Wednesday night saw the opening of University of Portland's production of "Good Kids." Based loosely on the Steubenville High School rape case, it is an examination of rape culture and the aftermath of a high school party gone horribly wrong.

Even though the Thursday night performance was said to have a panel with the cast members afterwards discussing the play's content, I went to watch on opening night, not quite sure what to expect. I was, to put it simply, blown away. The content was so incredibly difficult to process and watch, the topics being discussed onstage truly just horrific, and the actors pulled it off with such incredible grace and eloquence, creating such an emotional performance that at times I found myself either on the verge of, or actually in, tears.

As hard as it was to watch, it was a magnificent performance. And I found myself, not for the first time in my life, marveling at the power of live theater, and was reminded once again of why I love it so much.

Now, this might seem a little biased, considering I am a Theater Major, but there's something magical about a stage. It contains a whole world, stories waiting to unfold, a cast of characters that are waiting to be known. It pulls you out of your current reality and puts you in a new, unknown place that slowly but surely becomes familiar. As illogical as it might seem, you feel things in such a way that might seem impossible, considering all the circumstances are imaginary, but you still laugh and cry anyway.

While watching "Good Kids," I was surprised by just how attached I became to some of the characters, how well the actors used the tension and the situations to bring the experience of a horrific event and it's consequences to life. I noticed more than one member of the audience wiping their eyes at certain points of the show, a testament to just how much they were able to feel about this story that, although wasn't actually happening in reality, still felt so real.

It's magic. It's life.

I fell in love with theater, specifically musical theater, when I was 12 and my cousin showed me a performance of her high school choir's rendition of "Seasons of Love" from the rock opera "RENT." Starving artists and anarchists living under the shadow of HIV in late 1980s New York City may not seem like the most lighthearted material for a 12-year-old kid, but honestly the music and the story just instantly hooked me. "RENT" led to "Wicked," which led to "Next To Normal," which led to "Spring Awakening" which to "Les Misérables," which led to so much more. By the time I was in high school, I was hooked.

But it never occurred to me that I could be like the people I admired so much onstage until my sophomore year of high school, when I went to see my school's fall production of "Charlotte's Web." It was the first real live performance I'd seen outside of YouTube videos. The lights and sets and everything felt so much more real, the characters and the story even closer. But what stood out most to me was that I knew the people onstage — I went to school with them. I saw them in class every day. But when they were onstage, they were different people entirely. They were living these incredible stories, sharing their world and their experiences.

It was incredible. I was shook. I wanted to do that so badly.

For the rest of high school, theater was one of the most important things in my life. It's where I really found my own group of friends, where I felt like I belonged somewhere for the first time. And I loved it all, whether it was acting or building sets or moving pieces backstage. Everything is an act of creation, and there's so many moving parts and there's so much more going on that the audience doesn't see. And it all comes together in the end as one cohesive work of art that can make people laugh and cry and reexamine life as they know it and just wow that's so crazy beautiful.

Which brings me back to "Good Kids."

Just. Wow. I'd never actually seen a college production before, and this completely blew me away. The cast and crew did fantastic, the acting was on point, the choreographed dance during the party scene was gorgeous, the lighting design was fantastic, just overall setting the bar super high.

I'm honestly really excited for the other productions slated for this semester. "Mad Forest" which will open in November and "Marked" in December. That's not even to mention what might be coming up in the spring, like a devised piece called "Home" and "Jesus Christ Superstar" as University of Portland's biennial musical. I highly recommend checking out any one of those, or maybe all of them. Or auditioning for the spring productions, they're open to anybody!

I know for me, that whether it's being in the audience, on stage, or backstage, theater is something that I will always love and admire and hold as an important part of my life. Something that's actually saved my life, if I'm being honest, but that's another story.

No, scratch that. Theater isn't just an important part of life. Theater is life. It's an examination of it, it's life being put in front of people and saying, "this is what's going on, this is the story of how it happened, take a look and think about it and maybe feel things you never thought you could feel" and it is so beautiful.

So go ahead. Take a look.