Written by Iryna Didenko
Of all the classes that I took in high school, the one that stands out the most is stagecraft. What started out as carpentry and lighting design turned into bonding with lifelong friends, building responsibility, learning how to multitask effectively while juggling multiple unrelated yet equally demanding projects, strengthening my leadership skills, and more. I was a quiet, shy person with a creative streak at the start of my sophomore year, but as the class continued, I found that I truly had a knack for all aspects of theatre from behind the scenes, including lighting design, carpentry, set design, sketching, drafting, graphic design, painting, and even sewing, which was a first for me. As I became more involved, I signed up to tech for the school shows, and by January, I was the assistant stage manager and preparing for my International Thespian Society initiation, proudly joining the troupe on campus. Over the next two years, I built this love into a career and quickly progressed to a leadership role in the ITS troupe as well as the master electrician, master carpenter, class lead, and stage manager, pushing my crew to build the sets in record time, accomplishing tasks the teacher thought were impossible on our small stage, and bringing a whole new era of lighting design to the underfunded department as I spent long hours programming and designing after school. Starting with my senior year, I started working with local theaters, focusing on my strong time management and leadership skills and sharing my technical skills with coworkers and students alike. Since then, I have pursued a marketing management major instead, along with multiple related business degrees and certificates, but the core of my ambitious drive and dominant personality today is rooted in those years as a stage hand in high school. I work in both fields now, sometimes setting up the conventions that I attend in a business suit later that same day, and in both roles, I find myself surrounded by a fast-paced, aggressive environment, often predominately male. Without the years of experience in theater, I would not have found the power within me to pursue or maintain my intense academic schedule and work ethic.
