11.19.2025

Recently, I attended a high school production of Almost, Maine by John Cariani — a sweet, charming script that holds special meaning for me since I had the opportunity to direct it “back in the day.”

The kids did a wonderful job. It’s not easy to tackle a show about the kinds of love and loss that often come with age, but they approached the material with the earnest intensity only teenagers possess. As I watched them, I found myself wondering which of them would pursue theatre as a career and which were simply doing the show for their own private reasons — joy, friendship, courage, curiosity.

My hope for all of them, regardless of the path they choose, is that they’ll remember what they learned on that stage and carry it with them the rest of their lives.

I also found myself thinking about their future resumes and hoping that when the time comes, they’ll list their high school theatre experience proudly — and that hiring managers will recognize just how valuable it really is.

Because here’s the truth: theatre kids make exceptional employees. Let me give you seven reasons why.

1. They learn fast.

Lines, blocking, character work, timing, pacing — all mastered in four weeks or less. Tech students learn how to operate sound boards, light boards, make scene changes, direct backstage traffic and ensure actors don't collide with set pieces, and they do so with the focus and accuracy of seasoned air traffic controllers.

2. They follow directions.

They’re accustomed to being told what to do and how to do it — and then adjusting on the fly when the director says, “You know, I think I'm going to change that again...”

3. They've learned how to handle feedback (and disappointment).

They’ve been told they’re too short to play Romeo, too tall to play Juliet, not feline enough for the Cat in the Hat, or that their Shrek just isn’t “Shrek-y” enough. They don’t always get the roles they want, but they show up anyway — they find their place in the production, and they support the people who do get cast. There’s almost nothing you can throw at them during a work-related performance review that they haven’t navigated years ago during rehearsals.

4. They understand complex organizational structures.

Even at the high school level, they know a show is part art, part business. Ticket sales, marketing, tech, front-of-house, backstage, onstage and offstage — none of it exists in isolation. They understand how many moving parts it takes to launch a production and they keep it running with the accuracy of a digital clock until closing night.

5. They’re braver than most.

Public speaking terrifies most folks. Yet, these kids perform under lights in front of hundreds of people. If you want to talk about courage, picture experiencing your first kiss ever in front of an audience of your parents, siblings, extended family members, friends, fellow classmates, teachers, and oh, yes, total strangers.

6. They create magic out of nothing.

High school budgets for the arts often are a fraction of the budget allocated for sports programs, yet somehow these young artists can create northern lights in Maine, jungles in Madagascar, or a Victorian parlor out of nothing more than mylar strips, cardboard boxes, and plastic garbage bags. If they can create worlds onstage for the proverbial buck-two-eighty, imagine what they can do with a corporate budget that gets cut every year.

7. They collaborate instinctively.

No show succeeds because of one person. Theatre kids know how to listen, compromise, adjust, and most important, support each other. They understand that their success is tied to everyone else’s and that "the needs of the many, outweigh the needs of the few." And they won't let their fellow actors fail because they've got that whole "There but for the grace of the Universe, go I" mentality down to a science.

So if you’re a hiring manager — or you know one — and you see someone with drama experience on their resume, here’s my best advice:

Hire the theatre kid.

*Broadway Babies - an homage to “Broadway Baby.” the title of a song from the musical, Follies (book by James Goldman). Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. First produced 1971 by the New York Shakespeare Festival.