Skeleton stories summary: On Día de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead), a young girl named Maya journeys into the Underworld to find and rescue the spirit of her dead mother. Through a series of vignettes, guided by the Aztec spirit Yellow Dog, Maya encounters lost souls and experiences their stories before confronting the god of death… who wants to keep Maya for his own.

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As a Mexican-American freshman in high school, I had a deep interest in this play, and I was thrilled to be part of something that would highlight my culture. I auditioned and was ecstatic when I was offered a role. Originally, my director had given me the role of ensemble which I appreciated but, as time went on I was offered a part.

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In my role as Soldier, I faced many challenges but the hardest I would say was that I had to fully immerse myself in my character. Not only did I have to understand my scene but I had to understand the trauma that my character would have undergone to act the way he did. I spent time meditating about the horrors he would have experienced and what childhood trauma he would have had. Not only did I research PTSD but I also used an acting reference in the book Cherry by Nico Walker to understand the pain they would feel.

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The easiest part about playing this character was learning blocking and my lines. Since I had already done the research I had somewhat of an idea of how I was supposed to move and how I was supposed to talk. I impressed my director the first time I acted out the scenes because my emotions were so believable due to my extensive research.

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My favorite part of the whole process was show nights. I remember being nervous as it was my first time acting on stage. I could not explain the feeling I got as I was on that stage and had everyone looking at me. It was exhilarating, to say the least, but I quite enjoyed the feeling.

Given all of this, I still faced a huge obstacle. I actually started to feel the emotions of my character. This gave me huge anxiety and I started to feel paranoia. I couldn't shake off the feeling as if I was actually dying on stage. I didn't have a clue as to what I was supposed to do with this so I just held it in until the end. Now, of course, I know that it is safe to talk to someone about the anxiety I was feeling and that I shouldn't be afraid to explain myself.

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Finally, given that this was my first performance I don't have anything to compare it to. I did however learn so much about acting in a short period of time. I learned to do the research and embody the character as long as it wouldn't affect my mental health. I also learned how important it is to communicate with people. If I had communicated sooner I wouldn't have felt so drowned in my problems