Blinded by nauseatingly bright houselights, I restlessly awaited the dropping of the curtain. When it finally fell, submerging the small wooden stage in pure darkness, I let out a sigh of relief. I felt all the negative tension float off into the distance, leaving me feeling content and at ease. I had survived. I had been able to hold on through years of miserable school theater experiences that only eroded my confidence. Years of feeling dejected. Years of being a songbird trapped in a cage, wings fastened and feet bound, singing, but not being heard.
When I was in elementary school, I was ecstatic to hear about the …show more content…
Apparently, going somewhere new doesn’t magically make someone an entirely different person. I was still quiet. I didn’t transform into the super confident and outgoing girl that I was just dying to be. I thought that my chances of ever having a part in a school production were completely obliterated. The directors at this new school would discover that I was quieter and shyer and never give me a role in anything. I believed that I was always going to be trapped in a cage.
However, when the head director noticed that I was on the quieter side while I was taking her Performing Arts class, she did not imprison me inside of that word. In fact, she gave me an equal shot at getting a role during auditions for that year’s musical. I ended up in the ensemble, but I knew that I had been given a fair chance. And when auditions for the school’s show choir rolled along, I was chosen to be a singing soloist. During the rehearsals, one of the directors told me that they were aware of my quieter nature and my nerves about being on the stage, but that they had faith in me and that they were going to gradually build me up so that I could get comfortable with the stage and then eventually get bigger