I remember my first time falling in love; not with the tall boy down the street or the blond in my history class; not with a human at all. The first time I fell in love, I fell in love with a show.

In seventh grade, a friend of mine convinced me to audition for our school’s spring musical. Being so young and auditioning for a high school production, I hadn’t an idea of what to expect. Yet, as my eyes nervously scoured the cast list a month later, I found myself a townsperson in Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd.

There is one rehearsal in particular that I remember with vivid clarity. We had just gotten our costumes; flowing layers of a peasant top and a long skirt adorned me. The technical assistants had just begun their long process of lighting the show; this meant the addition of a magnificent spotlight. On stage, two of the leads rehearsed their scene, which happened to be one of my favorite numbers. As the brilliant light roamed the dim auditorium, and the steady, melodic notes projected from just above me, I danced among the theater seats: twirling and swaying to the majesty of it all. Soon enough, the lighting assistants caught on, and illuminated my naïve self becoming consumed with musical theater. That moment was perpetual, and blissful, and beautiful.

In that moment, I fell in love. I quickly came to love everything else about the show, too: the story, the music, the people, the costumes, and every second of the endless time commitment. From this perfect moment I have clung to one, core, idea: the belief of falling in love.

I have been in two shows since: The Phantom of the Opera and The Curious Savage, and I still fall in love with everything, all at once, the moment I step onstage with the lights bathing my face. I believe that everyone should fall in love, at least once. I believe that everyone should have something worth waking up for, and worth looking forward to. Everyone deserves something to be infatuated with; this could be a boy, or a sport, or a show. Whether it’s forever, or just for a short amount of time: everyone should have the privilege of falling in love with something that they will be able to look fondly back upon, or sing along to, for the rest of their lives.