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Theatre Training


The only formal theatre training I ever had was in a high school drama class. I was a shy, unconfident, insecure kid. The thought of standing up in front of a class and speaking made me physically ill. I never would have signed up for this class if it weren’t for the fact that two of my friends were doing it. I had been in a couple of school plays in grade school and I liked those experiences. But a drama class, as I was to learn, was very different. About 90% of the class was improvisation: you are thrown into a situation, and you have to figure out how to get through it.

The teacher was very good at his craft and later went on to found his own theatre company. But he put us through our paces. I was nowhere near my comfort zone. When you are an insecure kid, the last thing you want is to look foolish in front of the class. Being thrown into an improv situation with no idea how to get through it, made for plenty of opportunities for looking foolish. In addition to improv training, we spent time learning stage combat. At the culmination of the stage combat training, we broke into small groups and choreographed our own fight. Most of the others were just simple two person fights, but my group of four developed a two on two fight. It also lasted longer than the other fights, and we had people flying all over the stage. It was great. Then he taught us how to fence. I loved fencing and I only wished that we had more time to spend on it.

Finally, near the end of the term, we got to work on scenes with actual scripts. My friend Jack and I worked on a scene together. We had to present it to the class. About three quarters of the way through our scene, I said my line and then Jack replied with a curse word that was not in the script. It threw me. Then he said, “you’re drunk.” Which was a line from earlier in the scene and I realized he had forgotten his line. Oh-oh. We got through it somehow. That was my first lesson in why all the improv training was important. Things go wrong on stage, and you have to figure out how to get through them.

I am not remembering many of the details of the class because it was a loooooong time ago. After taking this class, it would have been natural for me to go out for one of our high school plays. But I didn’t. I still had confidence issues. I was in my 30’s before I finally auditioned for a community theatre. Then I got the bug and have been in many plays since. So, I have been training by doing for the last 30 years. My teachers have been my directors, and I have had some excellent directors over the years. I have grown as an actor. But I think that first growth spurt, that first step I took in high school Drama, was an important one.

Now I am about to step on stage for the umpteenth time in a local production of The Outsiders. Just a small part this time, but even small parts require you to use all the tools in your toolbox. And I am still learning.

You never know when some lesson from school will enlighten your later life.

Star Liner

 

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