One of the funny things about life is that

I am a writer

But so often, in cast gifts or ‘thank you’ cards on closing nights

I have found myself unable to articulate my gratitude for all you do

So, I will use this slam as an opportunity to tell some stories

Of the way you changed my life in high school

 

One. It was the first period

Of the first day

Of my first year of high school

And I sat in the middle of the second to last row of your class

Terrified.

 

It turns out that receiving the syllabus of my much-anticipated theatre class would be the only good thing about that first day.

There have been many such days

 

Two. The cast list

A white piece of paper with black text

Shrouded in anticipation-and my name

Lennox…………………..Colette Webb

I recall the excitement and confusion-

Me? He trusts me? He picked me?

 

A faith in my abilities that I had never experienced before

Not even in my own heart

 

Three. The first time that theatre saved my life.

I felt that my world was long-since broken and never would be fixed.

I wrote a note in second period.

 

But I went to rehearsal that evening anyway.

 

Years later, I cannot remember the exact words

But something was said or done at that rehearsal that put the world into a different perspective;

My candle still had to do its part to light that show.

 

Four. Letters to Sala.

The most surprising role of my life.

And the most terrifying, to this day.

 

Theatre was my career plan at that point, but I remember the rehearsal

When you yourself cried real tears

And for the first time theatre made me think of the word-

Important

 

What we are doing is bigger than ourselves

 

Five.  The Theatre 4 curriculum

Required my small, independent-study class

To write and direct a play

 

I never had the courage to write and defend my writing before it counted for a grade

But I now must stand a firm believer in the butterfly effect-

I am going to college to study theatre, to direct

 

Six. One More Light

 

This is perhaps the most important story I will ever have to tell.

Second semester, my junior year, we delved into I topic

I and others considered ourselves intimately familiar with-suicide

 

Theatre for social change

Is what that type of project is called

But that project changed my whole world

Not only did it equip me to handle serious subjects on a stage

 

I learned the language

I learned the tools

I learned the responsibility

And the very semester it was all put to the test-and I had the tools at my hands and I learned what it meant to value a life over a friendship

 

No project will ever mean more

 

 

So, Mr. Akers,

In the most simplistic way I can manage-

thank you

Rock on.