Student Blog: My Love Letter to the Theater

In all these years, theater has taught me lots of things and I'm grateful for that. I love writing and I thought it would be easier to write a letter to put everything I needed to say days ago, when I ended my first semester at the Theater Company I'm part of.

Dear theater,

I never thought I would be so in love with the stage, but the feeling of getting to your seat and waiting to see another story it's just so exciting. It's been a long time since we first met, it was when I was like six years old, my dad was a dancer and he used to keep the arts in the family. One day he brought us to see the Nutcracker at the local theater and I liked it but I was too young to understand how that worked. I mean, I went to see a play or a performance when my parents brought me.

Then at the age of eight, I was interested for a while, when the school play was Beauty and the Beast, because the students were involved in the whole process, even if we didn't play the main characters. I remember I was one of the ladies in love with Gaston and a fork for "Be our guest".

Then it was a long time that I only visited the theater for the Mother's Day festival or the Winter festival at school. Oh and I saw Cats when I was thirteen but it was a little boring, I've never been a big fan of that musical. But maybe that was when I felt curious about the magic of theater, like how things happen on stage and we don't see , so it takes us by surprise.

Then when I was eighteen I became obsessed with Dear Evan Hansen, Waitress and Hamilton and everything changed. That's when I discovered that there was a whole world of characters, stories and people I wanted to know better. Because nobody teaches you that there are modern plays or musicals like these, they just talk about Romeo and Juliet or Hello Dolly, but for me having stories that feel so new, was so exciting.

This year I became part of the Production Company at my campus and at twenty two years old I would be part of the staff at next year's school play: In the Heights by one of my favorite persons in the world, Lin-Manuel Miranda. So whatever role I'll have, I'm sure I'm gonna learn and have fun.

My journey with you it's just beginning and I know it will be long, but for now I wanted to say thank you. Thank you for showing me wonderful stories, songs and characters to learn from and keep myself inspired. Thank you for opening your doors for me when I needed another happy place; thank you for introducing me to amazing people that in just a couple of months became my friends; thank you for giving me one of the greatest teachers ever. Thank you for giving me the chance to explore and make art, but most of all, thank you for showing me once again why art is so important and all stories matter.

See you again next year,

Wish me luck,

-Silvana ♥