“Any form of art is a form of power; it has impact, it can affect change – it can not only move us, it makes us move.” – Ossie Davis*

I recently saw a video clip from Josh Groban’s speech at the 2024 Jimmy Awards on Instagram. He said, “hire a theatre kid!”

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C85SaYbvio-/?igsh=MThxdDdicnh1a2Zocg==

I wholeheartedly agree with Mr. Groban. Theater kids have grit. Theater kids have endurance. And theater kids love life.

So many of the most important life lessons I have learned over the years came from from my time in musical theatre:

• Be on time.
• Be prepared.
• Be brave.
• Take direction with grace.
• Learn your notes.
• Learn your lines.
• Learn your co-actors lines.
• Know your audience.
• Connect with your audience.
• You can perform sick.
• You can perform tired.
• Performing sick and tired too often will give you mononucleosis, so learn when to stop—preferrably before you get mono, not after.
• Being a diva can and will backfire on you.
• Understudies and Swings are the most valuable cast members you have in the show.
• Help with the set, the costumes, the sound, the lights, and the marketing—you never know when you’ll need to know that stuff.
• Thank those who make the set, the costumes, the sound, the lights, and the marketing—without them you have no stage and no audience.
• You can sing and dance with the man who broke your heart.
• You can even sing and dance with the man whose heart you broke.
• Learn to Fail and then fail spectacularly—it’s a better story that way.

I think life is much like a musical. We love our favorite characters so much because they reflect back to us the human condition. Feeling seen from the seats when someone on stage sings about love, or rants about hate, or cries about loss is real and precious and divine. And our need to be heard by those sitting in the audience is just as strong. The theatre is more than just entertainment. The shared connection with each other is what makes us human.

“Theater is a verb before it is a noun, an act before it is a place.” Martha Graham*

Go see a musical dear ones. Experience the energy of opening night. Feel that flutter in your belly as the lights go down and the curtain comes up. You will not be disappointed. If you don’t break out into song on your way home after a show, well, I’ll always love you, but we will never be kindred spirits.

Break A Leg Y’all, Marla

*Quotes sourced from https://kendavenport.com/100-quotes-every-theater-producer-playwright-director-actor-etc-must-read/