Student Blogger Reflects on Six Months of Writing for BroadwayWorld

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Sonia (and friends!) reflect on what acting means to them.

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I have been writing student blogs for BroadwayWorld for 6 months now. This really amazes me as it feels like I have just started. I feel very blessed to have been able to write for a website I love and respect so much talking about the thing I love most in the world, performing.

In the 6 months I have been writing I have learned a lot - more than I even imagined. My biggest takeaway from this experience thus far is that everyone has such a beautifully unique view of acting. I don’t think I truly realized how many specific ideas or opinions I had on acting until I was given the platform to write about them. Reflecting on this made me really curious about what other people view acting as. Each person has a different experience - no one has played the same roles, or studied the same way. I reflected on the prompt, “What does acting mean to you?” and here is what I came up with:

Acting to me is connection. As an actor, you must find empathy for every character you portray, or else you cannot represent them with honesty. This empathy creates a deeper understanding of people that I feel is unique to actors. It’s the comprehension that every person is different and flawed in a way that is exclusively human. I view the world very differently as an actor than I ever did before becoming one. It’s like a superpower. I can see things in the minute details of humanity that most glaze over. My hope is that people feel seen in my artistry. Acting is not only my escape from the world, but my contribution to it.

I asked other actors to ponder the same question, “What does acting mean to you?”

“To me, acting is personal self-expression in its truest form. In my life, acting takes on the role of an outlet that allows me absolute and undiluted freedom in a world of ruthless structure” - Sophie Andersen (she/her) a Psychology major and a Theater and Drama minor at UW Madison

“To me acting has meant a lot, especially in the way I’m allowed to take up space. Acting demands the actor to be seen and heard. There’s no hiding on a stage. Every role big or small is another opportunity for me to be a little more open with myself and see how far I can go” - Honora Hubert (he/him) studying at Madison College

“Acting boiled down to its truest form is honesty. In order to act, you must be honest with yourself, and you must be honest with the audience. You must find the truth within yourself and the world around you and translate that into the character. The beauty of acting is that this honesty creates a trust between both you and the audience as well as you and your character! This trust allows true art form!” Haven Lane (she/her) a BFA Musical Theatre major at Missouri State University

“Acting for me is being able to explore the magic of being a character that I can either relate to, or have nothing in common with at all. I enjoy taking up the task of figuring out this character and creating the small details that nobody else but I would know about my given character. I’ve always said I have the opposite of stage fright; being myself on stage and talking in front of people is way harder and scarier than being another character. Although I still struggle with that, acting for me has also helped battle extreme anxieties in social situations, and sometimes in real life you just have to hone those characters to get through the day.” - Bonnie Jean Sanchez (she/they/he) a BM Musical Theatre major at Texas Woman’s University

“Acting is a form of self-expression like no other. It allows a person to step outside of their own life and into another’s to portray an experience completely different from their own. For me, acting has played a huge role in my growth as a person. It has allowed me to experience the lives of others and form emotional connections to people that are entirely different from my own life” Ella Hale, a Nursing major with a Theater minor at Carthage College

“Acting is the opportunity to share stories. We share these stories in order to teach people, create characters people connect to, and to provide an escape from reality. I believe that if I am able to achieve any of these things in a performance, I have succeeded” - Kaia Mavradas, a BFA Musical Theatre major and Dance minor at Northern Michigan University.

“Acting is what makes others feel less alone in their humanity. It is a reminder that we are all living this life together, and no battle we encounter is one we have to fight alone. Acting tells the stories that often go unnoticed and acknowledges the things about ourselves we fear the most. It is what drives us to create, learn, be empathetic, foster understanding, and unite as one imperfect, yet beautiful world.” - Ella Stoll, a BFA Musical Theatre major at Ohio Northern University

Acting has the power to mean so much to so many different people. I am so thankful to this artform for everything it has taught me about myself and the world. It empowers me to be the best version of myself in every sense. It is an art form that brings humans out of their comfort zone and changes how they see the world. It is one of the most complex experiences you can have and yet, so many people call it home.

Acting is emotion. Acting is truth. Acting is humanity. Acting is freedom. Acting is opportunity. Acting is an escape. Acting is… whatever you make it - and that’s the beauty of it.

Whether it is someones livlihood, or a hobby, I hope that everyone finds tranquility in something they love. Everyone deserves that experience.

(Photo Credit: Aaliyah Housley)

As the semester comes to a close, I wanted to reflect on what I've learned as a Student Blogger with BroadwayWorld, specifically in terms of discovering myself and my values through my writing.

While that uncertainty hurts the Type A side of me, the fear is motivating, and I find it to be extremely helpful to be somewhat on the side of the unknown.

Something that I feel is overlooked for actors is developing skills aside from acting. There's the pressure to just choose something and stick with it. I decided to share my experiences of trying things other than performing and how they have benefitted me, both as an actor and as a human.

Writing about theatre has not made me an expert, but it has made me a far more attentive observer, and that has been the biggest surprise of all.

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_Originally reported by [BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Student-Blog-Acting-Is-20260528)._