Dear Students, It’s a New Year, a New Stage: What Will You Do Differently?

Costa Mesa High School

by Chris Peterson

Every September, the cycle begins again. Theatre students step back into rehearsal rooms, costume shops, and black box theatres with fresh notebooks, sharpened pencils, and the same familiar mix of excitement and nerves. Schedules are posted, audition sign ups fill, and the grind starts back up.

But before you dive into the semester’s chaos, stop and ask yourself: what will you do differently this year?

That is not a throwaway question. It is the question. If you treat this year exactly like the last, then what is the point of being here? Theatre, at its core, is about growth. About risk. About stepping outside the safety of what you already know. If you are just repeating old patterns, you are not really doing the work.

Too many students live inside their comfort zones. The ingenue who always auditions for the ingenue. The designer who stays safely in one aesthetic. The technician who never volunteers outside their lane. The director who clings to a formula. Safe feels good, but safe does not make you better. The most transformative roles, the most exciting discoveries, the most fulfilling collaborations come from saying yes when your instinct says no. If your first reaction to an opportunity is “I don’t know if I can do that,” then that is exactly the moment you need to lean in. You will fail sometimes. In fact you should fail sometimes. Failure is evidence that you tried something new. If you are not failing, you are not stretching.

And while we are talking about traps, let’s be honest about cliques. Actors stick with actors. Designers huddle with designers. Tech eats lunch with tech. Everyone retreats into their corners. But theatre is an ecosystem, and it only works if everyone respects and understands the work of everyone else. How many of you actually know the names of the people building your set? How many of you have ever thanked the stage manager for keeping the whole production from collapsing? How many of you honestly see the crew as collaborators rather than as support staff?

Your artistry is only as strong as your ability to build trust with the people around you. Directors do not work in a vacuum. Actors cannot succeed without tech. Designers cannot execute without crews. Theatre is a machine, and if you only focus on your one cog, the machine breaks. Maybe the challenge this year is not just about your craft. Maybe it is about your relationships. Learn the language of other disciplines. Show up to strike even if you were not asked. Grab coffee with someone outside your circle and ask what drives them. Respect is the glue that keeps this art form alive, and it is cultivated in the smallest moments.

Another trap is the myth of “good enough.” You got the scene on its feet. The set looks passable. The cues run smoothly. Done. But good enough does not change an audience. Good enough does not push boundaries. Good enough does not get you noticed in a professional world that demands excellence. Are you really giving everything, or are you coasting? Are you turning in papers you know are not your best work because you are juggling too many things? Are you skating by in class because you know your professor will not call you out? Are you rehearsing lines just until they are memorized instead of until they are embodied?

If you are only ever doing the minimum, do not be surprised when your growth stalls. Do not be shocked when someone else gets the role you wanted. The theatre rewards the bold, the prepared, the relentless. It does not reward complacency.

And here is the bigger question. What is your theatre education really for? Is it just a series of productions and credits that will fill out a résumé? Or is it a process of becoming the artist you want to be? If it is the latter, and it should be, then treat every rehearsal, every class, every note session as an opportunity to shape your identity. Do not just do the work. Do the work with intention. Why are you drawn to certain stories? What kind of collaborator do you want to be? What impact do you want to have on the audience, on your peers, on the industry? You are not just building a transcript. You are building a voice.

So I will ask again. What are you going to do differently this year? Will you stop chasing perfection and start chasing risk? Will you break out of your clique and actually engage with the whole company? Will you hold yourself accountable to a higher standard than just “good enough”? Or will you let another year slip by without changing a thing?

The curtain is about to rise on this next act of your education. You get to choose who walks into the light. The same student you were last year, or a bolder, braver, better version of yourself.