Theatre education is time consuming, on a secondary education level and on a collegiate level. Artist have a reputation in today’s society that they can be lazy, but more times then not when theater student are put under a time crunch instead of crumbling they excel. Actors and crewmembers have to be on time for rehearsal regardless of the work they have to do outside of rehearsal time. The director and stage manager are not going to baby them and constantly remind them of the time they need to be at the theatre, even as students. They need to know this information once it is given to them. If the director or stage manager or production manager has a schedule, it is then important for the actors and the crew to inform the director and stage manager of any scheduling conflicts and to know how to handle time to memorize any lines or cues that need refining.

One department being behind can set an entire production off its time schedule. The stage manager and director also have to know time management in order to schedule rehearsals, work calls and tech week. When you add to this the fact that these directors, stage managers, designers, crewmembers and actors are all also students who have full class loads or are in high school all day their time management skills grow as they production progresses. These students have to balance their time to ensure they do not fall behind in their classes or let the production get off schedule.

When you look specifically at high school theatre is one of the best tools to teach time management and responsibility to these young students. In the last few years the stress our school systems have put on students seem to only increase. Our society almost demands that a young person have a college degree for any entry level job, so as this change has happened the pressure on high school students to succeed has multiplied. As this pressure increases on students so does stress and that is why time management is such an important skill to have in this da and age. I think the time management benefits that theatre can give America’s young students is best explained by Emily Badgett a high school student from North Carolina. “My work ethic and time management skills have come from theater. A typical day for me is seven hours of school, four hours of rehearsal, and three hours of homework, which equates to strenuous 14-hour days. Strong time management skills helped me “keep swimming” throughout high school. Not only have I learned to manage myself, but others too. During my freshman year, a director cast me as stage manager for the spring musical. Managing a cast of your peers can be difficult. We spend a majority of our free time together rehearsing and studying lines. I learned how to separate professional theatre relationships and personal friendships. My management skills help me to address conflicts that arise from these complicated relationships. In the future, these skills will be valuable in the work environment as well.” [1] She wrote this in her school blog titled On the Stage and Behind the Scenes: Lessons Learned from Theatre. Reading her words it is easy to see that theater can benefit students by putting the right kind of stress on them.

[1] Badgett, Emily. “On the Stage and Behind the Scenes: Lessons Learned from Theatre.” Web log post. Public Schools of North Carolina. State Board of            Education, 14 Dec. 2015. Web. 07 Mar. 2016.