Student Blogger: Zac Denver Lee

Just writing this post was also so hard. I’m procrastinating a lot and getting distracted easily too. I think it is important to take holidays as a break but at the same time, this is your chance to do more things to help you in the future.

Although it is important to have physical copies of scripts and scores, I personally prefer to have them on a tablet because it is cleaner. I normally only need them before rehearsals to work out my actions, lines, and character work but the moment I get into the rehearsal, I no longer need them, therefore a soft copy would suffice.

A letter to Theatre “With you in my life, I get to speak up, I get to share my stories, I get to channel my emotions through you. You never once criticize me or censor me, instead, you supported me. And I am thankful for that.”

All seemed fine right? Nope… we went through another round. Our castmate, production crew, and musician tested positive for COVID-19. I'm just glad that we managed to pull through till the end.

I know I didn’t do my best for this audition and I was totally panicking but with this experience, I get to learn a lot. I have to keep a positive attitude because it’s not my time to shine. [...] Just a week ago, I went to my first ever musical audition and callback for a school production. We will be doing Into The Woods in a style of a workshop musical. In Singapore, we are still restricted to 5 singers unmasked at a time. Therefore, we will be doing Into The Woods as part of a workshop process without a final showcase, which means it ends right before the production week. The outline of the module is for year 2 and year 3 to collaborate so all of us get to work with other people.

Go out and meet your friends. Half of my December was booked by friends, to catch up with them because I’m not able to spare time to meet them during the semester. What I also did was to catch up on sleep (not scientifically proven to work) and catch up on my favorite shows. Honestly, it’s enjoyable.

We made a cabaret! No, not the musical, but the performance style of cabaret. If you are wondering what a cabaret is, according to Wikipedia, Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, does not typically dance but usually sits at tables. Think Feinstein's/54 Below.

While many countries are stabilizing and allowed to sing in groups of more than 5 people, here in Singapore, we are still cautious. [...] We were ecstatic from just singing and it felt so emotional. Yes, just like you’ve watched the first rehearsal of all the musicals reopening on Broadway and West End. That was the same feeling we had.

I did the monologue as how I would interpret it at the age of 17. It was so bad! I didn’t realize it was bad until they asked me who my acting teacher was. That was just a smack on the face!

We are actually not a goal oriented industry where there's gold, silver or bronze at the end of the race, or where the value of our work is determined by our grades. I think that art is subjective and the subjectivity is reflected in your grades too.

Inspired by the UMich MT senior entrance presentation, my class decided to make our own version. Including music from Merrily We Roll Along, Hairspray, Heathers and Wicked, I’ll share my experience putting it together, and read on to watch the video!

So many things to do, so little time. While Singapore is having a mini lockdown, the lockdown fatigue is really causing me major setbacks. Now I only have less than a week to prepare for school! Although the mini 'lockdown' will be lifted on Aug 18, they recently allowed those fully vaccinated to be able to dine in, so... Yes, I need to meet my friends before school reopens, it'll really help with my mental state. Anyway, here is my to-do list, so if you are starting school in September, please don't be like me and start preparing now.

During my audition to enter the course, the auditioner asked me if I could lose a bit of weight out of concern. So during the dance call, I danced my best to prove to him that I am capable of dancing and I got accepted. But I was not prepared for the intensive dance training that was planned for us. I was on the verge of quitting.

I once watched Waitress 2007 original film and paused on the moments when the musical number fits the plot, to listen to the original broadway cast recording, imagining how the musical numbers are being performed. When you live more than 9,000 miles away from Broadway, we can only imagine how the musical looks like.

The journey there is harder than being there and I want to do this for me. I always think that if I don’t try, I will forever regret it and never know what it will be like if I did. In all honesty, there are a lot of moments where I felt so lost and on the verge of giving up. So what keeps me going?

I keep asking myself if it’s worth it to sacrifice my time, energy and money to pursue a far fetch dream of working on Broadway. With all the paperwork I have to do, paying so much to move halfway around the world to a future with some much uncertainty. What keeps me motivated is this dream and the passion I hold on to.