From Street Team member Ines

Posted by TDS Street Team on Monday, September 26, 2011 at 2:27 pm

Hey guys, it’s Ines. I just wanted to share some experiences I had before I joined TDS.

My school life was never picture perfect. I went through bullying and social alienation, I was always picked on just because I was different. It came to a point that I didn’t even want to step foot in my classroom again, I skipped oral presentations or anything that had to do with me “expressing” myself because I was afraid of what they might think or how I might get looked at afterwards. I was so afraid it wasn’t even possible anymore. Until a year ago I joined a play called “Jesus Christ Superstar”. I was still afraid, so I joined as stage crew instead of cast. Don’t get me wrong, being stage crew was amazing; it gave me a sense of accomplishment I never felt before. I worked hard and at the end of the day, watching the last show go off without a hitch, I guess it was the same as seeing your kid graduate from college. I remember watching the actors rush from one door to the other applying more coats of foundation each time…I also remember wishing that I could be one of them. I wouldn’t say that I did my best that year, but what I can say is that it opened my eyes to something that I could actually enjoy. It helped me realize that I could actually do this, I could actually feel good about myself again. So I promised myself that this year I would try harder and really think about it, and so that summer I joined the Theater Down South workshop. I learned how to stand in front of a lot of people and not feel like having a heart attack. I made friends. I even learned how to have an entire conversation using only my voice and the letters A to Z (yup no words!). We learned from one another…we grew together as actors and as a family. I started to feel my self esteem coming back. And that experience I will never forget.

This school year I walked through my hallway with a good feeling inside instead of fear. I actually stood up and really worked hard for my monologue in English class, and who could imagine I actually won first place. Like the writer Michael Korda said: “To succeed we must first believe that we can”—a little cliché maybe, but its true.

-Ines