Gwinnett Magazine interns share what makes their personal “Best of Gwinnett” list – from Rachel Kim, North Gwinnett High School.
My personal Best of Gwinnett lies with my theater troupe, who continue to amaze and surprise me with their dedication and unadulterated talent. My passion has always been with singing – in communicating the emotions of any song that I performed – but theater allows me to turn songs into performances, where instead of communicating one feeling, I am able to communicate stories that linger with people long after a show has ended.
This passion is only multiplied by my friends in my troupe, who are eternal perfectionists, wanting to bring the best of their abilities to each performance and whispering meticulously-worded rants to one other backstage about a single, barely-seen mistake made onstage.
I’ve been involved in music for as long as I can remember, but only theater has caused me to reflect. In the quiet hours after a show has ended, I think about the moral lessons of a show and my own character. I currently play Glinda in my school’s production of The Wizard of Oz, and I find myself deconstructing what I originally thought was a one-dimensional character. Ultimately, I stem her passion for Munchkinland and saving the Munchkins in my own passion for the show as well as theater itself.
When students sign up for the class, we are told we are actors, but what we are not told is that we are also directors and audience members and set designers and prop masters. We are also not told that complete strangers would become your best friends in a month or less, or that support from these friends never ceases to exist but only increases with each day. I could never have hoped for a community of friends so large and so loud that I feel great pride each day to even be considered one of them.
Theater continues to be and will always be my own Best of Gwinnett.
