Friday, April 29, 2011

What I Have Learned From Shakespeare and Dr. Seuss...

Well, this week I have been walking over to the church EVERY day to help with the homeschooling group's play practice.

The play is The Seussification of Romeo and Juliet. Needless to say, my Seuss-disliking mother doesn't LOVE this play, but she doesn't hate it, either. Must be the Shakespeare that redeemed it for her.

Little kids are HILARIOUS. And its so funny what they will and won't refuse to do. For instance: the 12-yr-old  Juliet never once refused to kiss the 10-yr-old Romeo (all of it was fake kissing of course...I now know 3 ways to do a fake kiss!), but the one character who must scream as he dies dramatically utterly refused to until his mother made him. (To willingly scream like a girl is a compromise to one's manly pride, you see.)

Their costumes are amazing. And hysterically funny. Liz wins because of her epic wig, and Michael wins for most epic hat.

Nolan wins because for some reason all his parts are my favorite. Terese and Dylan tie for Hammiest Performer. Everyone else wins just because they're amazing.

At first, I just sat in the back and unhelpfully called out my opinion about what the kids onstage were doing (actually, I think the director DID think I was helpful...because she later made me Stage Manager. Go figure).

Than, I asked if the director, Theresa, wanted me to run the CD player for the two scenes that required music. She took me up on this offer, and I was put in a spacious cage where no one can see me but I can see the stage and play three tracks of music, adjusting the sound when people have speaking parts. Aw, such is the life of the lowly sound technician.

Than, we were practising the bows at the end of the play. I was to exit my cage, run around the back of the audience, climb onstage, and bow with the stage hands. I than learned that the dear sweet girl who made the programs put me down as 'stage manager' and wanted to know if I actually wanted to DO this job.

Heck, yeah!

Beats sitting in a cage, for sure.

I'm so excited! The kids are doing great...they just really need me, I guess, because we had about seven incidents of someone running off stage screaming, "I FORGOT MY PROP!!" They've got their lines and scenes 99.5% down, and my job is to help everyone on and off the stage, too.

Its so good to be needed.

This is the first time I've ever taken part in a play (I know, right?), and in moments of madness, I've considered trying out next year it looks like so much fun, even though I'd be the oldest by 2-10 years. Ah, well. The moment of madness may pass, and I'll just ask to be Stage Manager again.

As long as Juliet remembers to stay dead and no one wanders off in the middle of the play (which isn't entirely unlikely), it'll be great no matter what else happens : ).

So here's to Dr. Seuss, William Shakespeare, and Peter Bloedel, who wrote this play.

And to Theresa and the cast and my fellow Stage Hands...thanks so much for this great opportunity! I love you all, and I can't wait till tomorrow...the show is going to be great!

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