Brittany Fairchild November 10th English 1103 Mr.

Way Theatre Kid Speech Community Context Report This speech community is that of the theatre kid, it consists mostly of high school students who participate in theatre. Their interactions generally occur at their high school, in the auditorium, where they rehearse their productions. In this case, a student who is stage managing the schools production finds herself asking for her mothers permission to stay at rehearsal later in order that she may give direction to the actors after they perform, a situation that a theatre kid often finds themself in. There is a constant struggle in the balance of being a kid, but maintaining the role of a professional member to the theatre community. Once she receives permission from her mother, she gets permission from her teacher to give directions to the actors, most of whom are the same age as her; this is an example of the balance between an authority who forcefully directs actors to become better and a student interacting with another student. The stage manager serves as the eyes and ears of the production, as the director runs around ensuring that, in the big picture, everything is taken care of. The stage manager watches the details and can see the small mistakes that need to be fixed then gives direction to the students. The actors usually have a respect for what the stage manager says, when the stage manager can correctly identify the issues that the actors must fix and present it to them in a professional, non-personal, manor.

The words used such as, blocking, stage left, stage right, lighting, project and cheat out are all terms that would be communicated from the stage manager to the actors and both parties would be aware of the meanings and context in which theyre said. The actors use the stage manager as kind of the inbetween to the director, so they respect the feedback they receive from the stage manager who is in direct contact with the director. This speech community runs like a well-oiled machine when everyone knows and respects their place or the particular role they play in the community. Generally the stage manager is as high up as you can, as far as the technical side of being a theatre kid, so they would know just about everything in regards to the particular show and would be highly educated in the process of creating it. This being said, outside of the theatre kid speech community those that are as highly respected as the stage manager or a lead actor within the community, can sometimes expect to have that respect carry over into other speech communities as well, and thats not always the case. Theatre kids often expect their parents to understand the importance of the late night rehearsals and parents often times dont think that what their child is doing in the theatre is really as big of a deal as their child has made it up to be, causing their child to be judged as overdramatic. The theatre community is its own world, separated with its own structure and ways of communication, different from other speech communities.