"All for one and one for all and all for the love of the stage!"
To the theatre that started it all,
Whether you're still alive and kicking or no more than just a fond memory in people's heads, you will always be important to someone. From the moment you opened your doors you became a part of someone's life that is so influential. Even if the people who wore all black or wore silly costumes on stage didn't end up staying in the theatre world, you have made an impact on them. And to those people who ended up becoming actors, directors, techies and the like... you are a constant to them that they will always go back to.
You taught them not only how to act but how to be a semi-functional human being. (Are theatre people really that functional? We picked this career, for crying out loud.) You taught them how to hang up clothes the right way, how to be comfortable with themselves, how to be on time, how to talk in front of a crowd and how to be responsible. There, they met friends that they will have forever and memories that will last a lifetime no matter when they decided to take the plunge and audition for their first of many shows.
Sometimes we outgrow our theatre. Whether it be children's, high school or community theatre. Sometimes these places we call our second homes go under and we are forced to make memories elsewhere. No matter what, there will always be another theatre embracing you with open arms, but you can't help but reminisce about your first. It will always hold a special place in your heart.
So, to the first I would like to say a few things:
Thank you.
Thank you for giving me a place when I had nowhere else. Thank you for letting me be myself while also letting me be other people that I would never get to be in a million years. Thank you for picking me up when I fell. Thank you for giving me the skills and the confidence that I needed to continue on through not only my career, but through life. Thank you for showing me a whole new world of things to discover.
I wouldn't be where I am without you. I wouldn't be in this place learning so many new things about my craft. I wouldn't be the lead in a show that I'm passionate about. I wouldn't have met the people that pushed me to be the best I could be. I would constantly be bored. I wouldn't have met the friends and the directors that I adore today. I wouldn't be doing what I love.
Thank you for teaching me, for letting me fail, for letting me look like an idiot in front of a hundred people and still feeling safe, for giving me experiences not everyone gets to have, for introducing me to the rest of my life.
Sincerely,
A theatre kid at heart
