Dear Nurse Ansalong:
I'm in a ROCKY live cast that has been running for 5 years, members fading out, new ones coming in, and some coming back. We're not a huge cast. Recently, everyone has started to bicker over both the silliest things and things that really matter. Someone came up with the idea that we were changing our group name because of an old leader who wasn't very pleasant. We're not changing our name, and never planned to. However, I feel that if we don't stop arguing amongst each other, we won't have a show, period. What do you think? What can I do to make my friends act their age, instead of like 10 year olds?
--Q-

-Q-, it is kind of difficult for me to answer your question with the limited amount of information that I can get from your post, but I will give it a try.

Before I begin, please remember that everyone who performs in RHPS casts are volunteers and aren't getting paid for their work. If they are continually argueing with everyone on the cast, it might be a sign that they should possibly take a leave or permanently quit the cast. The only thing holding most performers in their casts is that they are having fun performing with their friends. Once that fun has gone, a person could find themslves feeling very antagonistic towards the people that he/she sees as their enemy.

Since, as you've said, your cast is a small one, you won't have to worry about trying to win over a large group. That being said, you are going to need to find a way to get your castmates attention on something other than argueing. If you can try to find something that will be able to distract them enough to get them to work together, it could stop some of the argueing. This could be anything from getting a larger audience to go to your show or problems with a local rival cast. By getting your fellow cast members attention directed into another topic, it could help to distract them away from their personal problems.

Also, you might need to show a little backbone and speak up when your cast mates are argueing. If they think that no one cares whether or not they argue, they could just keep right on argueing. By standing up to their yells, you could show a positive sign and stop some of the needless arguements going on. Be sure that, whatever you try, you try to keep both sides of the argueing group on the cast. If you show any preference either way, it could cause the arguement to grow and suck you into it too.

Go out there and give it a try. It might seem impossible now, but, if you try to get them back one by one, you might just be able to get the arguements to stop.

  • Send in a letter to Nurse Ansalong
  • Read Past Advice Columns
  • Read Advice Disclaimer
  • Cosmo's Factory Main Screen

    All WWW pages and Perl Scripts - Copyright © 1999 Cosmo's Factory All Rights Reserved. *Except where noted.