Student Blog: The Show Must Go On!

Two weeks after closing Cinderella, I finally feel like I can relax and think about everything that happened. What should have been a normal (but busy) tech week turned into one of the most stressful experiences I’ve ever had, and somehow, we still made it to opening night.

I was playing Ella in Otterbein University’s spring mainstage musical, and it was something I had been working toward since I got the cast list in December. For months, I was memorizing, rehearsing and trying to be as ready as possible. Rehearsals were going really well, I loved the cast and the show was coming together in a great way. Then tech week started.

We had three weeks of tech instead of the usual two because the show was so technically complicated with the magic elements and the onstage dress changes. Like most tech weeks, it started slow. A couple days in we had only gotten through two scenes. It was frustrating but normal especially given this specific show. One night after rehearsal we walked outside to an insane downpour of rain. It was annoying but we didn’t think much of it. But the next morning that would change.

The theatre basemengt had flooded overnight, and costumes and lighting equipment were damaged. Tech was paused, and no one really knew what was going on. People started saying the show might be delayed or even canceled. I was incredibly upset.

Being a girl in a BFA program, it’s already hard to get cast in shows, and getting to play a lead role is even hearder. So when it seemed like the show might not happen, it felt like everything I had worked for was disappearing. I could’t stop thinking about it and imagining the worst possible outcome.

Now looking back I can see that I tend to catastorphize.

Theatre is full of uncertainty. There are always auditions, casting decisions, and unexpected problems that you cannot control. Sometimes things work out and sometimes they don’t. But I spent so much time worrying about something I could not control.

Thankfully in the end it all worked out. The factulty and crew fixed everything, we adjusted by adding more tech rehearsals during the school day and we opened on time. 

Of course, it is okay that I was upset. It meant I really cared but I learned that I don’t need to let that stress take over everything. I can’t control flooding or last minute problems but I can control my mindset on the situation.

Now, when I am put in similar situations, I am able to take a step back and know that most of the time things work out in the way they are supposed to, and having experienced this, I know that things can go wrong and still work out.

Photo by Mark Mineart