My Highschool Experience

The first thing that your counselors tell you in that introductory assembly in high school is "Get involved. In anything!" I never really paid much attention, being too excited with actually being in a high school to soak in the words of someone I didn't know, but subconsciously I took it to heart when I signed up for the Drama Club. And I can't imagine my life any different.

Being involved in Drama is an experience that has transformed me, in ways that will serve me the rest of my life. I can now recite entire scripts off the top of my head, know the voltage required of an 36 Lyco light and hang a thirty pound light up a seven meter ladder with ease!

I joined the Drama Club in my grade nine year, not quite sure what it was all about, but interested and eager to learn. Junior members are assigned small roles, and I was publicity crew for my first production. In essence, I had to convince people to attend the show, sell and collect tickets, and make the posters. That was fine, but opening night, when the curtains opened and I saw the performance, I knew what I wanted. I wanted to be in the play, not selling tickets, I knew I should be on stage, saying those lines and dying tragic yet dramatic deaths.

The next year I got my wish. I was cast in multiple roles in our production of Arrivals and Departures, a Canadian comedy, showing how people's lives can collide, when they are delayed in an airport. My main role was that of a mistress, who calls her boyfriend, (a married man), and tries to convince him to leave his wife. This was a bit intimidating for me. Firstly because it was a role that was obviously out of character for me, and also because it was my first time on stage. To make matters worse I had a fifteen minute monologue! With no one else on stage! I didn't think I could do it, with two hundred people watching! What if I forgot my lines? But when the moment came, I did it-and it was exhilarating!! The opening night was like nothing I had ever experienced before, silence of the theater, the blinding lights and the roar of the audience as the lights came down. It was an amazing experience. After our production run was over, I just couldn't wait for our next production. It was an addiction for me.

The next show we ran was the Canterbury Tales, another show in which I had multiple roles. It was such a challenge, trying to distinguish one character from another, giving each his/her own personality, and little quirks that made each character come alive on stage. This was the production with the biggest cast we'd ever had. There were over 20 actors, and we never left the stage! Being with all those other people on stage, just feeding off one another's energy, was a totally different experience. It was also a challenge, with so many characters on stage, trying to make yours stand out without upstaging or overshadowing the other actors. This was a show to be remembered, and once again I felt the surge of adrenaline as the lights came up, but as with all shows, the run must end at some point.

I was just counting down the days until our next show, and I remember the casting meeting one Friday: I was all ready to read my script and start the character boiling process all over, and then I found out. I wasn't to be cast in the upcoming production. Instead, I was going to be part of the technical crew. It was a small one act production, that was to be very abstract, with actors wearing all black, and no set changes. The only thing distinguishing the changes in the scene, or characters were the actors themselves and the lightning. I have never been so disappointed in my life. It was all I could do to stop myself from bursting out in tears right then and

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