The Secret Life Of A CB Theatre Student

The costumes, the hair, the makeup, and the roar of the applause: there is a price that comes with the fame of being at actor at CB.

Christian Brothers is home to many talented actors, dancers, and singers. From singing their hearts out out in the choirs, to slaying performances at CB theatre productions, our students work day and night to entertain others and explore the world of theatre arts.

What many don’t understand is that being involved in drama is extremely time consuming. A production does not just happen — it takes diligent work and practice for it to be perfect. With this time consumption, CB students must work to find a balance between theatre, school, and their social lives.

A typical theater production lasts around two months. Practice is held 3:30 to 5:30 every day in the weeks before the show, and throughout the production, actors have different assigned practices on certain days and times.

“At rehearsal we have a lot of down time”, Eric Pytel (’16) explains. “A lot of kids find time to do homework when they’re off stage. I don’t think finding a balance between school and theatre is a challenge so much as trying to incorporate a social life”

Students with friends in theatre understand that during a production, their thespian companions seem to disappear. This is because their production becomes their life, and they tend to spend most of their time at rehearsal.

“The kids you’re working with become your closest friends because you spend so much time with them,” Eric says. “It’s like you make friends there or don’t have any friends at all”.

CB theatre students don’t have a problem being together all the time, however.

“I love the atmosphere of the whole theatre,” Marci Bandala (’16) emphasized. “The energy theatre kids give me with their spastic, energetic, wonderful selves is awesome”.

Despite the long, tedious hours of rehearsal and the deprivation of a normal teenage social life, CB theatre kids love every minute of what they do. Their love of the stage and performing make the sacrifice of their time worth the satisfaction of completing a successful production.