My daughter, a freshman in high school, is all hepped up on drama. She’s been in a few local youth theater productions (monkey in Jungle Book, Oompa-Loompa in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. All the great roles) and was Rosie, the female lead in the 8th grade production of Bye-Bye Birdie, if you can imagine such a thing.
So…she tried out for the fall musical, her first step into high school. Auditions were last Tuesday and Wednesday. She got called back for Thursday -a good sign. And then Friday, when the cast list was posted, she was told to come back on Tuesday, with two other girls, for one more call back for a couple more parts.
Which she did, after which the drama teacher said, "Oh, you’ll get a part. It’s just a matter of which one."
So yesterday was the big day – and she came back from school, initially with some good news about something, but then her face fell.
"I didn’t get a part. I’m not even in the ensemble."
Are you sure?
"I checked three times. And the teacher wasn’t there today. But my name wasn’t on it."
Crushed. Yes, there are worse tragedies, and this doesn’t even count as such a thing. But still – I basically left her alone last night, let her talk when she wanted, and let her work on her homework, stewing, for most of it.
I really found it hard to believe that the teacher would tell her outright, "You’re in" – and then not put her in. I was fairly convinced it was a mistake, but didn’t want to get her hopes up.
And..it was a mistake. She’s in the ensemble, as it turns out (the play is Into the Woods) – she found out when she went to volunteer for the crew (overcoming her initial – I’m done with this – I’m not doing ANYTHING), and the teacher said, "Er…you’re in the ensemble." Yes … a mistake.
Great relief around these parts. Because drama is one thing. High drama is something else completely.
You know?
Read Previous Post
