Untitled, Round Two.

In the midst of college applications, scholarship applications, and deciding what I want to do for the rest of my life (nerve wrecking, much?), the first thing I write down as my major is either "Stage Management" or "Technical Theater". In middle school when our counselors began to lecture about preparing for high school and college, I sat there and thought to myself, "Stage management...what else is there?" Until that moment, I hadn't really given thought to any other possible profession outside of theater. Even today, I don't really see myself working in any other field. Theater has been my passion since the 4th grade, and that feeling has never changed. I found stage management because I was a 4th grader too scared to audition for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Still wanting to help, I asked the teacher what I could do, and after a thoughtful pause, she said "Be my assistant." Neither of us knew then what effect that opportunity had would have on me for the rest of my middle school, high school, and soon-to-be college and professional career. I thank her every day for being the one to initially trust me and allow me to act as a key component to her first major production. I am so incredibly grateful to her in every production I've been a part of since then. I remind myself before every show, "I'm here because she believed in a 9-year-old girl way back when, and look where that 9-year-old girl is now," and I smile.