I may be prejudiced but I feel that in theatre we work with THE most remarkable teenagers in the world! In what other teenage world are they being asked to pull together their brief time on the planet and be accountable and more conscious of all that is going around them, the choices that they have made, and the all-important consequences. They are daily asked to discard the most valuable protection they have – the all-important mask! Now, they cannot proceed without owning the reasons behind everything they do. We discuss feelings. We go to dark places and feel comfort – or least tolerance for those that are different. We get closer to the inside than any other high school pursuit! There is no teacher’s edition of what we do – not even a sense of true and false. We are ultimately vulnerable. Those who can leave the most behind are the ones most likely to move forward. I love these students and their herculean endeavor. In that we will never realize the destination, I love journey with them.
But the crazy in this world is that ultimately and factually they are still children. And sometimes children behave LIKE children – and children should likely behave LIKE children. Who would want to take that away from them? Life gives you so much time as an adult and so precious little time as a child. BUT the problem is that sometimes they just act without seeing the big picture. I repeat over and over again in my acting classes that I want them to “act BEFORE they think.” But the minute the class is over I am demanding them to “THINK before they act.” What a twisted thing to lay out in front of teenagers. I certainly know exactly what those in my charge should be doing with their present moment and their world beyond high school. I am infallible. I tell them this. I tell them, “I am infallible.” And yet they pursue thoughts of life after school that are personal, independent and radically their own. How dare they think for themselves! How dare they take all of those lectures of thinking on their own – AND ACTUALLY DO IT. How dare they actually practice what we preach! How dare they . . . Well, they do. The best of them will do it. They may pay the price – but they will do it.
I need to own the hypocrisy in what I say every day and the result that my day brings to me. Children need to be children and think and behave like children. And children need to grow up and chose their own road. Eventually I need to go from their teacher to their cheerleader – – I just don’t see the promotion there.