Zoe Kirkness

"The Fear of Being The Tall Freak" by Zoe Kirkness

When audition month comes along, most students and kids celebrate the feeling that they themselves can get a role in the school play or musical. However, there are also the students who fear going to auditions due to the fact that they look different than others. Some have a fear that maybe they won’t get the role because of their race while others are fearful because they’ll stutter during a line. But then there are students like me who are nervous to audition due to the fact that they are taller than the average student or the average girl in my case.

The fear of being tall in a girl's eyes is that they won’t get the role that they wanted or the main character but eventually, they would get a side character who would fit more towards their height. When I was in eighth grade, I auditioned for the school play of Cinderella and eventually got the role of Cinderella. However, I was pulled into the directors office and was told that I was no longer able to be Cinderella due to the fact that prince charming was almost two inches shorter than me. She then asked how I felt about stepping away from the role and taking on the role of the wicked stepmother. At the time, I thought nothing of it because stepmother was another roll just as important as Cinderella but now as I look back on it I realized that the only reason that I wasn’t able to play the character I truly want it was because of my height. 

If I were to change one thing in the acting industry, I would want young children to not have to worry about their height as they audition for a play or musical so that they could just play the role that they want and not have to worry about trying out for a certain role that fits their stature.