It's no secret that college theater productions are hard work, but there are stages of emotional acceptance of that fact. You also know you're addicted when shows are really hard, but you keep coming back to theater and go through the same process every single time. Whether you're an actor, tech crew, or stage manager, shows bring unique challenges and consume your life in the time that you're involved, but we love them anyway.

1. Excitement

Chances are you show up to your first rehearsal super excited to get started and meet the rest of the cast and crew. You're ready for this show to start because you love being involved with shows. You're also excited to hang out with people who are, at least to some degree, people you know and are friendly with, and you just know this will be the show in which you become best friends.

2. Stress

You've forgotten how long rehearsals were, and you could have sworn you used to have more free time. You're still glad to be in this show, but now you're in the full thrust of it. You have to memorize lines and cues, or if you're crew, you have to learn cues, blocking, and prop presets.

3. Exhaustion

You are living and breathing this show. You dream about it. It's constantly on your mind. You may or may not still be thrilled to be involved at this stage, since your sleep and social life are suffering for it. This stage is the hardest to get through, but you will get there. This probably happens around tech week, when as an actor you're stuffed into costumes, put under hot lights, and have to remember all your blocking and lines in the midst of added technical elements. As a crew member, you're frantically learning your cues, dealing with varied personalities of both actors and other crew members, and sometimes sitting for long periods of time in the dark without doing anything and wondering why you didn't bring homework (answer: because you wouldn't be doing it anyway even if you had).

4. Relief

This hits around the second show night. You've been through the routine enough that you know the drill, and expect everyone else too. Now you can enjoy your time there more, because you feel confident in your role in the show. You're ready for it to be over, but you also know you'll miss it when it is.

5. Sadness

The show is over now and you have to go back to real life. What is school? What is sleep? These are questions you can now answer as you hopefully revert back to a normal sleep schedule and study routine. Being involved in the show feels surreal now, like maybe it was all just a good dream. You wish it hadn't ended, but you are glad that it happened.