"Whether the weather is cold,
or whether the weather is hot,
we'll weather the weather
whatever the weather
whether we like it or not"
I have some semi-exciting news to announce to everyone. I finally made it into one of my school's plays.
If you've been reading and following along with this blog for a while, you'll know that my school puts on a fall play and a spring musical every year. I've tried out my freshman and sophomore year for both of them and failed to get into any of them.
Freshman year problems
I was this measly freshman who knew no one. I'm not outgoing by any means. I'm also extremely serious and I find it hard to let loose at all. I also can't dance.
Sophomore year problems
The more-ish popular version of me still trying to stay out of trouble and keep improving my relationship with the Lord........... and I was still being self-conscious and modest and low-key. Turns out that my acting skills are not up to par. And did I mention that I really can't dance?
Junior year success
So, as you all know, I've got a new job as a cashier/cart wrangler/bagger/janitorial person at one of my local grocery stores. And I was a little hesitant to try out for the fall play this year. I mean, that'll knock me down to three days of working, unlike my usual five. However, that uncertainty didn't last long. All I was thinking was "I have nothing to lose. If I get in, great. If I don't, then I work and make money. There's really no win/lose situation, I guess."
The day came. It was full of freshman and veterans. I watched amazing people go and even some not so amazing ones. And then I went on. Tried a Jamaican accent, smirked, rolled my eyes, gasped, acted to the best of my ability.
Come Thursday after school, a crowd was gathered outside the teacher's room. I looked up there.... No name, no name, no name. Kept scanning..........
And low and behold........
My name at the very bottom.
Yes, I made it as house staff and an understudy.
What? You might ask? Just an understudy? Just part of the house staff?
I have to say that I was so surprised that I even got in. I was stunned to say the least. And then to go into the teacher's room and have a script handed to me. It was an amazing feeling. Sure, I've been handed plenty of scripts, but they were all for tech crew cues and cuts and scenes. And while those were great, it's amazing to hold one and know that you have even the fewest of lines. The teacher cut a lot of parts to make room for the best of the best actors. And I was lucky to even get casted above some veteran members. She let me and another house staff/understudy name our characters and design them how we like (My character's name is Evelyn and the other understudy happened to name himself Edward) (Double E's!) I have no solo lines; just group lines. I walk in and out and stand in place and make faces. I hide a telephone and serve tea. It sounds mediocre right? Not to me; I couldn't ask for anything more. But hey, I'm up on that stage now. And it's amazing.
I'm still learning how to let loose and stop being self-conscious of everything I do. I'm still learning it's okay to look and act like a complete and utter fool sometimes. I'm still learning that it's on the stage where you can be anyone or anything. You leave yourself in the wings, and yet you leave yourself on the stage as well. I'm still learning that even the unseen are important, as I learned with the tech crew. Trust me, we're just as important.
Now, that brings me to the tech crew. Unfortunately, with my job and homework and school, and for right now, play practise, it looks as if I won't be returning to tech anytime soon. It makes me sad, and yet, I know that if I get a chance to go back, I will return sometime.
It's a funny thing, you know. Being on stage and hearing the actors act and do lines and not hear it through mics and speakers. It's interesting to watch the show pan out in front of my own eyes and not through a zoomed in/out black and white camera lense. It's the weirdest feeling when you flip the pages of your script in your binder but it's not to watch for where to move a camera, but to see when your next group line or cue is noted.
I can't imagine how it's going to feel; But I'm excited to find out. How is it going to feel to walk into the dressing rooms? I won't be there to turn on the TV's or hang with my friends who are always in the plays and musicals. I'll be there to get into costumes and get my hair and make-up done. When we go to eat before the show, I may actually sit with the cast and not the tech crew. And when I get on that stage..........
I'll be looking at the audience faces instead of their heads. I'll be doing the bowing instead of recording it. And I'll get to watch the curtain go down in front of my face instead of being a mile away in the camera booth.
It's scary, to be honest. But it's a good scary. A scary that I hope will continue from now on.
