BWW Blog: Christopher Panella - Theater Kids Deserve More

In our highly competitive day and age, students in every school across the nation push themselves to succeed. From five to six college level classes to multiple clubs and activities to family obligations, students find themselves stressed and nervous about managing it all and finding balance. Kids who put themselves through it all deserve recognition for their dedication, but no one deserves praise more than the theater kid. Theater kids raise the bar for all students.

I know countless teenagers who pound out college level classes during the school day, run to an extracurricular after school, and head home to shovel mountains of homework. I am one of those teenagers. It's hard and numbing. When we put ourselves through so much, we tend to forget to connect with others and our surroundings. We become dull to the world around us. Theater kids aren't like that, though. Theater kids slug through the same daily routine and somehow manage to brighten the world around them. Theater kids manage to do it all. It's exhausting when we constantly push ourselves. Theater kids find a way to mold that exhaustion into energy. We go from a seven hour school day of difficult classes and hard work only to stand on stage and sing and dance and act our hearts out. We use our exhaustion is ways no other student does. When other students disconnect after a long day for some relaxation, theater kids choose to connect and perform. That choice is only manageable by the best and brightest.

It's amazing to see so many students hustle through extracurriculars and activities that demand so much effort and commitment. So many talented students involve themselves in debate and honor societies and poetry clubs. The most amazing thing to see, however, is the transformation theater kids go through. From using their left brains all day in logical calculations, theater kids shift to being right brained, creative and intuitive. That's the speciality about theater kids. Being a theater kid means using both right and left brains throughout the day. Not many people in society can do that. Often, people are either strictly left or strictly right. Theater kids learn to turn both sides on and become both logical and intuitive. That quality isn't just special, it's the definition of dedication and commitment.

The theater kid offers so much to the world, and yet there are obstacles that restrict potential and growth. When it comes time for budget cuts in school systems, the arts are the first thing on the chopping block. It's maddening that the arts, so important and vital to the education and well-roundedness of students, are tossed aside. Without a theater program and the arts, I wouldn't be who I am today. I wouldn't be the student I am today. The arts is the defining subject for so many kids in school systems. Theater kids have to fight for their right to learn, enjoy, and grow. No other student faces the struggles that theater students obstacle. That's what makes theater kids so novel.

Theater kids deserve more. We deserve programs that inspire our growth and acceptance. We deserve places to perform and learn. Most importantly, we deserve places to be ourselves.