If you've ever been the victim of a cast list that deemed you the dreaded title of, "Understudy," I feel you. It's a sense of impending doom sometimes, a glimpse at foreboding months to come, a time where you'll spend months learning and rehearsing a role that you'll most likely never get to perform for an audience. Sometimes it's a situational nightmare.
But when you've done your time offstage and get the opportunity to shine in a principle role, it's your turn to have someone have your back. Despite the tension and ill feelings that can come from an understudy-principle dynamic, I've come to find that an understudy is as good as an angel. For me, there's no one I respect more, and here's why.
1. My understudy always has her act together. She's spent every single rehearsal for weeks, even months, hearing me drill my lines like a tape recorder so that by her first run through, she has them down and ingrained in her mind. She has my blocking down from seeing how I've been directed to maneuver around the stage. She's got it.
2. Understudies have an outside perspective on your character. They see every move you make and they have the opportunity to sit there, script in hand, and process and develop without scrutiny while I'm up there bumbling during preliminary rehearsals. The clarity they have is something I'll never quite achieve.
3. Having an understudy probably means that you have someone who has your lines down even more precisely than you do. That word that your stage manager keeps giving you notes about because you're consistently replacing, "the" with "that"? Your US will never get it wrong because they've been diligently following along as you rehearse with their script in hand every single night.
4. They're great multitaskers. Understudies are likely memorizing your lines, blocking, and doing whatever the director asks of them, all the while clearing the set, taking on any set change responsibilities that call for an extra hand, and taking notes so that they can cover you should anything go awry. It takes an incredible calm and a supreme work ethic to do so.
5. You get to see your character performed. An understudy run through is such a gift. The chance to sit in the audience for once, while you get to see what your character looks like in action is truly amazing. You learn things, you get tips for new takes on your scenes, and simply hearing a new voice and inflection is so refreshing. And if your understudy gets the chance to perform one of your shows for an audience, you are SO proud of them.
6. You have someone to go on for you in case of emergency. As if this weren't obvious -- it's the whole point of an understudy -- you have someone on the back burner should the unthinkable happen. If you were to face the worst case scenario of a terrible accident or illness, you have someone who is willing to do the bravest thing there is and perform the show in your place. Someone is literally there for you to do what you can't, and that is more than you could ever ask.
7. You get to share an incredibly meaningful experience with someone. I remember a time during a show when my understudy was backstage I was able to snag a quiet moment with her a few minutes before I went on during our closing show. I got to thinking about how our character, our girl, had become someone we both knew and loved. Before she walked away I grabbed her hand and whispered, "Thank you for sharing her with me." I was so grateful to have someone who knew what saying goodbye to this character meant to me. I was so lucky to have an understudy.
