“Wait, listen. Do you hear that?” 

Mr. Dan Buck paused, unsure of what he was supposed to hear.

Those words, which were from a college student, would eventually change Mr. Buck’s understanding of success onstage. 

“The applause dies every night. Don’t do it for the applause,” the student told him, answering his own question after listening to the silence around them.

Mr. Buck, theatre teacher and director, said that exchange took place during a college production of “Big River”, a musical adaptation of “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” in which Mr. Buck played Tom Sawyer. 

The night of the production, Mr. Buck experienced what many actors could only dream of: an audience cheering each time he stepped onstage and overwhelming praise for his performance. 

 “The audience was loving my role,” he recalled. 

With the excitement of “the applause and the kudos and the praise,” it was easy for Mr. Buck to believe the audience’s approval was his ultimate award.

At the time, Mr. Buck recalled he didn’t fully understand the significance of the student’s advice. Caught up in the excitement of his performance, he was more interested in celebrating his success; however, the conversation stayed with him long after the audience had gone home.  It actually stayed with him through the rest of his theatrical career. 

“His words kind of haunted me,” Mr. Buck said.

What was a brief exchange eventually transformed the way Mr. Buck understood the purpose of theater. Rather than measuring his success by the audience’s approval, he began to recognize the value of the work itself and the fulfillment that comes from creating something meaningful. 

“Knowing that my worth doesn’t come from what other people thought about my performance, but from what I know about my own,” Buck explained.

Today, Mr. Buck carries that lesson into his own rehearsals as a director, encouraging students to find joy not only in their final performances but also in the experiences and relationships they build along the way. 

He said he loves to crack jokes with his performers to help get them comfortable in their roles and have fun during rehearsals. 

“This part of the rehearsal today, this moment, is actually fun,” Mr. Buck said.

Mr. Buck said he holds his actors to high expectations while maintaining a lighthearted, collaborative environment, demonstrating that dedication and enjoyment can go hand in hand.

“I really believe that work can be fun,” Mr. Buck said. “But you can’t stop doing the work.” 

By passing down the lesson that once challenged his own understanding of success, Mr. Buck hopes students recognize that their value as performers extends far beyond the audience’s reactions and applause.

“Their response to us is not the reason we do it,” Mr. Buck said.