Personal Narrative: My Ideas In Theater

Public speaking used to be a daunting task that I would try to avoid as often as possible, often I would be the last to present a project and would refrain myself from having to read outloud. When I would speak my head would fill with thoughts of how other were perceiving me and how easy it would be to mess up. With this nervous mentality my speaking was stuttered and confusing.

I was a very shy and quiet kid compared to others growing up. Submerged among my peers and lost in the crowd, I felt more at ease and found myself mostly at home where the attention drifted far away from me. However, when teachers asked me to speak before the class or answer questions, uneasiness flooded me as though I stood before hundreds of strangers. While speaking, my different bonds of friendship to each and every person sitting in the room disappeared as apprehension controlled me and my voice shook with fright. This fear of public speaking came from my experiences during the first few years elementary school. When I attended Mission Park Elementary School, in 5th grade unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy reading. After a few months in class

I experienced my pop culture moment when I was a senior at my high school. My transportation to go to my school was buses. I took the same buses to school from freshman year, but I have never noticed what I notice in my senior year. Every morning I wake up to go to school at 8 a.m. I would see people going to work, schools etc. but one day I notice there was a group of white women who is going to their work wearing sari (sari is a garment which is long and usually it’s draped around women’s body. Asian women mostly wear it). I found that very odd because they didn’t look like to me that they would know anything about the roots of sari or the culture. I thought they were mocking the culture because the saris that they wearing weren’t 100% correct. I used to see them wearing traditional Indian cloth and I

It was a beautiful evening in April, and the weather was finally starting to get warm again. After a tough and bitter winter, little buds were appearing on flowers and trees, and some color was returning to the world. Above, the sun was setting creating various shades of red, pink, and orange across the blue sky. Among an audience, darkness encompassed the room creating an anxious silence. Only after a few seconds the stars came out. The stage lights came on nearly blinding the audience, and the actress said her first line.

My name is Samantha Norton and I'm an Adjunct professor with the Theatre & Dance Department. I teach acting 110.

I am creating a set in a blackbox style theatre which requires a 16 foot square, 12 inch tall raised acting area which also contains a wall with a door on the upstate side. The first thing I must do is create the platform. The platform is 16 ft long and 16 feet wide and 12 inches tall. I will be using 3/4 inch plywood for the flooring of my platform and 2x4 for framing underneath and support legs. Once I use my table saw to cut out my 16'x16' piece of plywood I will also be cutting four 16'x12" pieces for the sides of the platform. Then using four 12 inch pieces of my 2x4 I will be attaching the four 16'x12" pieces together using my drill and screws. Once that is complete I will be taking my 16'x16' piece of platform and attaching it to the top of my now "frame". Once again going in with a drill in screws, mind you I also used wood glue during this

A memory from my childhood that I can recall is the time when my older cousin, Marc, had taken all the younger cousins, including myself, to Disneyland. We had spent the entire day there, but I can only recall fragments of the day —the gloomy morning, the antsy car ride, and the thrill of Tower of Terror, for example.

As I looked into the audience, anxiety filled my body. I am a very quiet person who never does anything exciting. Anxiety is one problem in my life that I battle everyday. Last year, I decided to take a huge step out of my comfort zone: I auditioned for the school play. This was terrifying. I have never been a huge public speaker; at times, I can barely manage to get a sentence out because of my anxiety. The director and student director gave me a part in the play. My part was a narrator and I had to be on stage describing the history of theater. My goal with acting was to overcome my fear: public speaking and stage fright.

Throughout life we express ourselves through words. The way we present ourselves through speech says a lot about our character. The way one speaks to others can jeopardize the amount of respect and trust others have for them. From the way one pronounces a word to their posture can affect the way an audience interprets what is being said. Personally, I am not confident with my speaking skills at this point. I would like my audience to fully comprehend the concepts or facts that I would present to them. In order to do so I must improve my speaking skills I believe that a problem most people, including myself, have when giving speeches is facing an audience. Just looking out to an audience of a mere ten

“Aren’t you a little old for that?” “Isn’t that for little kids?” “You need to grow up.” There comes a time where everyone hears those words. It normally happens when you get into high school. Teenagers try to ditch their childish image just as Miley Cyrus tried to ditch her Hannah Montana image. Those young adults are trying to remove the “young” part and prove they are just adults. I never personally went through that phase myself. Of course, I matured and acted like a professional when I was expected too. However, I never stopped loving the things that might be considered weird for a high school student to do in his free time. I still watched cartoons and played with bubbles and drew on the sidewalk with chalk. I didn’t see anything wrong with these enjoyable hobbies even though it made people look at me strange or tease me in the halls. I never really got over the enjoyment of acting immature in a mature way. However, I felt like I was out of place at times. It wasn’t until my the end of my junior year that I decided to say “screw it” and break the status quo of feeling ashamed of enjoying the happiness of life. I had been involved in the theatre program for almost two years. The state theatre competition was coming up and my theatre troupe decided to do a modern telling of Peter Pan as our one act play.

They need to know what they are doing. I took my truck to fix the rear differential recall. My first appointment they find out that they didn't have the part. I was told they will call me within five business day, for appointment to install the part. I received the call three weeks later. Once the part was in, I was called and I attended to the appointment then they find out that they can't fix the part because they don't have the fluid. Now I need to go for a 3rd time to fix the same problem that was never fix. My guess it's going to take me three trips to fix the problem, however I won't be surplices the next time they tell me that the mechanic called in sick on that day.

As I was scanning the crowd in The Bolshoi Theater through the lenses of my decrepit Galilean binoculars, waiting for the opera to commence, I noticed something strange: a distinguished, young man looking particularly anxious, fidgeting continuously with the opera play bill. Unconsciously, I grabbed my grandmother’s ancient broche and I held it tight. It was my good-luck charm and the only memory I had left of her.

There’s something about opening night, spending hours in rehearsals, having a ten second costume change, putting as many bobby pins in your hair as possible, having mic tape residue for a week after closing night, and saying “Thank you five.” Theatre. An actor/actresses playground. A place where you will remember most every line you said, and every dance you were taught. A place that will hold memories from every cast, and every show you ever performed in. An atmosphere that will hold memories today, and memories for years to come. I was once asked what theatre means to me. Here are a few of my favorite things about theatre, and what it means to me.

Despite everything I recollect distinctively the underlying day beginning off as a theater professional. Taking in the methodology and getting to know the general population were huge numbers of the principal things I did. A large number of the accomplished "geeks," as we called them disclosed to me the strategy they manufactured sets and how to program the lighting console. Utilizing power apparatuses and saws were fun yet arranging and executing each progression was the best part about it. Many oversights were made while I was adapting yet time enabled me to create and improve my capacities.

For as long as I can remember, public speaking has always been one of my greatest weaknesses. Whether it’s a simple in-class presentation or a speech in front of an auditorium filled with people, I can barely get my words out from the anxiety and