021: Cut From the Show

This week's blog is written by Resonance Ed's Director of Digital Communications and Positive Psychology Practitioner, Sheila Kennedy.

“I’m probably the only one who will ever thank you for being cut from the show.”

Those were the words spoken by my daughter Kara, a senior at the time, to the director of her high school’s drama group on the evening of their annual end-of-year banquet. 

That was definitely not how Kara felt two years prior when skimming the cast list for the school production during her sophomore year and nowhere on that list did she see her name, turns out she had been cut from the show and would not be a member of the ensemble cast. I remember that day vividly. She was emotionally crushed; the drama group was where she found “her people” and spent all of her time. All of her friends were in the show, it was where she felt she belonged, and now she was out of the production. How would she handle this setback? 

As educators, we play an important role in helping the children in our lives build resiliency to handle the adversity, the mistakes, the failures, and the setbacks they may encounter in their lives. We model learning from mistakes, provide them with the language to label difficult feelings, and encourage them to embrace challenges. In the case of Kara’s high school experience, it was her drama teacher’s focus on Kara’s strengths that led her to build her resiliency muscle and so much more.

“Gov,” as she was often referred to by her students, saw in Kara something other than an ensemble role on stage. Gov asked Kara to take on a role that had not existed at the time, Kara was offered the role of Stage Manager. It turns out Kara was born for this role. Learning and growing under Gov’s direction, Kara put to use her organizational and technical skills, strengthened her communication and problem-solving skills, and learned to handle stress in a fast-moving and ever-changing environment.

What began as being cut from a high school musical turned into Kara uncovering her passion. A passion unveiled in spite of what first appeared as a setback. A passion born out of being resilient and optimistic about change. A passion that now not only finds Kara in her junior year of college pursuing a degree in Stage Management in New York City but already finding her way into an off-Broadway Playbill.  So yes, I would have to agree with thanking her drama teacher for being cut from the show…it is certainly something to be thankful for Kara!

Sometimes it is believing in ourselves that builds resiliency and sometimes it is something beyond ourselves. Sometimes it is an educator shining the spotlight in an unlikely direction and providing the stage for their students to perform in ways they never imagined.