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Shooting to Stardom.
Submitted by: C I Simpson
South AfricaI'm 15 years old, and attend a private Jewish school. I am aspiring towards performing on stage. Theatre it my life, and singing is my passion.
At my school, (a Jewish school) we have a play for Purim every year, and a musical every second year. For all the non-Jews, Purim is a Jewish holiday celebrating the the day the Jews survived a sticky situation in which a man attempted to destroy us all. Two of the traditions of this day is to dress up in costumes (to show our happiness and joy) and to hear the story of Purim. And what better way to honor both these traditions than staging a play?
So, I auditioned for the Purim Play, because theatre and singing is my dream and hopefully my future career. As I began to sing, the auditioner’s face twitched into a sour state, which puzzled me, as I always thought I could sing. Needless to say, I did not get into the play. Yes, I was very depressed for a few days, but I got over it.
I imagined myself onstage. I didn’t care about the size of my part. I just dreamed of singing in a school play.
Later in the year, I auditioned for the school musical. I got a small singing part in a church choir.
After the play, I still HUNGERED to be onstage. I imagined myself as the lead in my favourite play. (Elphaba, from Wicked) for all who don’t know, Miss Elphaba is green. I bought expensive green face paint with money I saved for that very purpose, and used it on myself every opportunity I got. I was my house’s mascot, Shrek, as our house colour is green.
My singing teacher also has a big concert every year. I showed her my Shrek pictures, and I had been attempting to sing Wicked songs for a while (they are extremely difficult) I sang “the wizard and I” for her, and ended up singing that song in the show, painted green and all.
She said I was amazing. The other performers loved me. The two best students of our mutual teacher told me that they loved what I did with the song, and how much I’d improved. One of those two actually attacked me with a hug, tackling me to the floor after a rehearsal saying how good I was.
A few weeks later, I read The Secret. I instantly thought of my voice. I had used The Secret to improve my voice, without even knowing it. I didn’t get into the Purim play because the teacher’s expression caused me to think negatively. My craving to perform caused me to improve and get into the school play, and the singing concert caused the praise to give me the confidence to perform even better.
Now that I am aware of what I did, I will do it at an increasingly rapid pace, and I will not stop until my name has the same connotations as Barbra Streisand’s.