Student Blog: How Writing About Theatre Made Me a More Attentive Observer

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Writing about theatre from someone who doesn't study theatre!

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Writing about theatre this season has surprised me in ways I did not expect! Going into it, I felt uncertain about almost everything, since I don’t study theatre, and unlike many people around me, I never learned the technical language of stagecraft or performance analysis. I assumed that writing about theatre belonged to people with years of academic experience or practical involvement in productions. Instead, I found that some of the most valuable insights came from simply being an attentive audience member willing to engage honestly with what I saw. It also didn’t hurt to take a theatre history class this semester!

One of the biggest surprises was realising how personal theatre feels. Before this season, I thought reviews and theatre writing had to sound detached and authoritative, almost as though the writer had all the answers. I’ve learned in all of my reporting classes that being unbiased is key, because you don’t want to sway people’s opinions too hard. Because of my inexperience, I often worried that I was “missing” important details or interpreting performances incorrectly. Over time, though, I learned that uncertainty can actually make writing more thoughtful. Rather than pretending to be an expert, I became more interested in asking questions: Why did a certain scene stay with me? Why did one performance feel emotionally convincing while another did not?

I was also surprised by how much theatre depends on collaboration. Watching productions this season made me appreciate how many elements have to come together to create a successful performance, along with learning how much had to go into professional theatre before all of the technology we have today. Before, I mostly focused on actors because they are the most visible part of a show. Now, I notice lighting, sound, staging, costume design, and even the rhythm of scene changes. It made me realise that theatre is not just about individual talent but about people working together to create an experience for an audience. Writing about those elements challenged me because I lacked technical knowledge, but it also pushed me to observe more carefully.

Another unexpected part of the experience was learning to trust my own perspective. At the beginning of the season, I constantly compared my thoughts to professional critics or classmates who seemed far more knowledgeable. I worried that my writing sounded inexperienced because, in many ways, it was. Yet I eventually realised that theatre itself is built on interpretation. No two audience members leave a performance with exactly the same reaction. Accepting that made the process less intimidating and far more enjoyable.

What surprised me most overall was how theatre writing changed the way I experience performances. I no longer watch passively. Instead, I pay attention to atmosphere, pacing, audience reactions, and the emotions created in the room. Even when I felt uncertain about my analysis, the act of writing forced me to engage more deeply with each production.

As this season ends, I think the most valuable thing I have learned is that inexperience does not prevent meaningful engagement. If anything, approaching theatre from a place of uncertainty encouraged me to stay curious, open-minded, and reflective. Writing about theatre has not made me an expert, but it has made me a far more attentive observer, and that has been the biggest surprise of all.

The Lost Boys

So looking back, what has surprised me most is how much truth and knowledge I already had in me, even if I didn’t fully believe it or see it all working out at the time.

It's not every day that you get to speak with the composer of the musical you're working on. A few weeks ago I sat down with Sarah Taylor Ellis, composer of Emma: No One But Herself, our mainstage musical here at UCLA!

Theater is not a trustworthy, stable, formulaic path, and it never will be, that’s just the nature of our field. It is, however, the reason to wake up in the morning, the only thing that lights your soul on fire, and the place you can label home when you feel there is nowhere to go. So the question then becomes: How can I have a lifelong, fulfilling, stable career in the Theater?

In order for there to be a true appreciation for the amount of labor that goes into creating a show, theatre students must understand each element of the work required to put it on. The immense amounts effort put in by technical shop workers can often go overlooked; their tireless work not fully understood by others involved in the production. For respect and cohesion, I believe that it is important for every theatre student to spend time working in technical shops.

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_Originally reported by [BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Student-Blog-An-Unprofessionals-Theatre-Confessional-20260519)._