Anyone who participates in live theatre knows how important your fellow cast and crew members become. There is a bond that forms between people through the weeks and months leading up to a show, as you all share your talents and skills and pull together to put on a performance. But as much as you love them, you don't always get the opportunity to thank them as much as you want to.

So here is a thank you note to all of my theatre families.

Thank you to my first theatre family. Thank you for teaching me the basics of what I used for the rest of my life. Thank you for teaching me how to audition, how to rehearse, and how to endure all of the hardships that theatre brings. Thank you to my first director for somehow managing to convince a group of elementary school children to memorise lines and choreography. Thank you for teaching me that roles are earned, not handed out. Thank you for lighting the spark for the arts that still hasn't died out.

Thank you to the theatre family who held my heart for the longest time. Thank you for taking me under your wing when I needed it most, and building me up to be a person who took in others. Thank you for keeping me over the course of many years, while still making each show an entirely new experience. Thank you to the director for showing me what real support and kindness looks like. Thank you for transforming me from a performer who blended into the background to one who could hold her own on stage. Thank you for showing me that, sometimes, families are built, not assigned. Thank you for showing me that nothing is permanent and that you have to move on even from the people you love the most.

Thank you to the theatre families that I only stayed with for one show. Thank you for taking me in without warning, and letting me go as a better person. Thank you for showing me how to create bonds quickly, and how to keep in touch with people I never would have spoken to otherwise. Thank you for loving me even though you didn't have to, because I was only the newbie. Thank you for teaching me that friendships can be formed suddenly, and last a lifetime.

Thank you to my current theatre family. Thank you for showing up in my life when I least expected. Thank you for letting me find myself during this challenging and scary time in my life. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to show what I can do, even in my very first show with you. Thank you for giving me a place to cry, sing, study, sleep, and make friends that I couldn't live without. Thank you for giving me the friends and supporters that I needed in order to make it through the last year. Thank you for letting me continue to do what I love.