OCT
22

The Loner, the Slacker and the Drama Queen

By Flip Kobler 

Flip Kobler began his performing career as an actor before morphing into a writer.  Flip and his wife, Cindy Marcus, have written for Disney and now run Showdown Stage Company and Showdown Theater Academy in Valencia, California.  Pioneer Drama Service is pleased to offer several plays and musicals by this dynamic duo. 

So you’ve chosen the show, rehearsals are underway and everything is going great.

Except —

Yeah, there’s always an except.  Challenges are just part of live theater, they’ll always come up.  Today I want to talk to you about that one kid who just doesn’t gel with the rest of the cast and always seems to gunk up rehearsals.  Most every cast has at least one.  We’ve had a bunch over the years, and we’d like to share some of the ways that we’ve dealt with the prob.  We’ve noticed these kids come in three catagories:

THE LONER
You’ve seen them.  They don’t sit with the other kids, they don’t fit in, they’re just not part of the ensemble.

“Mark” came to our theater camp this past summer.  Mark has a physical deformity that’s kept him an outsider for most of his 14 years.  If fact, it had become so typical for him to be excluded that he was more comfortable alone.  But come on, theater kids are the most loving kids in the world.  And our gang invited him to eat lunch with them, to play games, to talk, to be part of the clique.

But Mark wasn’t used to this and always peeled away from the group to sit by himself.  This made the other kids think he didn’t like them, so they stopped asking him to join, and Mark’s isolation became a self-fulfilling prophecy.

After several failed attempts to help Mark join the gang, the staff finally took turns being on “Mark Duty.”  Every time Mark detached himself, one of us would grab his hand and physically lead him back to the group.  Pretty soon it became a game, and the kids started doing Mark Duty on their own.  If Mark wasn’t around, they’d hunt him down and drag him back into the fold.

It was hard at first, especially for Mark.  But by the end of camp, he realized these guys weren’t just hanging with him “to be nice,” or because they “had to.”  For perhaps the first time in his life he realized people could like him just for him.

Was it a lot of work?  Oh, yeah.  Was it tougher than we expected?  Oh, yeah.  Was it worth it?  OH,YEAH.  A little theater camp may have changed a life that summer.

THE SLACKER
Slackers are the kids who don’t know their lines.  Or their blocking.  Or can’t seem to remember to show up on time, or bring a pencil, or not talk during rehearsal, or – or – or!  The list goes on and on, but they are the ones who slow down the rehearsal process.  They’re disruptive and frustrating, and you wonder how you still have any hair left on your head.

If you only have one in your cast then consider yourself blessed.  We’ve found the best way to deal with this kind of behavior is to simply reduce their footprint.  If they forget a line, we say, “You know, Mary, this seems a bit too much for you.  We’re giving that line to Valerie.”

Now the trick here is to not make it seem like a punishment.  You don’t want the actor to turn into The Drama Queen, so don’t play into the drama.  Just put it back on them.  “Gee, Mary, you forgot your pencil?  Why don’t you sit out while we block this scene.”  “Gosh, Mary, late again?  We had to give your solo to Gretchen.”

Part of the trick here is to make sure you’re not saying these things with any anger in your voice.  If anything, go for empathy.  You hate these things too, but they’re the natural and unavoidable consequences of their own actions.  “I’m sorry you forgot your pencil.  Now you can’t take your blocking notes, so we’ll have to replace you in this scene.”

If it’s not viewed as a penalty or demerit but just a simple reflection of the actor’s work ethic, you’d be surprised how quickly behaviors can change.  We also give them a chance to earn some of those lost things back by improving their behavior.  But not all.  You can never let them reclaim all they have lost or their behavior will revert back to bad habits.

THE DRAMA QUEEN
Or king.  It’s a gender-blind malady.  These are the ones that spread gossip and rumor.  They turn actors against each other.  They spread misinformation and undermine authority.  But they do it all behind the scenes.  Ooooooh, don’t they just drive you nuts?

Pretty soon you’ve got paranoia and a grumpy cast, and all the fun has gone out of the process because some little *&% is spinning tangled webs.

When this happens, (and for us it’s on most shows), we feel that sunshine is the best disinfectant.  We don’t give these Drama Queens and Kings any shadows to hide in.  We call a group meeting and have the cast sit in a large circle where everybody can see everybody else, face to face.

Then we lead a discussion.  “We’ve noticed a lot of grumblings lately.  Tell us what’s going on.”  That often times leads to a frank discussion and when the gossip is aired in public, it ain’t gossip anymore.

Now sometimes the cast doesn’t want to speak, so we have to prime the pump a little more.  “Nobody wants to talk.  Well, I’ve noticed there are some hurt feelings.  Anybody have their feelings hurt?”  A show of hands is usually most of the cast.  “Well, MY feelings are hurt because I hear you don’t like the blocking...”

By modeling the kind of behavior we want, the kids always open up.  And an open, candid discussion takes all the “Drama” out of drama.

At least that’s been our experience, and I hope you find it helpful.  Because there is no better feeling than an awesome show with a tight ensemble cast.  When these kids know that they’ve done something incredible, that they were part of something bigger than themselves, the world can change.  Now, get out there and break some legs.