Theater Magic Anonymous

“Miss? Why are you here?” I look down to see a little child tugging on my pant leg. The children at the Educational Theatre Company (ETC) think I am older than I am, so I often get questions like these from students who think I am wiser than my years. I sit down and explain that I was once in ETC and I’m grateful to ETC for sparking my imagination. I want to do the same for them. “Oh,” she says, continuing to munch on her Goldfish. I help the students write and perform original musicals. My official title, however, doesn’t come close to what it’s truly like. In the nine weeks we spend rehearsing together, the students grow and change in ways that no adult can.

Seven-year-olds transform from children who mumble to actors who don’t need microphones to be heard. Working gives me the opportunity to get in touch with my bouncy, silly self—one that I am less and less able to express as I grow older. It is fascinating to see how these little humans view life and interact with the world around them. While at rehearsal, the children don’t focus on what they’re eating for dinner that night–let alone the mistakes they made weeks ago or their plans for next year. Neither do I. When I admitted to one of the students that I didn’t know what...