seabury hall performing arts

The Gift of
Performance
BY
MILES kelsey ‘11
’m sure if I claimed that theater changed my life forever and made me
into who I am today, at least one person would tell me I’m being overly
dramatic. To that I would reply,
“Perhaps, but I wouldn’t be so dramatic if it weren’t
for theater.”
But that’s not entirely accurate. Though I’ve been a
dramatic extrovert for as long as I can remember (at three I
was reenacting scenes from The Lion King with my brother),
theater has changed my life because of what it has given me.
One of those gifts is passion. Since I was cast as a
coffee-junkie jingle singer in my first play, my fervor for the
performing arts appears to be caffeinated. In all seven years,
there has not been a period longer than a month in which
I am not cast or involved in some theatrical production.
I devote so much time and energy to plays and musicals
because I love telling stories, becoming characters, and
entertaining others. It’s hard to describe, but I’d say passion
is like an activity or interest that intensifies your life—
every moment spent committed to the passion is special or
memorable, and the energy put into the passion is repaid in
double through the sense of accomplishment when progress
is made. Theater has given me that feeling.
Another gift the performing arts gave to me is a
home—a place where all of my oddest idiosyncrasies are
normal and welcome, and a voice keeps saying “This is
where I’m meant to be.” Casts
... a place where all of my
oddest idiosyncrasies are
normal and welcome...
“This is where I’m to be.”
and crews become temporary
families and life-long friends.
Even the Performing Arts Center
felt more like home than the
bedroom I rarely saw thanks
to Seabury’s gracious amounts
of homework. I can honestly
say that I am not at all worried
about my future because theater has taught me that I will
always have a community where I belong no matter where
life takes me.•••
miles
kelsey,
the hardest
working kid
in (Maui)
showbiz,
won the Pat
Green Music
Award and
the Paul Wood
Performing
Arts Award.
He now
attends MIT,
in Cambridge,
Mass.