Center Stage

The curtain raises its open jaws as you take a step on stage, illuminated only by scorching white hot suns that set your body ablaze, lick your skin like forked tongues, tasting the sweat off your brow as you wither slightly. Dressed in thick clothing of a person who’s not you, fitting loosely on your shoulders. Possibly caked makeup, a wig, or some disguise that you hide behind to show more of the character you are playing.

Another step forward

The stage squeaks uncertainly, the audience an unknown terror that digs it’s claws into your brain, unable to check their faces for emotion and therefore are terrified of what their reaction would be.

You’re centerstage.

The only thought through your head are pre rehearsed lines that have been drilled into your skull like the pledge of allegiance. Emotions, fake and an echo of what they should be, display on your face but not in your heart.

These are the worries of every person who have never graced their presence on stage.

But we know. Do we ever, that while any and all of this is certainly possible to feel and to express. We should not fear it.

We do not see the theater like a open-mouthed, sharp-toothed, monster; waiting for you to merely step inside its gaping maw before chewing you up and spitting you out. We see the theater to be clay. To mold it into our imagination and fit it to our own desires and best interests. We see it as a second home, rather than killer freak show.

The lights aren’t scorching, but warm and inviting like thick blankets on a cold winter day. Warmth that envelops our very being, wrapping us with comfort and confidence as we step on stage. The clothing does not belong to another person, rather, it belongs to us. We believe ourselves to be our character, live and breathe and feel as if two souls connecting into one body the clothing is fitting. It’s not a disguise but a reflection of who we are.

The squeak of the stage goes unnoticed, the darkness that lines the seats of the audience background static to the scenario because we know we didn’t come to tremble with fear and stutter our words we came to conquer- and be poised with pride. The lines aren’t merely just lines, and we make the emotions real. Souls are put forth to show that we aren’t people as characters- we’re just people. We welcome the audience to come into a different reality, a floating wonderous feeling where nothing else matters except what’s happening in front of them.

And so we take another step forward, we go down to center stage and we don’t just act.

We live.