Front Flips and Frustration January 31, 2013

       I was about ten years old when my father bought our family a trampoline. My sister and I would spend hours outside having competitions on who could jump the highest. Once she even bounced so high that she almost fell off. The trampoline was a great place for jumping, but it wasn’t until our babysitter showed the two of us a front flip that we ever considered doing anything else on it.

            Learning how to do a front flip on the trampoline is the first real obstacle I remember vividly trying to overcome. After our babysitter showed us the front flip I was determined to learn how to do one as well. I remember spending all of my free time outside on that trampoline; practicing for hours and hours until my mom made me come inside because it was dark out. A week and a half had gone by and I still hadn’t mastered the front flip yet, and I was mad. I wanted to give up and quit, but there was this little voice inside my head (that sounded suspiciously like my mom) that kept telling me, “Just give it one more try”. So I did.

            The next day I came home from school, finished my homework, and headed straight for the trampoline. Jumping as hard as I could I bent my knees, shut my eyes, and threw myself into a semi-circle. The next thing I remember is landing on my bottom, and opening my eyes to see my mom standing at the back door. She was smiling at me, and I heard her say, “I knew you could do it”. After I heard her say that, it finally sunk in that I had done it. I had completed my first ever successful front flip.

            This may seem like a small accomplishment, but it taught me that I should never give up on what I want and neither should you.

If you fail, do not dwell. January 27, 2013

Failure is an option, but never a final answer.

          Failure is a part of life. At least that is what everybody says. The truth is that no one likes to fail. Over time the concept may become easier to accept, but the feeling of the impact that failure has on us never does.

            I HATE failing. I always have, and I always will. But I don’t let it stop me. It is part of life, and when working in the theatre it happens often. The word “failure” takes on a softer meaning when you put it to use in the theatre. It becomes a concept of “trial and error”. With acting you cannot be afraid to take a risk while developing your character. Sure, it may not work, but at least you tried. I am fairly new to acting, so the idea of putting myself out in the open for others to judge still frightens me. Luckily with the last play I was in being reserved wasn’t an option. My director forced all of us to step up and take big risks. I’m thankful that she did. It made the play better, and I feel more secure in what I do while acting.

            Failing is never easy nor is it fun. If you do fail, don’t dwell. Pick yourself back up, and try again because the only one who is going to stop you from succeeding is yourself. There is always another route to success. You just have to be willing to find it.

Courage, Commitment, and Trust January 25, 2013

Each person in this world is unique, and no one ever interprets an idea or concept the same way. When it comes to acting, actors will interpret their characters in different ways. It doesn’t matter whether or not it is a bunch of actors or just three each character will be unique, and this is the way it should be because it makes the play more interesting. Yet developing a character that comes off as developed and interesting is harder than it seems. It means opening yourself up to things you may not be comfortable with at first. I had first-hand experience with this concept when I acted in my first “real” play at the start of freshman year.

In the play I was supposed to play a part of the swamp, but the objective wasn’t to blend in. We had to walk, sound, and even think like a swamp would. At the beginning of rehearsals I was nowhere near comfortable enough to open myself up and possibly make myself look like a fool in front of strangers. As we had more rehearsals I began to trust my fellow swamp people, and soon I was able to open myself up and experiment with how a swamp person would act.

The point is that it is never easy to dive headfirst into new experiences. It takes trust and commitment, and through those principles you can achieve anything.

Believe in your Abilities January 18, 2013

Having confidence in the theatre can be hard. It always seems that there are better actors, better musicians, more creative stage designers, or parts of the crew that have everything figured out quicker than you do. In the theatre, if you make a mistake it is more likely to affect everyone rather than only yourself. If you do make a mistake it is important to remember that everyone makes mistakes. I know I did when I first started out, and still do. The important part to remember is to learn from the mistake, and move on. If you keep dwelling on it, then you are more likely to make even bigger ones the next time. It will also eat away at your confidence.

 In order to have confidence in the theatre, you must be open to learning new things. Never overestimate your abilities because there is always more you could be learning to improve your skills. I have been acting for four years now, and I still love it when the upperclassmen share their comments and ideas on how I could improve my performance.

 Another way to gain confidence is to believe in your abilities. I used to have a bad habit of needing someone else to say that I had done a good job in order for me to believe that I had, in fact done a good job. It was not until this year that I realized that I did not need anyone else to validate my performance for me to feel that I had put on the best show I could have. Yet it is always nice to have someone compliment you on a job well done.

 It does not matter whether you are on stage every night or a part of the crew, a theatre person has to have confidence. If you go to a performance of any kind please be careful of your criticisms. Those of you involved with the performance believe in your talents and abilities to put on a magnificent show.