I don’t fit into the stereotype perfectly.
When you think of the stereotypical theatre person, the first qualities that come to mind are outgoing, loud, and just overall crazy and expressive. Maybe when surrounded with the right group of people you can see us being uncharacteristically loud and outgoing, but catch us in any other setting, we’re typically the kids that sit alone in the lecture hall and keep to ourselves in social settings. No, it doesn’t mean that we hate you, but we just prefer to have time to ourselves and be left alone.
Just because I’m on stage doesn’t necessarily mean I’m comfortable in front of people.
My roommate and I at college have had this conversation multiple times. We talk about being more comfortable playing any other character other than ourselves. That’s how I go about performing. When I’m onstage, I’m not me. I transform myself into this other character I’m portraying, no matter how much
I can speak perfectly with a script in my hand, but not one-on-one.
When you perform on a stage, everything is planned out for you. You know exactly what you’re going to say, how you’re going to move, carry yourself, how to speak, etc. Once you take that bow and step out into the main lobby to get congratulated by strangers, that’s when the struggle begins. You’re back to your own introverted self and you find yourself at a loss for words because nobody planned out what you should say to them. There’s no script in real life; words don’t come out as easily as they would on stage. Don’t get me wrong, we love being congratulated and talking about theatre and how our performances went, but it can be hard to have a one-on-one conversation.
Performing can be mentally draining for us.
Being an introvert in general, most of the time being social can be mentally draining. This is true for performances as well. You speak for hours in front of hundreds of people you don’t know then are expected to have conversations with them after the show. Please don’t be offended if we don’t have much to say after a show. We really do appreciate the compliments and good comments about the show, but we’re just way too drained from being on stage.
Even though I’m an introvert I still love my passion for theatre.
Since the first moment I stepped on a stage, I’ve been in love with theatre and that’s not something that will ever go away. Even though it can be scary putting myself out there for the world to see, I still enjoy the rush of performing, seeing the reactions within the audience, and putting myself into the shoes of another character for awhile. I truly believe that I’ve found my life passion and I’m not going to let the fact that I’m an introvert and have trouble speaking in front of large groups of people get in my way of doing what I love.
