Something that we see a lot onstage is child actors. So many shows require them, and I think a lot of people don’t think about what it is to be a child actor. You can read a ton about it, but unless you’ve been there yourself, you can’t quite get a handle on what it’s like. I’m not just talking about major shows here. I feel like those are the ones you hear horror stories about. And there are definitely horror stories. But there’s plenty more to being a child actor, especially when it’s a smaller scale show and theatre.
I was a child actor! I had my main stage debut at the age of seven, as Dorrit Cratchit in A Christmas Carol at Hedgerow Theatre. I have a few memories from my audition…being on the stage with a lot of other kids, having to step forward and say my name and a few words. The same all of the other kids did. I guess my mom or dad got the call that they wanted to cast me. I remember my mom saying how I had impressed the director with my speech, and how he liked my hair. I think I was more excited that he liked my hair more than anything else.
Obviously I can’t speak to being a child actor on a larger scale, but I can definitely speak to it being at a local professional theatre. I can definitely say that the experience was something that defined the start of my young life. Suddenly, I was in a group of fellow child actors, as well as adult actors. I learned pretty quickly that it was completely different from the acting classes I had been in for a year. That was just the start of it all, the thing that sprung me onto the stage.
Working with other kids as well as adults taught me a lot. It was a bit weird, because I was treated as both a kid and an adult. I was part of the cast, part of an ensemble that was creating something. Adults did things that made me giggle, like saying the word “pelvis”. Kids did things that they thought were funny, like stealing props. I remember one instance where a fellow kid stole my cup and I had to improvise. Maybe she thought it was funny, but I think I got the last laugh by not caring and moving forward without concern.
A really fun thing about being a child actor was interacting with kids in the audience. All the shows I did as a child actor had talk backs afterwards, where the cast would come out on stage and the audience could ask us questions. I enjoyed kids asking me what it was like being on stage as a kid. It was a sort of connection that only kids can share, and I absolutely loved it. There was something special about getting to do that, getting to talk about my experience as only a child could.
It wasn’t always easy, of course. For as much fun as it was to be on stage with my fellow cast members, there was still doing homework backstage, late nights, and missed school for matinee performances. I spent a lot of time between the ages of seven and nine in shows at Hedgerow, usually onstage when they needed a child actor. I loved the experience, and I loved being a part of something bigger than me, but I also had the harder moments. I think that was sort of inevitable. It was the world I had decided to immerse myself in, and I had to take the harder moments with the easier moments. It was a fantastic balance, and it shaped my young life.
I learned so much as a child actor in those formative years. What I did, what my life was, was so different from what most of my classmates were doing. I would never have had time for sports, or any other extracurricular activity. Theatre was my life, because it had to be my life. Between school, being in shows, and Hebrew school, I didn’t have much time for all the other stuff. That was fine. That was my choice. And looking back on it now, I think I absolutely made the right choice. Those years started my life and made me who I am today.
There’s definitely a lot when it comes to being a child actor. Like with pretty much everything, there are pluses and minuses to the whole thing. I wouldn’t have changed my experience for the world. Being in shows at a young age, acting with other kids and adults that I idolized changed everything I knew about the world, and shaped me into the person that I am almost thirty years later. I think I would encourage my future children to be on stage if they wanted to be on stage, because it’s life changing.
As a thirty-five year old who no longer acts, I do look back on those early times extremely fondly. It was exactly what I needed at that age. I don’t know who I would be if it hadn’t been for that, but it definitely wouldn’t be who I am…and I really like who I am. I definitely thank being on the stage as a child for that, and I think I always will.
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