What Do You Do Backstage?

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 9:28pm

Are you in complete character backstage or do you just focus on your lines or are you the type that tries to bake cinna-bons while the play is still going on?

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 9:30pm

Definately cinna-bons.

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 9:32pm

Ditto. Cinna-bons.

Seriously though, I generally stay in character. I don't like breaking my focus during the show.

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 9:32pm

Or are you the type that goes to the prop table and picks up the toy gun that's meant for the next scene and wonder how cool it would be if you pistol-whipped someone with it?

[ILoveMyDictionary]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 9:33pm

cinna-bons, except, I bake those cinna-bons like my character would.

edit because I can't spell would. I'm giving up typing. Updated On: 8/10/06 at 09:33 PM

[gavrochegirl]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 9:34pm

Cinnabons, definitely! Mmmm...

I usually just talk with my castmates.

[SarahBeth]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 9:35pm

While not on stage I chill downstairs by the monitors so I don't lose track of where they are in the show. Some of my favorite memories have happened in that time.

And I NEVER touch props if I have nothing to do with them. I know what panic it is to have a prop go missing from the table.

Updated On: 8/10/06 at 09:35 PM

[Musical_nerd]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 9:37pm

Everyone just parties in our green room and plays BS and eats tiny sandwiches and such.

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 9:38pm

I tend to just pace around saying the lines I'm supposed to say in the next scene.

[peggyandvelma]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 9:39pm

During high school shows...we just stood there and watched the play from the side stage. I personally liked to find people in the audience.

[ThankstoPhantom]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 9:39pm

The cinna-bons scenario also applies to me...I want to talk to my castmates and have some form of a social life during a show!

But I do stay slightly subdued, that way I don't get off track.

[brdwybound2]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 9:42pm

When I'm a lead I generally try to stay as focused as possible during the show, but when I'm in chorus or not on for a long long time I play some kind of card game usually. Spoons, James Bond, Skip Bo, Egyptian Rat Screw, Speed, Tongues, Uno, BS, and King Mauw are all backstage favorites.

EDIT: Ok I deleted that whole bit about the hand game that I play backstage with people because it made no sense even to me. So nevermind!

Updated On: 8/10/06 at 09:42 PM

[alliez92092]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 9:43pm

I try my hardest to stay in character, but most of the time I sit in the wings and just try to relax.

[Funny Face]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 9:44pm

Haha, I don't get into the character until probably about 3 minutes before I go on. That's pretty bad, but hey, it's high school. How can you stay focused on getting into charcter when there's an intermission dance party?

[ThankstoPhantom]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 9:47pm

I can't really explain it...I'm never really in character off stage. I just stay focused whenever I'm off stage, but am out of character.

So I have a similar situation as you, Funny Face, but it's not a bad thing...whatever makes you feel most comfortable.

[SarahBeth]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 9:47pm

Now what about games you play on stage? In a production of Little Women we played a murder game. If you're the murderer you wink at a fellow castmate while onstage and they're dead. But if you figure out who the murderer is you can kill them. And it was hard to wink in character while playing Beth. Oh community theatre..

[brdwybound2]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 9:51pm

We play the murder game! Never on stage, but we play it when you shake hands and the murderer scratches your hand. And does anyone else play Mafia?

Also, my friends and I are obsessed with the dart game. When you make eye contact with someone you pretend to shoot a dart at them and they have to fall down and be "dead" until someone takes the "dart" out of their next. The girl that introduced us to it said it's a big game at their school, and once they got the entire front row to shoot a kid in the middle of the talent show, and he fell down on stage.

[Funny Face]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 9:52pm

Yeah, my school is the worst when it comes to backstage behavior. we're never too loud or anything, but we are just of control! One corner people are crying and puking, and in another people are giving lapdances, and costume and props people are always screaming about missing stuff. And at least once every show the F-bomb gets picked up by a microphome.

[brdwybound2]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 9:55pm

When I was Kim in Bye Bye Birdie they didn't turn off my mic, and I was really mad at some girl for messing with my costumes, and I was basically saying how much I hated this girl, and then some kid comes pounding on my door saying my mic was still on. It was pretty bad, I was embarassed to even go back on.

[ILoveMyDictionary]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 9:55pm

My school is horrible after the bows. People on stage start shouting and screaming. You can hear things being picked up on the mics like "My apendics is exploding!!!!!" and "OMG She's such a Bitch she can't sing for her life!"

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 9:56pm

Meh I never really like "staying in character" when I'm not performing. It just seems so eccentric for the sake of eccentric.

I could maybe see using a wheelchair for a few days if you're portraying a handicapped character but refusing treatment for an illness because it's not keeping with the time period (I'm looking at you, Daniel Day-Lewis!) is just stupid.

[smashingasian]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 9:59pm

My school's theatre group backstage is actually quite behaved. Our stage is pretty big and we have big wing space so a lot of people usually watch the show from the sidelines. I'm one of those people who'd try to warm cinnabuns in the microwave haha We also have a coffee maker and we're all constantly making coffee or boiling water for tea.

[SarahBeth]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 10:00pm

I've been called a method actor on occasion.

When i'm a lead i'll always be in character and rarely in the green room. But when i'm in an ensemble the role I create for myself is usually quite close to myself so I have a good time in the green room when possible.

[singtopher]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 10:11pm

I generally don't stay in character, but I do keep pretty focused even though I interact w/others.

Last summer I was in the male chorus in a production of South Pacific. Since our call was two hours prior to curtain, and I was only in one scene in the first act, I had about three hours to kill each night. I spent the free time crocheting an afgan. Its beautiful, and I'm very proud of it.

[VonTussleGirl]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 10:33pm

Always the cinnabon scenario.

Well, not so much- basically, I sit backstage, chat with my friends, and/or keep a running tally of things that screw up onstage, mainly so I'll have fodder for those "Onstage Bloopers!" threads that pop up here on BWW every so often. :)