As a first-year, Musical Theatre students are required to run tech for a show. This month, I am on the wardrobe crew for A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I decided, for this blog post, to go around to as many cast and crew members as I could to find out how theatre personally impacts them.
“It brings me a sense of community. It has helped me find my true self. There is a passion and a love to serve the audience.”
“Theatre has impacted me. It has given me an outlet to direct my emotions towards. It can help me deal with real world issues. It makes me feel good about myself when other things don’t.”
“It’s my job! I get a career out of it and a fun one that’s not an office job. It is inspiring and fun! I make clothes!”
“I don’t sleep. It gives me good time management and the ability to work with a wide array of people.”
“It impacts me. Based on a hair and makeup level it is interesting to see the differences in everyday hair, and transforming that into a more fantastical and theatrical style, and all the challenges that come with that.”
“Theatre is a built in family. Even when you can’t go home or there’s issues at home you always have a place to be and people to support you. It’s also fun, accepting, and diverse. You can come candidly into theatre and no one will judge you for who you are.”
“It’s an artistic outlet. Theatre allows you to understand yourself and also connect with others whether that be a scene partner or an audience member. Theatre and acting are about understanding the human experience, and all humans are messy and emotional. That’s what theatre is.”
“Well, at the moment it puts food on my table. It gave me friends, a career, and lets me build things! I like building things. I think in a way, I’ve had theatre throughout my life. I started doing it as a child and I did more theatre in high school, and in college and beyond. I’ve gotten to travel because of it, and meet interesting people.”
“Theatre has given me friends, I’ve met people I’ve never thought I could live without. I’ve never felt like I belong more in a world than I do in theatre. I feel lucky to have found it and to have found a place where I’m given such good opportunities and such good teaching. Theatre has given me people who are supportive, encouraging, want me to succeed, and have experience in the real world. I’m really thankful for that. Also it’s fun and I’ve learned so much!”
“Positively.”
Each of these responses had several things in common. Theatre has given people a community, a place to express themselves, and experiences they never would have had elsewhere. Theatre has given me these same things and more. It has given me a career, a passion, and a place where I can be myself to the fullest extent.