Theatre is not easy.  It never has been. Being in any aspect of theatre whether you are working on the stage or off means you are committing your time, energy, and life to storytelling that is as truthful as possible. It is a detail oriented process .  The art of making theatre is as close as humans can possibly get to magic. For a small amount of time we can make people think we are princesses, warriors, witches, and everything in between and in that small amount of time we really are those things and the people watching really believe it.  The magic that theatre has, to me, rivals that of waking up on Christmas morning to see what Santa has brought. Besides the magic of the actual piece of theatre the fact that you have a group of people working diligently together to bring a story to life is pretty amazing and it’s something I hope more people in theatre will keep in mind.  I am incredibly grateful that I get the privilege of storytelling and I am constantly reminded of how lucky I am when I am able to perform in something that I believe to be an important piece of art. To me theatre not only has the ability to transport us to other times and places but it holds up a mirror to humanity, allowing us to reflect inwardly as a group.  I am proud to be a performer, to be able to morph into different people and tell someone else’s story as truthfully as possible. I am the first that I know of in my family to take up storytelling as my career and I am only the second generation to actually go to college, it is an honor to be able to do this professionally and to be able to honor the hard work my family members who came before me had to do in order for me to be writing this artistic statement today.