top of page

Becoming.

What is being a theatre kid?

You’ve heard the jokes and seen the memes. But you’ve also heard the testimonies from all of us who lived theatre in our young lives. Now, my experience is a bit different. I did middle school musicals, of course, but I went to alternative high schools that didn’t have theatre programs. I think a lot of theatre kids’ experiences come from there. My formative years, however, were spent at professional theatres. Through classes, being on stage, youth ensembles, and work in all aspects of theatre.

So what is being a theatre kid to me?

From the ages of six to seventeen, I lived and breathed theatre. Every part of my life circled around classes and rehearsals. I was constantly learning lines for one thing or another. When I was working on a show, I spent most of my nights at the theatre. In my high school years, People’s Light was my home, especially when my home wasn’t home. Things were rough then, and theatre was where I wasn’t labeled as sick. Theatre was where I wasn’t thinking about the rest of my life at the time. Theatre was my heart and soul and whole being. Theatre was a part of me.

It wasn’t just all that, of course. I think the biggest part for me was the people I was working with. My best friends were all my class and ensemble members. Those were the people who knew me better than just about anyone in the world. They were the people who held me while I was having panic attacks, or crying, or whatever I was going through at the moment. These were the other theatre kids, who understood that theatre ran through all of us, and made us a part of each other and something so much bigger.

We had unmistakeable bonds, and I still talk to some of my closer friends from then. My long time partner in crime, Drew, is still an important part of my life. Drew and I were the team that no teacher or director could ever break up. From the time we were ten or so, Drew and I were paired in every class and every show we did. And neither of us went into theatre, but we still have a bond that only theatre could possibly create.

Being a theatre kid meant that theatre was my core. It was what drove me, what made me feel like an actual person. It inspired me to be more than I ever thought I was. I worked on a piece of a one woman play, which inspired me to write my own one woman play. I had people that believed in me, even when I didn’t believe in myself. Especially when I didn’t believe in myself.

Theatre and Zoé were actually the same thing.

I’m thirty-three now. I don’t even remember the last time I acted. In fact, about a decade ago, I learned that I actually love stage managing a lot more than being on stage. Once upon a time, I never would have believed that. I don’t get much time at the theatre anymore. I write the RP guides (as mentioned in a previous post) and work with a youth ensemble called the New Voices Ensemble.

This is especially important for me. I was very involved in New Voices when I was an adolescent, and it pretty much kept me alive. It was truly the essence of my theatre kid identity. I’ve been working with the group since 2017, now on the adult side of things. I get to watch kids become theatre kids, blossoming through this opportunity.

Seeing a new generation of theatre kids reminds me that, even at thirty-three, I’m a theatre kid. And I think, very deeply inside, I’m always going to be a theatre kid. I made my way through the world of my childhood and adolescence in theatre, and nothing can ever change how that shaped me. I definitely wouldn’t be who I am today if it wasn’t for that.

I have beautiful memories living inside of me. I remember walking barefoot behind Hedgerow, watching the skimmers in the stream in the back. The pride I felt when I finally got to get dressed and ready in the “adult” dressing room. The fear of starting somewhere new when I moved to People’s Light and that fear vanishing when I met Drew. Getting into the New Voices Ensemble, and feeling like I found a new family. My family, an ensemble of theatre kids.

I use the word “kid”, since I think that’s what things are in the most basic sense, but it’s truly an evolution. Young Zoé had so many dreams about their life. They thought they were going to be an actor, but realized that wasn’t the way their life was meant to go. If you had told me then that I’d prefer to be up in the booth and calling “five” (“Thank you, five!”), I definitely wouldn’t have believed you. And Drew and my’s banter may have shifted ever so slightly, but it’s been basically the same idea for over twenty years.

Those days live in my heart, in my soul. And I think that’s really all that being a theatre kid is about.

Recent Posts

See All

The Comedy Half

Okay…I think we can all agree that we need a little comedy right now.  Things are kind of shitty, and they’re only going to get worse. ...

Why Not Opera?

Recently, I was talking to a coworker about how my wife and I go to the opera.  I was telling him about the most recent opera we had...

Can I Be Frank?

No matter what medium you’re looking at, you’re going to find people writing and talking about others throughout history.  This is...

コメント


bottom of page