Student Blog: Eighteen Plus: Navigating Theatre as a Young Performer

Turning eighteen is a milestone in any teenager's life. It brings a newfound sense of freedom to the world, allows young people to try new things, and helps us get a grip on adult life. However, as a college student and performer in a large city, this otherwise small milestone is much more important. I graduated a year early in high school, and went straight to college at seventeen to pursue musical theatre and comedy. For the most part, my age wasn't a problem and I could live college life to its fullest. However, as soon as I began to audition for productions in my area, I ran into a tough issue.

Eighteen plus. Those two words plagued every audition call I could find, from tiny community theatres to equity productions. I was at a point in my life where, despite my age, I needed to find opportunities as an actor- and even though I completely understood why these companies were looking for adults, I was seventeen and a half and desperately trying to find my place in the acting world. I started simple, and labeled my age specifically in auditions in hopes that a director wouldn't mind. However, I was rejected consistently and knew I needed to be more sure of which auditions might consider me. This is when I had to use some tools in communication- I found auditions, scrolled to the bottom of the listing, and found the email addresses of the casting directors for each show. From there, I sent individual emails to each director and asked if they would accept my submission given my age.

From the point I started clearly and directly communicating, my entire audition experience greatly improved. Directors would thank me for reaching out, then give me a straightforward answer on whether or not I could audition under their policy. This not only saved me hours of time in creating audition tapes for roles I had no chance of being seen for, but it also relieved me of the stress over an audition going poorly because of my age. With a large portion of my audition anxiety gone, I could focus on performing to the best of my ability rather than constantly trying to look or seem older than I am. Although the process took longer, this system truly helped me take a calm and thoughtful approach to auditioning in Chicago as a minor.

Now, as I'm just less than two months away from my eighteenth birthday, I couldn't be more relieved. I'm currently in an all-adult repertory comedy group, and I'll be able to enter the age-restricted theatre we're performing in by the time of opening night. I would never have auditioned for this group if I hadn't used direct communication, and I'm so glad I did- Everyone I perform with accepts me as a professional regardless of my age, and they've even jokingly proposed a special comedic performance where people pay to see me get registered to vote onstage. I can joke, act, write, and connect with every person in my cast without ever feeling out of place, and it's all thanks to direct questions and taking a calculated risk. I feel truly at ease with where I'm at in my career, and I'm so incredibly excited for the world of opportunities that will be opening up to me so soon.

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