Million Dollar Dream

What is your “Million Dollar Dream” right now?

If you had all the time and resources in the world to put towards one thing you’ve always wanted to do, what would it be?

Now can you sit down and make a plan? When will you give up all the other things you’re doing right now and jump in to that one goal?

It’s hard to make those decisions. But what about when you were younger? It was all so much easier, right?! These dreams didn’t seem so far out of reach because at that point, everything was still in the future. Life had just begun, so anything felt easy to plan for.

Personally, I am working to get back into that mindset. Heck I’m only 22, I just graduated college. How can I not feel young and empowered and as if anything is still attainable?!

Well, the world got bigger, my dreams got bigger, plans got bigger, and frankly I’ve been terrified.

When I was about 14 I had one goal, I made a plan for it, and I achieved it when I was 19. I didn’t think it was going to be easy, but somehow I knew I was going to get it!

This stemmed from a project my old acting teacher called the “Million Dollar Dream”.

My dream was to be a part of the Young Company at the Weston Playhouse in Vermont. These are the things that helped me reach this goal, that I’d like to use again towards setting a new goal.

Passion and Planting the Seed

When I was about 9 or 10 years old my mom took me to see my first show at Weston. Her mom took her in High School and with my undying love for theatre, she wanted to share this incredible place with me, too. I saw “Hairspray” the musical and I was hooked. Every year after that, my mom and I saw every single show we could, each summer. By the time I was in High School I’m pretty sure we saw every single show at least 3 seasons in a row. I fell deeper and deeper in love with Weston; The theatre itself, the people, the town, and everything they stood for. This was somewhere I knew I needed to be.

Research and Connections

As a bashful teenager, I worked up the nerve to introduce myself to more and more YoCo members as the years went on. I asked them about their programs, why they chose them and how they learned about Weston! I dug into every school, found out everything I needed to know and do in order to apply: how much they each cost, application fees, audition locations, early action, prescreens, etc. I actually wrote this all out by hand on giant pieces of paper, one for each school.

I knew the theatre world was a lot about connections and relationships so I started building on that. I took every open class and masterclass Weston or associated people offered. I met as many people as I could, and got myself involved in everything the theatre had to offer.

Back-up Plan 

Applying and getting into college is hard no matter what your major is going to be, but with Musical Theatre it was clear to me the odds were slim no matter what. So, I gave myself some satisfying “safety” schools and actually made plans for how I would go about re-applying for the 7 schools Weston looked at, should that have to be the case.

I think this was a really important step for me because I didn’t cut myself off with an all or nothing plan. Sure 7 schools might sound like a lot to a non-theatre major but… I ended up applying to 13 total schools and only got into 1 Musical Theatre Program.

This back-up plan was not something that would lead me in another direction. This was a plan I put in place so that even if I took a step back, I would still know where my destination was and get back on track.

Training

Okay, obviously goals involving a job or trade aren’t really attainable without the proper skill set. That just isn’t how the world works, unfortunately. I knew I could have all the passion, connections, and information in the world, but if I was not actually able to do the thing I wanted to do, it all might as well just stop there.

Theatre is not an easy business. Hell, this is one of the few major goals I have yet to accomplish because this life is really tough. So, I dedicated myself to using all the resources at my disposal to get better and better at what I loved to do. I went to summer camp, took extra classes, gave up other activities, ended up going to boarding school and ultimately got into one of the 7 schools on Weston’s list.

Almost There 

I mean, that was a huge accomplishment in and of itself. Getting into college alone is really quite fulfilling, but it wasn’t enough. I still had to audition for Weston, and I still had to get the job. My freshman year of college went along and as February rolled around, I never heard anything about Weston auditions. I had seen many notices for other Summer Stock information, workshops and things on the call board, but nothing about Weston!

Had they not come to my school? Had they not auditioned yet? What happened?

I asked around school and I found out there were only certain classes of students provided the information and us freshman were not included in that. I was heartbroken. I had come all this way for this one dream, and I didn’t even have a chance at the final step. I could have given up. I almost gave up. I actually almost dropped out of school a couple months before then,/ and this was just one more reason to start over some other way.

But…. I stayed.

Never Lose Sight

I stayed in school, and as I had a back-up plan before, I expected some bumps in the road. To be honest, I did not expect anything like that to happen when I was finally so close, but that’s okay, time to plan again!

I figured out who was in charge at my school, who was in charge at Weston, and made sure to speak with all the right people. I went home to Vermont for the summer after school and I saw every single show once again. I kept up my communication with all the right people, kept up my practice (doing some local shows with the old crew) and I made sure I remembered that I still had 4 years to make it into the Young Company. All was not lost.

Ultimately, I facilitated the auditions between my contact at Weston and at my school, to be sure that I’d have the chance to audition. I prepared harder than I ever had before, and it worked! I’ll never forget the day it happened, I was so excited and remembered all the milestones leading up to it. (I posted them all on Instagram immediately)

The little dreamer in me never gave up, and I had an amazing summer living at the Weston Playhouse in 2017.

What’s Next?

This is the part of setting goals I’m still working to wrap my head around completely. I accomplished this goal three years ago, and frankly I haven’t been able to pin down such a specific idea and process since. I have larger goals that need smaller steps to be taken, but sitting down and planning it out hasn’t been easy for me.

As I grow and goals get bigger, my sights also widen. I have more goals in more aspects of life and mapping it out takes more time and tough love with myself. There are things I have to sacrifice, or things I have to at least put on hold that are proving to be much more difficult than when I was 14 years old.

Have you found yourself putting some things on hold in order to focus on reaching a goal? Do you see your priorities and passions shifting as you get older?

I’m certainly in a time of constant change and I’m learning how to prioritize different parts of life. Remembering how driven I was at 14, and how I didn’t lose sight of this one thing for 5 years, might just help me get back on track for what I want in the next 5 years.

What “Million Dollar Dream” came to mind for you? Is there something you lost sight of that you’d like to revisit?

Think of something you’ve accomplished in the last 5 years that can help motivate you for the next step. 

Share your success in the comments! Let’s celebrate and motivate one another.