Playing House

My heart pounds to the beat of the audience’s anticipatory silence. With each excited breath set to the tempo of my melodies, I blur the line between reality and illusion.

The stage is an actress’s childhood playhouse. When I step into the blackout lighting of momentary stardom, I revert to my childhood pastime of playing pretend. My playmates and I dress ourselves in elaborate costumes, place ourselves between hallowed sets, and play house.

As the lights warm my skin, I am reminded that it now belongs to a complex being manifesting itself in my mind and physicality. The characters I become saturate me with their complicated feelings, helping me better understand others’ and my own. My veins course with prior research and rehearsal. I let go of myself and completely commit to my creativity, bringing each character to life with a fresh take. My muscles cede my brain’s control to my imagination. Fantasy now fuels reality.

Although the lessons learned from my professional inspirations subconsciously remind me to infuse technicality into my work, I choose to immerse my personal experiences into my artistic choices to deliver an honest performance. My stress drives my character’s rage; my joy echoes itself in my character’s laughter. My creativity strives to deliver the human experience in a way that feels authentic.

Acting is an extremely personal endeavor made public. It is the courage to present one’s talent to an audience in the pursuit of eliciting an emotional response. Using my creativity to interpret a persona grants me the ability of escaping my truth and experiencing another’s. Crafting characters has allowed me to explore the motivations behind human actions and implement my discoveries to improve myself and expand my worldview.

As I take my bow, my character travels to the crown of my head and settles as a memory. Although the lights no longer grace my countenance, they illuminate my mind with confidence. Acting will always grant me access to my inner five-year-old self possessing the creativity that powers her dreams.

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NOTE: I wrote this essay in response to personal insight question #2 of the University of California application (describe how you express your creative side). Now that I have submitted most of my college applications, I am going to post my favorite college essays on here.