I knew that I wanted to become an actress since I remember myself. From the age of five I would spend hours upon hours in front of a mirror pretending to be a thousand different versions of myself such as a nurse, a teacher, a singer, and even a pirate! My love for acting and theatre only grew stronger and I soon found myself studying Drama in the University of Lincoln. Here, I confirmed my love for the arts and I discovered that acting is not the only way to express yourself. In fact, there are various roles one can take when creating a piece of work such as stage manager, writer, costume, set designer, director and much more! Therefore, I challenged myself with taking on a role that I’ve never tried before and thus I became the director for the theatre company my friends and I created for our very final module in the university. It wasn’t easy and so much research had to be done but I knew from the start that I had one goal; to create and direct a piece that would not just entertain but it would provide food for thought. This is because I deeply believe in the transformative power of theatre which is able to educate us and shape who we are! Indeed, in his speech at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company’s Dinner on Stage event, Howard Shalwitz referred to seven reasons why theatre is so beneficial for us. Some of the things Shalwitz talked about were how “theatre brings people together”, how “both the making of theatre and attending of theatre contribute to education and literacy” and more importantly how “it influences the way we think and feel about our own lives and encourages us to take a hard look at ourselves, our values, and our behavior” (Shalwitz, 2011).  

Tom Bowetell also gave an inspirational talk about theatre and the ways it can affect us at a Tedx Stormont event:

(Tedx Talks, 2013)

It was a pleasant surprise that everyone in our theatre company shared the same thoughts and desires of creating something with meaning and so the beautiful journey of creating a piece of work from scratch soon it began!

Works Cited

Shalwitz, H. (2011) 7 Reasons Why Theatre Makes Our Lives Better. Washington, DC: theatreWashington. Available from http://theatrewashington.org/content/7-reasons-why-theatre-makes-our-lives-better [accessed 25 April 2016].

Tedx Talks (2013) Can Theatre Actually Change Anything?: Tom Bowtell at TEDxStormont. Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4cSdM2Q0YY&index=1&list=LLHy_mvyUoI8QlB5ijz1Hh5g [accessed 25 April 2016].