Me as a Performer


Most of my theater experience has been through middle school and high school musicals. I have had a lot of experience singing, dancing and acting throughout the five shows I have been a part of. These shows were Mary Poppins, Into the Woods, Beauty and the Beast, Les Miserables, and Footloose. The only other theater experience I have is from the Dramatic Arts elective that I took as a freshman. During this class I learned a lot about becoming a character, choosing the right blocking, and reacting to others on stage. I want to continue to develop these skills and more throughout IB theater. 
I like a lot of things about theater but what I like the most is becoming another person entirely when I am on stage. I think that it is fun to transform myself and behave in ways/do things that I wouldn’t normally do. I also enjoy collaborating with others on scenes and reacting to what they do or say. My favorite genre of theater to do this with is comedy. I like going on stage and trying to make the audience laugh. I also enjoy watching theater and using adapting what I learned to my performances.
The aspect of theater I find most challenging is memorizing lines. It is especially hard for me to remember what to say next when I am reciting a monologue because I don’t have anyone that I can react to. Even memorizing lines for a conversation with another person is challenging for me. This is definitely something I need to work on for the next two years of IB theater. Another element of theater that is hard for me is acting out serious pieces. I find it challenging to stay in character during a serious or melodramatic scene and I would prefer to do a comedy instead. During the Dramatic Arts class my final project was a serious monologue which challenged me a lot with both memorization and staying in character. I would like to keep challenging myself with pieces like this during IB theater.
I am interested in becoming a better performer. I want to do this by working on embodying a character and being more authentic when I am on stage. I would also like to learn more about collaborating with others on stage and how I can make my partners look better. I am interested in learning more about famous works of theater and what made them so good so that I can apply that to my performances. 
There are a lot of things I would like to improve on this year. First, I want to perform a serious monologue so I can work on memorization and staying in character. Also, I would like to work on embodying a character so my acting is authentic. Another goal I have is to start working on memorization of theater pieces early so I can focus more on acting/blocking. My last goal is to improve on doing comedic pieces, this is one of my strengths and I would like to continue to work on it. 

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