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Duke Norsworthy
Duke Norsworthy

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Similarities: Coding vs. The Theatre

Recently, I finished a run of one of the more well-known Shakespeare plays, MacBeth. We had an interesting take of it, where the three witches (one including myself) oversee the show, the audience, and perform as musicians in the back of the stage. The idea wasn't too unique to me as a musician, but as I usually do, I have a lot of free time between songs to think about anything.

Though I pride myself in my craft as a musician, there are times where I come up with a great idea, and I'll want to code. Obviously, I can't get up and start coding while MacBeth and MacDuff have their epic battle. And then, it hit me.

Programming is so similar to theatre.

You have your props, they must be accounted for before going onto the stage for your grand moment, just as a page must be ready with its props in a React project.

The director leads us, bit by bit, as one part of "the code" is triggered to perform their lines (of code) after another.

Together with the design team (wardrobe, set/light designer - or, our CSS), our code comes to life with the beautification of the product.

Making this show has been rewarding to me, musically. But now I can finally focus back on why I'm here; back to choreographing and directing my projects for a wonderful audience.

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