That Time I Almost Didn’t Audition (For The Show That Changed My Life)

Photo by my friend Syd, @squidknee8 on instagram. See more of those photo here!

There's really nothing like it.

Something about the stage has always felt magical to me. Like, somehow, in slipping through that heavy red curtain and diving into the sea of eyes that lay waiting in the dark, I was finding pieces of myself in each story, in each character. Like I was walking myself home.

This show especially taught me so much about owning my journey, and that every day I get to choose what kind of person I'm becoming. Important stuff for a kid just starting college, I think, and honoring those lessons has led me to many opportunities already.

But what's crazy to me is that as much as this experience shaped me and helped me grow as a person, I almost didn't even audition.

It was late at night, I had a 3 hour lecture class right before and was doubting myself like crazy.

"What if I'm underprepared?" "What if I get there and blank on the words?"

I was thinking these things walking towards the audition building, and I stopped, and turned to look back in the direction of my dorm. "Nobody would know if I just let this one go," I thought.

I was about to let fear and doubt keep me from one of the best experiences of my freshman year.

But that night I proved something to myself. Because when I started walking again it wasn't towards my dorm. And when I walked into that audition room I didn't apologize. Even when my accompaniment track fully cut out (for the 2nd time!) I kept singing acapella*.

That night I showed myself what it means to take my journey into my own hands, to own it, and show up for myself when it really counts. I proved that in the face of doubt and fear and uncertainty I can still choose to put myself out there.

The show may be long over now, but those lessons live with me still.

I want to say thank you to my friend Syd (@squidknee8 on insta) for the awesome photos, to COB (Chapman on Broadway) for this incredible performance opportunity, and to my fellow cast and crew mates who voted to honor me with the Legacy Robe Award. You all welcomed me so readily into your community and it means the world to me.

Here's to many more performances to put on, more memories to be made, and more lessons to be learned.

K7

*This might be foreshadowing, stay tuned!

PS: The website builder I’m using to write these blogs and stuff, when I first opened this to write this blog, automatically opened up an AI blog writer and I almost barfed all over my laptop. I wish I didn’t have to say this, but all of my posts will always be written by me and not some weird algorithm copying everything that has ever been written. If it wasn’t for my mom I’d probably have tonssssssssss of typos in here anyways, so thanks mom for reviewing my stuff.