You take those first steps onto a stage, feel the heat from the lights on your skin, and find yourself dropped into a scene about unfolding relationships. Are the characters on stage friends? Family? Adversaries? How do these characters go on a journey together? I experienced it this summer in a performance of All Shook Up The Musical. I experienced it in school productions. It is always a bit different, but it is exciting and thrilling every time. I enjoy learning about how I react to these feelings and what it brings to my performance on that day. For this reason, I have chosen to pursue a career in the theatre. The stories being told on a stage can affect an audience in more ways than one, through a humorous comedy or moving them to tears. Having opportunities to perform means that, as the ones telling the stories, we get to come together as a community to tell those amazing stories through art. I love having a variety of opportunities to perform because it provides a way for me to express myself and connect with cohorts of similar interests. The aspect of community in theatre is an organic experience where it brings the audience from all walks of life together as they are told a story through acting, singing, and dancing. Plus, the community built within a cast leads to lifelong friendships. Through the formation of camaraderie amongst a cast, performers are allowed to become vulnerable around one another, leading to more sincere and real performances by those actors. Having connections with your castmates can lead to a “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” situation, where you discover that a new fellow castmate has performed with a different former castmate, thus expanding my universe. These connections could go all the way up to the Broadway level, and forming connections not only with castmates but directors and artistic staff could reap major rewards in your future. Another benefit of performing as characters means you can drop yourself into a new person for the time being, forget about the stress of the real world, and just have fun. Unless, of course, the character and show you are in necessitates leveraging those stresses. The stage is an actors playground, and having opportunities to dive into a new world provides a revised outlook on the real world. I am excited to explore the craft of performance to continue to learn more about myself as a part of the theatre and the world around us.