When I am under stage lights, in costume and microphone, I am a storyteller. My purpose is to regale my audience with a tale that is sometimes thrilling, sometimes heartbreaking, and sometimes comical. But no matter the style of the performance I put on, I get up onstage because I believe that this story needs to be told. I can make whoever is sitting in the house a little richer with the valuable narrative I am about to tell. The audience member shows up at the theater to watch a story—one they have never heard before—play out before them. If I do my job right, those audience members will leave two hours later newly gifted with the knowledge of a story, one with enough honesty to touch their hearts. Even the most fictitious of theater works are filled with themes and messages for the audience to take with them. From the moment when I stepped onstage to perform my very first musical, I was confident that I wanted to be a professional actor, to do my part in creating this theatrical magic.
Even when my intended career path diverged from musical theater last year, I knew I would still forever wish to share the stories that are meaningful to me. Whether through text or song, I will always hope to tell of the heroic people who did their very best to overcome the obstacles presented to them. When my trimester at REDI Lab began, I knew I wanted to focus on nursing: the profession I wish to pursue in my future. I had the hope to interact with nurses and gather insights into what working as a nurse is like; I hoped to collect their stories. I began to interview the nurses I knew, encouraging them to share the most formative experiences from their careers. I was inspired by their kindness and humility, and how they had dedicated their lives to caring for others. I made it my mission to share these stories, and showcase truly invaluable work nurses do every day.
But what medium would I use to tell these stories? Since age nine, musical theater has been my way of making sense of the world around me. The most complicated of topics suddenly become understandable when they are presented onstage. So, the easiest decision in REDI Lab, for me, was to tell the stories of the nurses I had interviewed through a play, because consistently in my life the dramatic arts accurately depict the hidden, vulnerable, unheard stories that create the human experience.
