Thanks for being onstage with kids and the occasional dog

While this is similar to the last posting, readers should beware that we are wrapping up 2006 now and I am becoming increasingly more sentimental as the year wanes. Sigh. It's been a very good year.

Okay readers - it's a long one. It's not based on one rehearsal. It's based on a year!

I am looking back at 2006 with huge smiles. I directed 88 kids, 7 adults and one dog during the course of three plays. Aside from periodically changing her stage directions, the dog was relatively easy. She came onstage, charmed everyone and left satisfied with a job well done. She got more publicity than anyone else, arrived at the theatre in a limo and developed a fan club. For Cheaper by the Dozen, the adults needed to compete with the dog, 13 kids and the movie. But you know they did wonderful things such as: show up for rehearsal, show up for rehearsal with their scripts, show up for rehearsal having written down the blocking in their scripts thus knowing where to go each night and being able to move on! The dog was the glue for the cast, the children were the glittery stars you affix to paper (I love sticky stars), and the adults were the sky - the paper the sticky stars needed to adhere.

1st PLAY:
During A Midsummer Night's Dream, (utilizing young performers, Grades 7-9), I decided that we needed to go over every one of Shakespeare's words. I added another two weeks to the rehearsal schedule so I could say, "Do you know what you are saying?" And whether they answered "yes" or "no," I could then ask them, "And what are you saying?" Good plan. Except that after four hours of rehearsal everyone obviously knew what they were saying. ("Duh, Miss Director, you do not need to waste my time, I'm busy." And so they were.) I hadn't banked on the fact that the young performers attracted to auditioning for a Shakespearean play would all be over-achievers. They would all do their homework and they would come prepared knowing full well the meaning of Shakespeare's lines. Well, we explained a bit here and there. But no more explaining went on than the explanations that were necessary for Cheaper by the Dozen. And I had an extra two weeks of rehearsal to fill. But never fear. Because when over-achievers are cast in your play - they are busy. When they filled out their conflict sheets, I had about 58 conflicts that I needed to work around during rehearsals. By the time the first week of rehearsal was over, I had 196! They sort of "forgot" about their jazz band concert, going to state for Destination Imagination, going to state for Speech, their school play, their dance lessons, their flute lessons, their permit test, their driving test (oy vey! they are driving next year!), etc. If an over-achiever tells you they are in an activity and they have a chance of placing first in their region and going to state - believe them! Because they all go to "State." And "State" finals are always tech week. It's hard to tech a cast of 21 when half of them are in Madison, WI winning prizes. (But not impossible - nothing is ever impossible in youth theatre. Peter Pan flies and the over-achieving kids come home elated, successful and ready to open a show.) But, with all the absences, the extra two weeks came in handy.

I had the luxury of being able to say to my Demetrius, Lysander, Helena and Hermia - "Go outside and work up a physical fight." Yes, I earned my keep. Yes, I blocked their fight scene. But the personal touches that made the scene such a success came from the students. Whether Demetrius was twirling Lysander on the ground or Lysander was sneaking up on Demetrius (while smiling and waving heartfelt missives to Helena) the beauty of the scene was they added their own touches. Their own talent. Their own ideas. That's what made it work.

The Rustics - my workers - added just a little something every rehearsal. The students with the fewest lines made their presence known by genuinely reacting with the other actors and developing a physicality that was unique unto themselves. Quince was always bemused but ever in charge. Bottom was 7 feet tall even if he wasn't. Snug was shy as could be but delighted in every roar. Flute was confused but virulent. Snout said little but got three laughs for every take he took. (What can I say - he knew how to build? Okay, he chewed the scenery - but very, very well!) Titania and Oberon belied their ages with complex performances. I was always astonished when I went backstage and witnessed them behaving as fourteen year olds. I simply forgot from watching them on stage for 8 weeks. And my fairies took my breath away with alternate sweetness and mischievous stage play. No matter what was said to Puck, I always got in return, a smile and "Okay." And she would instantly change whatever she was doing to be a better Puck. The royalty and the court knew their stuff, hit their marks and when the ending of the show was a mess, it was pointed out to me that …. uhhh … I had never blocked it and they were making do (time to eat crow). So, I shed a few tears when that one closed.

By Candlelight was partially my story and the story of young people I knew. (Oh my, you should have heard the reactions of the poor students playing me - "What? I'm playing Claudia??" And later, "I never knew you were such a nerdy little kid.") With two casts of 26, my co-director and I had to put fire on the stage. (Well, it was by "Candlelight.") When possible, we did do electric candles. Okay, almost always. But there were a few instances when you needed the candlelight. I had a staff member who read the play and said, "You are going to put candles in the hands of 52 kids looking for summer fun?" In which case I knew I had to cast very, very carefully. Firebirds need not apply.

So what happens when you take 52 kids looking for summer theatrical fun and hand them a play about 9/11 and the Holocaust? You know what? They come through. Like never before. They respect the material, do the work and still find much to laugh about backstage (a necessity). It was a summer without incident. Okay, we broke a lot of electric candles- but never set fire to the theatre. It was a summer of kids reading The Diary of Anne Frank, looking up the Kennedy assassination, and listening to Lesley Gore and The Beach Boys (all referenced in the play).

It was a summer of putting myself out there on the stage in a way I never did as an actress. It was vulnerable, it was terrifying, it was a thinly disguised version of me at my geekiest and my best friend - at her most charming.

The kids every laugh in the play and every tear. And a few more tears were shed when that one closed.

I closed out my year with Cheaper by the Dozen - the play that started the blog - which already tells you how many grins were had from that show. During the course of auditions I saw 190 people (173 kids!) and four dogs. I had two producers and a stage manager than never lost their cool during the frenzy - but remained amused. I had threatened to spontaneously combust if 200 people showed up so the producers were rooting for that to happen. In the end, I am the proud owner of a bag that says, "I survived CBDXII auditions! Made by a producer and proudly displayed.

What can I say? The kids bonded. Oy vey, did they bond! They warmed instantly to the adults playing their parents, housekeeper, doctor, teacher and older versions of themselves (and how brave were those adults to do this show). The young performers delighted in the laughter of their "mother" - which is - uninhibited. Were astonished by their gregarious "father" who bravely took them all on and succeeded in reigning them in and of course all in the cast needed to warm-up by spending quality time with Ruby - the dog member of the family.

Hours and hours were spent on one scene involving the telephone. Again, Claudia-the-director was not getting it right. In the end, it was the kids who figured out a lot of the blocking and it was one of the highlights of the show (with of course - the family meetings, the first date, the cheerleader scene, the scenes with the dog, the memory scene between mother and father, the cheating scene with the teacher - am I going on?). From the past year I have learned that if something I dream, up in my room does not work, take the problem to the kids and they will work it out. As with Candlelight, the Cheaper is designed to have the audience invest emotionally in the play. And as with all the plays in 2006, I privately shed some more tears when that one closed. Especially knowing I made the decision to not direct until Summer 2007 so I could be with my daughter. Who is never home.

During the course of every show, I do remind myself by doing "something" that screams to all that I am far from perfect. During the course of every show, I am somehow forgiven. During the course of every show I have ever directed, I have unabashedly fallen in love with my cast - secure in the notion that no one else could have played that part. I know many things - I know my loved ones - be it family or friends come first. I know all that stuff about being grateful for your health, a roof over your head, etc. And I remain grateful. But to get up in the morning and love going to work - that is a wondrous, glorious thing! To know that in my future, I foresee being onstage again with a bunch of kids, fearless adults and an occasional dog puts a spring in my step and a glinty-smile in my mornings. It is with a sweet sadness that I bid good-bye to 2006 and it is with welcome arms that I look forward to 2007. May you all follow your dreams - on and offstage.
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