Throughout the last few months, I have been digging my heels into community theatre and the work that goes into each and every production put on. This is something that I have cared deeply about for most of my life, and something that is therapeutic for me as an adult. When everything is stressful and you’re completely burnt out, there is nothing like escaping into a rehearsal for an hour and becoming somebody else. It is incredibly beautiful and exciting to find new ways to portray familiar characters and ideas. Between creating a show from the ground up yourself, or being involved in any capacity, theatre can soothe the soul and ease the mind. Over the course of this project, I have learned many things that I did not previously know about this process. Between the licensing and producing process, to directing and acting, all the way to the technical aspect of each show, there is something that could make just about anyone comfortable enough to engage with theatre.
During this process, I have spent a lot of time reminiscing my experience with the upcoming show Cabaret, in which I will be playing the character or Ernst Ludwig. During this time, I have taken notes and captured moments of real people engaging in a way that is collaborative, multi-generational and equal minded. It was through this experience that much of my knowledge was expanded and I hope to feel that same way about future shows. The more I can learn about the overall process, the closer I will come to my dream of potentially directing a large-scale musical in the future.
Now that the school semester is over, I will continue to educate and inform myself about these processes, for example, the Saturday after the semester has been completed, I will be heading down to a worker space to help a construction crew put together the set for Cabaret. If this process had occurred earlier, it is perhaps something I could have explored via this blog, and honestly, I still might. With just a month left before the curtain is raised, the cast and crew of Cabaret are hustling and bustling. The initial groundwork has been laid for each scene and all that needs to be done now, from an actor’s point of view, is fine tuning the little moments of emotion and perfecting each character. I am so thrilled and excited to be a part of something so incredible, especially in our little town. It goes to show you that if art does not exist in your vicinity, you can either complain about the lack of culture or cultivate that culture yourself.
