Katherine Williams September 19, 2017

STW is the Middleboro High School Speech and Theatre Workshop. The club is run by the theatre teacher, Mrs. Duggan. Usually meetings for officers and everyone are held in The Black Box or the MHS auditorium. Being apart of STW means being in shows, being apart of tech or taking theatre classes. The shows they put on are always  Fall Show in the first few months of school, Festival which is a competition in the winter and That’s Entertainment in the spring.

        The experience of joining STW is different depending on whether you took the classes or not. Luckily I took Intro to Theatre and Theatre One before I did any shows. I started off participating in That’s Entertainment 38: Comic Con. Even though I was completely comfortable working with Mrs. Duggan I didn’t know a lot of other people as a sophomore. It’s not that I didn’t have friends it was that talking to people doesn’t come naturally to me. Plus it had been two years of only performing in front of the same people so it was a bit uncomfortable at first. Looking back I wished I had joined sooner and did more shows. Even though my experience joining STW was somewhat uncomfortable doesn’t mean everyone else’s was.

        An unnamed sophomore I spoke with had a different experience with STW. She had never taken any formal theatre classes with Duggan, but just started off by doing a show. Her first show she performed in was That’s Entertainment 39: Fright Night. Since she had never worked with the director, Duggan, before there were some rough patches. Unlike me, she was easily able to talk to people and make friends. Not just with the people in the same scenes, but with other people too. I’m not really sure how she did it because we have the same issue with talking to people. I think she might have had an advantage with it because since it was her first show she had zero shame. She didn’t care because she had no background and was there just to have fun while during my first show  I felt like I had to rise to their standards because I did take theatre classes. She may have been able to make friends easily, but she did have a few troubles understand what Duggan meant and what she needed her to do.

        Even though I was anxious and felt like I had to be extraordinary at acting that wasn’t the case. STW is a very inclusive and caring group. Everyone is there for the same reason; acting is important and a fun thing to do. We may have had different experiences, but we both still thoroughly enjoy acting and being able to be apart of such a great group like Speech and Theatre.