The Art of Feeling Deeply

A Teenager on Why Theater Doesn’t Move Her

By Sophia Audelo

The author, Sophia Audelo

This essay is part of the Stage Raw/Unusual Suspects Youth Journalism Fellowship

“Where is theater going wrong?”

This is the question my new friend asked me, one that many people who care about performing arts should ask themselves. I am currently a high school theater student and take courses in acting, musical theater and directing.

At the end of the 2023 – 2024 school year, we began to prepare options for shows to present in our upcoming year: What we like, what we don’t like, what we would be excited to do, and shows that just don’t pique our interests.

Students suggested shows like Shrek the Musical, The SpongeBob Musical, and Beauty and the Beast. The common theme: They’re all remakes taken from beloved movies and shows, then turned into Broadway hits. Not that these weren’t great productions on Broadway, but audiences seem to be so removed from theater and its possibilities that commercial theatrical writers seem almost scared to take on a new story and, with an assist from producers and marketers, have thrown in their lot with adapting products familiar in movies and on TV.

Remakes are taking over theater to such an extent because familiarity can lead to box office gold, but you have to wonder when people will start thinking: I don’t need to see that, I’ve already watched the movie. Then we’ll have to ask question: What is theater for?

We’ve been blessed and cursed with technology. We don’t need to go out in order to get entertainment, especially after the pandemic forced us to stay indoors for two years. We get to enjoy media from the comfort and safety of our own homes for little to no money.

As a teenager, I get to lie down all day and scroll on social media where I’m fed new and interesting topics with every swipe. Why would I go see a theater production of something I’ve not only seen but have such easy access to?

The conundrum begs the question: Why is it important for youth to be leaders when it comes to the future of theater?

Here are some factors to consider when trying to answer that question: We know what we like. We’ve got our slang, which people made fun of until Charli XCX turned it into a meme that’s captivated multiple generations and helped propel the presidential campaign of Kamala Harris. People make fun of the way we dress, but it’s what we enjoy. In the same way the young generations of the ’60s and the ’80s had beautiful funky hair and wore bright neon colors, we have microtrends and an affinity for nostalgia. We take inspiration from Gen X, which is confident in its tastes.

What with Covid jail, and the way tech has taken over our lives, my generation just wants to feel. We don’t want the same thing we have been consuming since we were 5. We’re not kids anymore, and our interests have expanded.

As much as I love Shrek, SpongeBob, and Belle, and these are shows I might get excited to show my kids, if I can speak for my generation, we have matured and we have experienced things that make us yearn for new stories. We crave stories with passion, beauty, intelligence and thought.

Current theater productions don’t offer much of that. It’s clear, they aren’t usually being made for 15 to 18-year-olds like me. Though we’re a very small demographic, we’re preparing to go to college or get ready to work. Adults may say, “You want to get treated like adults, but you haven’t even lived.”

How long do you expect me to live? Truly.

We look at the adults whose raging ignorance is letting our planet die, or placing laws on things that impact human rights. We have seen adults be hypocrites and liars. We have seen our country be torn apart by hate. How much older do we need to be for our anxieties and fears to be taken seriously? How many more years do I need to live for you to see I have always felt things just as deeply as you?

“We crave stories with passion, beauty, intelligence and thought.”

Storytelling is important to me because I get to share these experiences, of being human, of being alive. We share stories to make others feel something that lives with them eternally. I might not live forever but maybe the stories I write will outlive me.

I’ve found it difficult to get too excited about theater. Filmmaking is my passion, from writing to filmography to performing on screen. I always wondered why I decided to go into such a difficult line of work, and why the thought of doing anything else rips my heart out of my chest.

I’m afraid of dying.

Being a storyteller and a film maker eases that fear for me. It comforts me by reminding me that someone out there might watch my movie and feel what I’ve felt, experience a cathartic release.

Whether they love my story or say it’s the worst thing they’ve ever seen, either reaction is fine. It will mean they felt something. Any strong emotional connection to my story will help keep me alive, even after I’m gone. I don’t need them to know my name but knowing that they have a feeling about something I wrote that will in some way linger inside them gives me everything I need to die happy. Until that day comes, I will be here writing my stories and waiting for the chance.

I am proud to be part of a strong and beautiful generation that has such promising talent. I look at my peers and see them going places. By taking our opportunity to show off our talents, we may ruin theater forever, if only by leaving it behind. It’s a new world. But if the theater can find its way back to being something true to people like me, it could win me back. Not with Shrek. Not with SpongeBob. Maybe I can say to the adults running the theater the same thing adults have been telling me: You need to grow up. Speak to me, and not like I’m just some kid. Be smarter. Feel more deeply what we’re all going through. That much could guarantee the success of theater.