"There's going to be one less boy in the room!" The words rang in my ears as the criminal  pointed his gun against my head. The floodgates opened and tears ran down my face. No one in the courtroom  moved. Everyone was held silent with fear. A few seconds passed and the criminal put down his gun, turning his back on me. "Cut!" the director shouted with joy. One take! We had done the scene in just one take. Then all the people who acted in the film went off for lunch. I got my food and joined them, and the criminal, who had moments before been so scary, took his seat beside me and told us many funny jokes. A table of adults surrounded me, but I was never uncomfortable talking with strangers. I worked with these people and they worked with me. We talked, we laughed, we got to know each other and sometimes we became friends. At the end of the day we all went our separate ways, but we had been drawn close by working together to make this play. After the show was broadcast, my friends asked if I had been scared of the criminal. At first this sounded funny. He was, after all, a kind and intelligent man. Then I realized that they didn't see that side of him. Television and films are about creating an alternate  life that appears real even if for a while. We had been successful in doing that. Even my friends, who knew the real me, were drawn in the make-believe world of our story. Acting has helped me to feel comfortable in my own skin and in communicating with others. I feel relaxed during interviews and when leadership opportunities come. Change is not threatening  to me, and I am grateful for the chance to learn and to grow in knowledge and experience in my life. When they had lunch, the author_.
was too afraid to sit beside the criminal was unwilling to talk with the others was laughing to tears by the criminal's jokes was comfortable communicating with others