Premium Essay

Personal Narrative: How The Theater Has Changed My Life

Submitted By
Words 1331
Pages 6
Many people have locations or events in their lives that change them and the way they live. For me, it was joining the theatre. When I was thirteen years old, I began acting and performing at Artists Collaborative Theatre in Elkhorn City. I had no idea that it would affect me the way that it has. The girl I was before joining the theatre is completely different from the young woman I have become today. Becoming a part of the theatre changed my life for the good and for the bad, giving me more confidence and social skills, but also taking time away from other activities.

In the last year before I joined the theatre, my confidence level was at the lowest it had ever been. I didn’t believe in myself or the person I wanted to become. I didn’t …show more content…
When I was in middle school, before I joined the theatre, I didn’t have many friends. The friends I did have were the only people I ever associated with, as I was too shy to speak to anyone else on my own. I wasn’t brave enough to make any new friends, so I did the same things with the same people over and over, and I tried to hide myself from others as much as possible. I recall once, when I was ten years old, a girl from my class bumped into me in the hallway. She apologized immediately and then asked who I was and what grade I was in. It was an innocent enough question in her mind. She just wanted to know some information about the student she nearly ran over next to the lockers. But I had been in the same grade as this girl since kindergarten and yet, she had no idea who I was. I kindly told her my name and that I belonged in her grade, to which her eyes widened and she replied, “Oh. I had no idea.” I was so invisible and had so few friends that people in my own class weren’t sure who I was. But, after joining the theatre, I met so many new people and made new friends. Those friends introduced me to their friends, and suddenly I was putting myself out there. I eased my way into more conversations and made friends just by talking and sharing m opinions; something I never thought was possible for me. No one in my class forgets who I am now, because …show more content…
Before I joined the theatre, I had a lot of free time on my hands. I had the freedom to join the academic team, play in the band, go out with my friends, and get all my homework done. Now, theatre takes up most of my life. I’m at the theatre more often than I am at home. I do shows consecutively, sometimes working on two and three different shows at a time, all while balancing my school work and social life. Friends have stopped asking me to accompany them to places, because they already know my response: “I’m sorry, I can’t. I have to be at the theatre tonight.” I spend all my time at the theatre, rehearsing, performing, or directing. Most of my time away from the theatre is also focused on the theatre, learning songs, memorizing lines, and blocking the latest children’s show so that it will be ready for them the next day. I have no time to go out with my friends or even focus on my homework. I do all my homework during rehearsal, other classes, or the early hours of the morning. For the first thirteen years of my life, getting enough sleep was an important step in making sure I was able to function. As I had a lot of free time, sleeping was an easy thing to accomplish. Now I sleep when I can, where I can, and never often enough. Though being at the theatre brings these negative aspects into my life, it still brings me joy every time I step into the

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Harold Prince Research Paper

... -Evaluation of the solo theatre piece and my personal reflections -Works Cited/ Bibliography The theorist, The theory, and The Contexts For the Solo Theater project I have chosen Harold Prince or rather his theory on Concept Musicals. After research on the life of Prince from his book “Contradictions” and biographies, I have learned about his major influence within the world of theater. His work producing and directing created an entire new genre of musicals. To understand this theory I had to understand the man behind it. Milton A. Prince adopted Harold Prince. Rightful upbringing led him to finish school and serve in the military After WWII in Germany. The...

Words: 1835 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

Individual: Influences of Visual Media Paper

...1941, that film was Orson Welles’s Citizen Kane. Welles produced, directed, wrote, and starred in the movie at age twenty-five, playing a newspaper magnate from a young man to old age. While the movie was not a commercial success initially (powerful newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst, whose life was the inspiration for the movie, tried to suppress it), it was critically praised for its acting, story, and directing. Citizen Kane’s dramatic camera angles, striking film noir–style lighting, nonlinear storytelling, montages, and long deep-focus shots were considered technically innovative for the era. Over time, Citizen Kane became revered as a masterpiece, and in 1997 the American Film Institute named it the Greatest American Movie of All Time. “Citizen Kane is more than a great movie; it is a gathering of all the lessons of the emerging era of sound,” film critic Roger Ebert wrote.1 CHAPTER 6 ○ MOVIES 185 (c) Bedford/St. Martin's bedfordstmartins.com 1-457-62096-0 / 978-1-457-62096-6 MOVIES A generation later, the space epic Star Wars (1977) changed the culture of the movie industry. Star Wars, produced, written, and directed by George Lucas, departed from the personal filmmaking of the early 1970s and spawned a blockbuster mentality that formed a new primary audience for Hollywood— teenagers. It had all of the now–typical blockbuster characteristics like massive promotion and lucrative merchandising...

Words: 19373 - Pages: 78

Premium Essay

Hitchcock vs Kubrick

...important for them to be considered auteurs. In my topic I will be arguing that Hitchcock and Kubrick were both Auteurs, but couldn't every director be an auteur isn't the definition of an Auteur a film director who is considered the primary creative force in the picture. Why are Hitchcock and Kubrick so special I am going to argue that they are great auteurs, how I'm going to do this is by viewing two hitchcock movies and two Kubrick movies and compare them to movies I have recently watched in the movie theaters. The two Hitchcock films I'll review watching are vertigo and to catch a thief . I choose these films because vertigo is the very first Alfred Hitchcock movie I watched and it was very interesting to watch such an old movie that was so entertaining. The way Hitchcock used the music and the way he is able to build the suspense and keep the suspense going even when without the music made it very shocking to me. And then in to catch a thief how Hitchcock was able to put an ordinary man in such bizarre events made it fun to watch. Two movies I have chosen for Stanley Kubrick are the shining and 2001 a space Odyssey. I choose the shining because it is the first scary movie I have ever watched I have watched it 2 to 3 years ago with my family and I haven't watched a scary one since the way Kubrick was able to use the Instruments to produce the suspense and thriller behind every door,made it a very memorable movie to watch. In the theaters I've recently watch Captain America 2, Dawn...

Words: 1284 - Pages: 6

Free Essay

The Illusion of Leadership

...portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6-10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2008 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN-13: 978–0–230–20199–6 ISBN-10: 0–230–20199–7 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue...

Words: 68096 - Pages: 273

Premium Essay

Literature

...stories and novels are concepts that first came to my mind when I think in the question “What is literature?” The definition of literature has change over time. The only thing that is certain about the meaning of literature is that the definition will change. The concepts about what is literature about also change over time. In order to get a clear understanding of exactly what literature is, first we need to know its definition. According to the Merriam-Webster, literature is defined by “the body of written works produced in a particular language, country, or age; the body of writings on a particular subject: printed matter.”  Literature has to do with letters, but some people often think that literature is only one thing, not knowing that it is composed by several elements that we use every day. These important elements include poems, prose, sonnets, drama, plays, short stories and novels. Poetry is created from the soul. It comes from your emotions and it needs every piece of creativity inside you. It has been called the art of “saying the unsayable” because trough this you can express your feelings with no limit, and nobody can tell you that is wrong. If you make a poem and you think it is not good enough, well it is no good. You as the author or the reader, can only judge if it is good or but for you but maybe for some one else it is the opposite as it is for you. A good place to start when looking back at how poetry has evolved during time is the epic poetry. Most...

Words: 4267 - Pages: 18

Premium Essay

Film Essay

...“Someone should write a film version of Harold Bloom’s The Western Canon,” a writer from The Independent suggested, and “the person who should write it,” he said, looking at me, “is you.” I looked to Walter, who replied, “If you write it, I’ll publish it.” And the die was cast. Faber offered a contract, and I set to work. Following the Bloom model I decided it should be an elitist canon, not populist, raising the bar so high that only a handful of films would pass over. I proceeded to compile a list of essential films, attempting, as best I could, to separate personal favorites from those movies that artistically defined film history. Compiling was the easy part—then came the first dilemma: why was I selecting these films? What were my criteria? What is a canon? It is, by definition, based on criteria that transcend taste, personal and popular. The more I pondered this, the more I realized how ignorant I was. How could I formulate a film...

Words: 11026 - Pages: 45

Free Essay

Jeje

...much, for us to label art “good” or “bad,” or maybe that feels too restrictive. That’s fine, I suppose; I don’t want to impose my artistic standards on someone else, nor would I appreciate having it the other way around. But what is not okay is calling something “art” when it’s not — when it is, in fact, something else. Art versus entertainment My friend Stephen pointed out recently, quoting Makoto Fujimura I think, that the difference between art and entertainment is subtle, but important: Entertainment gives you a predictable pleasure… Art leads to transformation. If that’s true, then we may have a problem, because what a lot of people call “art” isn’t changing us. At best, it’s entertaining us, dulling our senses and inebriating us to the realities of the world. Which is not the point. Art is supposed to transform: * It surprises. * It wounds. * It changes. Entertainment makes us feel good. It doesn’t surprise us; it meets our expectations. And that’s why we like entertainment: it coddles us. But the problem with entertainment is it leaves us unchanged. And we so desperately need to be changed, whether we realize it or not. Art, on the other hand, transforms us. How? It wounds us — breaks our hearts, causes us to cry, and reveals our own inadequacies. Art forces us to make a choice. It does exactly what we don’t expect, and that’s how it changes us. So the question, dear artist, is: Are you creating predictable work that...

Words: 3683 - Pages: 15

Premium Essay

Book Review of Onward

...Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life without Losing Its Soul. Howard Schultz with Joanne Gordon. New York: Rodale, Inc., 2011. 331 pages. Reviewed by Onward is a book written by Starbucks ceo Howard Schultz (the company uses lower case for all job titles) about how the company recalibrated itself after getting too big, too fast. The reason I chose to read and review this book is because I am a coffee addict. Ironically, I am not a fan of Starbucks. I’ve always felt that their coffee is a bit overpriced and just very dramatic for my liking. However, I’ve always been intrigued by the store’s ambiance. I admit that I’ve visited a number of stores with friends to play catch up over a cup of coffee and I did feel warm, cozy, and welcomed. I wondered to myself, how does this company do it? How do they provide their customers with this “third place” feeling? As Schultz mentions early in the book, if home is a person’s “first place” to connect with others, and work is a person’s “second place” to connect with others, then a public place such as a coffeehouse- such as Starbucks- is what he refers to be a person’s “third place”. Onward is the chronicle of a ceo’s mission to revive, reinvigorate, and reinvent a company without losing the essence of what the company was originally built on. Schultz was born and raised in the poor projects of Brooklyn, New York. Upon finishing College, he accepted a job offer in Seattle as head of marketing for a small coffee company...

Words: 1452 - Pages: 6

Free Essay

Research Paper

...Institute. Inquiries: Postal address: Institute of Social Studies P.O. Box 29776 2502 LT The Hague The Netherlands Kortenaerkade 12 2518 AX The Hague The Netherlands +31 70 426 0460 +31 70 426 0799 Location: Telephone: Fax: ii Contents Acknowledgments List of Figures List of Acronyms Abstract Key Words Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 The Filipino Youth and Media in Recent Philippine History The Marcos Regime: Youth in the Streets The 1986 People Power: The Culmination of Protests The Post-1986 Youth: Disengaged or Disillusioned? People Power II: The Rise of GenTxt Postscript 2001: ‘People Power Fatigue?’ Media and Technology: Expanding Youth Spaces 1.2 Research Objectives and Questions 1.3 Case Studies Philippine Educational Theater Organization (PETA) Dakila RockEd Philippines 1.5 Methodology 1.6 Scope and Limitations of the Study Chapter 2 Analytical Framework 2.1 Youth, Citizenship and Popular Culture Conceptualizing Youth and Generation Democractic Participation and Citizenship Popular Culture: Arts, Media and the Youth Chapter 3 Art against Apathy, Media for...

Words: 25337 - Pages: 102

Premium Essay

A Call for Further Research: Afro-Chinese Marriages in 20th Century Cuba

...married in 19th century Cuba both romantically and strategically. I argue that there needs to be further research around Afro-Chinese marriages in Cuba and a recentering on women. I had originally planned to center this paper around African slave women who married Chinese men in Cuba in the 19th century but was not able to because of the lack of literature available. However, I aim to focus on a reading against the grain for indications of women’s agency and voice in this set of literature. My personal stakes in this topic are two-fold. First, my mother’s side of my family lived in Cuba for a few decades from the late 1920s to 1960 as a part of an entrepreneurial endeavor and as refuge from persecution from the Communist Party of China. Because of my personal tie to Chinese in Cuba, I seek to uncover untold stories and hidden transcripts. Second, this paper is a part of a larger project on Chinese in Cuba in the 20th century, specifically looking at race and the transition to socialism. My specific interventions in this topic is a rereading of the secondary sources written about Afro-Chinese marriages for resistance and erasures with a feminist and diaspora lens. For this paper, I will not be using the term “Coolie” or “Coolieism” as a form of resistance to the violence...

Words: 3789 - Pages: 16

Free Essay

Art and Story Proceedings 2004

...Arts and the Education of Artists: Art and Story CONTENTS SECTION ONE: Marcel’s Studio Visit with Elstir……………………………………………………….. David Carrier SECTION TWO: Film and Video Narrative Brief Narrative on Film-The Case of John Updike……………………………………. Thomas P. Adler With a Pen of Light …………………………………………………………………… Michael Fink Media and the Message: Does Media Shape or Serve the Story: Visual Storytelling and New Media ……………………………………………………. June Bisantz Evans Visual Literacy: The Language of Cultural Signifiers…………………………………. Tammy Knipp SECTION THREE: Narrative and Fine Art Beyond Illustration: Visual Narrative Strategies in Picasso’s Celestina Prints………… Susan J. Baker and William Novak Narrative, Allegory, and Commentary in Emil Nolde’s Legend: St. Mary of Egypt…… William B. Sieger A Narrative of Belonging: The Art of Beauford Delaney and Glenn Ligon…………… Catherine St. John Art and Narrative Under the Third Reich ……………………………………………… Ashley Labrie 28 15 1 22 25 27 36 43 51 Hopper Stories in an Imaginary Museum……………………………………………. Joseph Stanton SECTION FOUR: Photography and Narrative Black & White: Two Worlds/Two Distinct Stories……………………………………….. Elaine A. King Relinquishing His Own Story: Abandonment and Appropriation in the Edward Weston Narrative………………………………………………………………………….. David Peeler Narrative Stretegies in the Worlds of Jean Le Gac and Sophe Calle…………………….. Stefanie Rentsch SECTION FIVE: Memory Does The History of Western Art Tell a Grand Story?……………………………………...

Words: 117240 - Pages: 469

Premium Essay

Narrative

...Narrative A narrative is a sequence of events that a narrator tells in story form. A narrator is a storyteller of any kind, whether the authorial voice in a novel or a friend telling you about last night’s party. Point of View The point of view is the perspective that a narrative takes toward the events it describes. First-person narration: A narrative in which the narrator tells the story from his/her own point of view and refers to him/herself as “I.” The narrator may be an active participant in the story or just an observer. When the point of view represented is specifically the author’s, and not a fictional narrator’s, the story is autobiographical and may be nonfictional (see Common Literary Forms and Genres below). Third-person narration: The narrator remains outside the story and describes the characters in the story using proper names and the third-person pronouns “he,” “she,” “it,” and “they.” • Omniscient narration: The narrator knows all of the actions, feelings, and motivations of all of the characters. For example, the narrator of Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina seems to know everything about all the characters and events in the story. • Limited omniscient narration: The narrator knows the actions, feelings, and motivations of only one or a handful of characters. For example, the narrator of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland has full knowledge of only Alice. • Free indirect discourse: The narrator conveys a character’s inner thoughts...

Words: 12257 - Pages: 50

Free Essay

Once Upon a Time

...other than private study, scholarship, or research." If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of "fair use," that user may be liable for copyright infringement. CHAPTER ONE Once There was a Time An Introduction to the History and Ideology of Folk'and Fairy Tales To begin with a true story told in fairy-tale manner: Once upon a time the famous physicist Albert Einstein was confronted by an overly concemed woman who sought advice on how to raise her small son to become a successful scientist. In particular she wanted to know what kinds ofbooks she sll ould read to her son. "Fairy tales," Einstein responded without. hesitation. "Fine, but what else should I read to him after that?" the mother asked. "More fairy tales, "Einstein stated. "And after that?" "Even more fairy tales. " replied the great scientist, and he waved his pipe like a wizard pronouncing a happy end to a long adventure. It now seems that the entire world has been following Einstein's advice. By 1979 a German literary critic could declare that fairy tales are "fantastically in."\ In fact, everywhere one turns today fairy tales and fairy-tale motifs pop up like magic. Bookshops are flooded with . fairy tales by J.R.R. Tolkien, Hermann Hesse, the Grimm Brothers, Charles Perrault, Hans Christian Andersen, a myriad of folk-tale adaptations, feminist and fractured fairy tales, and scores of sumptuously illustrated fantasy...

Words: 8338 - Pages: 34

Free Essay

Humanities

...MODULE 1: INTRODUCTION This module provides an overview on the subject of art appreciation for those entirely new to the subject. This is a complex topic to deal with and it is impossible to have a truly comprehensive discussion on the topic in such a brief essay. The student is advised to consult more advanced texts to gain further understanding of how to appreciate art more fully. HUMANITIES: What is it? • The term Humanities comes from the Latin word, “humanitas” • It generally refers to art, literature, music, architecture, dance and the theatre—in which human subjectivity is emphasized and individual expressiveness is dramatized. HOW IMPORTANT IS HUMANITIES • The fields of knowledge and study falling under humanities are dedicated to the pursuit of discovering and understanding the nature of man. • The humanities deal with man as a being of purpose, of values, loves, hates, ideas and sometimes as seer or prophet with divine inspiration. • The humanities aim at educating. THE ARTS: What is it? • The word “art” usually refers to the so-called “fine arts” (e.g. pictorial, plastic, and building)– and to the so-called “minor arts” (everyday, useful, applied, and decorative arts) • The word “art” is derived from arti, which denotes craftsmanship, skill, mastery of form, inventiveness. • Art serves as a technical and creative record of human needs and achievements. The word 'art' is often used in our daily lives. However, when...

Words: 11870 - Pages: 48

Free Essay

From Sensation Through Perception to Reflection

...coming to my ears - the sighs and low prayers of awakening aged fathers and mothers, the moving feet on slippers, the disturbing sounds of opening and closing windows and doors, ONs and OFFs of the light-switches, the sound of nagging deeply inspired by your style of writing, I badly desired to make this day ‘A Day to Remember’, giving you a bigger challenge of creating simplicity out of complexity. To be frank I did not hate your approach of telling us a number of coincidental stories and portraying perception with your personal experiences and encounters. So our today’s dialogue is to investigate if Sensation is truly the root for our conscious learning. And you should go-bring-bread for breakfast from the nearby shops, the usual drones of cars moving by the main street, the to do this, happily I will take the podium on the remotely ringing bells – which I wished stage and you take the audiences’ seat. they were not school bells, the clucking of hens, the bark of the distant dogs and Mr. W: A challenge! I am glad that you come up with this ‘challenge’, actually I prefer to call this all seemed to be an alarm to my ears. an opportunity, opportunity to better articulate My being deep asleep by that moment showed how much exhausted I was on municate and collaborate with the wider comthe previous day and my late sleep- munity of readers and writers. I would not hate ing hours had also contributed to this. to accompany my rivers of articles with pleasantJumping out of my bed, I immediately...

Words: 1983 - Pages: 8