Hi, I guess.
It's currently 10:12 pm. I've just gotten home from a show, and my eyes hurt. The makeup that's caked across my face burned a bit going on, but now just feels like a second skin.
Maybe I should get rid of that foundation.
Anyway, I've been in a production of Just So, Mr. Kipling for the last several months. It's an adaptation of The Jungle Book, and I absolutely love it.
I have to admit, I wasn't overly thrilled at first. By the time we got the cast, it was nearly show week for Singing in the Rain, Jr, and I was just trying to get that done before thinking about anything else. I couldn't completely put it aside, of course, as we memorize monologues to present at auditions.
The cast list came out when another family involved was over at our house for dinner and games. I remember staring in confusion at my phone as my eyes slid over the words:
Kaa: Emma Molloy
"How...?" I asked, looking at my brother and our friend. You see, I am short. Like 5'0" short. I was not expecting this role at all. All throughout the night, I just kept asking, why? Why me? I'm the shortest girl in the group, surely there were other, taller, girls more capable of this role. It just wasn't what I wanted.
It wasn't until rehearsal last month or so that I understood. I overheard the director tell the stage manager that I could do it "...because she's a dancer." Suddenly, I was flattered. Last night, my mom told me that the role seemed to be tailor-made for me. I guess that mystery's been solved. Kaa is fun, but my personal favorite is Carrie.
Carrie Kipling. She's the wife of Rudyard, the author of the story. The way that the script is written, it draws parallels between the son of the author, John, and Mowgli. Carrie has been my first chance at playing something so emotional onstage, a thing I've always wanted to do. Her big scene is when she finds out that Rudyard has helped get John into the Irish Guard to help fight the war, something he's not physically fit to do (he's got some bad eyesight.) In the scene, she storms into the room, demanding Rudyard listen to her and see reason. There's lots of yelling and angst involved, and a few tears. There's nothing like screaming onstage and running into the wings, knowing that you won't be facing retribution for yelling at someone. It's my goal to make someone cry with that scene, but with one show left I'm not sure if I'll achieve that.
Wow, I got off-track. My point with all of that about not initially liking my part was that my other acting group is very different. It's a completely different dynamic, the people are vastly different and so are the shows. It often takes me awhile to adjust to my homeschool group in this show after my other friends.
But if I don't connect with someone at rehearsal over three months, I'll get to know them in the week we spend at the theater in one way or another. One of the girls, Becca, is one I've gotten sort of close to only in the last day.
We had walked into the dressing room around the same time, and she commented that she liked the dance scene (me and my two friends dance at the beginning of the show, being the only dancers in the cast). She then said that she wished she was a dancer. I remarked, "Well, it's never too late to start."
She laughed but seemed to dismiss it, saying she was too old to start now. I asked her how old she was and she answered, "Twelve."
"I was twelve when I started," I shrugged.
She told me this morning that she had talked to her mom, and was going to try a class. I wanted to cry a bit, because everyone deserves to feel that passion and love for dance at some point. I was thrilled that I had maybe been able to share that with someone.
Earlier tonight, when we clustered together in the cool air after being evacuated (yes, that happened, I'll get to that eventually,) she told me, "I wanted to tell you, ever since you said that about dance you've sort of become my role model,"
That made me so unbelievably happy. I hugged her and told her how happy I was. After we went back inside, we talked for a bit about different styles and dress-codes. Just thinking about it now makes me feel all warm and fuzzy, that maybe I made a difference in someone else's life, maybe I planted a seed of joy through dance. I never feel super well-known in the cast, out of my close friends I tend to be the least outgoing one at rehearsals, with them giving and receiving hugs from the newer girls and me standing awkwardly in the background. But now that we're in the theater, the friendships are formed doubly fast and I've gotten really fond of all of the cast, especially the new talent that joined this year.
Now to the evacuation. Yeah, so, a fire started in the building next to the theater and we had to leave in the middle of a scene. We were outside for a little while, maybe ten minutes or so. Once we filed back inside, the director informed us that we would start at the top of Act 2 (we stopped mid-way through the first scene.) It was certainly an adventure.
Anyway, yeah. I'll probably write another post tomorrow once we have our last show and traditional ice cream party where everyone nearly falls asleep in their bowls. Hopefully it'll be a bit more poetic, instead of just, "Here you go, a huge dump of everything that happened in one confusing jumbled mess"
Just remember that friendship is one of the bare necessities of life.
(Did you see what I did there)
(Cause John didn't)
(Get it, cause he has bad eyesight)
(Bye)
