When They Call How Will You Answer
How do you determine when you should to start preparing for theaters to return? Should you have been preparing and training this whole time? Should you start now? Will you be ready for its return? or is it all water under the bridge at this point and you rather not worry about it until you absolutely have to.
The reality is that in the past months we have seen a variety of ways to deal with the theater industry shutting down —from artists reinvesting their new found time on their brand to shifting and pivoting their energy into pursuing old passions pushed aside due to busy schedules or new found interests. Everyone has had their own way of facing the facts, reconnecting with themselves and finding out new truths about who they are as humans and artists. All of which will undoubtedly enrich them as artists in future projects, auditions and performances (don’t be surprised if we have an outpour of projects inspired on the emotional toll the events over the last 6 months has had across the country and the world).
Although I’m not here to write about what artists have been doing over the past 6 months, instead I would like to start a conversation about what artists and performers can do to be ready for when theaters do return, because let me tell you, it will return. In several countries we are already observing different attempts to reopen live theater indoors. Spain, Mexico, Indonesia, Poland, and London among others have laid out ground plans for the reopening of live theaters at capacity, in fact some of these countries are currently holding live indoor shows already. So, the question becomes:
If you had to perform next week, would you feel comfortable with where you are physically and mentally to get back on stage and perform at your best 8x a week? How about to walk into multiple audition rooms and show your best and be ready for rehearsals and prepping for a show?
We are 3 full months away from 2020 ending which means if everything goes well we are just months away from the possibility of an initial return in 2021. If we continue to make the argument that performers are athletes and should be trained as such, then we don’t have to look too far to see what can happen to athletes when they don’t take the time to fully prepare their bodies and their minds for prior to resuming their sport; just look at how many ACL tears, hamstring and achilles injuries there have been in just two weeks after the NFL began. When you as athletes are not fully prepared to return, sooner or later your bodies are going to pay the price and that price could be the difference between you performing the full run healthy, performing while nursing a reoccurring injury/pain, missing a week or two off stage, or giving way to another performer to take your spot.
As dancers, singers and/or actors you expect to be valued and respected as professionals, but in order for that to happen you must first behave as a professional outside the theater. You must train your craft, your body, and your mind to be able to respond to the immediate and, more often than not, erratic demands of the theater world. Unfortunately, it is usually the veteran actors, dancers and singers who talk about a balanced lifestyle inside and outside the theater. They are the ones who promote having a healthy relationship between all the obligations you have as a performer (rehearsals, dress rehearsals, classes, voice lessons, and performances) and your personal training before, during and after show runs.
Nobody said being a successful performer would be easy, but you can definitely make your career benefit and maybe even last longer if you take the advice of veteran artists by training your body with intention. Bring balance to your body by training your strengths and weaknesses. Build resilience in your body by exposing it to different stimulus that forces it to adapt and be more versatile. Attune your mind by collecting your thoughts, stresses, and emotions.
So don’t lose hope, instead brace yourself and be ready … because if we can be sure of one thing is that theater is always unpredictable.
