Contrary to popular belief, being a theater kid in high school was so much more than just impromptu performances in the hallways and cast parties after the shows. It was spending your days in the most accepting and loving place you could ever find yourself in, the drama department. Of course, I learned exactly what you figured I learned, like how to do a jazz square and the art of fake crying. But if you ask anybody who ever participated in a show, they'll tell you they gained so much more than that. We spend our whole lives learning skills. We absorb them from everything we do, like the classes we take and the jobs we work. But if you're anything like me, you learned more from being on stage than you ever learned in a classroom.
Professionalism.
Professionalism is something that a lot of people struggle with when they are thrown out into the real world. Luckily, it was drilled into my head my first rehearsal as a freshman in high school. The importance of being on time is a value I still take with me today through college. (Early is on time, on time is late and late is unacceptable.) "Please" and "Thank You" seem like small gestures but when you've been working for seven hours on the same act of a show, they make all the difference. Whether it be your director, stage manager, or a fellow cast member, treating everyone with respect is what made the show run smoothly. Life is a lot like a show.
Time Management.
If you don't have time management, soon you'll be behind in every aspect of your life. Theater demands so much time you'll be surprised you even have time to blink. Between going to school, having time for homework, keeping your social life alive, squeezing in time to eat and sleep all while having rehearsal every day of the week is tough shit. From doing your homework in the wings in between scenes and skipping lunch to work on that essay in the library, we all learned how to stuff our busy lives into a 24-hour day and still manage to be able to function. If I can do tech week, I can do anything.
Love.
Musical theater taught me to love others. It taught me to immerse myself in and celebrate the differences that made every single person in my cast unique. I'm not talking about their talents when it came to singing or dancing, but instead, the way they made each long tech week rehearsal bearable with the pointless games we would play or the things we would do for a mere 10-minute-break. Theater taught me that every small role is a part of what makes the big picture, whether it be the lead part, the spots, or a costume designer. The show can't go on without every single person. This belief is something that I adapted into my everyday life. Shoutout to you, theater.
Friendship.
The memories I made in the years I spent with theater are some that I will cherish for the rest of my life, and that is because I met the greatest people while doing it. We bonded through learning and appreciating the art of theater as a team. You leave all of your differences at the door, no matter who you are, what you look like or where you come from, it’s only about one thing and that is putting on a show. We went through everything together, the rigorous eight-hour rehearsals right up to the beautiful final bow on our last show. There’s an indescribable bond that forms between people when you work together to create something, especially as something that invokes feeling like a musical. When you’re on stage, performing in a group number, your energy bounces off one another, and sometimes for even just a moment, you lock eyes with another dancer or with another cast member and you can feel the passion radiating between you. A bond made through creating something bigger than yourselves such as art is a bond that cannot be broken.
Confidence.
To me, the most important thing I learned from theater was self-confidence. I grew up with an overwhelming amount of social anxiety, and I had a hard time believing in myself when it came to a lot of things, such as making friends or performing in front of people. I have never felt more unstoppable than when I was on stage, nailing a dance routine that I spent months perfecting. There is no better feeling than coming off stage, completely out of breath, not caring what your director or the audience thinks because you know you gave it your everything and you left your heart out on the stage.
