When I was in high school, I did theater. I used to do musicals, and it was my all time favorite thing to do when I was there. I actually started out in Middle School with it and it was good. I did seven musicals in my life and they were some of the best that I ever experienced. Out of those, my favorite one would be "Beauty and the Beast" when I played Monsieur Darque. It was a fun role to play and my director was always one for type casting so that was essentially perfect for me.
However, with any musical that I did in high school, I always played the bad guy. That started since Freshman year for me because right off the bat I was destined to play the villain. In High School, I gave off such a dark personality and I still kind of do, but not so much really because, I'll be honest, I don't wear black all the time anymore.
People always argue that they hate when they're type casted in musicals, and I have to disagree. You want to play a role that matches your personality so, in that sense, you're kind of playing as yourself. Does that mean I'm a villain in real life? No, I'm not. But I do come off as a villain at first glance and that's something that every director wants to see in my opinion.
Now that I'm in college, though, I kind of miss being in it. I miss playing the villain and I miss theater altogether. I seriously wish I had the time for it because now I'm a business major and I have my business stuff to do, with a really, really great future ahead of me. So why am I talking about this? Well, I went to go see a play at ISU for an assignment for History of Latin America called "Heresy of Love" and it reminded me of when I used to have that same chemistry with everybody I worked with, and the emotional story lines that came with it. Also, I missed how real it felt putting the show together and stepping into that character's shoes and playing the part. However, I do come to reality and say that theater is just something you can't do all the time.
I could seriously be a performer, or go out there and be on Broadway for a living, but even when I was in high school, I knew that eventually, I had to let theater go. It's always weird being on the other side though just knowing that it's what I used to enjoy doing.
Not to mention that some of my friends are in opera, I would absolutely love to try my hand at opera as a basso buffo, but the only downside is that it would be the only role I would probably get otherwise in opera (I think?)
But, I'm happy with my life now and I'm ready to do bigger and better things with it. I loved my time in theater and I always encourage people to do it while they're in middle school or high school to see how it can impact your life. It's amazing how many genres there are in theater. It's just up to you if you want to make it the rest of your life.
