Whenever I’m upset, I listen to the Original Broadway Cast recording of Legally Blonde — The Musical. Two years ago, I was cast as Pilar in my undergraduate’s production of the musical — the very first ever performed at Converse College. No, it wasn’t my first production, but it’s the only one that I keep returning to in my mind, remembering the absolute joy that I felt when I opened my mouth to sing in OMIGOD, You Guys. There’s just something about that performance, and the theatre, that keeps calling me back. That same feeling is what attracts thousands of people from around the world to the stage.
I am under no illusions that my journey will be easy, but there’s something about constantly being thrust into this art. I started out in music and made a conscious effort to stay away from theatre to focus on my degree program. By the time I came to Emerson, I had been cast in multiple productions of shows and had worked on even more in another capacity, but I made a definitive decision when I got accepted to Emerson College for publishing: no more theatre. No more shows, no more auditions, no more performances because I was focussing on publishing. Just publishing. So that resolution lasted exactly a year. I don’t know how it happened, or even when, but I suddenly found myself more involved in the theatre program than I was in my own program.
Theatre has become the absolute love of my life (sorry, boys) and I want to do it for as long as I possibly can. It occurred to me that I can’t possibly be the only one who feels this way about performing and though I’ve had to learn how to juggle theatre with a backup job (publishing) others may not know how to get this far. I’ve learned so much about the stage in a (relatively) short period of time, and I kind of think I owe it to all my other theatre kids out there to give of what I have learned. So here I am, trying to be a good source. Will I be successful? I sure hope so.
TD 