Descriptive Essay (Chaddick Theatre) - April 26, 2019
Everybody has a place or places that they can call “home”, but one of the places I call “home” does more than that. The place I call “home” gets me through the day, it has made me a better person, and it holds a depth of infinite memories. The people inside this place are also an essential part of the reason I call it “home”. Yes, every year some people go and new people come, but these people always allow me to call this place “home”.
This place is the cozy Chaddick theater at The Galloway School in Atlanta, Georgia. I have been going to Galloway since Pre-K (I am in 11th grade now), and one of my first memories at school was going to the Chaddick theater one night with my mom to see the high schoolers perform in a production of “Cats”. Not only is that one of my first memories of Galloway, but I believe it was the first musical I had ever seen and I would have been either four or five years old at the time. I remember walking through the two sets of wooden double-doors and into the theatre where I was immediately engulfed in the jellicle world of the cats. Other than that, I do not remember much from the actual show except that I was absolutely amazed not only by the actors but also by the entire technical aspect of the production from the set to the lighting and costuming. “Cats” would be the first of many, now countless, musicals and plays that I would see on the Chaddick stage.
To fully understand how this whole story will play out, one must know my background and experiences in theatre… I cannot remember when I started acting, but I do know that I started when I was very young at a company called Applause for Kids. At first, I did small “shows” with other kids my age to start developing the skills to confidently stand in front of an audience. After developing those skills, I moved up to performing in their regular shows. Two of the shows that stand out in my mind are Seussical, where I was in the ensemble, and Annie, where I played Rooster and had a goatee drawn on with a makeup pencil. During my time at AFK, I also took many workshops in Atlanta with local actors, in Florida at Disney, and in New York where I got the chance to perform a solo in Carnegie Hall, see the original Broadway cast of The Little Mermaid, and take a class with Norm Lewis. But, around 3rd or 4th grade I almost completely lost my interest in theatre. I do not remember why, but I just remember that I did not want to do it at all.
Luckily, my parents continued to encourage me to take up theatre again through 4th and 5th grade. So, I did a theatre summer camp during the summer after 5th grade. It was at a theatre company called MZ Stageworks, and after that tiring but lively week of singing, dancing, acting, and making new lifelong friends, I had found my love of theatre again. I decided to do the MZ shows and I continued to perform in them for almost four years. I was in “Honk” as the majestic Father Swan and the rough farmer, “Peter Pan” as the sophisticated John Darling, “Hairspray” as the comical Wilbur Turnblad, “Legally Blond” as the stuck-up Warner Huntington III, “High School Musical” as the chill Chad Danforth, “Annie” as the rich Oliver Warbucks, and “Mulan” as the constantly hungry-for-chicken Qian Po. I met so many amazing people through these shows that I am still friends with to this day. One of those people is Dylan Danckert who I met at that first summer camp, and now, we perform together in shows at school. Although I had an amazing time performing with MZ, I decided that once I got to high school, I would do our school shows. (Before that, we actually did “Into the Woods” in 8th grade at school and I played the Baker.)
So, fast forward to 9th grade when I will finally have the opportunity to be in the cast of a high school Galloway Theatre Company spring musical (freshmen are not allowed to do the fall play). Seeing Cats and other countless shows throughout my years at Galloway had made me so excited for the day when I could finally be a part of the high school shows. The first musical that I got to do was Footloose and I have only grown since then. Immediately when I stepped into our black box to audition for the musical, everybody who was also auditioning accepted me into my new family. My audition that year did not go as smoothly as I would have liked it, but I still had an amazing experience being the ensemble in the show and getting to work with such great actors, two amazing new directors, and an awesome dance choreographer.
Since the colorful 80s world of Footloose, we have done many other shows at school. The regular plan for shows is to do a comedy play in the Fall and some type of musical in the Spring, and since 9th grade, I have done both shows every year. During 10th grade, we did “Peter and the Starcatcher” where I was in the ensemble and used my tick-tocking skills to make the sounds of the colossal and monstrous crocodile; in “The Addams Family”, I played the undead Court Jester Ancestor and learned how to transform the physicality of myself to become my spry and witty character. This year, we did the classic, but confusing, Shakespeare play “Twelfth Night”. I played Fabian and I was able to apply the skills about physicality I learned during “The Addams Family” to create a new, but also dynamic, character. And, just last week, we did “Freaky Friday” (we were actually one of the first high schools to get the rights to perform it). I played Fletcher, the younger brother of the main character, and got the opportunity to play a lead and grow even more than I had in the past. I learned how to play a character that is much younger than I am, I learned some puppeteering skills, I sang on stage by myself, and I cried on stage.
None of these things would have been possible without our amazing theatre and highly experienced directors. I have spoken to Megan and Marele about this, but now, looking back on “Into the Woods”, I am a completely different person. Even though I was the lead in that show, I somehow did not do any character development. But, for Freaky Friday, I spent time researching about puppets, I got into the mindset of a 10-year-old kid, and actually put work into building a character.
Without the Chaddick theatre in my life, I do not know what I would be doing now. It literally gets me through the school day, it has given me a second family, and a safe space to grow. The Chaddick theatre is part of my roots and I know that it will always be a home I can return to, but I look forward to finding another similar place when I go to college as an actor and continue along that path into adulthood.
This place is the cozy Chaddick theater at The Galloway School in Atlanta, Georgia. I have been going to Galloway since Pre-K (I am in 11th grade now), and one of my first memories at school was going to the Chaddick theater one night with my mom to see the high schoolers perform in a production of “Cats”. Not only is that one of my first memories of Galloway, but I believe it was the first musical I had ever seen and I would have been either four or five years old at the time. I remember walking through the two sets of wooden double-doors and into the theatre where I was immediately engulfed in the jellicle world of the cats. Other than that, I do not remember much from the actual show except that I was absolutely amazed not only by the actors but also by the entire technical aspect of the production from the set to the lighting and costuming. “Cats” would be the first of many, now countless, musicals and plays that I would see on the Chaddick stage.
To fully understand how this whole story will play out, one must know my background and experiences in theatre… I cannot remember when I started acting, but I do know that I started when I was very young at a company called Applause for Kids. At first, I did small “shows” with other kids my age to start developing the skills to confidently stand in front of an audience. After developing those skills, I moved up to performing in their regular shows. Two of the shows that stand out in my mind are Seussical, where I was in the ensemble, and Annie, where I played Rooster and had a goatee drawn on with a makeup pencil. During my time at AFK, I also took many workshops in Atlanta with local actors, in Florida at Disney, and in New York where I got the chance to perform a solo in Carnegie Hall, see the original Broadway cast of The Little Mermaid, and take a class with Norm Lewis. But, around 3rd or 4th grade I almost completely lost my interest in theatre. I do not remember why, but I just remember that I did not want to do it at all.
Luckily, my parents continued to encourage me to take up theatre again through 4th and 5th grade. So, I did a theatre summer camp during the summer after 5th grade. It was at a theatre company called MZ Stageworks, and after that tiring but lively week of singing, dancing, acting, and making new lifelong friends, I had found my love of theatre again. I decided to do the MZ shows and I continued to perform in them for almost four years. I was in “Honk” as the majestic Father Swan and the rough farmer, “Peter Pan” as the sophisticated John Darling, “Hairspray” as the comical Wilbur Turnblad, “Legally Blond” as the stuck-up Warner Huntington III, “High School Musical” as the chill Chad Danforth, “Annie” as the rich Oliver Warbucks, and “Mulan” as the constantly hungry-for-chicken Qian Po. I met so many amazing people through these shows that I am still friends with to this day. One of those people is Dylan Danckert who I met at that first summer camp, and now, we perform together in shows at school. Although I had an amazing time performing with MZ, I decided that once I got to high school, I would do our school shows. (Before that, we actually did “Into the Woods” in 8th grade at school and I played the Baker.)
So, fast forward to 9th grade when I will finally have the opportunity to be in the cast of a high school Galloway Theatre Company spring musical (freshmen are not allowed to do the fall play). Seeing Cats and other countless shows throughout my years at Galloway had made me so excited for the day when I could finally be a part of the high school shows. The first musical that I got to do was Footloose and I have only grown since then. Immediately when I stepped into our black box to audition for the musical, everybody who was also auditioning accepted me into my new family. My audition that year did not go as smoothly as I would have liked it, but I still had an amazing experience being the ensemble in the show and getting to work with such great actors, two amazing new directors, and an awesome dance choreographer.
Since the colorful 80s world of Footloose, we have done many other shows at school. The regular plan for shows is to do a comedy play in the Fall and some type of musical in the Spring, and since 9th grade, I have done both shows every year. During 10th grade, we did “Peter and the Starcatcher” where I was in the ensemble and used my tick-tocking skills to make the sounds of the colossal and monstrous crocodile; in “The Addams Family”, I played the undead Court Jester Ancestor and learned how to transform the physicality of myself to become my spry and witty character. This year, we did the classic, but confusing, Shakespeare play “Twelfth Night”. I played Fabian and I was able to apply the skills about physicality I learned during “The Addams Family” to create a new, but also dynamic, character. And, just last week, we did “Freaky Friday” (we were actually one of the first high schools to get the rights to perform it). I played Fletcher, the younger brother of the main character, and got the opportunity to play a lead and grow even more than I had in the past. I learned how to play a character that is much younger than I am, I learned some puppeteering skills, I sang on stage by myself, and I cried on stage.
None of these things would have been possible without our amazing theatre and highly experienced directors. I have spoken to Megan and Marele about this, but now, looking back on “Into the Woods”, I am a completely different person. Even though I was the lead in that show, I somehow did not do any character development. But, for Freaky Friday, I spent time researching about puppets, I got into the mindset of a 10-year-old kid, and actually put work into building a character.
Without the Chaddick theatre in my life, I do not know what I would be doing now. It literally gets me through the school day, it has given me a second family, and a safe space to grow. The Chaddick theatre is part of my roots and I know that it will always be a home I can return to, but I look forward to finding another similar place when I go to college as an actor and continue along that path into adulthood.
Photo: https://bit.ly/2W2VsOt