Applying Mary Zimmerman's Argonautika To Life

While I have always had a passion for performing, it was not until the end of my freshman year of high school, when I auditioned for the spring play, that I fell in love with creating theatre. I longingly watched the older kids take on jobs in designing, writing, and producing. They were enrolled in ‘Production Workshop,’ a course designed to give students exposure to the production side of creating theater. I was determined to take the class the following year; in fact, I ended up taking it three times. My sophomore year, I worked as the costume designer for our original production inspired by Japanese ghost stories. As a junior, I designed and built the puppets to bring the mythical creatures of Mary Zimmerman’s Argonautika to life. My ‘Production Workshop’ career culminated in devoting myself as co-writer, editor, and sound designer for an original production of Animal Farm. All the while, acting in each production as well.

Our play highlighted the exploitation of concentration camp prisoners by the Nazis for propaganda during World War II. Inspired by the way the message resonated with our audience, I swore to myself that from that point on I would use theatre to make a statement and elicit positive change in the world. To say I aspire to be an actor would be diminutive. Rather, I want to be a theatre artist. I dream of starting my own theatre company, where I can be not only a performer, but also a creative leader and activist. Theatre is special because it holds a mirror up to the audience and calls attention to the topics that society prefers to ignore. I hope to use theatre as a platform to comment on issues such as gender inequality and racism in America and encourage my audience to get involved in the