It was a sunny afternoon the day “The Red Badge of Courage” premiered. It’s a play that tells about the Civil War battle of Chancellorsville in 1861.

I walked from my apartment to the downtown campus so I could catch the shuttle bus to Truax. The only passenger on the bus besides me was Tom, the driver. He was driving me as an actor for The Red Badge of Courage. We had some light talking about things from his job to the U.S government, which he said takes a lot of money from the public.

Honestly I don’t know much about the American society. That’s why I joined the acting rehearsal’s process since the beginning of fall semester.

After we were done with makeup and customs, we were ready to go. The show began at 7:30 p.m. with the 975-seat theater sold out. I tried to focus and give my extra energy to the performance. I couldn’t believe that my dream had come true.

We did seven shows in all. After the shows we always got great complements from the audience. They enjoyed it very much. I could be a little biased on this thing, but it was true. Ten people from my mentor families, my program coordinator, four friends, and one person who I spoke to on the metro bus came to the show. It was an honor for me.

We would practice in the studio room with the capacity of about 50 chairs. It was a realistic theater. I loved the stage. I loved the dramatic music. I love the light, which gave different nuance and situation. I love all the actors and staff who had encouraged to the play.

I remember when my beloved mom asked me how I got this role. Well mom, I have a talent. I do believe that the audience may have thought it was strange when they heard my different English dialect on the stage.

Sometimes after the show I would to take a half-mile walk to catch the metro bus on another road to go back home because there is no number 6 bus that stops in front of Truax campus on Saturday and Sunday.

I just keep dreaming while walking, and courage has brought me to the confidence point. I look forward to learning something new again from the next process.

Why don’t you join the next audition?

Editor’s note: Muhammed Kusuma is an international student from Indonesia. He writes a regular column about his adventure adapting to Madison and Madison College.