Video: A Declassified Understudy Survival Guide with Josh Strobl

It was one of the most exhausting days in my life, but also one of the most fulfilling days

It was, when I did that, I was like, okay, I could do anything now

My journey with The Outsiders is actually kind of a long one

I auditioned for a workshop of The Outsiders back in 2018. six years ago now, and I booked the role of Johnny Cade in that

And then my journey kind of moved to pre-COVID times when I played Pony Boy in a lab of the

outsiders. And when COVID hit, everything stopped. And I thought the outsiders was kind of a

done deal for me. And then by the universe, I was able to come back into this space and was able to

audition for a cover position for Pony Boy and Johnny and found out not too soon after that

that I booked the roles. I learned in school, I went to the University of Michigan, that the first

thing you do when you learn a role is memorize the lines. The work does not begin until the lines

are memorized. You can't play until you know what you're saying. So the first thing I did in this one

was memorize Johnny Cade first and then the beast of Pony Boy

Rehearsals at the beginning was a lot of watching. And for most understudy tracks, that is the case

So I was watching the roles that I understudy practice their stuff and make changes throughout the process And then I was prepared to go on at a moment notice Just being aware of everything not just your tracks but the show as a whole

When I'm looking at it, when I'm first learning these characters, I'm looking kind of big picture at everything

Because when you do go on at a moment's notice, you have to be listening to everything

and you have to be eyes open to your surroundings because in a show like The Outsiders, it's kind of dangerous

There's a lot of moving parts. And similarly with Evan Hansen, there's a lot of moving parts that you could get hurt

And with this show being a heavy dance show as well, thankfully I do not have to do much of that

But the people around me are doing flips and tricks. and when you do go on, you kind of get tunnel vision, so being aware of everything going on around you is extremely important

There's like the typical using different color highlighters, you know, and I would do like J.C. for Johnny Cade and P.B. for a pony boy, you know, and when I was marking up my script

But personally, I have just like a lot going on up here

Writing down stuff doesn't necessarily help me all that much. But I know like my fellow swings who cover more tracks than I do

We have someone on the show covering seven tracks. They definitely they have post notes all over their dressing room It looks like they trying to solve a crime you know It like really intense and that needed But with my stuff it a lot going on up here

And there's a lot of, there's a lot of changes happening for the roles that I cover to

Line changes that, like, if I were to write things down, I just immediately would erase it the next day, you know

So that kind of got frustrating in the rehearsal process. So I just kind of was just watching everything happen and taking it

notes in my head. I mean, maintaining health is the most important thing. Because your job as an

understudy is to go on in a moment's notice, and usually that moment's notice is caused by sickness

And so your job is to stay healthy when everyone else is getting sick. And in times of, like

bad allergy seasons, I'm staying ahead of that, and I'm picking up some juice gin. Juice Jen, if you're

watching, please sponsor us. I'm drinking electro-lit to, like, have my electrolytes going and drinking tons of water and sleeping as much as I can, trying to minimize going out as late as possible, which is very hard being a young person on Broadway

But, yeah, just trying to, like, maintain my health and also maintain my body as well

So trying to go to the gym, getting massages and physical therapy when I can

It's a lot of maintenance to be ready to perform. And sometimes you don't go on for weeks at a time, you know

So also like flexing the brain muscle and like going over these lines off stage and stealing other actors to maybe like go through a scene that you haven ran a long time all very important things it was 2020 and January they were doing a big lab of the

outsiders where we were essentially learning the whole show but really focusing on the fighting

and the dancing aspect of the show and kind of building that world I was cast as

pony boy in that. So I was playing that every single day, Monday through Friday. And on top of that

I was also doing Deervin Hanson at night. I was understudying in that role, but I was actually on

the entire time that I was doing the lab. So I was doing pony boy during the day and then Jared

at night. And then I got a call one day that they were lacking coverage that day and they needed me to

switch off and play Evan Hansen for the matinee and Jared at night. So I went 9 a.m. in the morning

was playing Pony Boy during the morning, went to the matinee, played Evan Hansen, went back to

rehearsal and played Pony Boy in between shows, and then did Jared Clyman at night. And it was one of

the most exhausting days of my life, but also one of the most fulfilling days. It was, when I did that

I was like, okay, I could do anything now. You know, I feel like Superman. And yeah, and honestly, just being a part of those two shows that like really mean so much to so many people was a really like impactful moment in my life

So very grateful