"Man creates art; art creates man."
I was never the theatre geek in my family. I thought I was shy and awkward. I could have never pictured myself onstage, much less singing and dancing in front of hundreds of people. In my sophomore year of high school, in our school production of "Xanadu", I played Danny McGuire, an old washed-up orchestra leader turned construction mogul. In the struggle of developing this character as an actor, my personality developed from the shy, introverted person I was into the vibrant, fearless person I am now.
My family has always been a "theatre family". My mother and sisters had always been involved with our local theatre, performing in musicals that my father and I inevitably had to attend. In my freshman year of high school, my older sister, a senior at the time, made me promise I would audition for the school play. I reluctantly agreed, and when the day of the audition came, I grumbled through the entire process, and eventually landed a spot in the ensemble. I somewhat enjoyed rehearsals, learning songs and mimicking the simple choreography we had. I had fun performing with my sister, but I didn't think I would go back the next year after she left for college.
In my sophomore year, one of the seniors who I had performed with the year prior asked if I was going to audition for the school musical this year. I told her I wasn't planning on it, but I would think about it. It was not until the director talked to me personally and told me he wanted me to play Danny McGuire in "Xanadu". Being one of four boys in the entire drama department, it was not particularly challenging to get cast as a leading role. Danny McGuire is an old character, aging somewhere between 55 and 65. As the baby of the bunch, I felt uncomfortable playing a part where I had to act like I was decades older than the main characters, characters played by a senior boy and girl. During rehearsal one afternoon, we were rehearsing the scene where Danny is introduced to the audience, playing him up as the hard-headed boss of a large company. When we rehearsed that scene, I could never get it right. The director told me I was being too shy, and that I wasn't playing the part, just reading the lines. He told me to "just go for it", and I did. Over the course of our 3-month rehearsal period, I had changed Danny from the push-over doormat I had been playing him as to the egotistic company head that he was supposed to be. What I didn't notice was that as Danny changed, Ryan changed too. I became more confident, more expressive onstage. After each performance, I had classmates come up to me and tell me that I looked so natural onstage, and that I was not the shy, awkward person they had come to know me as.
For me, theatre was an artistic approach to self-discovery: a way for who I was to become acquainted with the person I will be. I'd like to think that being shy and introverted made the transition to the real me so much more prominent. Change was long overdue, and my true self was waiting in the wings, ready as ever.
I was never the theatre geek in my family. I thought I was shy and awkward. I could have never pictured myself onstage, much less singing and dancing in front of hundreds of people. In my sophomore year of high school, in our school production of "Xanadu", I played Danny McGuire, an old washed-up orchestra leader turned construction mogul. In the struggle of developing this character as an actor, my personality developed from the shy, introverted person I was into the vibrant, fearless person I am now.
My family has always been a "theatre family". My mother and sisters had always been involved with our local theatre, performing in musicals that my father and I inevitably had to attend. In my freshman year of high school, my older sister, a senior at the time, made me promise I would audition for the school play. I reluctantly agreed, and when the day of the audition came, I grumbled through the entire process, and eventually landed a spot in the ensemble. I somewhat enjoyed rehearsals, learning songs and mimicking the simple choreography we had. I had fun performing with my sister, but I didn't think I would go back the next year after she left for college.
In my sophomore year, one of the seniors who I had performed with the year prior asked if I was going to audition for the school musical this year. I told her I wasn't planning on it, but I would think about it. It was not until the director talked to me personally and told me he wanted me to play Danny McGuire in "Xanadu". Being one of four boys in the entire drama department, it was not particularly challenging to get cast as a leading role. Danny McGuire is an old character, aging somewhere between 55 and 65. As the baby of the bunch, I felt uncomfortable playing a part where I had to act like I was decades older than the main characters, characters played by a senior boy and girl. During rehearsal one afternoon, we were rehearsing the scene where Danny is introduced to the audience, playing him up as the hard-headed boss of a large company. When we rehearsed that scene, I could never get it right. The director told me I was being too shy, and that I wasn't playing the part, just reading the lines. He told me to "just go for it", and I did. Over the course of our 3-month rehearsal period, I had changed Danny from the push-over doormat I had been playing him as to the egotistic company head that he was supposed to be. What I didn't notice was that as Danny changed, Ryan changed too. I became more confident, more expressive onstage. After each performance, I had classmates come up to me and tell me that I looked so natural onstage, and that I was not the shy, awkward person they had come to know me as.
For me, theatre was an artistic approach to self-discovery: a way for who I was to become acquainted with the person I will be. I'd like to think that being shy and introverted made the transition to the real me so much more prominent. Change was long overdue, and my true self was waiting in the wings, ready as ever.
