Analiese has been a part of the local Playhouse for the past two years. This fall she was given a part in her first small cast production, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Honestly, it's been exhausting with rehearsals just about every day for the last two months. But she has absolutely loved it. The cast is a wonderful group of kids who all get along very well. As the youngest cast member, she has loved being doted on by her theater family. They are definitely her kind of people. Loud, gestural, and oh so dramatic. I've loved watching her grow into herself through this process. I think this has been a defining time in her life. Her attitude is different on days when she's at the theater. She happier and more confident in herself.
A couple of years ago she was struggling. She's the kind of girl that feels other people's emotions and reacts accordingly. If the situation calls for tears, she will cry. If the situation calls for joy, she will laugh. So when our family is in a difficult place, she feels the distress of it. She was also struggling in school at the time and she didn't really have an area in her young life where she could build confidence in herself. She isn't academic like her brother or athletic like her sister. I found myself thinking that she needed a place to shine. She needed a stage. At the time, I didn't know that she would find that place on a literal stage. But she has.
Confidence has the ability to change who you are. No, that's not right. Confidence strengthens who you are. Analiese has always been a creative girl. She lives in a world of color and imagination. School and athletics, with their rigid rules, are a hard fit for a girl like that. Don't get me wrong. She's incredibly intelligent and a very healthy little girl. She does fine in the classroom these days and she's not opposed to playing kickball with her friends. But she doesn't shine in those arenas the way she does in a creative setting. Give the girl a stage or a studio and she lights up. Who she was made to be comes alive in those spaces. It's a beautiful thing to witness.
As I said, she's been to a lot of rehearsals in the last couple of months. And anyone familiar with theater knows that there's often a lot of down time if you aren't in a particular scene that needs to be worked through. So it's best if you have something to occupy yourself with while you're waiting in the wings. About a week ago, she came home with an entire tea set that she had been working on slowly between scenes over the course of about two weeks. It's made from model magic packs that I had been putting in her bag. I had noticed that they were disappearing, but I didn't know what she was doing with them until she brought the whole set home.
Doing something you love is a powerful thing. All of a sudden you have confidence and the encouragement of others. Your strengths begin to shine. For this creative girl, finding her stage has sparked other creative parts of her brain. She's stronger artistically right now. She's dancing more. She's even reading more. She wants to read books about drama and dancing and art. It's a spiral of momentum. One that I hope continues. Sleepy Hollow is almost over, but she has auditions for another play later this week. I want to see her continue to grow. She is becoming an amazing girl. I can't wait to see all of the wonderful things she will do.
