5 Pieces of Advice for First-Year Theatre Majors
(Photo: Providence College)
by Chris Peterson
If you're about to start your first year as a theatre major, you're already wondering where you fit into all of this.
I get it. I was a theatre major too.
And while I loved my time studying theatre, there are definitely things I understand now that I didn't understand when I first walked into my college theatre program in upstate New York twenty-six years ago this fall.
So, for the incoming first-years, here are a few things I wish someone had told me.
1. You do not have to prove that you belong there.
This is probably the biggest one.
The first few weeks of a theatre program can feel like everyone is performing all the time, even when they're not onstage. Someone has already done 25 shows. Someone else can belt to the ceiling.
Don't get intimidated.
With some programs, you were admitted to the program for a reason. You don't need to immediately establish yourself as the most talented person in the room.
You're there to learn. Let yourself be a student.
2. Your classmates are not your competition.
Yes, you're going to audition against each other.
Sometimes your friend is going to get the role you wanted. Sometimes neither of you will get cast.
That can get messy if you let it.
But the people sitting next to you in Acting I may eventually become directors, casting professionals, designers, writers, producers or artistic directors.
More importantly, they may become some of your closest friends.
Support people's wins. Don't turn every casting decision into a ranking of everyone's talent.
College is already competitive enough without creating competitions that don't exist.
3. Take the classes outside your comfort zone.
Actors, learn something about lighting. Musical theatre students, take a playwriting class. Designers, take acting.
Learn how the costume shop works or how a set gets built. Learn what stage managers actually do.
Depending on the program, one of the best things about studying theatre is having access to an entire ecosystem of artists. Use it.
Even if you never work professionally in those areas, understanding what everyone else does will make you much better at whatever you eventually choose to do.
4. Start learning professionalism now.
People often think their career begins after graduation.
It doesn't. Your career has already started.
How you carry yourself in rehearsal, whether you come prepared, meet deadlines and treat stage management and the crew well all starts shaping your reputation long before you graduate.
Faculty notice. Your classmates definitely notice. And theatre is a very small world.
Talent can open doors, but being someone people actually want to work with keeps them open.
5. Don't let casting determine whether you're having a successful college experience.
This one can be difficult.
You may arrive expecting to be cast constantly. You might not be.
You may spend a semester watching other people get opportunities you desperately wanted. You might question whether you chose the right school, the right major, or even the right career.
That's normal. Casting is one part of your education. It is not your education.
Take classes seriously. Work on student projects. Direct something. See everything you can.
Four years goes much faster than you think.
And someday, you're probably going to remember the friendships, rehearsals, ridiculous late nights and things you learned about yourself much more clearly than you remember who got cast as what sophomore year.
So enjoy it.
You're about to spend several years surrounded by people who also decided that making theatre was important enough to study every day.
That's a pretty wonderful place to be.