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"We don't grow when things are easy, we grow when things are a challenge."
Going into high school I was scared, yet excited for the new opportunities
that I would be facing at the age of fifteen. Still very unsure about what I
wanted to do with my life, I knew that something was waiting for me in high
school.
Freshman year went by like a breeze, Theatre was my favorite class
because I literally slept in that class all year, I was getting straight A's
and I was pursuing my career as a running back for my school's football team.
Then when sophomore year came around, I decided that I should give football an
indefinite break. So, I was a sixteen-year-old struggling with a few classes
because I was learning what the word "procrastination" means, I realized school
was only easy because my coaches would help me pass my classes by talking to my teachers so that I can be eligible to play. I tried sweet talking all my
teachers, but I guess they were all having a bad year as well, so they told me "you
better grow up and get your priorities straight and fix your grades!" and I
guess you can say I had a  "mid teen life crisis" and I was constantly asking
myself  "priorities? What are my priorities?" As the year was ending, I was
still asking myself the same question every day, I felt as if I was running
behind on all my tasks, I never got a job that I promised my mom that I would
get to help out at home, I hit the snooze button on my homework, chores, family
gatherings, hang outs with friends. My laziness even cost me a girlfriend
because I wasn't paying enough attention to her or anything, because all I wanted was to be a couch potato and expect everything to get done by itself.
Junior year was just around the corner. It was the first day of school,
my friend came up to me and said "You should join theatre, I saw you in the
class last year, maybe you'll like it..." so I took that into consideration and
decided to stay after school for rehearsal. When it was time to go speak to the
theatre directors I was second guessing myself and thinking, "should I waste my
time with this?" I spoke to the director and he simply said "go find a drill,
you're going to do tech." From that moment, I knew my life was going to change.
I started staying after school every day and I would build the set for each
show that the drama company was putting on. I slowly began socializing within
the "drama kids" I met the majority of the people that I call my "best friends"
In my first year in theatre, our company won the awards for best ensemble in a
play, best production in a play, and best scenic design. Our company then made
history by making it to state for our One Act play. I was extremely proud and
humbled to be a part of the company and will forever hold that year in my heart, for it brought me to a realization of who I am and what I aspire to be.
Then it was my senior year and we just finished our first show "Evil Dead: The Musical", where I played a REAL TALKING character for the very first time. I had auditioned for many universities at many conventions and I had received over thirty callbacks from universities all over Texas. I was hoping for that year to be twice as successful but we all know what 2020 had in store for us. Senior year wasn't the best but the few months we had were eventful and happy, something I haven't seen in a while. Now as a freshman in college I understand that the fight is not over but in reality just barely starting, I can only hope for the same success and joy throughout these 4 years; we'll see on the next episode of "about me".

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1-Aspirations/Goals       tacuache to a thespian

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1-Aspirations/Goals       tacuache to a thespian

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Ever since I could remember my dream was to be a police officer. I know. EW. but hey…i was young and i thought id look sexy in a police uniform. From kinder to 10th grade I was set on being a cop, I trained in little camps and went on ride alongs with real police officers. I thought i was so cool...until i realized that all my life I was in the shadow of my older brother, my uncles and many cousins attempting to become police officers. The only reason why I ever thought about becoming a police officer was because I grew up listening to my family say how it's “the greatest job in the world” and that I should do it because all the men in my family are attempting to do it. Going into High school my whole family said the best fit for me as a career is to be a police officer or to join the military. I immediately said hell to the no, I was done catering to their expectations and decided i wanted to do what i LOVE...but what did i love? I don't even know, I spent so much time trying to please my family that I never stopped to ask myself what I wanted. With only 2 years of highschool left I had to think fast. “Well this drama stuff looks cool.” That's really what my mindset was when I joined theatre. If you told me 3 years ago that I'd be going to the university of texas at austin majoring in theatre and dance with an emphasis on scenic design, id cry and then id laugh. It all happened in a flash. I didn't even understand what I was doing, but I was good at it. I went from watching star wars all day and playing call of duty to watching hamilton and singing every ben platt song at the top of my lungs. The lord blessed me with a fantastic random opportunity and i'm going to hold on to it for as long as my legs, arms, brain and heart give out cause at this point there's no going back… im just kidding i heard the local police department has a few openings.

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both photos are just a before and after of theatre. the first one is a "tacuache' version of leo and the second is the new and improved thespian version.

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A way I manage to practice my craft is to constantly keep my hands busy with construction and my creative juices in my brain flowing by inspecting every set that I come across on tv and film. My grandfather practically raised my brothers and I with power tools in our hands. In theatre i just like to call myself “the set guy”, luckily my directors trusted me enough to design and build all our sets for all of our shows. From watching movies and shows for inspiration i used the knowledge of construction work and design to tackle two birds with one stone, being the set designer and construction crew all in one. Countless hours after school and on weekends were spent in the shop and on set building and designing to the preference of my directors. The best part was not only building and designing the sets but also being able to perform on my very own designs and creations. A task I was given was creating the full interior of a cabin for the musical “evil dead:the musical”. Immediately after that show, I put my demolition gloves on and started prepping for the next show. Keep in mind these shows have only a month between them for construction of the set and rehearsing for the show, it didn't help that I was cast in the show as well but hey whats theatre if there's no complications right? So now I went from making a cabin in the woods to making a classroom located in the basement of a church while also having to include a full sized playground… I know, lucky me.Thankfully everything finished with a little bit of relaxing time. Once again it felt amazing to be performing on a creation of yours and seeing it shine under the spotlights.

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This summer my buddy and I are going to utilize some of our free time to continue making short films, narratives, skits and documentaries. We have multiple youtube channels but once we get a singular public profile ill make sure to send that link via email. I've always wanted to work on settings for a film whether that be creating the sets or manipulating natural scenery to our preferred appearance. Film and scenic design are my 2 main hobbies or preferred line of work. I've only ever gotten paid once and that was for helping my former theatre company design and build a set for one of their recent shows “rabbit hole”. It excites me at times because I forget that I can actually make money doing what I love. It's almost like I picked this to be my lifelong career...anyways after almost a full year of not doing any type of theatre related jobs or performances i finally got to get back in film with my bud and get back in touch with my former directors.

A new and fresh idea that has been brewing in my head has been designing a set for my former directors for their upcoming musical “school of rock”. It's officially gonna be one of the hardest tasks because the stage is going to be a basic auditorium unlike what I prefer which is a close and intimate blackbox. This will definitely be a challenge but i'm looking forward to utilizing the open space and making huge set pieces. As my resume keeps updating I definitely want to get the professional feel of being paid and hired as a set designer/construction team.

https://youtu.be/ijH4GsnXu8E

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https://youtu.be/penY6JJYBzU

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https://youtu.be/I1EoFWCGLo8
https://youtu.be/CarekC_ybhk
https://youtu.be/MLoVMAjp2ag
https://youtu.be/aVcsyROQ5w8
https://youtu.be/hibi_DwX_As
https://youtu.be/U1AJ2or1Wj0