1. Risk Taker (willing to be open-minded to new things/ideas)
2. Positive and energetic  (have a good attitude towards everything)
3. Aware and in control (observe how your actions impact other people)
4. Focused (concentrate on what you’re doing)
5. Active listener (find out how you can cooperate with other people’s ideas into yours )
6. Cooperative and collaborative (work alongside your peers)
7. Leaders and followers (know when it is your turn to step up or step back)
8. Positively Critical and able to act on that criticism (constructive criticism/positive feedback)

I think i need to work on being a risk taker and positively critical and able to act on that criticism. I find myself not able to be creative and try new things when I am given a topic of script. I get embarrassed and awkward onstage especially for improvisation because I have no preparation time. A performance in general i’d call it an art with practice, improv is more of using those theatre skills and create something that is random but with content. That makes it a lot harder for me because I like to be sure that I know exactly what I am going to do with all of my cues set, lines remembered, spending nights with a microphone singing in my room until I can get all the harmonies perfect. Although it is still taking risks for being onstage but taking a step forward from that would be improvisation. Secondly, positively critical and able to act on that criticism. See, growing up I had a bad habit of criticizing everyone… in the bad way but unintentionally. I use to get in a lot of trouble with that but now it’s a lot better. Still, it’s hard for me to not judge someone based on their performance, but I can give feedback that are phrased and have a more positive attitude. Being able to act on that criticism has never been easy for me. I can’t say I’m a perfectionist but I definitely get very self-aware about something someone said about me and being too tense. A main focus of drama is having fun in my opinion and enjoying the stage. If every time I open my mouth for my line or to sing, I am very conscious because of something someone else said to me before. I really don’t think that is a show that I am ready to put on yet. This semester, I want to be able to transfer criticism into energy and use that as improvement for a show.

The first musical I ever performed was in grade 5, We Are Monsters. I played the role of the “Main Vampire”. I first decided to join drama because of my sister, she also started drama from middle school and I wanted to be just like her. Turned out, I loved drama and being onstage so I continued throughout middle school. We basically just followed the traditional drama practices from auditions to running lines to one to one practices to off book to costumes to mics then the show. This experience taught me how a lot of techniques that I continued using in drama club and theatre class. I remember learning how to breathe and now I can say I can breathe pretty well. The show was fine but I remember very clearly that there was a moment of silence when I was “mad” (in the show) and my mind suddenly went blank but I continued to talk with the same tone even if I didn’t know the lines and I got back on track again. Overall, it was not the best experience but it definitely helped me build a hard base for my theatre progress.