How I became Interested in Dramatic Literature and Performance
Before I share information about my creative journey, I would like to say “thank you” to my best friend Jamaal and his father who both work at Barnes Jewish Hospital and are on the front lines, helping a lot of people in need, including those that have been affected by COVID-19.
I messaged my friend the other day and I told him how much respect and appreciation I have for him committing to his line of work, and how I’m praying for them to remain healthy as this pandemic continues to spread throughout the United States where we are near 50,000 deaths.
The Administration initially made a projection of the US loosing between 100,000 and 240,000 people; they have since amended those numbers to 60,000. The fact that we are growing nearer to that number daily, indicates their initially projections may have been more accurate. I think about those who are infected all the time, and I send my prayers.
Earlier today I was reflecting on moments in my life where I became interested in certain activities. I remember being on the Speech team in grade school in 7th and 8th grade, and I performed one piece called ‘What Think You of Christ’. It was about the crucifixion. I used one chair as a prop to recreate the crucifixion for my audience. I performed it for the parents and staff at my Catholic school and the ovation I received was an explosion. It felt great to see people react that way, it shows that they were really invested in your performance.
From the time of that speech to my sophomore year in high school, for some reason I did not do anymore acting. I did a lot of other activities but for some reason I wasn’t on stage anymore.
Acting and Directing
I took an elective class in Acting and Directing taught by Tom Murray, who is a profound patron of the arts and a great actor and director himself. We had an assignment where we needed to perform a monologue from a play or movie. On performance day, one of my friends did a Denzel Washington monologue from ‘Remember the Titans’, and I was glad that I did not because I was strongly considering doing the one that he picked. I ended up doing a Michelle Pfeiffer monologue from the movie ‘Dangerous Minds’. It felt good to be in front of an audience again, and I could tell that people were really attentive to my performance; it was almost like they weren’t expecting it because I hadn’t worked on any shows at school.
Mr. Murray asked me why don’t I act in the school plays. I really didn’t know why, I guess I was so focused on other things that I forgot how fun it is to be on stage. He told me about the auditions coming up for ‘Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical’. I wasn’t sure if I was going to do it or not because you needed to have a song prepared for the audition and at that time, I did not know very many musicals. When I found out that the show was unsuccessful on Broadway, and they only made the script available to 9 high schools in the United States-I was sold. I knew I had to get in that show.
I was cast as Lord Savage, a distinguished member of the Board of Governors. I sincerely enjoyed working on that play from start to finish. My favorite part is the first song from ACT II when Hyde is picking off all of the Board before they get a chance to leave town. My character gets stabbed by Hyde before he has the chance to get on his train. This was one of my favorite parts to run during rehearsal, we learned some stage combat stuff and tried our best to make it look realistic.
Jekyll & Hyde: Fight Choreography – Lord Savage from HCPAC on Vimeo.
After I hit the ground and Hyde runs away, the ensemble cast is on stage singing this beautiful arrangement regarding my character’s untimely fate. I wanted to sing with them but I couldn’t at the moment. I joined later with other actors through microphones offstage. I did not want that show to end, it was too much fun. A lot of people consider it the best performances ever by the theatre department at CBC high school. There’s also a legendary performance of ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ that some consider to be the best but that was several years before our show.
Impact
When the show was over, I started reading more dramatic literature and trying my hand at creating my own scenes. Being in that one musical with so many characters assisted me on my creative journey by being a paradigm of dramatic text and performance that should be replicated and taken to new spaces.
I haven’t been on stage in a while. Now I’m studying technology and doing independent research on how it connects to art. I’ve got a lot of research and development work ahead of me, which may inspire someone else to get on the stage when the time is right.