By Ryan Pulsifer
Drama isn’t for everyone, but it’s definitely for me. I’m certainly not an expert in theatre, I haven’t dedicated years and years of my life to it; I haven’t had it as a part of my life since I was young. My love for drama stems from a rather recent experience: Drama 10.
Going in, I hardly expected that drama would have an impact on me. It was a cool sounding class and all, but I’m not the type to be interested in any of the other fine arts. I wasn’t fully aware of what it was going to be. However, I can say with no exaggeration that after Drama 10, I fell in love with drama and acting as a whole.
My teacher that semester was Mr. Flynn, who has since moved on to another school. Mr. Flynn showed me what the drama experience was all about: from easing us in with fun games and class culture building activities, to giving us a chance to explore ourselves creatively. We participated in a mixture of individual, partner, and group projects, including even a project with the entire class.
At its core, drama is about having fun. It’s about you, and to an extent, it’s yours to do what you want with. If you’re somebody serious like myself, you can take it seriously. When I’m doing a project, that’s typically the way that I go about it -- but if you want to be silly, that’s fine too. The general philosophy is: if it’s fun, then do it.
The people that you share a class with go a long way towards making or breaking your experience in the class. Of course, there are going to be some people who don’t care about the class. It’s inevitable when Fine Arts is a required credit and there are only so many options. However, I can safely say that I met plenty of people in that class who I’m glad I know. Even if we don’t talk much, drama opened the door for some memorable classmates who I still smile at when I see them in the hallway.
For our exam, we created a monologue. I can honestly say it was my favorite part of the entire school year. I decided to use it to talk about myself, writing the script from my emotions. It feels good to be able to put a piece of yourself into a creative outlet and express yourself. We had several weeks for preparing and practicing, and I worked at it: memorising lines, properly working out my blocking (actions, body movement, etc.) and adding in the proper tones. Everything needed for a good performance.
When the day came for the performance, it all paid off. Not only were the other monologues entertaining to watch, being comedic or serious, but I was proud and satisfied with my own performance. I had put plenty of time into it, and it felt great to be able to put my true feelings out there.
Because to me, that’s what drama is about. It’s about putting yourself out there. While just one short year ago I had no idea about what it was, I can safely say it’s become a major part of my life, enough that I’m looking at acting as a potential career path. Considering the large role it plays in my life, I wanted to communicate my personal stories and experiences of drama, in the spirit of sharing vulnerability, which it inspires.
