Once you are a theatre kid, there's no going back.
1. You can't watch a production the same way ever again.
You will never watch another show without wondering how that actor did a costume change so quickly, marveling at the lighting, or admiring the intricacies of the choreography.
2. You will have a tackle box of makeup.
Yes, you needed that makeup that looks like dirt and that orange lipstick as well as that Elle Woods pink, but you will never wear them in real life, so they will sit in this tackle box until the next show.
*Disclaimer: It will never be this organized.*
3. You are very critical of anything to do with your favorite musical.
No one will ever be as good as the original Broadway cast. If they do a movie adaptation, you will pick it apart. Everything from the cast to the musical number they included/left out to the inflections that the original actors included. It's just not the same.
4. No one understands.
If your friends have not been in theatre, they will never understand why you can't get rid of the thirty pairs of character shoes, jazz shoes, ballet slippers, toe thongs, etc. They will never get the feeling of when that final curtain drops, or how you put your all into every number, but especially the last one. You will get the weirdest looks from your friends.
5. You haven't seen fangirling.
We will fangirl harder than pretty much any One Direction fan. It manifests in unstoppable chatter or absolute silence. There is no in-between, and if it's absolute silence, you can be sure that underneath the surface is a mess of emotions (see me keeping cool with the Oz head above). If you haven't seen a theatre kid seeing one of their favorite productions, you have not seen fangirling.
6. You can turn anything and everything into a musical.
How many minutes are in a year? Have you been changed for good? Who is there inside your mind? Random things will make you burst into song, and you may or may not have choreography to go with it.
7. Sleep? Food? In your dreams.
Ten-hour rehearsals with one meal and three hours of sleep? It happens. And Show Week? When you have to be at school at 7 a.m. for hair and makeup after getting home from rehearsal at 1 a.m. and then having to shower and put rollers in... you have not known sleep deprivation until now.
8. Your wardrobe is show shirts and black.
Shirts from the shows you've been in, the shows you've seen, and black just in case you need to step in and work backstage at the last minute.
9. Bobby pin anyone?
You have spent more money than you ever care to count on bobby pins. Even though you bought 125 for the last show, you go to get more off of the pack and it's empty. Yet after the show in the shower, you find at least three that you had no clue were still in there.
10. Underlying meanings.
If you say the name of the Scottish play in a theatre or wish an actor good luck before a show, prepare to get one of the most fierce glares you will ever see.
11. You don't know what you'd do without it.
At the end of the day, after the applause, you are left with the amazing feeling of accomplishment, deep bonds with these people, and memories that will stick with you forever, even if they do manifest themselves in breaking into choreography in the grocery store.
