Smart Phones
Some observations from a stage manager
Smart phones really are the death of everything. I understand that this will make me sound like an old person complaining “about these kids today,” but here we go.
I sat in a rehearsal room tonight with a full cast for a play. It was the first time I’ve really noticed how smart phones have completely shifted the dynamic.
To put those of you who are wondering at ease, everyone in the room is vaccinated and we all wear our masks the whole time. There is hand sanitizer and extra masks and antibacterial wipes nearby. Few people are taking advantage of the snacks and I’m almost certain it is Covid related because I’ve never seen a cast not take advantage of snacks before! We maintain as much distance as possible. Soon, we will start testing regularly too. In other words, we are being as safe as we can be while still being in the room together.
Being in the room together has always been a huge part of the rehearsal process. I was trained under folks who put a lot of stock in collaboration and ensemble. Every voice in the room matters. I try to practice this in every room I find myself whether it is related to theater or not.
When every voice in the room matters, and I mean really matters, then there is a certain kind of listening that happens that seems deeper than other kinds of listening. I know this still happens. It will happen in the room I’m describing right now as folks get to know each other better and the play comes together. But, smart phones are not aiding this process. In fact, they may be killing it.
When I was being trained, I was taught that being a good audience member was as important as being an actor on stage. It didn’t matter how many hours you sat in a rehearsal without “working” because your work was to feed energy to the actors who were perfecting particular scenes. And, that energy coming from you was just as important as anyone else’s. A play’s success didn’t depend on a great cast. It depended on that great cast coming together with a great audience. Theatre is about community. It has always felt sacred to me. It is sacred because human beings pay attention to each other. When we pay attention to each other, truly and deeply, then we enter into holy space where God meets us.
Our attention has been stolen. Our phones have run away with it. I noticed in rehearsal that for the actors sitting on the sidelines while scenes played out on stage, their eyes were not focused on their colleagues speaking the words of the play. Most of their eyes were on their phones. I know that if my particular role had not required my attention that my eyes would have been on my phone too. I would have been convinced that I could be a good audience member and support those running through scenes, even listen well — all while I played Candy Crush or scrolled through Facebook. But, it isn’t the same at all, is it? Our energy stops at the screen. The screen sucks it in, all of it, sucks the energy right out of us.
No one did anything wrong in the room tonight. We were all just doing what we all do. And, I imagine we will just keep doing it until the smart phone truly is the death of everything.
