.:Losing someone we love:.

IB theatre arts has been one of my favourite subjects in my time at school, and that is mostly due to the fact that I have one of the best teachers the theatre world has to offer, Mrs. Anketell. It came as a surprise to the entire staff of TKIS to acknowledge that our beloved theatre/drama teacher will be leaving us at the end of the term. Therefore there aren’t really many words to describe how we took the news.

Our teacher sat us down, and told us there was something very important that she needed to say, we expected to it be something about our research investigations, but it was far more important than that. She began by telling us that she has loved every moment she has spent teaching us, and we began to realise what she was trying to say, she is resigning. Once she confirmed this information, I felt my throat begin to choke and I wondered if anybody else was feeling the same way. Shortly after, we were past the shock of what she had told us and began to let out our emotions, we had gone from one happy theatre class creating a general wash for our individual monologues to a group of blubbering girls. The atmosphere had changed from cheery talk and lots of smiles to somber faces with tears, one after the other, rolling down our face.

Every time we seemed to be cheering up a little and laughing at the prospects to come, we began to think about the experiences and adventures that had passed and the room would again be silent. We have a bond in theatre, we call ourselves the Theatre Four! Sure, we had our disagreements with our teacher, but we also shared a close bond with her that enabled us to not just be students being taught by a teacher, but friends gaining knowledge of another friend.

To us, it is equivalent to losing your director halfway through a play. Year 12 is not far away, and I am taking IB theatre arts at HL, which makes me nervous about the time to come. I have confidence that our arts director, Mrs. Robinson will find us a good replacement, after all, she is the person who found Mrs. Anketell in the first place

It is going to be difficult without her as a teacher, but I feel that we, as a theatre group, are strong enough to get through it. Many teachers and students feel that we are silly to be upset over such a minor issue. It may be minor to them, but they do not share the same bond nor have as nice a teacher as I do.

So, heres to you, Mrs. Anketell, best theatre teacher-You always found strengths in me when I could only find weaknesses. Thank you for helping me find a part of who I am. It won’t be the same without you.

~ by kateibtheatre on October 14, 2008.