Drama and Trauma

I am here to talk about Trauma and Drama

When I was eight years old,

I saw a children's performance

And remember going straight to my mother

To say "I want to do that too."

I was impressed with how everyone

On stage was able to sing and dance

I just wanted to be part of the syncopation. 

And Thus began many years in performing arts

I was in multiple productions,

Took ballet and tap, and even did a little Shakespeare

All before I was 13

Simply because I loved being part of anything

That created movement and sound.

And despite personal traumas

I always had drama to take me away from it all

My performing days ended

In adulthood and thereafter

Very few in my grown life

Knew of these things

But in that world,

I watched of a different kind of drama

Of those who never

Had the same escape

Their trauma was acted out

In daily antics.

You see, it never occurred to me

That being up on a stage taught me to cope

I never realized that sweating through makeup

Under bright lights, would enable me

To to see the daily act so many put on,

Where comedy and tragedy are

wWoven into a daily play called life

I – was just performing

But from those performances

I learned to silo my emotions for

Easier access on stage

Because there I could sing, dance

And even cry on demand

I learned how see what was real

And what was contrived

Trauma, is a very real thing

It takes your soul, steals away pride

And robs you of personhood

It can be a sudden interruption

Of peace and calm,

That rips what you thought

A secure life was,

But it can also be a process

That wears you down, eroding will

With every concession you make

And every heart you break,

Even if it's your own

I feel lucky because

I can see the relationship between the two

From my perspective, trauma is what gives us pain

And drama is how we act it out

And if we have no other place to perform

No place to sing, to dance to

Recite truths in iambic pentameter,

We act it out in our lives

With no no stage no lights, no orchestra

Only makeup and costume changes