When I was thirteen years old, I saw my first Broadway show. Kinky Boots, an astounding show with an incredible story and an even better soundtrack. The show was fun for me because I was just starting to get into my love for the drag culture, and it was even more fun because I was experiencing it with one of my best friends. She was an experienced theater-goer and this wasn't her first rodeo, but it sure was mine.
It was a crazy experience. You know that feeling you get when you walk into Disney World and you see Main Street USA? Or when you watch a crazy cool firework display on the Fourth of July? Yeah, that's exactly how I felt. Wide-eyed, unable to contain my toothy grin. I was a proper Carol Channing while watching that performance of Sex Is In the Heel.
I sat there in my seat during the performance, and I just felt something. A yearning and a beckoning. These people were on stage right in front of me! I felt like I was a part of something big and grand and miraculous. I cried with the characters and I laughed, and it was safe to say that the actors had done their jobs. I left the Fox and I downloaded the soundtrack, but I still wanted more!
I have always loved musicals and musical theatre. But I had only ever seen movies. Only ever listened to soundtracks via my iPhone. I only had watered down interpretations of what this was actually like. It was rather safe to say that I WANTED THAT. I wanted to be a part of that! I had this calling and it was ringing in the back of my measureless mind. And it grew even louder through Tony award shows and through Hamilton, and through all of the Broadway Review shows that I had performed in at my dance studio. (Oh, and that one time we did Hairspray. I'm still in love with that.)
So, I finally auditioned for a show at the beginning of August. I wore a white t-shirt and a denim skirt and red lipstick, because one of my dance teachers once told me that red was good for an audition. It's eye catching! And that's what I was going for.
I. Was. So. Nervous.
I read for the character of God (Yeah, you heard me right) and I tried to make the blurb about the Virgin Mary as funny as possible. And it must've worked, because I was cast in the show, An Act Of God. I really could not believe it! The day that I found out, it was raining, but nothing could rain on my parade. It was a good, good day. My first audition, my first show. Every other time that I had been on stage, I had been dancing. This would be my first time with actual lines and I was so ecstatic.
To make things much cheesier and much more High School Musical, it was the start of something new. I was in rehearsals almost every night of the week. I was learning and having fun with this new group of people that I got to call my friends. The theater was a new safe space and safe haven for me; another place to express myself and another place to learn and grow. I felt my plans for the future start to change.
I'm the kind of person that falls in love so fast. And that is exactly what happened with the theatre. I just wanted to be there everyday! It was a longing that I hadn't felt since I had started ballet classes in Kindergarten. I didn't think anything could even try to compare to my love for dance, but yet there we were.
An Act Of God was my first show. I got to be back stage with one of my fast-growing best friends, Hunter. On opening night, my knees were shaking and I thought that I was definitely going to throw up the Monster energy drink that I had downed just before. But I forbore. I got a "Love you, good luck" hug from Hunter, who was playing God that evening. I got a bouquet of flowers and a pack of Reese's from sweet fourteen year old Addy, who was the second cast's God. People in the audience laughed. They laughed! I think that was the most fun of it all. To know that as a cast, you could provoke a reaction. Any kind of reaction. It was so much fun.
Love you, Good Luck.There are so many good things about that show. It made me realize how much I love the Theatre. How much I want to be apart of it. How much it has impacted my life in such a short amount of time. It's brought new opportunities and people and friendships. And I will forever be grateful for that calling.
XOXO
