I believe the street that best represents me is the same street I chose to focus my ethnographic assignment on for the summer: Broadway. I have always been extremely fascinated by the bright lights and musical pulsing of this street, and specifically the theatre district. It is my passion and dream to work on Broadway one day, helping to inspire, create, and continue the everyday workings of this truly American art form we call Music Theatre. The daily routine of it all, the schedule, the eight shows-a-week are all a part of me that I can feel and can’t hardly wait to be a part of. From one side of the stage to the other, I have always integrated myself into live theatrical performance, and I find myself most comfortable and appreciated there.
As a child, I took voice lessons and dance classes and participated in every single community theatre production that I possibly could. From Annie to The Music Man to The Wiz (yep I was in The Wiz), and I loved every minute of it. It kept me alive. The theatre gave me a purpose. Coming to college awakened a different interest in me that brought me to the other side of the curtain. I found myself loving the technical aspects of performance, and wanting to shine the spotlight rather than belt center stage in the middle of it. I know that I belong amongst such a tight-knit and loving community that embraces diversity, acceptance, and love.
Broadway is also a place where I will be spending much of my time this summer, and I get chills just thinking about getting washed away in all the sparkling lights, entrancing music, and affecting art of the theatre district. Its pulse is my pulse. I am it, it is me.
“It’s a life on the edge, it’s a roar or a hiss. But this is what I was made for” – Carner & Gregor
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