A series on the role of theatre in vocation, with a focus on how it supports community-building, the uncommon good, and vocational exploration and discernment for all our students.
STUDENT
Will you run lines with me for my acting scene?
ROOMMATE
Sure. What’s the part?
STUDENT
My character tells his best friend he’s in love with him.
(Roommate freezes, suddenly guarded.)
ROOMMATE
Wait—are you gay?
STUDENT
I don’t think so. I just want to get the scene right.
ROOMMATE
Never mind, I’m not running those lines.
(Lights fade.)
This scene is, unfortunately, not fiction. It is rooted in real student encounters. I’ve heard these stories whispered in the wings, muttered backstage, or offered between rehearsals when a student feels safe enough to speak. Often students don’t name these moments as trauma—because they’ve been trained to believe it is normal to be shamed. But they are traumatic. They are moments in which students begin to doubt not just their talent, but their belonging. And that doubt, left unspoken, corrodes the heart of their calling.
Continue reading “The Uncommon Good of Theatre”