Backdrop: Traditions At A High School Theater

Have you ever noticed that the number of traditions and superstitions surrounding theater are among the most numerous? Often times these traditions have there starts in logical practices, other times they may have no significance. Traditions are as much of a part of theater as the performances themselves

Most people are familiar with the tradition of not saying “good luck” to an actor, but instead of saying “brake a leg” before a performance. The idea is that saying good luck will only bring bad, and that by inviting bad luck, good luck will follow. Some of the other common stage superstitions is to not say “Macbeth” while on stage. This comes from the long history of disasters associated with the play. Finally it is considered bad luck to whistle while on stage. This is largely just good sense because whistling can be distracting to other people on stage and can make it harder to hear thi

Then there are those traditions that are not universal, but do not seem all that out of place either. One of these examples is the techie prayer. During the prayer the entire crew joins hands in a circle, right hand over left hand and listens a chosen person leads the prayer. The prayer is lead by a different person each night and is as different as the person telling it. The only constants are that it is for a good show, for whatever went wrong the previous night not to happen again, and it is addressed to Thespis, the first actor. In recent years, Mountain Dew has been added to that which is prayed to.

Other traditions origins are known but make little sense as to why they where started. One example to this is the flushing of a toilet in the women’s room before the start of every show. Before the show the entire crew goes into the women’s, after checking to make sure it is not in use first, then they all gather in one stall and flush the toilet.

Some topics in this essay:
Cedarburg School’s, School Theater, Mountain Dew, bad luck, entire crew, prayer prayer, tools equipment, drill bits, traditions superstitions,