Student Blog: Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again!

Mamma Mia, Here We Go Again! There is something fitting about beginning another year of writing for BroadwayWorld with a phrase that feels so familiar, yet somehow carries an entirely different meaning this time around.

When I first began writing for BroadwayWorld, I was looking at the theater industry primarily through the eyes of a performer. I am an actor, a theater lover, a podcast host, and an audience member who was fascinated by the magic that happened when the lights went down and the curtain went up. I knew what it felt like to stand backstage waiting for a cue, to obsess over a line or lyric, to count through choreography in my head, and to wonder whether I had remembered every single detail before stepping into the spotlight.

What I didn't always think about was everything that had to happen before I ever got to the theater.

As performers, it is incredibly easy to become consumed by the world immediately in front of us. We worry about our entrances and exits, our blocking, our harmonies, our costumes, our characters, our choreography, and whether or not we are actually going to remember that one line that mysteriously disappears from our brain the second we hear the cue.

But the more I have grown within this industry, the more I have realized that what audiences see onstage is only one small piece of a much larger puzzle. There is an entire world happening behind the curtain. This year, I have had the opportunity to explore that world in a completely different way.

I am currently in my first year at the University of Toronto, studying Arts and Media Management & Theater. Being able to study both the artistic and business sides of an industry that I love has completely changed the way I look at theater. For the first time, I am not only asking, “How does this show work onstage?” I am also asking, “How did this show get here in the first place?”

Who made the decisions?
How does a production find its audience?
What makes someone want to buy a ticket?
How does a show build its identity?

And perhaps most importantly: how do all of these different people and departments work together to create the experience that an audience eventually sees? Those are questions I never really knew I was interested in understanding until I started asking them.

Theater has always been a collaborative art form, but studying the industry has made me understand just how expansive that collaboration truly is. A performance does not simply appear when an actor walks onto a stage. Behind that actor is a team of directors, producers, costume, lighting, and set designers, stage managers, musicians, technicians, publicists, and countless other people whose work may never receive the same visibility as the performers standing under the lights. 

And yet, without them, the lights would not come on. That realization has been one of the most exciting parts of entering this new chapter of my education.

I have always loved the performance side of theater. Being bit by the theater bug is the greatest gift I have ever received. I love the adrenaline of performing. I love the feeling of an audience reacting to a moment. I love the complete vulnerability of stepping into someone else's story and bringing yourself to a role.

But I am beginning to fall just as deeply in love with everything that makes those moments possible. It feels like getting bit by the bug all over again. My experience as a podcast host has played a huge role in that discovery as well. Through conversations with artists, industry professionals and publicists, I have had the chance to see theater from countless different perspectives. I've gotten to ask questions, listen to people's stories, and learn about the work that happens far beyond what an audience sees.

And every time I do, I find myself thinking the same thing: How did I not realize how fascinating this was before? Everyone is working toward the same thing: creating an experience.

An actor may be the person delivering the story, but someone had to create the environment in which that story could exist. A publicist may be the person telling the world about a production, but that story has to be compelling enough to make someone want to listen. A producer may be making decisions that the audience never sees, but those decisions can ultimately shape everything that the audience experiences.

Every piece matters. And perhaps that is what makes theater so extraordinary.

We often talk about the magic of theater as though it is something mysterious, something that happens when the lights dim and the audience becomes quiet. But the more I learn about the industry, the more I believe that the real magic is actually in the people. It is in the hundreds of decisions that have to be made. It is in the countless hours of rehearsal. It is in the people solving problems that an audience will never know existed.

It is all theater. And now, I find myself somewhere in the middle of it.

I am still an actor. I am still going to worry about whether I know my lyrics, whether I am hitting my marks, whether my harmonies are right, and whether I remembered the choreography.

But I am also becoming a student of the industry itself.

I am learning how productions are built. I am learning how audiences are reached. I am learning about the business decisions behind the art. I am learning that loving theater does not necessarily mean you have to choose one single way to participate in it.

You can be an actor and a writer. You can be a performer and a producer. I feel like through my podcast, I have been both a performer and a publicist. You can love the stage while also being fascinated by the office behind it. There isn't actually a single “side” of theater where you belong. And I think that is one of the most exciting things I am discovering.

For so long, I thought of the curtain as a dividing line. On one side was the audience, and on the other was the performance. But the more I learn, the more I realize that the curtain isn't really a boundary at all.

It is a doorway. There are stories happening on both sides. There are dreams, challenges, successes, failures, and moments of pure theater magic on both sides.

And I want to understand all of it. That is what makes returning to BroadwayWorld this year feel particularly meaningful. I am coming back as someone whose understanding of theater is constantly evolving.

If university has taught me anything so far, it is that there is so much more to theater than what happens in those few hours between places, please and curtain call. There is an entire world waiting behind the curtain. And I am just getting started exploring it. So yes, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.

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