During my freshman year, the music department went on their annual music trip to Washington D.C. During this trip, I saw the musical Hairspray performed live for the first time in Baltimore. The production of the musical was stellar and I will cherish that performance forever. When I was informed that the musical for my sophomore year was going to be Hairspray, I was excited because I wanted to participate in the making of Milton High School's edition of Hairspray. I wanted to be a part of the musical because of the amazing performance I witnessed during the music trip of freshman year. Acting is not my strong point so I considered to be a part of the crew. I learned that the people in the crew are the ones who build, set, and move objects for each scene. Working behind the scenes was more interesting for me than being in the spotlight.
     I did not know what to expect when I joined crew. I thought it was going to be easy to build things and move things. Once I started to build and paint the items needed for the musical, my previous thoughts of only having to "build things and move things" were quickly dismissed. I realized that for the musical to be a pleasure to the audience, everybody needed to work hard and put effort into the tasks that were assigned. I learned many skills such as painting, drilling screws to combine pieces of wood, and moving certain objects in a short amount of time. When I made a mistake in the tasks that were assigned to me, I became frustrated and I promised myself that I wouldn't make that same mistake. As time passed, I made less mistakes and when it was time for the actual performance of the musical, I was confident in my role. During the performances, I kept on reviewing what I needed to do during certain scene changes. The more I thought about it, the more nervous I got and this nervousness led to one mistake for a scene. This one mistake plagued me for the rest of the performances. Luckily, I did not make this same mistake again. Overall, the musical was a success and I was proud to be a part of it.

     Based on what I experienced during Hairspray, I was excited to help in the production of another musical. The musical for this year is South Pacific. Because of my experience from last year, I can help the new members and teach them that it isn't always about the actors and actresses, the people behind the scenes are just as important in the making of a musical.