I hate missing rehearsals when I am in a show. I do my absolute best to make sure I have a clear schedule in order to commit fully to a show. However, sometimes conflicts are unavoidable.

In my latest show I had to miss a choreography rehearsal to do a show I was booked for months in advance. It is standard in the industry that if you miss choreography you go to the dance captain to learn it. So the rehearsal before,  I asked the choreographer who the dance captain was. He laughed at me and said “yeah we don’t do that here.”

What makes me angry is a lack of professionalism in theatre and, furthermore, being treated like an idiot when I expect that professional behavior is universal.

I try to conduct myself in a way that would be considered professional in theatre. I show up on time (5 minutes early), do my work as asked, never question the director, and perform to the best of my abilities every time. I have noticed that I seem to be the only person that does that.

I know that a number of directors and technicians around the area are getting tired of the lack of professionalism in our local actors.

Amy Jackson, who recently directed a play on campus, has said that this lack of professionalism is unfair to performers who do act professionally. “When you have a cast you can’t really kick the unprofessional ones out, you are stuck with them. If [a performer] is late all the time, I can’t kick them out. They are the lead and that’s unfair to everyone else.”

Travis Metzger works as a music director in the community and is not only tired of a lack of professionalism in actors, but also in directors and crew members. “There are some people that don’t even sing the part they are assigned. And the sets should be built right the first time but they never are.”

Community and educational theatre settings are not meant to be extremely professional. There is a reason that these people either aren’t doing this for a living or are there to learn how to do it for a living. However, with the lack of other options in our area those who are not giving it their all or are refusing to change their behavior continue to be rewarded with leads because directors have no other clear option for the role.

This is upsetting to those of us who put the time in to work and learn how to be a professional. It’s just annoying when the work goes unnoticed because an audience has a view of the lead actors that doesn’t have to include professionalism.

Two members of the cast of Grease at the Sioux City Community Theatre were upset by the outcome of some local theatre awards recently. “These two actors got best actor and actress and they started the most shit backstage and caused all the drama. Our Danny didn’t even come to rehearsals for the first three weeks!”

I would just love it if we had to record the rehearsal process and distribute it to audience members before they saw a show. They could see the lateness, the argumentative nature, and the lack of respect in some of their local “favorites” and maybe that would solve the blind encouragement problem.