BWW Blog: Hannah Love - The Literal Blood, Sweat, and Tears of Theatre

I always think to myself how when you love doing something, you put your blood, sweat, and tears into it. That happens with most theatre kids. As performers, we experience bruises, broken nails, concussions, wounds, battle scars, other physical injuries, but we also experience deep, emotional connections that will stick with us for the rest of our lives that we'll always cherish.

Many theatre kids can list off about ten injuries they've received probably just in that week. Annabelle Pace recalls one rehearsal where she got a concussion onstage. CayCay Kelly also remembers an injury during a performance of Bye Bye Birdie. "I was about to go on for "Telephone Hour," so I was running to places. When I ran to get there, I tripped on one of the stage cubes and twisted my ankle. I pretended like nothing happened because I didn't want to be "that freshman", so I pretended nothing happened. Immediately when we were through with the number, I stumbled off stage into the bathroom. I grabbed duct tape and wrapped it around my ankle/heel because I actually thought it would help. It didn't (of course), so there I was, a clumsy, hurting, and duct taped freshman. That wasn't my brightest moment in my lifetime." Earlier this year, we performed Urinetown. I played a poor teenager and part of my costume was to be barefoot. After the three months of the show, sometimes walking was extremely painful from dancing tirelessly on the stage and concrete for countless hours. The funny thing is, we look back at all these injuries and wounds, and we laugh. The journey to the end of a show wouldn't have been the same without the bloody knees or the tired feet. It's what makes the show that more special.

Having rehearsals almost everyday for a couple hours can be quite exhausting. You sweat a lot, and you don't always necessarily smell the best. I always carry about three different types of deodorant in my rehearsal bag just for everyone's use. I like when people are courteous of their smell and come to me for a little bit of sweat stick. Lol. The rehearsals that come along with that sweat are all worth it in the end. Rachel Galaif knows the difficulty of long, grueling rehearsals, and she says, "We have several 9+ hour rehearsals, and these rehearsals help us to not only get a lot of work done, but they help us to bond as a cast. A tight-knit ensemble is a good ensemble in my opinion. We can spend these rehearsals not only learning new music and choreography, but also cleaning and perfecting everything. We achieve so much in just a single rehearsal, and it really motivates our cast to continue to give our all and work harder. By the end of these 9+ hour rehearsals, even though we all smell bad and we're exhausted, it's totally worth it." She's exactly right. There's no other place I'd rather be on a Saturday than in the comfort of my Performing Arts Center with the best friends a theatre kid could ever have.

My favorite part of putting together a show is not only the connections you make with other people but the show itself. Some stories hit close to home, or we find a little part of the show that relates back to our lives. That's when you see real emotion onstage, and it is truly one of the most magical things you'll ever witness. A great theatre production expresses a true art form. Many topics of well-known shows include friendship, love, family, individuality, and dedication. We all have different views on these topics, but they all apply to us in some way. That's another incredible thing about theatre. It brings different people of different backgrounds together through art and love. It's amazing. It allows us to express ourselves with a freedom, and it doesn't matter how bad our day was. As long as we are able to go out and perform and give it our all, it makes everything better. With our production of Ghost coming along, there was one day where the leads were showing the ensemble members what they had been working on. "We were running the scene where Sam gets shot by Willie and there was not a single piece of set on stage, no costumes, no props, just the actors, and it was so incredible. Sam's death really got to me, and you could feel the emotion Molly was feeling and it was just.. like.. I was speechless" (Annabelle Pace). It just goes to show you that all the visuals of the theatre make it even more exciting, but it's the acting and emotional depth that performers can reach as characters that will draw you into a performance. It's hard to say goodbye to a show as well. You work so hard in a production for several months, and just like that, it can be over. That last bow sometimes doesn't even hit you. I was driving home with my mother from my last time performing Little Shop of Horrors last year, and in one second, all the memories of putting the show together whirled around me, and it pained me so deeply that the last show I'd ever do with some of my close friends was gone. It's only temporary, but the memories are forever.

Think of all the musicals or plays you've ever been in involved with. Then, think of all the blood you shed or injuries caused during the time you were in those productions. Next, think of how many ounces of sweat you've produced over the span of the countless rehearsals you've attended. Finally, think of the amount of tears you've shed or memories you've recalled of the times you spent doing theatre. I don't know about you, but the answers to all those thoughts are innumerable for me. The blood, sweat, and tears of a theatre shows just how beautiful this art form we are a part of really is.

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