Ah, the life of a theater kid. When you start a production, there is a new sense of wonder. You have just gotten the cast list after a long, grueling audition process and feel accomplished. You beat all those other hopefuls for the role you wanted or didn't want. You accept your new fate for the next few months and walk into the first rehearsal with your head held high. Most likely, you have worked with the director before and recognize your fellow actors. After all, you did see them during auditions.
The first rehearsal is usually a read-through. You obtain your script and experience the story unfold before you. You laugh, you cry, and you realize the journey you are about to go on. Week after week, you go in for long nights, long fights, and get ready for a stressful life for the immediate future. It starts to creep into your everyday life. If you're in a musical, the songs get stuck in your head to the point that you find yourself humming them daily. If you're in a play, just a simple word would capitulate you into your latest monologue.
Weeks start to go by and you begin to get tired. You start to either question your sanity, your sleep schedule, your social life, or why you even thought to audition in the first place. You start getting the same notes every week: to project more, to annunciate more, to remember your blocking. Everything starts to blur together and you don't know where your character starts and where you end. The process becomes long and tech week is on the horizon.
Tech week, or as you lovingly call it "hell week," begins. The tech crew arrives, eager or not-so-eager, to learn what their job is. Lights are hung. The curtains are up. The sets that were once piles of wood on the shop floor are now a forest, a street, or a building. You begin to see the world that you read about at your first rehearsal. Your costume perfectly shows how your character is physically built. You begin to remember why you came. The magic of theater is unfolding around you and you can't wait to share it with an audience or anyone who would want to hear.
The lights go up on your first show. Butterflies are in your stomach and you just can't wait to go out there to show your craft. You have been working tirelessly to get the correct amount of emotion into your role. You WILL be that character. You WILL convince people that you are your character. You WILL have your moment in the spotlight, no matter how big or how small.
Being in a production is tiring, rewarding, draining, and magical. You get to bring a new world to life with every show you do. You are a part of the magic of storytelling. As an old director of mine once said, "you are here to tell the story."
And the story is what makes you come back every time.
