Four Habits All Youth Performers Should Develop to Make the Most Out of Theatre
Hannah Crawford, Guest Editorial
Theatre is a powerful tool for creativity and confidence. It is so much more than just learning lines in a play or executing a cue as a crew member. People can easily forget the skills we can learn and take away from theatre that can follow us, no matter where we go.
Like anything in life, you get out of it what you put into it. That is true of your career, the gym, relationships, or anything else. Theatre is no exception to this either. You will get out of the theatre what you put into it. So, let’s look at four habits that all theatre performers should develop to make the most out of their theatre experience.
Habit #1: Arrive Early
Pretty common sense, right? If it is, why is this the most challenging thing for performers to do? And before you come for me, I don’t want to hear the excuses. I’ve been in theatre long enough to call those out who do this.
What are some common excuses? Let’s list a couple.
I’m coming from work. (Okay, and if you had a work meeting, would you be late to that? Would you be late if you had a movie to go to with friends?)
I don’t have to do anything in the first scene. (I don’t even have the energy to respond to such a stupid excuse, so I won’t.)
Traffic was backed up. (Okay, I get this one, but like you know the area you live in. It’s literally not an excuse if you use that every time. Leave early, just like you would for work or if you had a flight to catch.)
Arriving early shows your stage manager, director, and cast that you respect everyone’s time, not just your own. Trust me, you want your fellow cast members to know that you respect their time, too. The alternative is not so fun.
Habit #2: Be Present
This one is perhaps one that I greatly struggle with, I’ll just be honest with you. (Shocker, this writer isn’t perfect. Please don’t tell the editor.) No, but for real, my mind always seems to be at the next thing I need to do, or another situation that I need to take care of, so I can have a hard time being present in whatever I am doing.
Embarrassing example time – out of college, I worked with the Moonlight Players’ Theatre doing everything backstage. The most common thing I did was run the lighting board. And let me tell you that’s probably my favorite thing to do in theatre. There is just something about seeing a show from the tech booth, and being the “god of the lights” that’s controlling the production's mood.
Like any crew member, I had seen the show a million times. So, I got distracted on my phone so much that I eventually heard the very loud….SILENCE. I looked up and realized I completely missed my cue, and they were waiting for me. I executed the cue, and yes, in complete embarrassment. Be present when you’re in the theatre. If you don’t, you will miss out on stuff.
Habit #3: Treat Your Fellow Crew With Respect
Ouf, this one holds a lot of sentimental value to me. If you ask any performer, “Should you respect the stage crew?” Literally, no one is going to say, “No, you shouldn’t.” However, actions speak louder than words ever will.
I’ll never forget one year I worked on a show as a stage crew member, and there was an actor (let’s call him Jeremy) with whom I got along well. That was until the day he knocked his drink over by accident in the theatre. And he made an off-hand “that’s not my job” remark and walked away as I cleaned it up. In hindsight, I should have told him to get his behind back there and clean it up, but the Hannah 11 years ago is not the same Hannah now.
Unfortunately, little things like that are pervasive among the stage crew, and I hate seeing them. So, treat your fellow crew members with respect, because they are the ones who will make you look great on stage.
Habit #4: Hype Your Fellow-Performers Up During Rehearsal
Let me tell you something, there is something so compelling about a cast and crew that can hype each other up.
Listen, so I regularly talk to my brother who lives about a million miles away from me. He’s my best friend and knows me better than anyone else on this earth. We were recently talking, and I was just venting to him about my situation (and listen, it wasn’t even that serious, but I was HOT about it.) And my brother was hyping me up and just really going at it with me. I paused and started laughing, and I said “Guurrrrlll” (and yes, that’s what I call him….) “Guuurrlll, you’re giving me the energy I need, thank you.” We need that sometimes! Someone who will just hype us up.
I was working on “The Great American Trailer Park” musical a few years ago, and let me tell you our cast and crew were constantly hyping each other up during solos (whooping, hollering, “yes girl,” “get it,” “oh she hit that note,” and so much more). It was one of the most powerful experiences that I had as a stage manager. Just seeing the way everyone came together and made each other feel empowered as performers was awesome.
I hope one of the things that you’ll walk away from this blog is that these are “habits.” Habits are things that are learned. As if you were going on a health journey, you’ll learn habits like waking up early to go to the gym, prepping meals every night, saying no to the office snacks, etc. We have to learn good habits in theatre to make the most out of our experiences. No one is going to do it for you.
So, if you want to make the most of your experience, put these habits to work, or emphasize these habits with your youth theatre students.
You’ve got this!