18 Skills & Benefits Acting On Stage At High School You Need To Know As An Actor

Table of Contents

• Back Stage Vs On Stage Skills
• Work On Your Stage Skills At High School
• Key Benefits of Being in the School Play As An Actor
• Conclusion

Back Stage Vs On Stage Skills

In order to enter into the world of stage performances and improve your onstage acting skills during your high school age, you need first to be familiar with the meaning of the backstage and on stage terms, while all audience are familiar with the on-stage act, they have no idea what is happening behind the scene backstage so what I encourage you to do as an amateur actor to be familiar with the differences between backstage and on-stage skills and even to be part of both during your school.

• On Stage (Frontstage) Skills: Frontstage means everything that is visible to the audience, your acting skills, body language, facial expressions, voice projection, teamwork, and creativity.. all those skills are representing an actor’s onstage skills.
• Backstage Skills: Backstage skills include different perspectives such as carpentry, construction skills, loading and unloading packages, scenery assembly, and moving parts operation…  all backstage activities are non-acting skills related to the guy who is controlling the flyman movement, building props, and scenery, and operating the curtains… etc.

Work On Your Stage Skills At High School

If you are still young, you still have the chance to join your school’s classes to gain a running practice over the years of your study and perhaps this is the easiest option to take at the beginning of your acting career, having good stage skills enhances your acting skills in front of the camera, being fit with energetic movement and body gesture, knowing how to move from one place to another in a scene act while acting is a key, having an attractive dancing gesture or poses add a value to your own personal name as a professional actor, you need to build this from the beginning.

So what are the onstage skills you need to work on as an actor? the following skills you need to work on in addition to your acting skill because acting skill is not the only skill you need to master while you are acting on stage, but complementary skills that will support you as a stage actor:

1. Commitment: I put commitment as the first point because committing to a play will also give you back a commitment to in your acting career and will push your perseverance and scale up your problem-solving capabilities on stage, always look to a play from a perspective from conception to performance when you signing up for a one.
2. Proactive: Being proactive is considered one of the challenging skills for a new actor to develop, normally new actors might be afraid of making mistakes by overstepping their boundaries, so do not be afraid to be proactive and always try to complete the tasks given to you by the director and try looking into problems and solve them even without being asked to do so. Proactivity is important that makes you stand out from the crowd and get the eye on you and eventually more tasks will be given to you which will expedite your skills.
3. Creativity: As an actor, you need to have creativity cause without creativity you won’t be able to succeed. All successful actors and actresses have creativity as artists, creativity is what distinguishes one artist from the other because being creative in your thoughts will show art from your own perspective as an actor, how you react to a certain emotion in the scene, how you walk to represent the character, how you smile during acting, in other words, creativity is what makes an actor so try to train your self how to improve your creativity by stretching your limits and test your art imagination and don’t be afraid of trying that all the way.
4. Following Directions: Any play requires everyone (not only on stage actors but bak stage as well) to hit their marks, all play’s cast and crew should follow the tasks and guidance given by the director, and this is how any play either a student play or a big-budget professional play works.
5. Become An Asset: Directors and producers love to work with trustworthy actors, those actors who come to the stage with already practiced their lines and roles, or a volunteer actor to show up at their call time, punctuating and ready to work. trustworthy actors mostly win an acting career path quicker.
6. Organization: Any artwork if being performed without being organized probably won’t go well or at least smoothly with no issues and problems, so always teach yourself how to be organized with your duties and with other casts in the play and show a professional attitude even when you are still small in your acting career.
7. Team Player: Nobody wants to work with a diva, regardless of how much art skills or experience you have, still you need to cooperate with others and be part of the play’s team, drama actors must support each other to create a positive environment which is a key to success,  all casts and crew starting from the director to the rest of the actors to the stage team and designers and operators are working together towards a common goal: To create a fantastic flawless production. So be humble and become the best team player.
8. Works Well Independently:  In addition to what I mentioned the above a skill to be a team player, it is also important to focus on another skill which is working well independently on set or stage, play or drama directors don’t have time to run behind and recheck on every single thing they asked the actors or other casts and workers to do, instead they expect a good sense of responsibility from all the case and workers on set. Work on your sense of responsibility skills and lean on it to grow your acting career path.
9. Calm Under Pressure: Staying calm under pressure is not an easy skill to master, even with professional actors and actresses this skill is so important to save your name and your career, during any actor’s career life might have some issues occur during the shooting or during a play rehearsal or so as we are all humans and things will go wrong somethings during a performance and what is required from you is to practice having (show must go on) mentality along with your acting career.
10. Planning: At your age, you might have many things to do with your school schedule and daily life, so you need to think prior to things and to do planning up ahead from due dates to start dates, for example, you may plan when should you start memorizing lines and scripts during your daily life to be ready on time in addition to planning your school study, planning will reduce the pressure on you and definitely make your life easier.
11. Discover New Talents: Having the talent of acting doesn’t mean you do not have any other talents, you may try different arts, and don’t be afraid of trying to discover new talents you might have but you do not know you have them already until you try such as singing, dancing, learning playing music quickly .. etc those talents will give you extra credits and options in the future when they require an actor who knows how to sing or dance …etc.

Key Benefits of Being in the School Play As An Actor

Along with the on-stage skills you need to improve to be a successful actor, it’s important to know the key benefits of participating in a school play:

1. Community Circle: Joining a play cast during your school will definitely grow your friends within the same interest and field and this will work also during your professional career as an actor.
2. Having Fun: It is a lot of fun either during the journey of practicing and learning on stage acting with your cast friends and crew or during the performance of the play in front of the audience not to mention the experience you are gaining during the journey.
3. Confidence: Confidence can be built eventually if you work on it practically as proven by psychologists,  so whether you have a lack of confidence to be part of a large team or to present yourself in front of an audience, joining a school play will definitely increase your self-confidence and a can-do attitude by breaking the limitations you have and change you to a more successful person in the society.
4. Lifelong Friends: Having a journey in a high school play is considered a starting foundation for you to build your dream of being a famous actor, cause you are surrounding yourself with friends who are having the same ambitions and dreams as yours and those friends of yours will support you directly or indirectly to enhance your career path on the long run.
5. Enhanced Grades: Acting as a responsible person during your acting session will make you a better person in general with responsibilities and leads you to success not only in your dream career but as well as your studying grades.
6. Hobby For Lifetime: Being involved in theater during your school days is a passion of yours, and practicing this passion makes it a hobby of yours, this hobby sooner or later will become your career. What a wonderful career is based on a hobby that you love!.
7. Resume Support: Having a past in your school in theatre performances and acting, will definitely enrich your professional career resume.

Conclusion

Joining a School theater during high school time provides skills and benefits to the student just like the benefits and skills that come from athletics, it is purpose-driven, communal, along with life lessons and advantages. So don’t miss joining the school on stage performances cause this will open the doors for a long-term career, start small and work hard.