Student Blog: Staying Well

Speaking from personal experience, rehearsal seasons can be stressful. When you’re in the midst of an intense rehearsal process, it can feel impossible to do things as simple as taking care of yourself in the ways needed to keep yourself happy, healthy, and able to do your absolute best when tech weeks and shows come around. 

For this blog, I decided that I’d write up a little guide to wellness during rehearsal seasons—which, for me, is basically every season! I know this might seem corny and cliché, but I hope you take at least some of it to heart—I know writing this is helping me remind myself of the things I need to continue doing to keep myself on track for performances. 

Physical wellness: 

Eat! Sleep! Stay hydrated! All things you’ve heard before, I know, but I swear they’re the most important things to do to keep yourself healthy. This especially applies as you approach tech weeks—which, for many, are the weeks when you get the least amount of sleep you get the entire rehearsal process. However, it’s important to do what you can and take the time you need to prioritize yourself and your physical well-being so that when the lights come up on opening night, you feel strong and ready to give the performance your all. 

Also, take care of your body! Stretching, warmups, cooldowns, whatever you need to feel loose, flexible, and ready to go come opening night. Make sure you’re not overextending yourself or pushing your body past its limits. 

One thing I’ve learned in recent years is that physical health includes vocal health, especially as a singer. Warmups, hydration, drinking tea or steaming if that’s what you like—whatever your favorite ways are to take care of and maintain your voice, make sure you’re doing them. Shows can take a great toll on your voice each night, so it’s really important to make sure you take care of it. 

Mental wellness:

Self-care. I know, I know, you’ve heard it a million times before and might have just closed this tab out of frustration. But seriously, it helps. Make sure you have people in your corner who are there for you when life inevitably gets stressful, whether that’s for theater reasons or just good old life getting overwhelming.  Take time for self-care, even during tech week: for me, I find that just twenty minutes of mindlessly scrolling social media, watching Netflix, or even just listening to music and not thinking about anything goes a long way towards my productivity. And reading a book can be fun too :) sometimes getting away from a screen for a bit is all you need to refocus. 

Wellness in a rehearsal environment:

I’m a member of two theater groups at Penn, so even though I’m only a sophomore I’ve already been faced with thinking about what maintaining wellness in a rehearsal room means. So far, I’ve learned that safety and comfort are the most important things to maintain in a rehearsal room. A cast and crew spends a lot of time together in rehearsals, so it’s crucial that everyone feels they are arriving in a safe space for rehearsal each day. It’s important to make sure that everyone feels safe, and that nobody is feeling ostracized or excluded from the group in any way. In addition, make it accessible! My favorite rehearsal rooms I have been in have been ones that make the room a safe space for learning and growing as performers and as people. 

What to do if you don’t feel well (in any sense of the word)

Even with all these tips and tricks, there will inevitably be a day where you’re just not feeling 100%, whether that’s physically, mentally, or some combination of the two. Do what you can to take care of yourself in either scenario. Talking to someone you trust can help a lot, and if it’s a question of feeling safe in a rehearsal room, talk to your director, producer, or even just a friend. Expressing concerns is crucial, and oftentimes people don’t realize something they’re doing or saying is coming across badly. All it takes is someone being brave enough to speak up for the behavior to change. 

The most important thing is to prioritize yourself and your health, happiness, and well-being. Prioritize what you as a person and a performer need to feel confident and healthy going into a rehearsal, tech week, or performance. Break a leg :)

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