I am a vocal director: how do I deal with a performer that tries to take my place?

Question by Mo Graf: I am a vocal director: how do I deal with a performer that tries to take my place?
I am a 13 year old vocal director for a kid’s and teen’s theater group. The choreographers are 16 and 21 and the main director is 17, all the directors treat everyone the same no matter what age (IE, we talk to our youngest performer like an adult, and I get just as many tasks as the other directors despite age).

I have a ‘friend’ at school, and I’ll name her Jen. She is a decent singer (about a 6 out of 10), but the only thing she has ever done performance-wise is choir and basic piano. In middle school, in my opinion, choir doesn’t really do anything to make you a great singer, so I invited her to perform in our show Strike a Pose (it’s a pop show) that starts two days from now. I thought it would help her with actually performing.

My problem with Jen is that, since the rehearsals started in January, every time that I am directing, she constantly interrupts me telling the performers what to do. It’s REALLY rude, and it’s very distracting for the performer that I’m trying to help. I’ll be helping someone with their song, and she’ll be interrupting saying “Go into your head voice, it will be easier!” Or something that I DON’T want the performer to do, and I will be talking to the performer at the same time, and the performers head will be going back and forth, not knowing who to listen to.

When everyone else is sitting, and I stand up to go to the stage and help the performer that is performing their song, Jen stands up, too, and starts critiquing and ‘helping’. She will not just be quiet. Sure, she’s just trying to help, but I think now it’s getting to a level where now she KNOWS it annoys me, but still does it. If you are sitting here thinking, oh, it’s not that bad, be quiet, think. How would you feel if you were a waitress and somebody kept taking tables in your section to wait on? Or if you were a contract manager and reviewer and a novice keeps breathing over your back telling you how you should do you job? That doesn’t feel too good, does it?

It’s not over jealousy. It’s over how rude she acts, how it confuses the performers on who to listen to, and how her knowledge as a musician and singer is quite low (I’m not saying that because I don’t like her or to be mean, it’s just that I don’t want my performers taking advice from somebody with a low level of knowledge in singing and stage presence).

I don’t know how to address this without looking like I’m ‘abusing power’. I also think that if I DID address it, she would still do it. How do I ask her nicely on the spot, this far into the production, that she needs to be quiet and sit down? I don’t mind if I lose her friendship, as well: I’m moving from that school and she always ditches me anyways. I’ll post the question again,

How do I ask her nicely on the spot, this far into the production, that she needs to be quiet and sit down?

Thanks!

Best answer:

Answer by Zarg222
tell her if she doesn’t stop ordering people around, she will be dropped from the show

tell her it is NOT HER place to be directing and commanding people and she is being disruptive

What do you think? Answer below!