As I sit down to write this article, I am numb and confused and exhausted and angry. But mostly I am hurt. Hurt that our nation and our election system has failed us and chosen a president who has no experience, behaves criminally and abusively towards women, minorities and the LGBTQ+ community, and throws temper tantrums like a two year old. I am terrified for myself, people I know and love, and so many others who I may never meet but I know will face discrimination from the leader of our country and his supporters in the coming months and years (some have already started to face hate in excess in the last few days). My heart hurts so much that I can barely put it into words and the light has been hard to find.
This fall I was lucky enough to be offered an internship working with the education department at Tacoma Musical Playhouse, a local theatre group that exclusively performs musical theatre. As the education intern I get to expand my knowledge of working for the education department of a theatre and start working as a teaching artist all before I graduate from University this spring. My first task was assistant directing the after-school program show A Kid's Life with a group of 13 six to eleven year old actors. These kids work their behinds off for two hours, two days a week, learning lines and songs and choreography all to put on a show for their friends and family on the main stage of the theatre. It's an awesome opportunity to get these kids involved in art and I am so glad I get to be a part of their journey.
On Tuesday, November 8, 2016, we had our second tech rehearsal for the show that performed on November 10. I was sitting in the tech booth running music for the students as they danced and sang away, blissfully ignorant to the fact that outside of the theatre our nation was electing a terrible, terrible man into the highest office one can hold as an American. I spent the first half of my election night watching these incredible children give their first full performance of this show and when I should have felt happy and excited, I was nervous.
After leaving the theatre the night got worse and worse and I was spiraling into more and more anxiety and terror for the future of our nation. I was lucky enough to spend the rest of the evening with my classmates/theatre colleagues at UPS which made the fear of the future subside slightly. I woke up the next day and was numb. I couldn't understand how the nation could've failed in electing a President who wasn't even a semi-decent human and didn't have an ounce of political experience. I then opened my phone, saw a picture of my incredible students and started to cry. These children had no idea about what this means for the future and they had no say in how their lives will be impacted--and they will forever be impacted. They are full of so much love and excitement and that gives me so much hope in a time where I am struggling to find hope.
They are giving me something to look forward to. Not just their performance (which was wonderful and adorable and gave me 30 minutes of joy), but their potential.
Statistically, very few of these children will go on to actually become theatre artists in their adult lives, but the skills they are learning from me and my colleagues will help lead them into all sorts of fields. They could be teachers, doctors, lawyers, scientists, writers, and yes, one of them could even end up president of the United States one day. The fact that they can commit at such a young age to learning and performing a show shows so much dedication to creativity and collaboration. I watch these kids treat each other with kindness and encouragement every day. I watch them gain confidence every single time they get something right, whether or not we directly acknowledge them for it. They give their heart and soul to every moment and most importantly are having so much fun.
Thinking about these kiddos has gotten me through the past 48 hours in a way that nothing else can. They are our future, and our future is bright. I may be the one who is supposed to be teaching these kids, but they are teaching me so much more. They are teaching me how to get through these dark times and see the light at the end of the tunnel.
So thank you, Kingston, Chloe, Gracie, Izzy, Lena, Olivia, Elizabeth, Rori, Jaiden, Quincy, Piper, Marena, and Alyssa. Miss Kayla loves you and believes in you and knows you will change the world some day!
