Thespians Who Thespiate

It takes a special kind of person to do musicals and plays, especially at my high school. There are lots of people who do just one, and then realize they are not that sort of person, and never do another one. But if you do multiple? You are probably a theater person, which probably also means you're at least a little bit crazy.

For one thing, the theater teacher is INSANE! He goes on and on about how you need to send out positive energy, but once the show starts coming closer and closer, he gets crankier and crankier till he ends up shouting at the top of his lungs at everyone for just about everything. Also, the shows that he chooses to do are a little ridiculous. It's like he chooses every other year to be something that has no plot. These are the musicals he's done in the past 4 years: Footloose (good), The Melody Lingers On, a collection of songs by Irving Berlin (what? Where did this come from? There's no plot whatsoever!), The Unsinkable Molly Brown (good), and Schoolhouse Rock Live (not School OF Rock. School HOUSE Rock. Y'know, Conjunction Junction, I'm Just a Bill...That one.)

Also, besides having to deal with crazy teachers and plotless shows, there's the fact that it completely consumes your life. Rehearsals for the actors start pretty soon after auditions, and they have them pretty consistently up till the time of the show, and the week before the show, they have to stay till 10 PM. Builds for the techies start a few weeks after rehearsals do, but this means that pretty much right from the get-go they need to stay there till 8 or 9, and then they also need to stay till 10 in opening week. It's pretty awful.

Basically, the point is, theater people are a little bit insane. They're insane enough in the first place to do it, and then it makes them even more insane. But it just works for some people. And several of my friends are theater people, and I kind of am, too. For some reason, it's just the kind of environment that I love. Doing both tech and acting.

My parents wouldn't let me actually do this musical, because they said it would be way too hard on my grades (probably true), but that was a little bit heartbreaking for me. Especially because this is my senior year, and my last chance for doing a musical! So instead I just helped out with tech all the time. I was there more than some of the actual techies, and ended up actually feeling like I was helpful. My name wasn't on the program or anything, but for all practical purposes, I was on tech. So at least I was able to do something for my last musical. But apparently I just give off the vibe of being a crazy theater person or something, because so very many people this last week asked me, "Kristina, how's the musical coming?" or, "How was opening night?" And I had to tell them all, "I assume it went pretty well. You'd have to ask someone actually in it, though..." And then they were all surprised that I wasn't in it.

What was the most awkward, though, was this Monday, at strike. That's when everybody takes the set apart, and cleans up the stage and stuff. So I was there, taking things apart, when the teacher came over, and just stood there watching me. I felt like my work was being judged, and that he would think, "Wow, this girl is horrible. Doesn't she even know how to use a drill?" Yes! I do! Stop watching me! But instead he ended up helping me, by which I mean he braced, even though I didn't need a brace, and kept telling me how to do stuff like use a drill. Then, once everything was taken apart and put away, and the stage nice and cleaned, everybody got posters and programs and such, and started signing them. But I felt like I shouldn't do that, because everybody would think, "But she didn't actually do this. Why is she here? She's so pathetic," so instead I awkwardly sat on the edge of the stage, while everyone else was having a great time signing, waiting for the guy driving me home to be done. And every once in a while somebody would ask me to sign theirs, so I did, but didn't have anything for them to sign in return. Because I would have felt like the actors would think, "Look at her, thinking she's so cool, when in reality she's just some pathetic wannabe." The techies actually liked me, but they're definitely outnumbered by actors. So as I was awkwardly hanging out on the edge of the group, the teacher came over to me again and said, "Well I'm glad you were able to do it as much as you did." And then I felt judged again, because his tone of voice was kinda...judge-y.

Anyways, it's over now. My last musical. At least I still have the spring play to look forward to! And I'm hoping and wishing and praying and crossing my fingers that my parents will let me do that.