It is apparent that, in her column, Marianne Gosz wrote something that upset Danny Mullin. I, for one, am refreshed by the support the Tribune is giving to the theater department this year. In the past, theater majors have not received much credit for what we do, but thanks to Libby Fry’s mostly positive review of “Snoopy” and Gosz’s recent column, we are finally getting some recognition.

I’m not talking about busy schedules this time. I’m talking about pressure. First of all, I believe Mullin takes his many hours in the gym for granted. If an actor actually had time to roam free in the gym all day long, perhaps there wouldn’t be as much pressure to have a fit body in order to make it in the performing world.

More importantly, Mullin spoke of athletes putting “their bodies on the line.” I’ve weight trained and I’ve ran in 5Ks. I know what physical strain is, but you don’t know the meaning of “on the line” until you’ve performed a scene in front of hundreds of critical people. You don’t know pressure until you’ve stood in front of a director, whose sole purpose is to analyze everything about you (and I mean everything: looks, body, talent, attitude, etc.) and performed a monologue. You don’t have a musical instrument or a piece of sporting equipment to hide behind. You just have yourself, naked, so to speak. If you mess up, if your voice cracks, you can’t blame it on a referee making bad calls and you can’t share the blame with the rest of the team. That’s what putting yourself on the line is. It’s putting yourself out there to be potentially ripped apart.

It’s no wonder people fear public speaking more than anything else. I would expect Mullin, as a student of law, to understand, since similar pressures are presented in a courtroom. Perhaps the next time he scoffs at a performer or wishes he could be one because of how easy they have it, he will think again.

You will never hear a performer complain about these pressures, though. As a friend of many performers, I’m speaking up for them. They are willing to go through this pressure if it means doing what they love. Perhaps this will inspire Mullin to re-evaluate his own dedication to soccer since all he seems to do is complain about it.

Vaccarello is a sophomore theater major.