Lina Apodaca

Key 192C-015
Narrative One
Showtime
It was the last dress rehearsal before opening night tomorrow, and to say things were

falling apart would be an understatement. As I gazed around the stage looking at my fellow cast

members, my heart sunk. There was no way we were going to be ready in time. We were

forgetting our lines, missing cues, and growing more and more frustrated with every second. I,

along with most of the cast, was ready to throw in the towel and cancel the whole thing. But, of

course we couldn’t.

Then, suddenly, the tension in the room hit an all time high when one of my friends ran

off the stage in a burst of tears after arguing with our director. The rest of us looked at each other

not knowing what to do, the awkwardness was too much to handle. Most people decided to leave

the girl who ran off alone, thinking that it might be best to give her time to herself. I, on the other

hand, decided to go seek my friend out. I understood her frustration and wanted to make sure she

was fine.

One of my strengths is empathy. I have a great understanding of how those around me

our feeling. I’m able to understand what they are feeling, even if I don’t necessarily agree or feel

the way they do. This strength helped me to comfort my friend and help her to get her mind back

on track so we can focus on our performance for the following night.

The next problem that arose that night was solely my own. Due to a death in my

immediate family, I ended up missing a lot of practices and I was still lost when it came to the
blocking in second act. This is where the rest of my strengths come into play: restorative,

intellection, input, and adaptability.

Restorative means that I like to solve problems. I get a rush when the next obstacle I must

solve appears. There is no greater feeling than encountering a challenge and solving it. My next

strength is intellection. I love to think. There is rarely a time when my mind isn’t going on and

on thinking about this and that. I like to think about ideas, problems, and solutions. Intellection

helps my restorative strength. When it’s time to solve a problem, I rely on my thoughts to help

guide me. My third strength input also ties in with these other two strengths. Input means that I

like to collect things, whether that be something tangible or something intangible like thoughts or

ideas. These three strengths are used interchangeably to help me be at my best. Finally,

adaptability is the strength to adapt as new situations arise. This helps me to focus in on the

current moment and not what’s going to happen later. This strength is very useful as an actress,

especially for one who is lost and behind.

In this case, the problem I needed to solve was not knowing most of my lines and

blocking. Now the easiest course of action would be to study my lines and practice them, but that

takes time and I didn’t have time. The clock was counting down and my cast mates would be

expecting me on stage any minute now to deliver my line and get the scene rolling. So that’s

what I did. I walked out on stage and with my best British accent I improved my way through the

scene. I relied on my collection of knowledge of what the scene was about and what my

character’s role in the play was. Through out it all my mind never stopped thinking. I thought

about what was happening and what needed to happen. I adapted to what was around me to the

best of my ability. I was able to use what I already know to help me best pull off this scene. I
relied on the actions and words of my cast to help guide me in the right direction. My strengths

helped me pull it off and I was prepared for our performance the following night.

Being on stage and performing in front of a crowd is where I feel like I am at my best.

Instead of being the shy and awkward girl I normally am, on stage, I am confident and not afraid

of speaking in front of large groups of people. Yes, my anxiety is still going crazy every time I

walk out on the stage, but that’s what makes me be at my best. When I am at my best my

strengths come into play to help balance out my “weaknesses”. When you’re on stage

performing in front of a group of people, many unforeseen obstacles may arise, and you must be

able to help get things back on track. For example, during a performance somebody is bond to

forget there cues or lines and we need to quickly get things back on track without the audience

realizing that we messed up. My strengths allow me to instantly adapt to what is happening

instead of panicking, think about the situation at hand, then pull ideas from my collection of

thoughts to finally solve the problem, all while picking up on the emotions of those around me.

Being on stage allows me to hone my strengths and use them in a way that helps best fit me.