Go On, Be A Drama Queen by Sarah

Go On, Be A Drama Queen by Sarah - August 2017 Scholarship Essay

When I first arrived at Whitworth University, my first choice college, I was a not-so-passionate elementary education major who hesitantly decided to take an Introduction to Theatre to fulfill my fine arts requirement. Though I didn’t know it at the time, that class would change my life. Now, in my sophomore year, I’m a double major in Theatre and English, pursuing several different interdisciplinary interests. One of my goals for the future is to get a graduate-level degree and become a professor of theatre at a university, so I’ve thought quite a lot about what classes I would want to teach. With backgrounds in two subjects so closely intertwined as theatre arts and English writing, there are endless options; playwriting, Shakespeare interpretation, maybe even a class focusing on the differences between drama in Europe and drama in America. However, I think the class I would most enjoy teaching is an introductory class, similar to the one I took as a freshman.
So often, people look down on theatre arts. They don’t believe there’s anything to be gained from having a fake conversation on stage while dressed in somebody else’s clothes. The truth is, though, theatre is so much more than that. With an Introduction to Theatre course, you’re not just teaching performance skills. Dramatic literature exposes students to a wide variety of people and cultures, reaffirming tolerance of all the different aspects of our world. Building sets and scenery gives students practical, real-world applicable skills such as design and tool usage. Interpreting characters and putting together their very beings can give students a glimpse into minds other than their own and help them understand how emotions can play a big part in motivation. Most importantly, though, putting together a theatrical production and having it succeed can give students a sense of confidence and self-awareness that is essential in any career field.
All of these skills are essential for success, not only in theatre arts, but in life. Even if a student never again ventures into the wide, wild world of drama, the skills they learned in a introductory theatre class will stick with them, no matter what career they choose or what path they follow. My advice to my students would be to let go and sink into theatre, just for a semester. Take that class, become an actor or an artist or a designer; go on, be a drama queen. You never know where those skills might get you in life.