Theater Sickness
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Category: Producing Theater
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URL: http://www.communitytheater.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3316
Printed Date: 11/23/24 at 7:57pm
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Topic: Theater Sickness
Posted By: frandor25
Subject: Theater Sickness
Date Posted: 7/29/08 at 2:25pm
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Hey everyone-
I have not been a member of this forum for a very long time....but I have been an active reader for a while. Now that I am a member I wanted to post about something I have been going through the past couple of days.
I have been an active member of a local theater group for the past several years. We closed on Sunday with Disney's Beauty and the Beast. (Great Show...I recommend it to anyone!!) What I found was that it has been so hard to let this show go. From the cast and all the way to the story, I have been in a constant funk the past few days. Like I said I have been in many shows where I have felt sad...but this is almost depression stage. One thing about our cast is the fact that, being that many are going back to school...I may never see them again.
My question to everyone is ...how many of you have gong through this sort of thing...and how do you get over it? I feel bad because my home life and my job is suffering because of it.
I can't help but think there is something wrong with me.
I know...it is the theater bug....it will pass. lol
Thanks in advance for your help!
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Replies:
Posted By: MartyW
Date Posted: 7/29/08 at 4:43pm
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Isn't it great.... ------------- Marty W "Till next we trod the boards.." |
Posted By: frandor25
Date Posted: 7/29/08 at 8:15pm
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Yah....I guess it can't be that bad. Sometimes you just get very close with your castmates that when you are done it just feels like a part of you is missing.
I wonder what we should call this condition.
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Posted By: tonyboling
Date Posted: 7/29/08 at 11:41pm
| i thought it was just called post-show depression. We don't have all that large a pool of actors so it's not so much an issue for me though. |
Posted By: vickifrank
Date Posted: 7/30/08 at 8:29am
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I've called it arts-withdrawl. Some part of it is missing the people. Another part is missing the sense of being tied to something important going on (the deadline and urgency triggers something primal). And the final part is the involvement in something creative.
But somehow mixed into it all is an acceptance. When working on theater projects its OK to be who you are. Techies can love tools and 'fascinating' details to obsessive levels. Actors can love characters, voices and themselves--just a bit. Directors can be control freaks who dare to step out and manage huge casts of uncontrollable people. Nobody thinks too hard about normal life (the one where you earn a living)--and yet you are suddenly alive and living life.
The only cure for the let down is to take up a new show. ------------- _____________ http://www.studio-productions-inc.com 1-800-359-2964 The theater scrim people |
Posted By: frandor25
Date Posted: 7/30/08 at 8:47am
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That is exactly what it is. It is not that I do not love my family and my normal life outside of the arts...it is just that being on stage allows me be who I am. I when I am done with a show it is like a part of me is ripped from me which leave a huge gap. It is just so tough when you love something so much and you have to leave it to go back to the daily grind. I envy of anyone who makes acting their career. I am so jealous! Ok…I am done whining now… |
Posted By: sconjott
Date Posted: 7/30/08 at 1:23pm
I couldn't have said it better myself Vicki. Barring another production though, I say throw yourself at some other hobby or past time, it seems to be the second best cure.
Fran, I do make a living from the theater, but there are still those shows that just kill you when they're closed. There's no escaping the low after that high. It's not too bad when you go from show to show, but when you have a break between productions...PHEW, it can be a killer. Like right now for instance, we just finished a competition peice. We worked on it 3 1/2 months, we had blow ups and there's even a person I do not ever want to work with again. But, it was a very thought provoking show, it really gave me a HUGE stretch in my abilities, I got an Outstanding Performance, we got the Best Ensemble, but the show isn't advancing and it just drives a spike through my heart that it's over, and all that work, those characters, this "unit" we created is no more.
Yeah, it NEVER gets any easier. ------------- There are NO small roles, only small actors... |
Posted By: neilfortin
Date Posted: 7/30/08 at 4:48pm
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We call it PPD Post-Play-Depression. It sucks....but beginning a new show ALWAYS makes it better!!!! ------------- Community Theater makes us smile |
Posted By: vickifrank
Date Posted: 7/30/08 at 4:49pm
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Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.
Easy it ain't, but not much that is easy is worthwhile.
Sconjott: You may not have that wonderful unit, but you have found several wonderful people to work with--and clearly you are valued by them as well. It doesn't get any better than that. I hope that you get get to work with each of them again....it'll only get better. ------------- _____________ http://www.studio-productions-inc.com 1-800-359-2964 The theater scrim people |
Posted By: Stageref
Date Posted: 8/07/08 at 2:21pm
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I get this every time! Literally tearing down the set and putting in the dumpster on strike day does not help. ------------- http://www.stageref.com - Stageref.com The new, free, on-line social experience of community theater productions and people |
Posted By: spikesgirl
Date Posted: 8/08/08 at 1:32pm
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I've only had PSD hit once, thankfully, usually we are plunging right into another show, so there's no real lag time between shows. since we're a community theater, we have a pretty consistent core of actors and techs that work with every show, so it's not as much of a heartahce when a favorite show closes.
Charlie
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Posted By: DownStageRight
Date Posted: 3/10/10 at 3:10pm
| I got it really bad after my very first production (Annie) I did it with my daughter and it was such an incredible experience, I felt it could never be repeated. Within a month I got involved in another show and the depression quickly passed. I have done close to 200 shows and there were some I was glad to see close and there were those that I wanted to go on forever. For me it is not just the creativity and the applause, but the people I have met over the years is what keeps me coming back. Theater people are the greatest people in the world..... |
Posted By: Spectrum
Date Posted: 3/11/10 at 6:57pm
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Stageref wrote, "Literally tearing down the set and putting in the dumpster on strike day does not help." When I built sets (many times doing 90% of the work alone), I actually enjoyed strike day. It always amazed me how something that went up so slowly and deliberately could come down so fast. In just a few hours there was a cleared, clean stage, ready for the next production. It DID annoy me that people who would never be caught BUILDING a set would attack a set with such destructive enthusiasm, and never concern themselves that SOME things can be salvaged for reuse. So much good wood, paneling, and set pieces were broken, hacked, and destroyed because someone never respected the theatre's budget or lumber supplies. I always tried to make it clear what was to be kept and what could go in the dumpster, but some people just didn't care. It wasn't coming out of THEIR pocket. I guess that's one of the things that made me start the company I own now, where we design, build, and RENT stage props, set pieces, and special effects, primarily for community theatres and schools. ------------- Growing old is mandatory. Growing up is optional. |