Play

I wanna talk about “play.” I read somewhere recently (I think in my extremely nerdy pet nutrition book, The Forever Dog) that humans are the only mammal that stops playing when we become adults. People I’m in community with, whom I have immense respect for, are always talking about incorporating play back into our lives as adults, as a practice of self care, and an outlet to nourish our inner child. But most of us don’t actually know what it means to play anymore, and even if we know it on a surface level we may find it exceedingly difficult to actually let go and have fun. I think play, in many ways, is about freedom. You know what else is about freedom? SINGING.

I think we can and should play when we sing. I love to breathe in weird places, stretch words, explore different sounds that I didn’t know could be “beautiful.” Sound is infinite, and our voices are capable of an absurd amount of sounds. Coming back to Musical Theater really let me play more than I did when I sang Classically. I’m sure, in part that’s because I was never advanced enough of a Classical singer to really explore those elements, but I don’t know… from what I’ve seen and heard, the Classical realm is a lot more rigid, even at the professional level. I know there’s a certain level of that rigidity in Musical Theater too, but certainly less, and I plan to resist that as much as I can. The rigidity of Musical Theater is different somehow: it’s more about the boxes we’re needlessly put into.

I’ve seen a lot of TikToks recently about these boxes, and the ways the education system tries to confine us all to the same generic “Musical Theater” sound (shout out to my voice teacher, Erin, for NOT doing that to me). What happened to the unmistakable voices of the generations before us? I think those voices became unmistakable through the practice of play. So I’m gonna play and lean into weirdness in my art, even if a lot of people hate it. I’m going to make weird choices that fall in line with my unique experiences as an artist. I don’t want to be a cookie cutter Musical Theater artist. I wanna be that weird blob of cookie made from the awkward bits and pieces that weren’t quite enough to be made into a real distinguishable shape, but is baked into a professional cookie regardless.

Anyway, let’s get weird with it.