When a Kid Farts On Stage: Teaching Young Performers How to Handle Embarrassment

Hannah Crawford, OnStage Blog Columnist

A Reddit thread was posted last month by someone who helped out on the tech crew for an elementary school production of Beetlejuice. The poster shared that one of the kids playing Adam accidentally farted loudly on stage. 

It was a black box theatre with floor mics, so, needless to say, it could be heard throughout that small space. As you can imagine, yes, the audience busted out laughing. The kid started crying uncontrollably and ran offstage as soon as the scene was done.

The child then began to have a meltdown backstage and refused to go back out. It took the backstage crew a while to convince this kid to go back out, and he finally agreed to. 

The poster's confusion centered around “why was a fart truly that traumatizing?” 

I’m not going to lie, when I read this caption to the Reddit thread, I chuckled. After all, as an adult, it’s so easy to relate to having embarrassing bodily moments or to work with kids who let it rip in class. 

But after reading through the whole Reddit thread, I actually felt bad for this kid. How embarrassing for him that it happened during a performance and not just a rehearsal. Imagine being an elementary-aged kid (or honestly any age for that matter) in front of a space full of people, and suddenly everyone is laughing at you. And not because you said something funny, but because you farted. 

It is something this kid could not control, and he didn’t know how to handle the embarrassment. 

So, what would I do as someone who has spent years directing young performers?

To start, I would recommend preparing your kids so that you teach them how to deal with embarrassment when it comes. Because in reality, in the moment it happens in the middle of a show isn’t the time to “let’s have a little chat” type thing. The only thing you can do in the moment is help soothe them and get them back out there (if you can.) 

Don't Wait Until Something Goes Wrong 

We spend plenty of rehearsal time teaching kids their lines, blocking, choreography, cues, costumes, and much more. We should also teach them what to do when those things don't go according to plan. 

I think some directors assume that kind of training belongs in improv class because improv is, by definition, about reacting to the unexpected.

But why should it stop there? Even though a show is scripted down to the T, there is ALWAYS something that goes wrong in every show. Why are we not preparing our kid performers for that?

What happens if someone forgets a line? A prop breaks? Someone enters late? There's a weird noise from the audience? Someone starts laughing? Something embarrassing happens?

Now I feel like the youth directors reading this are going “oh yeah”. We can’t just save that training for improv class.

In fact, I feel so strongly about this that, when I ran my own youth theatre, I required my kids to do that first before they were allowed to be in a production. The instant skills that you learn in improv are so vital to the success of being on stage for a show.

Now, I will say that you can't rehearse every possible disaster. But you can rehearse the mindset to stay in character and keep the scene moving. 

Let Them Be Embarrassed 

I’m not sure what it is about this generation that leads people to think kids shouldn’t be embarrassed, hurt, or offended. Are kids not human? Would it not be better to help kids deal with it at a young age than to end up as spoiled adults who people avoid at all costs because they weren’t taught how to handle things that pop up unexpectedly? 

Now, I’m not saying not to be sympathetic. For example, I don’t think this Reddit poster is very sympathetic. Perhaps that’s just the empath in me. Goodness gracious, if I farted in front of others at a business meeting, I would be beyond embarrassed. 

But directors should be careful not to immediately respond to a kid’s trauma with, “It's just a fart,” “Nobody cares,” or “You'll laugh about this someday.”

They most likely will. But right now, they're embarrassed. Let them be.

Young performers are impressionable, and how we as adult directors and instructors deal with these types of issues truly leaves a lasting impression on young minds. 

Do you want to be the reason your little 7-year-old Jimmy, 30 years from now, is in therapy because you handled things poorly and didn’t help them? 

“That’s a bit dramatic, Hannah.”

Actually, not really. 

Train them for unique situations. Be sensitive. Let them be embarrassed. It’s all about balance. 

The Audience Doesn't Know

The most important thing you can teach your theatre kids is that the audience does not know the script. Audience members would be surprised by what is added or left out because something went wrong. 

The only reason the audience knows is if you make it obvious. 

Funny story: when I was in middle school, we were putting on a theatre show for a Christmas program. And in the show, I was supposed to fall. I guess my fall was a little too realistic, because a parent beelined to the stage to help me up. (That was fun.)

So, teach your kids to master the art of faking it. Also, please note that it’s just as important for fellow performers to fake it just as much as the one it is happening to. If your fellow performer breaks a prop on stage, falls down the steps, misses a line, or rips a big old fart…help them out by bringing the moment into the scene. 

Kids are smart. They can figure it out. 

Now, maybe someday this Beetlejuice kid really will tell the story about the time he farted into a floor mic during a show and thought it was hilarious.

But he doesn't have to think it's hilarious right now.

Our responsibility when working with young performers isn't to tell them their embarrassment is silly. It's to help them through it while also teaching them that one unexpected moment doesn't ruin a performance.

Because sometimes the moment you're absolutely convinced ruined the show is the one the audience will remember most. And that is a good thing, even if it’s a fart.