Theatre Arts?
The same question was on everyone's lips whenever I mentioned the course I was studying. Somehow, that made me sit back to wonder if I was doing the right thing.
Source
What if they were all correct and I couldn't make a successful career out of the course I had chosen above other ‘rational courses’?
On most days when I saw my friends from other departments, they would shout “Nollywood!” And I would wave back with a half hearted smile, wondering if I could truly get into Nollywood after school or if I would be forced to teach English language in an upcoming primary school because I couldn't land a befitting job.
Worst of it was when I heard the achievements my mother and siblings already made on my behalf,
“Treasure, I want to act out my autobiography. You'll be the one to write the script and direct it” my older brother said to me one evening. I cast him a surprised glance and dropped my mouth open when my sister supported the idea immediately.
“That's true. We should even do a movie about our experiences as a family. I'm certain that if we decide to do a family drama beginning from when mummy and daddy got married, we would have more than a hundred series”
I nearly laughed but I knew better than to openly scorn my sister's idea. That was always a total turn off for her.
“Nice,” I responded when they all turned to look at me. “The idea is a nice one. Let's work towards it”
I knew they were not going to take it up just like they didn't take up the matter of having a family portrait the year before. It seemed whenever nice ideas were brought up, one thing or the other surfaced to disrupt those ideas so we mostly made empty promises to each other.
Then there was my mother who kept announcing that I was going to be retained after my school degree so I could become a lecturer. Actually, she wanted me to be a professor.
Whenever she spoke about who she wanted me to be, I felt a lurch in my heart and became forced to make promises just to make her enjoy peace.
“Treasure, you're a special child o. Are you aware that from 5 years you had started showing signs of being dramatic” I knew where that talk was headed. My mom would follow up her desires for me with stories of how I either asked a visitor to stop yawning in our house, or how I hid in the fridge when I learnt that armed robbers were raiding the compound just next to ours.
“Very smart child!” She would continue, “Everybody including your teachers called you Prof, especially when I took you to the village” I didn't know how to tell her that what I wanted to pursue as a career was completely removed from being a professor.
All of this pressure has led me to a state of indecisiveness so far. Especially as I was fast approaching my last year in school and needed to pick an area of specialization. My friends had given me lots of suggestions over time,
“Treasure, you're a good actor, specialize in acting”
“Treasure, why don't you go for Theatre administration? You're the life planner among us!”
“Mama how about you go for directing? I know its a lot of money but if you set your mind to it, then you can do it!”
I was grateful that they were all concerned for me, but I didn't want to specialize in any of those areas. I was too worried, too scared of going into an area that would frustrate my career instead of enhancing it.
However I wrote down 2 areas I knew I could trust on a post-it and pinned it to the top of my mirror. Every time I glanced at that mirror, I saw them boldly written, PLAYWRIGHT and THEATRE FACILITATOR.
There were still days when I wanted to take that post-it off and replace it with one bearing ACTOR or THEATRE ADMINISTRATOR because they were the least complicated fields but I thought against it almost immediately.
I wasn't just worried about disappointing my family or specializing in the wrong field, I constantly worried about not being able to make a reasonable income to afford not just a good but a comfortable life.
There were so many people who looked up to me because I defied many laws to pursue my dreams. So far, 2 ladies switched from law and medicine to foreign languages and food and nutrition studies because they heard of the bold step I took.
There were so many people to not disappoint. For me studying Theatre Arts is more than having formal education; it is a pursuit for destiny, a great destiny, as expected by the entire world.