I am graduating with a BA in Drama, acting emphasis. Translation: after four years and $160,000, I’m an actor. And despite what you may be thinking, I learned more from this major than I could have hoped to learn from any other. Lessons about life, about personal identity. Things I will take with me long after Commencement even if I decide not to pursue acting professionally.
Lesson one: being present within your own life, or living moment-to-moment. How often, in the past week, have you been taken aback by the beauty or significance of a single moment? How often do you recognize moments that you will never forget? Acting is not about simply “playing” a scripted role. It is about living through a journey one moment at a time, reacting to each stimulus on the stage as though it is the first time you have ever encountered it. On stage you are not a “character.” You are still yourself, but doing what is necessary to travel through a different set of circumstances. And this takes an incredible attention to detail; you must remain present and honor every moment.
It is not easy to maintain this sort of presence within our everyday lives. We run on “auto pilot” most of the time, voyaging from our apartments to class nary remembering a moment of the walk there and back. While these trips across campus may not be the most life-changing experiences, how many other parts of our lives do we breeze through in the same manner? We’re all so occupied with the past (what we’ve done) and future (what needs to be done) that we don’t take the time to think about our lives as we live them, moment by moment, and the significance some of these moments may have. Just as a single look or word within a play may lead an individual to life-changing consequences, so may single moments affect our lives and identities.
Which brings me to acting lesson two: knowing thyself. With each play, each character, comes the challenge of learning about another part of yourself. Because as I’ve said, it’s always you on stage. The concept of “character” is just a bunch of words (however well-crafted) on a page, which is far less interesting than you as an individual. As an actor you are forced to bring yourself to the work, always. And this takes an invested interest in learning more about yourself-a seemingly endless process.
However, in the process of exploring new circumstances and shades of your personality, you are also able to recognize exactly what it is you believe in outside of the world of the play. What it is you most hate and love, what it is that motivates you to scream or cry or laugh uproariously. In discovering each of these things, the “character” you portray on stage is none other than a more fully realized version of. you. Just you. And the new journeys you travel through on stage teach you about the ways in which you react to similar circumstances in your daily reality. Really, the two are quite the same. Both onstage and off, you react to what comes your way as it happens and decide what to do from there. No choices are forced upon you. The world lies before you and you must simply make your move, informed by the knowledge you carry, whether it is scripted in a play or learned in classrooms or whispered in confidence from friends.
To quote my favorite playwright, “To be or not to be? That is the question.” And as we graduate, as we move on from this familiar place, we must make a decision. I say choose to be. Be present. Be yourself. Figure out what both of these things mean to you. And don’t let a single moment pass you by unnoticed.
Elizabeth is graduating from the College of Arts & Sciences and is the former Associate Editor of Student Life. She can be reached via e-mail at ejneukir@artsci.wustl.edu.