Student Blog: Happy World Theatre Day!

On March 27 we celebrate World Theatre Day, and on this day, I would like to write a letter to the Theatre, a sacred place where I am the most alive. Here it goes.

Dear Theatre,

You have been a place, a person, a language, an emotion, a community, a sanctuary, a voice, a career, a teacher to me. In the days when I find myself feeling lost, you have been there for me.

As a child, I have been admiring you from afar, trying to get close to you as much as I could. I remember my first encounter with you. I was 5 years old, I was singing and dancing with my kindergarten classmates. Though I don't recall what I did, I will always remember how I felt. Adrenaline and excitement were prancing throughout my body, and the next thing I knew, it came to an end. Just like they say, all good things must come to an end, but it was a beginning for me.

I kept on volunteering to be on stage because I get high from it. I might be a theatre junkie. You gave me the opportunity to do so many things. I got to share melodies with my singing, share my culture through dance, create music with my instruments, tell stories with my voice, bring life with my acting, and create change with my movements. You didn't only impact my life, you've impacted millions of people around the world.

I'm an extroverted introvert, and I live in a society where my voice is sometimes silenced, I have so many emotions that I carry with me every day. With you in my life, I get to speak up, I get to share my stories, I get to channel my emotions through you. You never once criticize me or censor me, instead, you supported me. And I am thankful for that.

I grew up keeping you around my neck like an accessory, something I wear once in a while, before learning that I can wear you like a uniform every single day. That moment I found out that you could be my career, I dropped everything to be with you. I left school to pursue a 3 years diploma in performing arts. And that was still not enough, I wanted more, I wanted another 3 more years to be closer to you, so I pursue a Degree in Musical Theatre, where I get to learn every aspect of you. Nothing less.

It's been fun to see both of us grow. My family and friends and society thought that you'd be a bad influence on me, but it's the other way around. I became more human than I've ever been. I learn to love, to empathize with people and to share. One last thing, Theatre, I know I've thought about leaving you before, and I've said hurtful things to you, but, like all relationships, you mean too much to me that it hurts sometimes when you don't spend enough time with me. I get lost in my thoughts and I lash it out at you, so, I'm sorry for that. Please stay with me forever and ever, till death do us apart.

Love, Zac