Author:
libby
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Date Posted: 22:09:37 02/17/03 Mon
There are a fair amount of people in our drama program who are legitimately considering making a career out of theatre, and I commend those individuals for their dedication and determination. I, however, will not be doing so. Why is this you may ask, (because I can obviously act the pants off of Julia Roberts......)? It's actually because of Mr. Gaudet, though that is not a bad thing in the slightest bit.
I've only been in one drama class, and brief as it was it instilled in me the love of all things thespian. I can't watch a movie now without thinking about how the actors, director, writers and crew all came together to make something, how each person is important to the process whether or not they earn a million dollars or walk down red carpets. The reason I wouldn't want to make my pastime my career is that I don't want to turn something I love into something I loathe. I would want to be doing groundbreaking plays and witty comedic films, but would be scrounging my way up to that level by doing hemorrhoid cream ads and saying things like "Wow, I can't believe it's not butter!". At any rate, while I respect the resolve of that nice lady hawking preparation H, I’m going to be a teacher. I'm going to college in a year or so to get my degree in secondary education, but I hope to do theatre in my spare time at college, or take additional acting classes at a community college as an adult, merely because I can't get enough of it and I find it fascinating. I think that is the greatest achievement of our school's drama program.
I believe Mr. Gaudet's success as a drama teacher isn't established by how many professional actors he turns out, but by how many people have a greater appreciation for and love of drama. Heck, I haven't said more than 10 lines in my dramatic career, but that doesn't phase me one bit. I still love it, whether I'm the lead in the school play and get showcase at districts or if I try my best doing stage crew and get well earned "goods". I’m glad Mr. Gaudet isn’t the stereotypical drama teacher (think Martin Short’s character in “Get Over It”), I’m glad I haven’t had some heartbreaking theatre experience that has turned me off of drama, even if I’m not so great anyway. Nearly everyone in our troupe takes drama seriously, especially now, regardless of their future plans, but the fact that we have fun at the same time and that we don’t freak out when our best isn’t good enough is more important than turning out a Broadway caliber production. Still...I’m pretty confident that ‘The Odd Couple’ is going to kick booty, and that’s because we’ll work hard, work as a team and still laugh when appropriate, still love what we’re doing until closing night.
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Re: Mr. Gaudet, I hope you read this...