Do you know how it feels to be one of the most important people while not having all the attention directly on you, front staged and centered? How about being the one to answer fifteen million questions and do everything needed while no one can fend for themselves? This is what it’s like to be an assistant director backstage and some of the things I’ve taken from this in my school’s musicals and plays include: self-discipline, time management, leadership, and organization. The assistant director is just as important as a lead in any given musical or play, we just simply do the important things all off stage. I first started off my drama career during my sophomore year when I decided to become part of the crew backstage for our school’s musical, …show more content…
That was the year that I really acknowledged the reviews and gained a concept of time management and leadership and improved my patience, focus, and tolerance. I began to pick up the habits of being able to move things faster during the scene changes and felt more confident about asking anyone who wasn’t busy to help me. I gained a new opinion as well, that I am just as important as everyone else I’m working with yet had a different accumulation of knowledge that was needed so the show could go on. Now to continue on to what I gained from last year’s musical, Beauty and the Beast, and the play, Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon. During the musical, more people backstage helped out a lot more which was nice. If I couldn’t quite be somewhere or answer something, I would ask the help of those who I was working side by side with to take my place. I realized that at the end of the musical I picked up more of a leadership position and decided to be more actively involved with the drama department as a whole. Which led to me becoming an assistant director for the play, Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon. Now I will admit, it was quite a bit more than what I was expecting for the position but I toughed it through nonetheless. I realized that I had to be responsible and come to more rehearsals and genuinely critique more of the production …show more content…
I acknowledge the fact that cast members asked me some of the most important questions during the play. Some of the questions included “have you seen where my fake sword went, it was moved?” Or “do you know where this item goes so I can put it out during the scene change?” There was also one problem that occurred during the play itself, a tiny red wheelbarrow's wheel broke off about five minutes before it had to be wheeled on. My first decision was to grab some tape and tape the wheel back on and inform the cast member who was going to use it to be careful. Through this and other similar experiences during the show, I became more organized, knowledgeable, self-disciplined and creative. I needed to use all of these skills so that while I was backstage, things could run as smooth as
Even if I didn’t make it, I don’t think anyone realizes what you learn when training in this profession. Musical theatre has allowed me to step up, commit to my work, become more confident and to have fun! You learn to become focused and pay more attention to detail. Building sets, reading scenes and learning music betters your communication and listening skills. All of these skills I have acquired over the last few years and I they are still helping me to grow. I think my biggest take away from this past summer is to become more confident as a person and in my work. Confidence is a big part of doing musical theatre. Some people having no confidence or a little too much. Trying to gain confidence has made me appreciate my body, the little things and what I do. I have already had many people come up to me at school and tell me that they’re loving my new glow confidence and love for myself. Overall, I see why people doubt the career, but they only consider the outside results. Musical theatre has made me the person I am today and I will never forget
I was proud of your active participation in the various dramatic play experiences that you have been involved in lately. Throughout these experiences you listened and responded to your friends’ dialogues and cues, this enabled you to be fully involved in the play. Look at these pictures I captured of you playing with your friends on many different occasions. You look to be
There were make-up stains on the countertops along with trash on the floor. Quite often expensive costumes and personal belongings were strewn about. A few others would stay after the show with me to help clean up. The abundance of lost items in the dressing rooms sparked my interest to create a “Lost and Found” area. The director told me she appreciated my dedication to keeping things neat and organized. When our Sunday show awards ceremony rolled around, I watched the same people accept awards again, thinking I would not receive one. To my surprise, I received a ribbon and an invitation to be a Student Director for the remainder of high school. For the rest of ‘The Great Gatsby’ and throughout our spring show ‘Legally Blonde’, I worked hand in hand with our director and choreographer. I was with my fellow actors from 3:30pm to sometimes as late as 10pm. We would eat dinner together, talk with each other and do our homework. The experience of working as a team (similar to being in a close-knit family) gave me a sense of belonging and acceptance while striving to put on a spectacular production. I finally found my niche. The drama department was a place where I could be myself without feeling judged by others. For ‘Legally Blonde’ they used my design on the billboards, t-shirts and programs. I was so proud of myself that my hobby, graphic design, became something useful. This helped further boost my self-esteem and
When my mom asked if I wanted to see this year’s Lakeside musical, I honestly was a bit unwilling. It’s not that I didn’t want to support my two or three friends up on stage and in the crew; I just don’t have a very good track record with high school performances. I’m a critic: I have always been very critical of myself, and very critical of others. I unwittingly judge the actors onstage, and end up feeling guilty because I probably could have done no better. On top of this warped superiority/inferiority was the nature of the musical they were performing; all throughout third grade I had been obsessed with the movie-musical Hairspray. I knew all the songs, most of the lines, and wasn’t sure if anyone could top Queen Latifah. But I was mistaken.
This was the first time I really had to act on stage and it was a challenge. Let me tell you that saying the word “so” to Kira Maddel’s standards is not easy, Sam, Lizzy, and Callen feel me on that. As for Maddy Cox’s Musical Island of Misfit Fairytales, I was upgraded from ensemble to pesant and was pumped about it.
Don’t let your nerves get to you. It was a Friday afternoon in the hot, muggy, and humid auditorium. It was the opening of our new musical, Little Shop of Horrors. All I could see when I looked through the blue curtains of the stage were all the people talking and carrying on about their children. Of course people are going to brag about their kids, it’s acting. Some kids are good, some, not so much. I’m freaking out because this is the first time I’ve been on stage to act in a musical since I was in elementary. I was all nerved up and persistently telling myself, what are these people going to do if I mess up? What if I look funny? I was getting overwhelmed and agitated.
I am currently a freshman in Boston University's School of Theatre pursuing a degree in Costume Design. Through my experiences at BU in the past year, I have gained significant experience working collaboratively with my peers and professionals to mount an average of ten productions each quarter, ranging
It’s a very rewarding feeling knowing you’ve helped someone who has been really struggling, and knowing that they trust you with their problems and that they know they can rely on you for assistance when they need it. Being involved with the musicals is some of the most fun i’ve had in my highschool career. I’ve always tried out for the highschool musical and always gotten a part, and just last year I helped the backstage crew of the middle school musical. Just being a part of it is what I like the most, being a single part in an entire production, and i’m the person who was best fit for that specific part. It makes me feel unique and different knowing that I was picked for that certain part. Last year I got my first actual lead as the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard Of Oz. It had to have been the greatest experience of my life, I read my script any chance I could because I wanted to make this the best performance I have ever done, and I feel like I had
After the first break was called, it was time for me to go. I spent nearly an hour observing all of the inner workings of a major production rehearsal, from the basics of acting to the professional protocol of the technicians. Tech Week was an interesting look into the world of theatre. I look forward to many more productions and being an active participant in pulling off a great performance without the spectacle of notoriety.
Learning from last year in The Book Thief and midterm for this class, I realized going into this show that in order to succeed I needed to be continually on top of my due dates and assignments. With this in mind I was able to create a timeline for myself that lead me to have my lines memorized early on, and most of my portfolio requirements completed before week of show. In regards to my growth onstage, in this show I was able to gain much confidence in my acting abilities, something much needed to play a character like Abigail. Abigail as a character has this trust in herself that things will work out in her favor like no other. The trust Abigail has in herself allowed me to trust myself more, especially in scenes with only myself and another person, where it is most important to know what I am doing.
Technical Theatre class was a great learning experience for me. When I first signed up for the class, I wasn’t really looking forward to it. I had always been quite clumsy, and I’d never been very handy; so I didn’t think I would be of much use to the set building process. However, before the building process began, the class was taught how to properly and safely use power tools. Being educated on how to handle the equipment made me feel a lot more confident. Now, I’m proud of myself because I ended up getting a lot of work done that I didn’t think I was capable of.
In that moment, I knew I was going to become a theater nerd, not fully immersed but I’m getting there. After “Wicked”, I then saw what till this day is my favorite musical, “The Lion King”. And then to my surprise, not even half a year later, because of my love of the show and how much it changed my views of art, my dad said we would see it again in December. He realized how much musicals affected me, both my parents had. In seeing it the first time I had chosen that I wanted a future in the arts because of how much this musical influenced
At this point in time everyone knew their title role for the show and we immediately began working. My team would work night and day getting everything ready for opening night. Andrea and I knew the play like the balk of our hand and were prepared for everything. Time flew by quickly, and before we knew it the date we had been practicing for had finally arrived. Both the crew and cast were extremely nerves.
As a result, I joined stage crew. Through this club I met a network of people who shared my ardor to create something beautiful. This gave me a feeling of joy I had only felt from watching my father in the kitchen from the sidelines. The thrill of working together as a team to produce something almost magical, made me feel as though the universe was in my hands. I put my heart into stage crew because it was the first time I felt this magic first hand. Now, in my senior year, I am the Stage Manager and Vice President of the club. Without being surrounded by my family’s passion for music in my childhood, I could have never achieved anything I have on stage crew. And consequently, I never would have met all of the like-minded, inspiring friends that I have because of the
The first step of the process was to go shadow the play during rehearsal hours. This experience was awesome and very educational. When I first went into the rehearsal I thought it would be way more different than what it actually was. My first initial thoughts were that it would be really