Topic #2: The Glamour of Backstage (Underwear)
Barbara Weinberger, Executive Producer
If you are like most people, you see the world of theatre with an aura of glamour about it. This is because you watch too much television and you guiltily scan through People magazines in your doctor’s waiting room.
In this post I will address some of the less glamorous aspects of the theatre world. Let’s start with underwear. Next week we’ll move on to piercings, body odor, and sputum.
You see, one of the most appealing aspects of the theatre world is that it is a “big tent”, with room for almost everyone. Because the tent is so big, you will easily find kindred spirits who share your passion for stage makeup and iambic pentameter. You will also find people whose social skills make them excellent candidates for serial stalking and telemarketing. You will find these eccentrics in almost every production, and how you react to them says volumes about whether or not this world is for you.
Underwear. Most people wear it. Actors sometimes do not. This would not matter if all theatres had palatial backstage space and everyone had a private dressing room. In reality theatres do everything they can to maximize space for paying customers, so backstage space is often limited and very precious.
If you are lucky you will be in a dressing room that is big enough to comfortably fit four people, and you will share it with seven other people. You will be grateful that there aren’t eleven people in the room like the last show you did. If you are lucky, those who share your dressing room will be of the same gender. But neither of these things is a given.
In such circumstances, basic human decency becomes of paramount importance. And now we return to the wearing of underwear. Over the years (I am not making this up), we have had to counsel actors on these behaviors:
- You must wear underwear.
- Jock straps are not underwear.
- If you do not own underwear, you will buy some or we will recast your part.
- It is not ok to walk around idly naked simply because you feel like it.
- It is not ok to gain so much weight over the course of the run that the crotch-snapped body suit that fit you like a glove on opening night must be snapped shut over your naked genitalia by anyone other than you. (Yet another reason to be grateful for latex gloves.)
Most actors instinctively understand the etiquette required when in close quarters. The few who don’t will linger in your memory long after the show has closed, like heartburn after a good meal.
Next Time: The Glamour of Backstage (Continued)