This past week, I was involved in an amazing high school production of The Little Mermaid at Bishop Hendricken High School. Each theater company has their own rituals, some may be the same and some may be so different that they sound bizarre.

If I were to explain to you what some of our traditions were, you would mistake my fun loving and talented group of friends for a cult. We know this, yet we are still proud of it.

One of our traditions before every show is to stand in a circle, say a prayer and have members of the company go into the middle of the circle to share a story, a motivation or what/whom they are thankful for.

Now, this past show was my seventh show within the Hendricken community. In those seven productions, I went into the middle of the circle once during one show of a five to six show run. I consider myself a pretty outgoing person, but I still have some anxiety and let me tell you, it is nerve racking to be in the middle of a circle and speak what's on your mind.

You have to keep turning to look at everyone, you try saying one thing, but something totally different comes out, or you just freeze all together. During every circle, I think of things I want to say, and then the moment passes and I am stuck thinking about the things I should have said.

This is what I wanted to say...

As I have been a part of every show for Hendricken the past two years, I expected to go into another production and experience the same routine I do each time to finish with a beautiful outcome. This summer, that was not the case. As the production came closer to opening and more things were thrown at me in a different fashion than I was used to, I grew more and more 'rattled' every single day.

It had come to my attention that the show was more publicized than I have ever seen it. Everywhere I turned I saw an ad, poster, picture or video of the show trying to encourage people to buy our tickets.

I thought, "Our company has never been about profit. Why are we doing this?" I was concerned that we were getting on people's nerves for our own benefit. I knew that people were aware the show was being put on, that Summer Stage at Bishop Hendricken was not a new concept to the majority of people in my community and that our performances always spoke for themselves, because honestly, we kick ass.

Once opening night rolled around, I answered the question that had been annoying me since the show started, because... we sold out. Not only did we sell out, but we sold out on a Thursday night, the opening night of the show, with an added waiting list to see if they could squeeze their way into the theater, with the audience having no knowledge of the show being good or not. This was our first time selling out in four years.

Not only did we sell out our opening night, oh no, we sold out our closing night too. People wanted to see the show and that was their last chance to see it. I was so excited, we were all so excited, and this brought us together. We were all a part of Summer Stage history and we got to show our audience, a collective one thousand and five hundred people, the talent that all of us were blessed with. We put aside all of our differences, and we all dove in head first to go under the sea for all of our fans.

See what I did there?

I also realized that I needed to get used to change, because if I didn't, I would have been frustrated for the majority of the summer. The show was not run the same as shows were run during the year. Crews were different, staff was different, seniors were getting ready to leave, some did leave and we as a teenage group were in transition mode to our new year and not in the middle of one.

Instead of me feeling calm and having everything under control, I felt the pressure of the show starting it's run in less than a week. I learned what the true definition of show business was by working hard, getting things cut and starting over.

Yes, all for the right reasons, but being in the position where you worked so hard on something and then was told it had to be done over again is not a good feeling. This made me work harder, handle my stress, get organized and made sure it was done properly. I believe the tougher experience bettered me as a person, a leader and a team player.

During this run, I became close with a lot of people. I also looked up to a lot of different people that I never thought I would look up to before.

To showcase my closer relationships and everything I had learned from my experience during the summer, I had originally wanted my weekly article to be about the company. When I say about the company I mean I gave my phone to as many people in the cast that I could and asked them to write about their character, what they had taken away from their experience in the community and any advice they wanted to share to others.

After getting responses from about twenty people to co-create this soon-to-be-amazing article with me, all content was not saved. Only a few of the responses from the first few people I asked were safe. I was very disappointed, but decided to turn my article around. Instead of getting rid of the great content I was given and scratching the whole idea, I decided that it would be a segment to add in this article.

Below are some of the actors wise words on their character development, experience, and motivation. These words are direct from the actors fingers, to the screen.

Scuttle- "Acting is hard enough, acting out a character that is nothing like you is ten times as hard. To be blunt, I am a pessimistic person. Scuttle as a character is nowhere near the word pessimistic. He is loud, bubbly, and literally has a song called, 'Positoovity.'

To harness an inner energy that has been hidden away for a while is definitely the hardest part of playing the character. By playing him however, I feel like I've learned how to not let my personal thoughts and emotions spoil the way I act out the character. To put it into simpler terms, try not to let your mind as an actor devour the way you play the character."

Ursula- "My main motivation for this role was wanting to portray a villain in a not-so villainous way. I made it a point to be playful and seductive, rather than witch-like and scary. It adds far more depth to the character, and adds a definite comedic aspect. Through the process of working as Ursula, I learned that the development and backstory of your role is definitely dependent on everyone else around you... Learning other characters story is key in developing your own!"

Flounder- "To play Flounder is an absolute joy, he's young and lively and when on the stage it's as if you're reliving your childhood. The best part about this character is his passion for those he loves as well as the world around him. Many could learn from this. My goal is to bring a new sense of sweetness, a sort of damsel in distress charade to him. Flounder never gets the girl and I love to play up the heartbroken feels. From the voice, to the awkward movements and the sweet comments, playing this character alongside other amazingly talented actors is a blessing."

Pilot- "Hendricken's shows obviously teach us all a great deal about singing and dancing and acting like fish. However, these are not the lessons that I will take with me for the rest of my life. This program has made me the young man I am today, and I honestly can't imagine a life without these people and these opportunities to do what I love with the people I love most. Playing the pilot in The Little Mermaid was a very surreal experience as it transformed me into a gruff and strong leader, qualities I do not usually showcase in my everyday life... This show has made me so proud and is so beautiful and I just wish I could do it forever because it feels like true magic every night."

Even though this is not the middle of the circle, I still had to share, that if the cast and crew of The Little Mermaid were to read this, to tell them how inspiring their words were.

When I asked for each of them to co-write, I was given way more than I asked for and reading every bit of it was inspiring and not only showed me the advice you chose to give to others, but why you chose to act yourselves. Even though everybody couldn't see your writing, I was given the chance to see into your thoughts and it reminded me of why I got involved in theater.

Now, in every circle there are some fun stories mixed in with these heartfelt messages. Here is mine that I felt related to The Little Mermaid...

In late June, around when opening ceremonies and rehearsals first began, I bought a beta fish. I love beta fish. I bought this particular one because it's small container in the store was very dirty and he looked very sad.

Yes, my fish was sad. I brought him home, put him in a clean and treated tank and fed it. This fish had a neutral color that faded into a nice red highlight. When I was looking for a name for my fish I couldn't come up with anything. I asked my family and friends until my friend said Scuttle.

Since he was just cast as Scuttle in the production, and I had an old beta fish that I named Sebastian, the name stuck. Scuttle stayed with me until the closing night of the show. As I was trying to clean my two beta's tanks, Scuttle decided to jump from his container to try out his human legs, like Ariel. When I got home it was too late and I found Scuttle shriveled up on my floor.

You could say I was mortified and very sad. Even though it was just a fish, he was my fish that I picked and saved and took care of until he didn't want to be under the sea any longer. Thus, I made a connection. I bought Scuttle when the show was in it's beginning stages, I took care of him, I loved him and I kept him out of harms way (mind you I have two cats), just like I did to the show.

Scuttle died at the shows end, and thus the show ended. The end of the lives of each were bittersweet and I will miss them both a great deal.

Thank you to my company for letting me be a part of your circle.