My Entire Theatrical History

I have to admit,
I just felt like writing.
There just seems to be a lot on my mind, so thought I might share it.
I am very anxious about going to college next year. I am so so excited, but I have been having stress dreams about it too. Mostly, I really want to know who my roommate(s) will be!! I can't wait to start, but at the same time I am really not ready to leave my high school. I feel like I really want to have more opportunities here even though I've been heavily involved all four years. I am going to miss being here every day. I will miss the shows and the people and the musicals and the cabarets and the listening lunches. I will miss the teachers and the lessons and everything that makes up WA.

I have wanted to perform since I was very young. Very, very young. With my dad in a band and my aunt a professional opera singer, things have always been musical for me. In the summer of 2004, I did a summer program called Imagination on Wheels- coincidentally, run by the man who directed Blood Wedding here- and fell in love with the craft. I played a narrator in four Dr. Seuss productions. It was interesting and inspiring and fun! Sadly, the program ended after my first year. I auditioned for everything in the town, but I wasn't given another opportunity until 6th grade when I was cast in Annie as Pepper. The role fit me well even though I am the complete opposite of the character. I was the tallest girl in the company. After being rejected from middle school theatre, the summer of 7th grade I discovered SSPA. Summer School for the Performing Arts. The program changed my life again. I didn't know that I wanted to act until then. I knew performance was something that I loved, but it was that summer when I discovered that performing was what I wanted to do with my life. SSPA became my home, my safety, my happiness after that. They loved me, they cast me, they believed in me. Knowing that somebody believed in me meant more than any type of lead role. Finally, I was cast in a middle school production during 8th grade. I was a Brainiac in High School Musical (not my proudest moment, I admit) and the summer after that, I was in Pippin as one of the (many) Lead Players. I started high school with nothing and everything. I knew some upper-classmen, but I didn't know the ropes yet. I had been taught to act, but not to apply what I had learned. My first monologue during auditions was the speech from the end of the movie Accepted. Yes, the one with Blake Lively and Justing Long. It was embarrassing to say the least. What made it worse was that I sang One Song Glory. I was called back, but to no avail. Into The Woods clearly was not to be my WA debut. Defeated, I helped with Dancing at Lughnasa and The Guys and then came back for my Sophomore year much more prepared and in an Advanced Acting class. Sophomore year, I was in Rent as a featured soloist, and Angels in America as a chorus member. But I was excited and happy to be there. I worked on props for None Of The Above, and then that summer I was a counselor at SSPA. I thought I would be able to still take part the same way, but I wasn't. I became the person who watches. I had nothing to teach them. I couldn't help in any way. I didn't know what to do. I ended up as the assistant director for the black box. It was a wonderful experience. I loved helping, but it was clear to me (and all of those around me) that I was somewhat resentful of the children around me. I felt horrible. I wasn't allowed to perform anymore. It was against the code- and for good reason. It is about the kids. I can't be trying to make it about me when they are pushing for part themselves. I should be lifting them up, not tearing them down. I should be their coach, not their competition. It simply wouldn't be fair. I had to find something else. A new home. Somewhere that gave me hope and the opportunities that I needed. I couldn't do that to the kids. And I was far too selfish to stay. Junior year I was in Chicago: The Musical as D.A. Harrison, but that was as far as my involvement with WATA went that year. My drama department went to see a production of A Child's Christmas in Whales during the year. I wasn't there because I had no theatrical classes until the second half of the year. Somebody told me that the company, Boston Children's Theatre, was to perform Spring Awakening in the summer program. I decided to audition for their spring shows so that I wouldn't be a completely new face when I auditioned for the summer. Apparently, they really liked me because I landed the role of Gertrude in Seussical Jr. I had found a new family. I made a bunch of friends and finally felt like I belonged somewhere again. It was what I had been looking for. Finally, the summer, I was in the Drowsy Chaperone. I worked for SSPA the first week of the session, but after that, I was in BCT mode. This year, I am going to be at BCT again. I love it there. I am an intern full time right now, and I am loving it. I have now been in The Phantom of the Opera, and I have directed a musical, and I feel like I have gained some insight into my own life as well as the rest of the worlds'.

But that is my theatrical life.
That is all that I have experienced.
Next year, I will be in a completely new place, with a completely new group of people.
Different processes, different challenges, different lives.
What will I do?
Hopefully, I figure it out before I get there.
And if I don't, New York City will just be a new adventure and exploration.

Love,
Bri