ask questions. As always, I reassure them nothing is wrong, and the act is a hit. The curtains close, I return to my dressing room, and I take off the costume. I wish I could give the role back.
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,
When I was a toddler my parents discovered that I could not form words the way most children do. I was capable of making sounds, but I could never communicate my thoughts fully. After a visit to the doctor, they decided I had childhood apraxia of speech. Many children are diagnosed with childhood apraxia of speech, and with therapy they can learn to speak like children unaffected by apraxia. After my therapy I spoke the same way all of my classmates spoke, but I still had shy tendencies that would often get the better of me. I began taking dance lessons, and a few years later I began auditioning for community theatre. After not getting cast in multiple productions, I finally had a chance to be in a musical. I quickly fell in love with theatre
Throughout my childhood and teenage years, I have searched and searched for a talent that would give me a unique identity to make me stand out from my peers. When I was five years old, I was given the chance to be in a musical in our city's community theatre, PMT. This musical was "The Wizard of Oz", and I played the role of a munchkin in the Lollipop Guild. This initially sparked a great interest in theatre, and I fell in love with acting. I had an amazing mentor for my youth acting career, the late Jack Ewing. He played Harold Hill in PMT's production of "The Music Man", while I had the opportunity to play the role of Winthrop, the young boy that helps Harold Hill become a better person. (Jack later died a year before I had the chance to play the role of Harold Hill in my high school's production of "The Music Man Jr.") When I was about nine, PMT dissolved as an organization and therefore there was no community theatre around me for years, which put a setback in my interest and talent for theatre.
Acting moves me to explore and reflect the curiosities I have for the beauty and the ugliness of the human condition, and the big questions that affect the world. I want to use my passion for acting to be a storyteller, an artist, a communicator, a commentator that provokes thought and creates conversation from an audience through theatre, film, television, song, and radio, on life and on what connects us to the world around us. Acting is therapeutic, so magical, and a great adventure to me; there is not a thing that excites, fulfills me, or that I enjoy doing more than
The acting in this play is very virtuoso.There are some other performers in the play did stand out in the production. Jimmy Fernandez, one of the performers who played Mrs. Bumbrake by expressing his humorous attitude in his character in the production. Brian Frink is another performer that played Captain Stache (later known as Captain Hook) did show his swashbuckling side of a pirate and cowardly parts that he fears about the crocodile in later play. Also, Gabrielle Blackhurst is another performer that played Molly Aster (nee Darling later in the play) shows the altruistic, physically adept, and adventurous side in this play. She expresses her character who is willing to help Peter and the other boys and also her father on a mission to stop