I love myself a good theater production. It's one of the main things I spent my time doing in high school. At certain times of the year, theater, or rather drama club, became my life. And I loved this. So, naturally I thought that I would absolutely love theater in college, and when the drama club auditions came around I eagerly signed up for the One Act Festival and got the role in the two person act of The Ferris Wheel. I was ecstatic.
We started practicing and I found myself getting picked on by my fellow actor. A couple practices in, he began calling me things such as "heartless," and "evil" and saying things to me such as "your poor husband! He's going to HATE living with you!" No matter how many times I told him to stop picking on me or leave me alone, he would not stop. I began to dread going to practice for the mere reason that I would inevitably end up getting picked on at some point. Finally, I snapped. I began responding to everything he said negatively and making negative comments directed towards him. I know that this was not the right thing to do, but I just could not handle his comments any more. That night after practice, he proceeded to follow me, ranting about how I made him forget all his lines with my negativity and how I had made him feel worthless. I just kept my mouth shut. There was nothing I could say to this kid to make him realize how big of a jerk he had been to me all along. The next day, after calming myself to a reasonable place, I sent him an email explaining that if he wants people to be nice to him, he cannot walk around calling people heartless and evil or they will snap at him. Needless to say, I have not spoken two words to him since. Although, I do have a back up plan if he begins to pick on me again.
You see, I have a friend on campus, Sen, who is like an older brother to me. If I need someone to walk with me in the wee hours of the morning from the library to my dorm, Sen's the one I'll call. If a guy is bothering me and won't stop, Sen's good for that too. Lucky for me this guy in drama club is apparently terrified of Sen. So, Sen advised me to tell this kid that if he doesn't stop annoying me, Sen'll come after him. Good plan... good plan.
But this isn't even all of the drama.
I received a text the other night, the same night I snapped at him, that we had practice. I had not realized this, and I had a test first thing in the morning the next day. Considering the fact that I just ended up sitting on the stage and not doing any thing for most of the night, I began asking if I could leave so that I could study for my exam in the morning. People began questioning my loyalty to drama club. I gave them the rational answer that I give anyone who questions why I care so much about my grades. "To even be looked at for a good doctoral program for psychology you have to have minimally a 3.5 average. A 3.5 for them to even LOOK at your application!" Considering the whole reason that I am at Roberts is to get into a good doctoral program, getting around a 3.75 is my main goal. One girl who was helping us that night then replied to me, "Well, if you care about your grades that much, maybe you shouldn't be in drama club!" So, apparently to be in drama club you can't care about your grades. That kind of attitude sets me off a little bit. Isn't the whole reason we're all in college to get good grades and get a good job? I guess I'm just weird in that aspect....
So, as you can see, drama club is not going too well for me. There seems to be a little to much, well, drama involved. I can honestly say that if everything continues on like this, I may be done with theater at Roberts. I am not going to spend time with people who are willing to pick on other people nonstop no matter what, and I am not willing to spend time with people who are not coming to college for good grades, who are not coming to college to take advantage of every opportunity to further their education.
One Act Festival is in two weeks, and if things start looking up by that point, I will still participate in theater at Roberts. If things continue on the same course as now, I will be done with theater, and done with all the drama that goes along with it.
