This article describes the profound changes experienced by the author during the two years she spent as part of the 52nd Street Project Teen Ensemble, playing the part of "Julia" in Shakespeare's musical play "The Two Gentlemen of Verona." The author reports the difficulty of playing the role, since the character was so different from herself. How could she feel the character's pain and anger? How could she portray a heartbroken girl? How could such a loving girl go through the unfortunate events for her unfaithful boyfriend? The author notes she spent hours picking apart the lines word by word with her Shakespeare coach and memorizing them. She recounts the challenge of creating a life for Julia, not only because Shakespeare's style of writing was difficult to understand, but also because Julia's character was so different from her own. It required empathy on the author's part to be able to actually feel the feelings Julia had in certain moments and to think of ways in which to express those emotions. Devotion toward rehearsal helped the author comprehend the character's feelings, her determination to follow the man she loved, the courageous behavior, the spirit to dress up as a man and travel from Verona to Milan. Creating such a profound character and understanding Shakespeare taught the author how committed she could be to something. Transforming into Julia made her a stronger person because she discovered the ability to put herself in someone else's shoes. Through her experience of being Julia in "The Two Gentlemen of Verona," the author was influenced to choose psychology as a major in college and to begin working toward becoming a couple's counselor in the future.