Performance is a Passion

(above: my roommate and I at Into the Woods call backs.)

I haven’t performed in two years.

Well, that’s not entirely true. I was in a small singing group that did one concert. I was in the chorus of a musical. I had a decent role in a one-act play, but I was dying of illness. And I had a lead in a senior directed. So my first sentence isn’t true, but it felt true. It didn’t ever feel like I was in a full show. It didn’t feel like I was fulfilling my passion for acting.

Without the regular rehearsals to fill my time, I lost a lot of motivation. I actually think I got depressed. It wasn’t because I had nothing to do, I just wasn’t doing anything that I loved. Truly. Like acting or singing or writing.

Well, I’m fixing that this semester. I’m getting back into the performance scene, maybe multiple times this year, if I can. I’ll be doing NaNo, as usual. I’m going to fill my time with the things I love. Classes won’t be going to pot, in case my family reads this, but my priorities will lie in my passions.

It’s important to do what you love. At work or school, monotony and routine are too easy to fall into. If passion isn’t entwined with that routine, we begin to burn out. It’s disheartening. It’s exhausting. But incorporating something you love in your daily life is invigorating. An outlet for your passion can give you enough energy to make it through the rest of your daily tasks.

So I’m finding outlets for my passion. I just received the role of Jack in Sondheim’s Into the Woods. It was very unexpected, but it is a great role (I mean, I’ll be playing a boy). But I went in and did my best and I felt confident about my auditions. And playing a boy will be an awesome experience. I’m excited. It gives me a lot of opportunity to look forward to this semester. And it looks brighter than some of my past semesters have been.

(Beware Jackie the Giant Slayer!)