There are endless clubs and teams to choose from nowadays when it comes to extracurricular activities. There’s soccer, tennis, track, volleyball, and many more options to choose from, but have you ever considered auditioning for a show or joining a drama club?
You may think it’s lame or a waste of your time, but I can guarantee that if you give it a try, your perspective of theater will change. Coming from personal experience, I know what it feels like to become a part of such a life changing opportunity.
A lot of people think of the boring Shakespearean plays when they think of theater and drama, but I can assure you it’s not just that. Theater can be comedic, dramatic, tear-jerking, and heart warming. There are musicals, straight plays and one-acts that touch upon anything you can imagine.
Starting off when I was six, I auditioned and performed in my first show, “Children of Eden.” My mom had to literally push me onto the stage to get me to audition, but once I got up on there, all of my fears went away and I felt at home. Ever since then, performing up on stage has been my life. From the first rehearsal to the final performance, I get a different experience every time I enter the back door to the theater and begin to go over my lines.
The background conversations of “Can you teach me what I missed for scene 7?” Or “and a 5…6…7..8..,” may get overbearing when you are trying to go over your own material, but when you get used to it, It becomes a familiar music to your ears.
Theater is not like a sports game where everyone is competing against one another. You meet new people of all different ages, races, and personalities and you get to know each other so well over the two-month rehearsal process. Anyone can be in a show, no matter how talented. Even the best performers on Broadway and TV started out doing community theater and had to learn everything they know today by experience.
Participating in theater also has some academic benefits. Studies compiled by the American Alliance for Theatre and Education show that participation in theater education teaches children goal setting, stress management, social skills, empathy and teamwork, and it improves SAT scores.
LHS’s drama club is a great place to start out with if you are interested in just the acting portion of theater. However, if you want to combine your talent of singing or dancing with acting, you might want to branch out to different clubs or take some voice or dance lessons after school. I think that if the drama club incorporated some form of vocal or movement classes, then more people will be interested. It may get students to open up and find talents they didn’t even know they had. If you think you may have a thing for theater, try it.
