Theatre Memories

I was browsing some of my favorite blogs today when I got home from work to wind down after the week. I saw the title of Jamie Ridler's post "Everything I Needed to Know, I Learned from Theatre" and I was immediately jetted back to my high school theatre days. Her list is fantastic and I thought I should come up with my own list. I must say that I agree - everything I needed to know, I learned from theatre, too.

I was a pretty theatrical child (ask my family) and I did some stuff when I was younger - in grammar school. The summer before junior high, my family left the place I felt most at home and like myself and moved to Portland, Oregon. I was an outsider in a place where outsiders did not belong. Every place I had ever lived before was a town or base where other air force kids lived. Kids moved to town and left regularly and everyone knew how to open the door to newcomers and wish people well when the left. Here, some of the people I met had never even been out of the state. They were suspicious of people who moved here from somewhere else.

In high school, I thought I found my niche in journalism. That was the world where I felt most comfortable. When I was a junior in high school, I was sent to the drama department to do a feature story about a play that was written by one of the students. We had to go to school on a SATURDAY! to get our interviews - I didn't even know that EXISTED IN THE UNIVERSE. Honestly, that day changed my life. I met friends I am still in touch with today, I met Roby, I found theatre, I found myself. BRILLIANT.

I'm not sure I can bullet point the things I learned in the theatre...they are so ingrained in me.

• We can do anything when given the right support
• The curtain opens whether we are ready or not
• The back row folks paid for their seats, too. Make sure they can hear it
• The only one who doubts you can do it is you
• Smoke and mirrors looks pretty damn good with bangles sewn on
• There is nothing like building something from the ground up with people you care about
• Laughter gets you through all the hard stuff
• Sometimes make-believe is necessary
• Don't lose the keys!
• Everyone has talent, they just have to find it
• Show tunes cure what ails you 

I'm sure there are a million more things...I thought I could come up with a nice list of meaningful items, but the visions and memories are blocking the writing. Maybe I will be able to find them, but for now, I am just going to enjoy the nostalgia.