Being able to participate in theater whether it's in grammar school, high school, or college is a lot of fun and a lot of hard work. Everyone remembers the good times and inside jokes, but the one thing all theater kids will never forget are the struggles of putting on the production.
1. Pre-audition nerves
It's audition day! The nerves are unreal waiting to go in. You are second guessing everything you have practiced and contemplate just walking out and not coming back. You try to peak in on other auditions to see what the competition is like which gets you even more freaked out. You keep getting the feeling that you need to use and bathroom or that you are going to throw up if you don't get called in soon. Your pacing has made you dizzy and your heart skips a beat every time they call another number or name.
2. The fact that you need a pedicure after every rehearsal
Dancers know this all too well. When it is play season your feet are disgusting. Regardless of what specific shoes you are required to wear, your feet cannot be saved. Footundeez may be a girl's worst nightmare. Most of your foot is bare while wearing these so when you get home your feet are black and covered in calluses. Character shoes, depending on what your school has in stock, can end up being too small or too big resulting in blisters that seem to never go away. By the end of the production, your feet are covered in battle scars.
3. Waiting for the callback list
This may be the most nerve-racking part of the entire process. Every time your phone vibrates or rings your stomach drops because you think it is the director. You keep hitting refresh on your email or on the website because the director could post it any second now. The worst part of callbacks is when the director tells you the email will be sent out on Tuesday, but it really doesn't get sent out until Thursday or Friday.
4. Learning choreography
For non-dancers, the choreography portion of the audition process or rehearsals is the most dreaded. It's like the choreographer thinks that you have been studying ballet or contemporary dance for 10 years. At every other rehearsal, something in the choreography gets changed and you have to keep learning new stuff which gets confused with the old stuff.
5. Memorizing lines
A few weeks into the production every person in the cast is expected to have their lines memorized, whether it is one line on page 20 or every other line throughout the show. If it isn't memorized by that specified date be prepared to be screamed at by the director and possibly other cast members.
6. Putting up with "that person"
Every show has that one person who always complains about the part they got. They brag about how they pay hundreds of dollars for voice lessons or has taken an acting class in preparation to get the lead. This person always has to have an opinion on something even when it has nothing to do with them. They always try to take control of situations and think that their idea is the best idea and everyone else needs to follow it.
7. Drama in the drama club
As ironic as it is to not want unnecessary drama in the drama club, it is true. People going out for the same role will always have a little resentment towards each other, no matter if you are best friends or complete strangers. When someone beats you out for a part you can get upset and do some stupid stuff.
8. Wondering what the director was thinking about casting
So the cast list came out and you can't believe your eyes. You don't know how to feel about certain parts that were given out to certain people. You just sit there for five to 10 minutes staring at the list in awe that the director did this. You call up your close friend in the show and talk for hours about how this one didn't deserve this and this person should've gotten something better while also throwing in that you could have done a better job casting this yourself.
9. Makeup
The amount of makeup needed for a show is unreal. Boys and girls cover their face every night in pounds of makeup and stand under hot stage lights for a good three hours while it melts off their face. This is the time where people get the most breakouts and it's not because of the stress.
10. Quick Changes
So your director decided to put you in five scenes back to back as different characters. Of course, each character needs a different costume so the director is giving you all of 20 seconds to change. These 20 seconds are the most stressful of your life and somehow parts of your costume are always missing until the last second. You are so afraid you will only be half dressed when it is your cue to go on stage again. You battle with the thoughts of either going on stage half naked or missing your cue.
11. Mics
Without fail, there is always a problem with microphones. Someone didn't give you the right mic or the sound system starts to bug out. You end up trying to project so loud that it sounds like you are yelling.
12. Tech week
Also known as "hell week", the week where you get little to barely any sleep. This week is full of dress rehearsals, eating pizza every night (if you are even lucky enough to eat), and getting zero school work done. Your friends ask you to hang out and the automatic response is "sorry, I can't, it's tech week". Theater is your life this week and nothing else seems to matter.
13. All the emotions you feel from opening night to closing night
Opening night you are so nervous yet excited to go on stage and show the audience everything you have worked so hard for. Your heart is beating so fast and so loud you feel like the microphone is going to pick it up. Your stomach hurts because you re so nervous and you can't stop shaking before every cue. The second and third night you feel a bit more confident but you are so tired that you can't wait for it to be closing night so you can get some sleep. Closing night you want to cry because that means the show is almost over and there will never be a chance for you to do this show with the same cast ever again.
14. Post-show depression
The show is over. You have gone into a depressive state because you don't know why to do with all your free time. You try to relive the show by looking through pictures or reminiscing on inside jokes with other cast members, but nothing helps. You don't want to go out, you just want to sit in the house watching the video of the show with a pint of Ben and Jerry's.
15. Waiting for the next show
It seems like forever since you have performed on stage and you need the waiting to end. You just want your director to announce the next show so that way you can start preparing yourself. You prepare yourself for the auditions and for all the struggles you are about face once again.
