Written by: Sarah Yudkovitch (’24)
When most people think of a theater kid, they picture a person who is melodramatic, broadway obsessed, constantly singing, and overall- just loud. Other people picture an anti-social coffee drinker who speaks in show tunes and Shakespeare. Although there is some slight merit to these claims, I’m here to tell you that there is SO much more to theater than the stereotypes that have permeated the minds of people for years.
To start, people assume that you have to be extroverted and social to join theatre. While a new crowd of people may be intimidating at first, you will quickly learn that the theater crowd is some of the most accepting and open to newcomers. When I first started theater at Homestead, I was super nervous about being accepted into the theater cliques and making friends, especially because after spending freshman year online, I was incredibly shy.
I expected to walk into a room full of Rachel Berry’s warming up, gossiping in the corner, and plotting out the cast list. But instead, I walked into a room of nervous people – both anxious and excited – but ready to meet new people and put on a fun show. I was quickly approached by many different people, some whom I’d briefly met freshman year, and others who were just interested in getting to know everyone in the room. While there are definitely some cliques in the theater crowd, most people just choose to be friendly to everyone rather than isolating themselves from specific groups.
In addition, people think that theater kids love being on stage, have absolutely no nerves, and think that they are the best. In reality, most people on stage are very nervous. They have poured so much work into the show and want it to be perfect; however, part of the theater is messing up! Maybe someone’s costume broke and now you have to improve a few lines or perhaps you forgot your line and don’t remember what comes next- being able to move forward and recover is so important! In terms of judgment from others, quite frankly, most theater kids are more critical of themselves than they are of anyone else. A lot of people think of theater kids as super judgy which is relatively false, theater kids are some of the most open and supportive people where even if you mess up – they will still applaud you. They understand how hard it is to get up on a stage and just how scary it can be. This allows for so much freedom to portray goofy and silly characters that don’t fit in a traditional mold as you feel no judgment from your fellow actors. Another huge part of theater is getting feedback from the director and even the audience which helps you to improve your performance- so it’s almost impossible to have an unbreakable ego in theater. In addition, some theater kids are scared of being on stage which i why there are so many different ways to be involved behind the scenes such as in the pit orchestra, makeup, costumes or even helping to direct!
Theater people don’t fit into any kind of mold, every single person is unique and special, bringing so many different talents into these shows. While some do fit the traditional theater kid mold, some are complete opposites but are all brought together in the hopes of creating a fun and engaging show.
Act Out 