I have always wondered whether or not I would be good at theater. The answer? Probably not. While I can sing loudly and I am really good with instruments, I always found that being in front of people can be a bit intimidating, and it’s such a competitive field — why step outside of my comfort zone to try it? I never really understood theater until I was introduced to it last semester when I was asked to join the student run created musical "Heart on Fire" as a sound designer and mic technician.
I have always been a sports person; that was until this past October when I decided to leave for educational purposes. Leaving the Saint Mary's softball team last fall was detrimental. I lost all hope and started to hide. I could never figure out what to do, how to relate to others and overall how to fill all the extra time. I was not quite sure if this job as a sound designer was for me, but I thought I would apply and see how it went. Guess I’ll give it a shot, can’t hurt right? I was qualified for it.
One … two … three months — nothing.
Well, I tried, and I was upset up until three days before Christmas break. I got an email back from the director asking me to join the team. I was still worried. I didn’t know anything about theater. I don’t know how things work or the language that is used. That was until someone described it to me: “theater is like a contact sport, it never stops going.”
Still a bit confused by the sports analogy and still convinced I was going to hate this job, I went to the first crew meeting. It was intimidating to say the least. I was still heavily convinced that I was not meant to be in the theater. I wasn’t graceful or anything. I can sing but that’s pretty much it.
A few weeks went by. I designed sounds for the show such as the city sounds of the beautiful city of LA, a building falling, you get the gist. I just still felt awkward, almost like I was not supposed to be there. But that is when I got the new opportunity to be a mic technician.
What does that mean? I didn’t really know either until I started doing my job. It ranged from replacing batteries in seconds, running up and down the halls making sure actors mics were on correctly, making sure the wires on the mics were not seen and more. Lots of tech stuff. Something I never thought I would be doing. Safe to say, after experiencing all of that and being able to be with the team, it was a lot of fun and I slowly saw myself falling in love with the theater.
All of the sudden, by the end of all the performances in February, I felt this rush of adrenaline. I felt like yeah, this was kind of like a “contact sport.” You never stop moving and you always keep going and keep rehearsing and rehearsing. The biggest thing that I enjoyed about all of this was before the rehearsals when the cast and the crew would sit in the theater and just sing, laugh and tell jokes. To me that was truly something special, sweet and heartwarming. Another fun thing about theater is that there is always room for improvement and that has always been something that is key to me in anything that I do. Thanks to this wonderful cast and crew, I have now auditioned for two more shows.
Overall, if you have an opportunity to try something new, even if you think you will hate it and it won’t work for you at all, do it. It is ok to be scared or nervous — I was. Take that opportunity. Especially if it is in theater. It is one of the most fun and electric environments you are ever going to be in. Even if you end up hating it, you’ll have tried it and you’ll know.
