Dear Students, Thinking About Doing Theatre Next Year? Here’s Why You Should

(Photo: Heritage High School)

by Chris Peterson

It’s summer. Classes are done. The schedule is finally open. Fall still feels far away.

But somewhere in the back of your mind, you might already be wondering what you should try next year.

Maybe someone told you to audition for the school play. Maybe you have never stepped on a stage in your life, but something about it still makes you curious.

Pay attention to that feeling.

High school theatre is one of the best things a student can try, and I wish more students understood that before they talked themselves out of it.

You do not have to be the loudest person in the room. You do not have to dream of Broadway. You just have to show up.

That is the part people forget. Theatre needs more than performers.

There is probably a place for you in that room. The best programs get stronger when different students bring different skills and different ways of seeing things.

And once you are there, you learn fast that theatre is about much more than memorizing lines. It teaches you how to be responsible to other people.

That is a good lesson.

Theatre also teaches confidence in a way that actually sticks. The kind that comes from doing something scary and realizing you survived.

You also learn how to mess up and keep going.

Things go wrong in theatre all the time. And somehow, the show continues. That is useful. Life does not always hand you perfect timing either.

You learn empathy too. When you help tell someone else’s story, you are asked to think beyond yourself. For teenagers, that kind of work matters.

And yes, you will probably make friends. Real ones. Theatre friendships are built in the strange, stressful, wonderful mess of putting on a show together.

So when fall comes and auditions are posted, go look. Sign up.

That small decision might become the best part of your year.