When you are using musical theatre to build Beloved Community, every aspect of putting on a show becomes an opportunity. Even an issue as thorny as being an understudy can become a source of connection and personal growth.
The Understudy as an Unsung Hero
Understudying is not in vogue in the little corner of the world where I’m doing theatre. And with good reason. The minute you assign someone to be an understudy, you put them into a natural rivalry with the actor who is already cast in that role. You ask them to pour their heart and soul into learning a part that they will only perform for an outside audience if the actor already in that role becomes unable to fill it. Actors want to perform. So, they will naturally hope that their counterpart gets sick, even just for a day. Other times, the rivalry starts on the lead actor’s side of the relationship.
I grew up hearing about when my mom was a 20-year-old acting student at UBC, stage manager and understudy to the leading lady on a touring show. Earlier, when Mom had been cast as the lead, the president of the drama club had canceled the play and fired the director, then arranged for a new play and finangled her way into the lead role. She was determined not to let Mom in the limelight for a single night, even when she got sick enough that she ought not to perform.
In that context, when Mom got asked to fill a tiny walk-on role for a member of the ensemble, she decided to make it memorable. She was supposed to sit behind the lead couple as an audience member at an opera. She rehearsed privately with the “usher” so that, when he showed her to her seat, she removed her feather boa, wrapped it around his neck with a flick of her wrist, and said, “Check this, will ya?” Then she proceeded to pretend she was falling asleep, right behind the conversing leads. The audience was cracking up, and the leads had no idea why.
Mom still chuckles as she tells the story. She became a professional actress before she settled down to become a mother to eleven children, but of all her performances, I think that’s the one she remembers most fondly. She would always tell us about it in a bid to inspire her kids to make the most of whatever cards we were dealt. As a window into the world of understudying, though, it underscores how difficult that relationship can be.
Those difficulties may be why, in my neck of the woods, directors prefer to double-cast roles, with performances on alternating nights. That results in everyone getting to perform the parts they’ve rehearsed. It also encourages audiences to buy tickets to two showings so they can support family and friends in both casts. But there are downsides: you need up to twice as many costumes, you get half the rehearsal time for each cast, and when audiences start comparing the casts of both shows, which they inevitably do, rivalries develop anyway.
Is it possible to approach understudying in a way that promotes unity instead of division? I think it is. I hope it is. Last night, as we began blocking Act II of Fiddler on the Roof, my co-director and I started handing out invitations to our community theatre cast members to serve as understudies, as follows:
You’ve been asked to be an understudy, which is another word for an unsung hero. Here’s what we would like you to consider before you decide whether to take on the role.
Your service as an understudy is like an insurance policy for the play and all the enormous work the entire cast is doing to make it brilliant.
You may not ever get to perform the extra part you’re learning for an outside audience. But your willingness to learn it allows us all to throw our whole selves into our parts, knowing we have a back-up plan if something unforeseen happens.
Our vision for understudies may be different from what you’ve experienced in the past. It’s not a position of rivalry, but of support. We are asking you to be your lead’s biggest cheerleader and their go-to person backstage. If they need help with a quick costume change, or a bottle of water between scenes, we’re asking you to be aware and help them with whatever they need.
As you learn lines and connect with the role you are understudying, you may have ideas for how the actor who is cast in the role could improve. Please give yourself grace for this natural impulse, and resist the urge to share your ideas with them or coach them in any way. Please leave the coaching to the directors.
Instead of coaching, would you please pay close attention to the things that are working in your lead’s performance, and point them out? Please give them encouraging feedback at every opportunity.
During our run throughs, unless you are otherwise assigned, please stay in the theatre and watch when that role is being rehearsed so that you can become familiar with the blocking. Please also learn the lines and any songs/choreography.
Please check in with the actor who is filling this role. Let them know you are their understudy and ask them if there’s any support they want from you.
What do you think? Would you want to embrace the role of “understudy and biggest cheerleader”? Would it help to unify a cast?I’m looking forward to seeing how the cast responds and will let you know how it goes.
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