HDF 190: FLITE (FIRST-YEAR LEADERS INSPIRED TO EXCELLENCE)

URI MINOR IN LEADERSHI STUDIES, CENTER FOR STUDENT LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

CORE REQUIREMENT FOR THE LEADERSHIP MINOR
SPRING 2016

SERVICE LEARNING & LEADERSHIP CONTRACT

Goal:
To use my newfound Gallup Strengths and VIA Character Strengths (Values)
in a setting that is new and uncomfortable to me so I can see how my stengths
work in unfamiliar settings. I also hope to connect these strengths to my studies so
that I can use my Strengths and Values as an asset to my education, not just my
leadership roles.
Activity:
I was lucky enough to be cast in Legally Blonde the Musical here in The
University of Rhode Islands theatre department. Seeing that being this
performance is both an unfamiliar environment and what I am studying to do in my
future I figured it was a fantastic start to me using my strengths in new and
exciting ways. From the beginning of the rehearsal process which began in
February to the last show on May 1st.
Evidence:
My evidence an article about the show from the Newport Mercury. In it, all
leads, including myself, are mentioned in it and there is a great description of the
show itself.
Annotation:
The URI theatre department has four shows a year, one of which is a
musical. This spring semester we had a very large musical with a cast of about
thirty-one people, a majority of actors from our department made up the cast but
there were a few people who auditioned for the fun of it and were not studying

theatre in any capacity. Seeing that my first strength is Includer, I encouraged my

friends to come with me so that we could introduce ourselves to a few new cast
members. After a short while the entire cast was very close with each other which
enriched the experience of the rehearsal processes and lifted the shows energy up.
One of the first rehearsals I had was a tablework rehearsal which included
me and two cast members, along with the director and stage manager. Tablework is
analyzing characters and explaining who they are, what their background is, and
anything else that would be essential to knowing the person you play. Seeing that I
was just a mere freshman with 4 upper classmen and a director who I had hardly
spoke to yet, I felt pretty intimidated so, I used two of my strengths to feel the
temperature of the room, so to speak, and to jump into the work we had to do
together. The two strengths I used were Adaptability and Ideation. I was able to
adapt to the situation despite being slightly uncomfortable. I was able to use my
Ideation strength while doing my character work because when someone
challenged an opinion or idea that had to do with my characters life, I was able to
justify why I believe he does what he does or why he is who he is.
The true unsung heroes of the theatre are the crew members, they are the
ones who changed the set, got costumes ready, and make sure the show is running
smoothly at all times. There have always been issues with actors not being kind to
crew members because they believe they are more important and while it is rarely
seen, there is occasionally a backwards scenario of the same thing. Crew members
believe that they are better than actors because they are the backbone of the shows.
During the show I ran into this issue of a crew member believing they were
superior to me and the entire cast so I figured, rather than fight fire with fire I
would use my values of Judgement and Prudence to feel out the situation to see
how they acted around me and then use two other values of mine, Fairness and
Kindness towards this crew member so that we could reach a point of mutual
respect.
Since going through the process of completing a show with my first lead at
URI theatre, I have not only improved my resume but I have improved how I can
use my Strengths and Values in my day to day life and work / educational setting.
(Below is a screenshot of the full news article from the Newport Mercury about
URIs production of Legally Blonde which has my name mentioned towards the
beginning of the article.)