The biggest lesson I ever learned, I learned in drama class

Isn’t it amazing how a teacher can have such an impact on your life? When you sit and think about it, it’s likely. They’re with you almost every day, sometimes for years at a time; it’s hard for them not to have some type of factor in the way we, as students, turn out.

For me, one of the biggest lessons I have ever learned came from my high school drama teacher. I remember walking into my ninth grade Drama Fundamentals class at Warner Robins High School, taking a seat, and listening intently to what the teacher, who we called Fish, (my senior year we even got her a beta fish as a play on this nickname) said was the key to acting.

“The three Cs—control, commitment and character,” Fish had said.

Over the next four years, these three standards were implemented in my daily life as I became a member of Thespian troupe 1802 at the end of my freshman year, and it seemed as though I never left the theatre after that. In fact, I didn’t cry at graduation or our senior breakfast, but I did bawl for hours, during and after our end of the year thespian banquet.

Little did I know that the three Cs were going to follow me, and stick in my head, throughout my adult life as well.

So let’s break down what the three Cs are. According to Fish, control, meant simply: the responsibility of the actor to control their actions in accordance with the role that is being portrayed. Character laid in the actor’s subsequent responsibility to create a new and believable personality that properly portrayed the role of the casted character in the story. Lastly, commitment was the responsibility of the actor to follow through with the actions and emotions of the created character. While these three words worked to remind me of the steppingstones of acting, they have also reminded me to be a good character in my own story.

Notice that all of the definitions of the three Cs contain the word, “responsibility.” Just like it is the responsibility of the actor to portray these things, it is my responsibility, and no one else’s, as a person to act on these concepts. It is my responsibility to control my actions and emotion in accordance with my life’s role. It is my responsibility to decide my character and build myself to what I am meant to be. And, it is my responsibility to commit and follow through with who it is that I am.

In a way, we are all the stars of our own feature films, even making appearances in the films of others in the same “movie universe.” In all movies, there is the protagonist, antagonist, comic relief, supporting cast, ensemble, etc. By paying attention to your person character, and in turn, control and commitment, you decide what you are typecast as; not just in your movie, but, in the movies of others.

I don’t know if Fish still teaches this lesson, but I hope she does. Even if it weren’t her intention for a student to carry the three Cs with her through life, I did it anyway. Even 14 years later.

Thanks, Fish.

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