Student Blog: My First Time Backstage for a Show

A couple of weeks ago, I was a wrangler at the Premios Metropolitanos de Teatro in Mexico City. These awards are like the Olivier Awards in the UK or the Tony Awards in the United States, so it was a great opportunity to be there volunteering for a job that is not as easy as it seems.

Since I was little, I always wanted to be part of those big ceremonies where lots of people attended to celebrate one more year of movies, music, fashion and art. It was probably five or four years ago that I found that there was a huge event that recognized the best of Broadway and being there one day, became part of my bucket list -it's still there but one day at a time-. So when I got the opportunity to be at the Premios Metropolitanos de Teatro in my city, I knew I had to be there no matter what.

This year is the first one I've gone at least once a month to the theater and I've been involved with everything that happens with the industry here in Mexico. Thanks to that, I entered the Theater Production Company at my campus and thanks to my teacher, -who I really admire and who has taught me so many things in these four months- I was able to go and be part of the huge team that is responsible for the show.

I've never been a wrangler in something this big, the only time I had this responsibility was at the auditions of our school musical and it was a little scary because there were just 5 wranglers for at least 100 students that wanted to be in the musical but at the end I had so much fun. Now a little -but important- part of this ceremony depended on my job of taking two actresses that were presenting an award, oh and I forgot to tell you that the ceremony was broadcasted on national television and on Youtube so that's when I knew I needed to do my best to arrive on time to the stage and not making the actresses feel nervous or something like that.

At the end, everything went as planned and even though the organization was not the best, I learned so much and had a great time. I was tired because it was a long day but I was happy. What I enjoyed more about this whole experience was being able to spend the day with my classmates from the Theater Production Company, talking, making jokes and having fun the whole night. Also once again I realized why I love theater so much and why it's one of my favorite places in the world because most of the people that work in this industry are so passionate and believe that art can change the world.

Having a new perspective of a ceremony like this was something I'll never forget. The saddest part was that I didn't get to see the actual performances of some musical numbers I've seen in rehearsals, but being backstage was kinda stressful but really awesome. Another thing that made that day ten times better was to bump into people that I admire, from journalists to actresses, actors and even celebrities; that do theater and do something to make the industry grow in our city and even in our country.