In the Mood

Yesterday I spent 13 hours at the theatre helping set up for a little musical called "In the Mood." It was a 1940's themed thing. They had a band come and it was all song and dance but 1940's style. It was adorable. I loved every minute of it! A big Penske truck came and we unloaded tons of wheeled crates and then set up everything: lighting, sound, set etc. I learned so so much and I was really grateful for Megan Ingalls and everything she taught me. I never really realized all that goes into a little production like that. Each and every light has to be focused, all the coloring and angles and diffusion and sharpness. Then for the sound: a million cables had to be labeled and hidden and then they had to calibrate all the speakers and make sure everything sounded perfect.

I thought that it was awesome that people came together with their specific talents to make this thing work. It was wonderful to see people all doing their thing and working together and how nice everyone was to each other.

Things are starting to be different soon though. Now people are finding out that I am mormon and I'm not sure that the theatre kids have had such a great experience with mormon kids. It's not that I was trying to hide it nor proclaim it, it's more of that I was trying to stay... neutral? Just be me, be a good example. I'm not sure how to handle this to tell you the truth. There are two sides of the spectrum and there is a very fine line in between. On one side there is the over zealous, crazy mormon child who tries to convert everyone and is a stickler about her beliefs and standards. Then on the other side there is the girl who wants to fit so she throws out her standards and is a mormon only around moron kids, who doesn't CTR and is only a mormon by title. I want to still be a good person and keep my standards, but I also don't want to get the "Preachy little goody-two-shoes" reputation because that doesn't help anybody. So here is the philosophy I came up with and I used swearing because that is the first problem I have encountered. I have been thinking about it a lot:

I don't swear. I don't ever plan on making that a habit. This is high school and other people do swear and there is no way around that. I ignore it the rest of the day, I can ignore it in the theatre. Yes, if it someone has an extremely bad swearing problem then I can ask them to stop but I am not going to go around looking for swear words so I can ask people to cut it out. People swear but I will not and what others say says a lot about who they are as a person and I will always remember that. "Be in the world but not of it" and that is my plan.

Auditions

Today was one of the Funnest days of my life! Typo? no. Today was my first play audition :D It all started with choosing to take Drama this year, a choice that at first I whole heartedly regreted, but by the second month, loved. The first play of the year came and went. My friend Megan Ingalls is a theatre triple threat ;) and talked about everthing: from tryouts and getting one of the lead roles, to rehearsal to performace night. All the details were facinating. I have loved theatre for a long time, my parents always took us to the community theatres till we were old enough to appreciate real theatre. Things like Little Women at the Village theatre to Phantom of the Opera at the paramount were nights I would look forward to for weeks, the performance would be amazing, but then I would... forget about it. I never really thought about all the work that goes into a production like these. I don't think that these are just people pretending to be someone else, that they don't start off knowing their lines and blocking and movement and beats. They practice and practice and practice... and then they practice a little more. Taking Drama and my friend, showed me a little glimpse into what really happens.

So, learning about all of this made me want to try it. For those of you who don't know me, I Love trying new things and expanding my 'horizons.' So this was just another thing I wanted to add to my list.

Auditions began at 3:30. I got there a couple minutes late (mormon standard time, right?) and got number 60; the second to last for the girls. The boys and girls were split up. Boys starting with dance and the girls starting with singing. I had practiced in the key of e, the song turned out to be in the key of b... I think. Either way, it was not what I, or anyone else trying out for that matter, had expected. It was a very low song and difficult to sing and because of that, very few people did outstanding, including me. But that was okay, it was all fun and I let it all roll off. Then came the dance. It was to Ding Dong the Witch is Dead. It was fast paced and also fun and difficult. I got up to dance infront of Ms.Lloyd and I forgot some of the moves, but I let that roll off as well. Usually I have a hard time letting things go and getting over my mistakes, but this time I just did my best and forgot the rest. It was a blast and I hope I get in! and even if I don't, that just means I have to work on my skills and then try again for the next one :)

Thank you SUPER much to Amy Jackson for helping me sing and being patient with me! I can't wait to learn more and do even better!