I've been alive for twenty years and I've been acting for twelve of them.
Each show has brought something new to my life. Whether it's a new taste in music, a new appreciation for something I take for granted, or just a couple new jokes, I'm not the same person when a show ends. And when I look back at what each show has given me, I can't help but wonder if my peers share this experience, if they, too, take a piece of every show with them (and not just because they stole a prop or a costume piece).
Either way, here's some of the things I've learned from my "life upon the wicked stage:"
Christmas is more than a manger
A lesson from "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever"
My first show was in December of 2004. I was Claude Herdman in "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever," produced at Project Challenge Playhouse. If you haven't read the book or seen the stage adaptation, (spoiler alert!) the Herdmans are a group of rotten uncontrolled children who seem to wreak havoc on a poor church's annual Christmas Pageant. By the end of the show, however, we see how these children's view of the Christmas story has actually improved an otherwise cut and dry story of how Jesus Christ was born. Complete with superhero angels hitting shepherds upside the head and the wise men bringing the baby Jesus a ham from the welfare basket.
This was my first foray into the world of theater and I was already learning so much from every scene. From the way the Herdman children interpreted the tale as a crime story about Herod trying to kill the baby Jesus to a rather poignant scene of the oldest child (who played Mary) holding her newborn child, this show gave me new insight to the different layers of these people as they gave birth to and defended the Messiah.
The Universe is bigger (or smaller) than I thought
A lesson from "Seussical the Musical"
My first musical was Seussical the Musical in May of 2010, and oh boy was that a big deal for a thirteen-year-old Jacob. I discovered that I could sing! But that's not the thing I pulled from this show. In this show, based on Horton Hears a Who, the main character learns the importance of protecting the little guy, in the most literal sense possible. Horton must protect the denizens of a dust speck flying through the breeze, but nobody - save for Horton - believes that these people exist.
In this show, I really saw for the first time how different people are and how we need to help those who are different from us. Because after all, a person's a person no matter how small!
I am forever a theater nerd
A lesson from "Harvey"
My sophomore year of high school sucked.
No easy way around it, it sucked. I wasn't doing theater, I wasn't playing music, I was just living my life going to and from school and vegging out at home. And it sucked. I entered a monotonous state, going through the motions of life but not really living. It had reached a point that near the end of my sophomore year, I was incredibly depressed.
I can't really tell you where I was when I first heard about auditions for "Harvey," but I definitely remember the auditions and the callbacks. From that moment, I had found my passion. I loved every waking moment of rehearsal, learning lines over the summer, practicing with my new friends on afternoons until the sun went down, re-learning the craft I had almost forgotten. By the time this show was done I knew one thing.
I was never going to stop acting.
So there's part one of "What theater has taught me!" If you want to read more "What ___ has taught me," hit up jjansenblog.wordpress.com for old blog posts!
