From Anonymous: The power of Art..."Cabaret"

“Last night there was a deadly shooting at Seattle’s Jewish Confederation building.”

The director continues, “Today; TODAY these people were killed. I’m not talking about a time period in the past; I’m saying that Today there was a shooting. TODAY innocent people were murdered just because of who they are. Think about this…”

Instead of the previous blank stares, he is now met with looks of dismay.

“There is something horribly wrong with this world when people are being killed because of who they are. Here we are, thinking that we are performing a play about history, about the holocaust, when in reality, nothing has changed. You shouldn’t just be performing this play to entertain people; you should be begging them to open their eyes. You need to make the audience realize that if society keeps letting life go by like it has been, then tragedies like this will never stop occurring.”

By this time, the light watery film has already started to cover the cast members’ eyes.

“What does this mean for you? There are some of you sitting right in front of me who won’t be able to get married just because of who you love; some of you are in danger simply because of the people you are. When will this ever change? And what are YOU going to do to change it? Sit back and let life go by, or force people to open their eyes and notice that this world is a messed up place?”

The tears that the cast has been trying so hard to suppress start flowing. Each person sitting on that stage is affected by what was just said for completely different reasons, yet that doesn’t matter. What matters is the fact that everyone is there for each other. To a stranger, the cast at this point probably seems like a group of bawling teenagers, but it’s actually a close-knit family connected by one common thread. This common thread isn’t their love for theater or their excitement about performing, but rather their newfound epiphany; that together they are capable of making a difference.


Before the director challenged us to think about the power of our performance, I was just another 14-year old boy, naïve and young, thinking, “Sure! I love to sing! Performing is so much fun, I want to get better at it”. That was about the extent of my thoughts. I was just enjoying the fact that I could be a part of such an amazing process, playing the Emcee in Artswest’s Summer Conservatory production of the musical Cabaret. I thought it was great that I was performing in a musical, but that’s all I thought I was doing. It wasn’t until the director presented us with this challenge when I opened my eyes and discovered that theater is more than just performing for an audience. Theater is more than just putting on a costume and singing, acting, or dancing to entertain a group of people. Theater is a way to make a statement, to create change. Theater, in my life, is the one place where I have been entirely accepted for the person that I have chosen to be.
The director’s challenge made me realize that no matter what road of life I decide to take, no matter where I end up, I will always have a place where I will be able to be myself. Coming from a lifestyle of baseball, basketball, and soccer games (where breaking down in tears is seen as slightly strange) to sitting in the middle of a stage bawling because of the state the world is in, is a drastic change, to say the least. This drastic change made me come to terms with myself and recognize that I don’t have to hide from anyone. From that moment on I knew that it was possible to open up and free myself from other people’s judgment and just be me. As long as I was living a life that involved theater and music in some way, shape, or form, I would be okay.
Although I may not become a world leader, create a lifesaving cure for a deadly disease, or solve global warming, being on that stage on that hot July day, showed me that I have an ability to make a difference. While the impact of making a statement about a powerful topic may not always seem significant and life changing, the amount of difference that it does make in the world is the most important aspect of my life.

When I was 14-years old, the excitement that my director instilled upon our cast had a profound impact on my life and helped to create a phenomenal production of the musical Cabaret. After the show closed, we all went our separate ways and once again began our separate lives. The significance of that specific moment was stuck in the back of my mind, but it went somewhat disregarded until this last summer.
I was sitting in the same theater that I had been sitting in three summers ago, only this time I was in front of a group of wide-eyed and eager-to-learn 12-15 year olds, as their mentor. The same director that directed me in Cabaret also sat in the audience and asked me the question,
“Andrew, can you tell everyone a little bit about why you’re here? Where did your amazing passion for theater come from?”
I was stumped. All I really know is that I have an extreme passion for theater, but I had never really connected in my mind where it came from. Suddenly, my thoughts darted back to the influential moment in Cabaret and I started to explain it exactly way I did earlier. As I got to the climax of my description I could see the tears well up in the eyes of my onlookers and I was at a loss for words.
Emotions overwhelmed me and the only thought I could generate that was extremely hard to communicate was, “I have to be here…I have to be in theater and I can’t imagine my life any other way.”
After I was done talking with this group of kids, I couldn’t stop thinking about how worked-up I got, when a specific student came up to me. It was a twelve-year old girl who I had given special help to outside the allotted class time; she stopped me and gave me the most powerful hug I have ever received in my life. This hug spoke louder and clearer than a thousand words put together, and I thought to myself… ‘I have already made a difference.’