Personal Narrative: Waukesha National Theater

I hurried to get dressed with a black shirt with the sleeves rolled up past my cast. I also wore a red tie and black skinny jeans. I could only sing so we had to use the track guitar. Last thing I had to do was my vocal warmups. I finished and went to the side of the stage. My mind was swirled with thoughts as the video ran and our cue was said to go on stage. My microphone was on me and I was as ready as I was ever going to be. We all ran on stage and started to play. We started with undisclosed desires. Since I didn’t have my guitar to play it gave me a chance to rest and just

“On Broadway, although some female roles are narrow, demeaning, passive, or long-suffering and convey weakness, the performer sings with incredible strength. Listening to the female singing voice is a more complicated phenomenon. Visually, the character singing is the passive object of our gaze. But aurally, she is resonant; her musical speech drowns out everything in range. A singer, more than any other musical performer, stands before us having wrested the composing voice away from the lyricist and composer who wrote the score.” Said Musicologist Carolyn Abbate (Wolf, p.31)

This past fall, I was given the opportunity to audition for VA district 13's district chorus. As a member of the FUMA choir, I saw this as a breath of fresh air. Our choir is ok, but it has its strengths and weaknesses. Passing the audition would be easy, a short song and sight reading, I mean, it's not rocket science. Passing the audition with flying colors, I had about two months to prepare the chosen songs. (Learning a part solely by piano can be a long and tedious process, but thankfully we were provided practice recordings of our parts.) With only two months to learn my part, I hit the ground running listening to the mp3s whenever I had a chance to.

From an early age, I loved to perform. Being the youngest girl with three older brothers, I could never get enough attention; This meant singing, dancing and being extremely outgoing to get everyone’s eyes on me. I still hear stories about my younger self dancing in front of mirrors, babbling about my dream of being a “star”. It wasn’t until much later, however, that I found I could put my love of performing to use.

As I sat enveloped in her story of overcoming conclusions, she taught my heart to embrace each quirky part of myself. I identified with Elle Woods’ need to prove herself. This idea of accepting individuality provided me with the courage to audition for my first show, the Arvada Center’s production of Footloose. Since that first nerve-racking, nail-biting experience, I have come to find myself through each move I dance onstage. Getting my first big role, the Dragon in a production of Shrek, I poured my heart out, knowing the people ready to judge and mock were watching. After the show, the peers who judged my intelligence approached me, saying things like, “I never knew you could sing like that.” Through performing I found myself again. I shifted back to the girl I was, the girl who cared about her morals. I want to perform, hoping to provide audience members with the ability to connect with characters who can offer them a point of realization, as Elle Woods did for me.

At the age of four I was absolutely positive that in the future my career was to be the real world Kim Possible. Yet, the next year something in me clicked; my mind had been set on becoming a singer, and ever since that moment twelve years ago it has been my path. I had convinced myself that I would stand on a stage, and every time I opened my mouth the notes would just flow out; gliding gracefully through the air, dancing to the music among one another, descending upon the audience in powerful crescendos. However, as I aged, my confidence in this vision would begin to sway.

Over the course of approximately one-hundred years there has been a discernible metamorphosis within the realm of African-American cinema. African-Americans have overcome the heavy weight of oppression in forms such as of politics, citizenship and most importantly equal human rights. One of the most evident forms that were withheld from African-Americans came in the structure of the performing arts; specifically film. The common population did not allow blacks to drink from the same water fountain let alone share the same television waves or stage. But over time the strength of the expectant black actors and actresses overwhelmed the majority force to stop blacks from appearing on film. For the longest time the performing arts were

The hardest part of the whole experience was looking for parking at the venue. It already being nighttime and the venue parking being 25 dollars we decided to look for cheaper alternatives. We wasted about 45 minutes after we made it to the location looking for free parking. However, with perseverance and luck, we found a spot in a not so good-looking area but we took our chances.

Professor Wolf is the author of Changed for Good: A Feminist History of the Broadway Musical (Oxford University Press, 2011), A Problem Like Maria: Gender and Sexuality in the American Musical (University of Michigan Press, 2002), and the co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of the American Musical (with Raymond Knapp and Mitchell Morris, 2011). She has published articles on theatre spectatorship, performance pedagogy, and musical theatre. Professor Wolf also oversees the Lewis Center’s Music Theater Lab and has experience as a director and dramaturg. Wolf holds a B.A. in English from Yale and an M.A. in Drama from the University of Virginia. She received her Ph.D. in Theatre from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Recent publications include

I wish that Jason could sing with me but there was no argument when Echo told me the song only required one set of vocals. After getting lost in my worried thoughts for a minute, my mind went back to reality when the lights dimmed and the crowd got quiet. My heart raced and it took all my strength to stand still and hold back tears. "Now everyone, this is our last entry for the competition but I've heard great things from this group and am sure they will impress you. Now playing the song (song name here) is (school name here) Middle School's Junior Music Group!" The announcer said in an excited voice. My stomach sank when he basically told the crowd to have high expectations but I knew I couldn't chicken out now. The curtains started to separate and bright lights started to blind me from the large crowd, which was good in this case. I knew now that I was facing the biggest challenge of my life and that if I failed to complete this challenge, my dreams of a musician would collapse, so I didn't take this lightly. I adjusted my posture one more time and with trembling hands I signaled Tori to begin her

When looking at the Ozark Actors Theatre and their mission, in general, they relate to the supply-side theory as to why they exist. The supply side theory “attributes the existence of nonprofit organizations to the vision and initiative of individuals who have created and built them” (Worth, pg. 50). Additionally, the organization also exists as a common good, “one that cannot be consumed alone by an individual nor are they an interest or benefit to all people” (Worth, pg. 52). This is true as OAT provides community theatre in a rural area, but it is not a service that is of interest to the entire community.

Completing her final musical at NorthWood High School just a few weeks ago, Sara Bowling finds herself at an interesting crossroads in terms of her performance career. While she possesses a lifelong history with musical performance, beginning in her earliest memories, she is coming to terms with an understanding of the fleeting nature of the opportunities provided to her throughout her early life. A senior at NorthWood High School, Sara’s eyes are fixed on the murky but exciting adventure that is her future. She intends to pursue her post-secondary education at Ball State University, starting next fall, and aspires to complete all four years there as a member of their honors college. That said, she is clear that while her enjoyment of music remains, her future pursuit of performance is entirely uncertain.

So while “Night on Broadway” might not be a play or a musical, with seven or eigt performances, elaborate costumes and sets, and a pit orchestra, the actors and directors will be working just as hard to organize a showcase that not only fundraises for the next dramatic season, but allows students to practice their numbers once more, before performing in front of judges - a crucial step in “putting yourself out there” as a

When asked to sing one of the production’s main female pieces, the immense, soaring notes caused a ripple of strained screeches which left the directors speechless, and definitely not in the best way. I prayed that I could scrape by a lesser part or even the male role that I originally auditioned for, but when I slowly approached the cast list, I was thoroughly disappointed. Not only had the tenor role that I craved escaped from me entirely, but I was cut from the entire

In the University of Alabama’s performance of A Chorus Line, the performers tackled this infamous piece for its dramatizations of what actors and performers endure in the line of work that is theatre. As explained by the actors in the documentary “Every Little Step”, being a performer in A Chorus Line is the ultimate dream because it was made by actors for actors. There were a few factors that made the University of Alabama’s performance stand out to me including the choreography, seeing the documentary Every Little Step before the show, and the live music.