Everyone should, at one point in their life, know what it is to be a thespian. What is a thespian you might ask? A thespian is a disciple of the stage; a true performer who works to perfect their craft. A definition you might be more familiar with is ‘theater kid’, but we are so much more than that. We go on to become lawyers, educators, and world leaders.
In my senior year of high school, I was elected president of my school’s chapter of the International Thespian Society. When my college friends and I compared extracurriculars that we had participated in during high school and I brought up the thespians, many of them were confused. And rightfully so to be quite honest. We were a club that people who were interested in theater knew about and not many others knew us. This provided both the comfort of familiarity and created the wanting to be recognized by other organizations. We hosted and attended several theater workshops that helped us hone our acting skills. Within these workshops, we were forced to make ourselves open to criticism and possible embarrassment while performing for a group of fellow students we had never met before. It took me a while to feel comfortable being my authentic-performance self for these workshops. I was afraid of what others might think if I read the dialogue in a different way or if I was too loud or too soft when delivering my lines. The level of confidence that can be gained from these experiences is unmatched. Making mistakes in a setting where mistakes are meant to be made allows for the performer to grow. I once had a teacher that told my class to always answer a question especially if we thought we were wrong; because once we hear the right answer, we will never make that mistake again. I believe the same can be said for performance: once you’ve felt the awkwardness of lagging in a scene because you do not know your lines, you will never not know your lines again. Or even apart from the stage: receiving a less than desirable grade for a presentation that you “winged” will more than likely encourage you to prepare more the next time. The longer I participated and continued to make myself comfortable with the spotlight, the more I began to enjoy not only my theatrical performances, but anything that had to do with presenting in front of a group of people.
There are few words I can use to describe the feeling of when you know you’ve captivated an audience. They are hanging on every word you say, just waiting to hear what is next. That feeling of power and complete control over whether the audience is going to laugh, cry, or both, is one of the best in the world.