As someone who was a part of many theatre productions in the past six years, I have gotten to know many people who are or plan to pursue a degree in theatre, acting, or musical theatre. I have also heard the harsh comments and scolding that come with people expressing they want to be a theatre major.

Many individuals in this country look down upon the arts, and I, myself, watched people look down upon the theatre program at our high school. We weren't playing sports or engaging in any type of competition, so many saw us as a lesser part of the school; when actually, our theatre department has been told on multiple occasions that we put on Broadway-style shows.

Theatre, just like any other major, takes a special type of passion and talent to succeed in. It takes a special type of person to go up on stage and let your entire being out in front of an audience full of hundreds of people for multiple nights in a row. I give large amounts of credit to my friends and everyone out there who has the talent and courage to go out on that stage and shine or make sure everything runs smoothly backstage as a part of crew.

Our society tends to look down on people who major in any type of theatre art, but we shouldn't be looking down on these individuals or scolding them. We all dream of who we want to become in the future, and if all of us are allowed to pursue our dreams, why should we look down upon theatre majors who are simply doing the same? We don't look down upon anyone except people pursuing the arts, yet the same people scolding these young hopefuls are the same people buying $300 tickets to see Hamilton and paying $8 each month to subscribe to Netflix.

No one thinks about the individuals who put on live theatre productions or star in their favorite TV shows. More people need to realize that the people they look down upon are the people that produce the very entertainment they love. We wouldn't have plays, musicals, TV shows, or movies if people didn't have the passion to act and sing.

We need to end the stigma surrounded around people wanting to major in theatre or pursue theatre for a future career. Why should we all get to pursue our dreams in college, but other people are put down for wanting to live theirs?

Theatre majors are just as great as every one of us. We all just want to pursue our dreams, and we should all support each other for the lives we want to live. I praise theatre majors for pushing past all the hate. I believe in you, and you will go on to do amazing things.