To Our College Graduating Theatre Geeks...

Bety Sotomayor

OnStage Mexico Columnist

Time flies, doesn’t it? The moment you thought would never come is finally here. It’s hard to say goodbye to life as you’ve known for the past for years, but there is one thing that is harder to leave behind; college theatre. 

Fear and panic consume you, but also excitement, there is something you can not explain inside of you, you fear the future but you can’t wait to know what it holds in store for you. However, you can’t bear the thought of letting go of the thing that has taught you about life itself, the stage where you found comfort from the evils of this world. 

The safety provided by that space is something you don’t know if you’ll ever replace, it is scary to think that soon you will be on your own, college will not provide more opportunities for you, you’ll have to go out there and search for them, it feels as if in the moment you get your degree, you’re alone to fight against the world.

I’m sure you are already thinking and counting every “last”, your last curtain call, last college show, last time sharing the stage with the people that have become your family and certainly you are already thinking what should come next. I’m sure a lot of people thank college is over because it means you’ll finally leave the “theatre thing”. Deep inside you know it’s not true, whether you pursue a professional career, perform in community college or be an spectator, the “theatre thing” will always be a part of your life. 

And that precisely is what we should hold on to, to every single thing we’ve learned thanks to the years spent doing theatre in college, maybe we should see this as a change of stage, whatever path you choose for your life, it’s just another different role you are performing. 
We should be thankful towards theatre, because among the many things it taught us, how to say goodbye was one of them. All that’s left for us, college graduates, is working for achieving the dreams college theatre helped to build.  

Photo: Sheridan College