As proven by a recent viral video of “Beauty and the Beast” villain Gaston leading a push-up contest, theme parks are as good an environment as any to hone actorly skills. For students and summer job–seekers alike, seasonal employment at parks across the U.S. means an opportunity to gain valuable experience as a performer. There’s definitely hard work involved—rigorous singing and dancing, improvisation with countless children, or even the dreaded full-body costumes—but a summer spent acting in some of the country’s favorite vacation spots won’t be a summer wasted.
“An amusement park in the summer is an incredible training experience,” says Charles Bradshaw, vice president of entertainment at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio. “The fact that they’re working seven or eight hours a day, six days a week, gives an opportunity to exercise their muscles, to do the acting work, singing, dancing, whatever.” It’s the repetition, he says, the constant exposure to interactive performativity and collaborative camaraderie, that creates an ideal training ground for aspiring and established performers alike.
Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson Township, N.J., the
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