In all movies depicting high school, one was defined by their extra-curriculars. Jocks were stereotyped as the bulky, popular guys that every girl wanted to date. Cheerleaders were typically portrayed as beautiful idiots. And any member of the marching band was always nerdy (because musical talents are naturally directly related to intelligence).
If you attended a high school that was even remotely similar to mine, you could be assured that these films rarely matched up with reality. In high school, you were defined by the kind of person you were, not the practice you went to after class.
I like to think I was known for both. Every single weekday after school (and most of my weekends) I spent my time in the theater. When our fall production ended, the winter show auditions were starting. My high school days were filled with cramming studying into the breaks I had off stage, dress rehearsals lasting until almost midnight, and spending every waking second with some of the best people I’ve ever met.
To anyone who has ever been a part of even just one play, you can back me up when I say that I truly wouldn’t be the person I am without theater. Those hours of rehearsals taught me much more than just my lines. I learned how to improvise and think on my feet, deal with disappointment, talk in front of a crowd and to feel comfortable with being ridiculous.
The beginning of a show inevitably brought auditions. And auditions inevitably brought tears. Yes, tears. Nothing is more pathetic than a group of hopefuls gathered around a cast list. Half are hugging each other while exchanging “THIS IS GOING TO BE SO MUCH FUN” and the rest are running away from the posting, trying to hold in their disdain for the directors, people who were cast over them, the world, etc.
Once you moved past the initial disappointment, you learned to take the situation for what it was and make the best of the situation. Regardless of if you decided to volunteer to do work backstage, or if you used this as motivation and a learning tool to get better, you coped and you learned.
If you were one of the lucky few to find your name on that list, your schedule was about to reach a new level of hectic. Through school, homework and rehearsals, you learned how to master time management. Though some nights you stayed awake into the hours of 2 a.m., you learned to efficiently divide time out for homework, memorizing lines and potentially a couple hours for meals and sleep.
It goes without saying that theater taught you how to better speak in front of a crowd. Being onstage enough times will completely shake the feel of crowds even from the kid that’s terrified to give a speech to his English class. At the end, you inevitably go through the realization that, “Hey, it’s not that bad!” And yes, this is possible without imagining the audience in their underwear.
But above all, the entire experience teaches you how to be ridiculous and comfortable being who you are. Theater gives you the opportunity to have complete freedom with who your character becomes, and in most cases, the more out of the box you can get, the better.
The people who I’ve met through theater are not only the funniest and strangest, but also the most accepting and positive people on the planet. This art has the power to attract only the most loving type of people, and after spending countless hours together, you only continue to grow, improve and learn from one another.
Moral of the article: there is something productive going on besides the weird makeup, blinding lights and strange costumes.
