It all started with a cleaning job.
Money was tight, and I was taking odd jobs where I could. I landed a job cleaning a local theater. My kids would come along and help me. One night, we arrived to clean the theater, and a rehearsal was still going on for a youth show. My daughter, Amellia, watched the rehearsal; She was captivated. I saw a glimmer in her eye that I had never seen before.
What is a mom to do? Isn’t it obvious? I was born to be a stage mom. I spoke to the director… and the very next production, Amellia was there working the sound board. She had a huge battle to fight with stage fright. But Brandon (the director) told me to get her involved, and he’d get her on the stage. The next show, He had her stage managing (at age 12). Miraculously, she actually auditioned for the next show. She did not get a part, but she did not give up: she did hair and make up on that show.
Before long, Amellia landed her first ensemble role, and it’s been nothing short of an amazing ride from there; however, this journey is not just about the roles landed and the parts played: there is so much more. Nothing about theatre starts or ends with what you see on the stage on opening night. There’s auditions, casting, rehearsals, reading sides, running lines, blocking scenes, and trying on costumes.
Everyone is welcome in the theatre world. The outcasts and odd balls fit right in here. It’s not just the dramatic kids (aka the cast). There literally is a place for everyone. Lighting technicians, sound technicians, hair stylists / makeup artists, stage crew, stage managers, costume designers, directors, musicians, and more.
In youth theatre, the parents get just as close, if not closer, than the kids. As parents, we call ourselves Drama Mamas, and we have each other‘s backs. We drive each other’s kids to and from rehearsals, we make sure all kids eat and stay hydrated, we find missing scripts and costume pieces, we sew on last minute popped buttons, and we encourage kids when they forget lines.
There is so much more to theatre than the performance itself. There's a move-in day from rehearsal space to the performance space. Then there's a strike (the tear down). If the walls of the theater could talk, if the floors could count the tears shed on a strike day, oh the stories they would tell. From the nervous banter in the audition room waiting area to the singing and laughter at the cast party, the experience is like none other. No one tells you about the ‘post show blues’ until it's too late (I know, I know, how do I drop a nugget like this and simply move on… well, that's because this particular little nugget deserves its very own post…coming soon).
On TV shows where you see kids just spontaneously burst into song and dance, it’s like that. In the movies where you see the kids join together to rally around a cast or crew member who’s facing something in their personal life, it’s like that. Theatre camps and fundraisers, ad sales, t-shirts, posters, bios, Headshots, dance lessons, vocal lessons, acting workshops - these kids work hard. Sometimes to their own detriment. My daughter lost many friends due to her commitment to theatre. I even bought her a t-shirt that said, ‘I can’t. I have rehearsal.’
Sometimes, even teachers do not understand the commitment it takes to be in a show. They do not recognize the arts as important as sports. I had a teacher tell my kid to do her math homework backstage between scenes; yet, she was more than happy to give an extra day to get assignments done if there was a game the night before. Can you imagine a teacher telling the quarterback to do his math homework between plays on the sidelines of the football field? It wouldn’t happen. Absurd!
The Bowling Green youth theatre kids are fortunate. We did not realize just how much so until Amellia earned a spot at The Governor's School of the Arts (GSA) for drama. When she went to this summer program, she met kids from all over the state. This is where she learned that some areas do not have public youth theaters. The only opportunities that some kids get to participate in theatre are the shows put on by their high school or church. In Bowling Green, we have three!
For my family, theatre has become a way of life. The past eight years, Amellia has performed in 30+ shows, (about 3 per year, but some there were a few times she was working on 2 at a time…and once...there were three) and she also worked on the crew of 15+ additional shows. Stone has worked on the crew of about 10 show himself. Of these shows, I designed posters, t-shirts, and playbills for nearly all of them. I worked the box office and ushered for shows my kids were not in. Other moms would take photos, provide snacks, host cast parties, be the chauffeurs, and more. We would all get together for dinner and drinks from time to time for fellowship, and to thank each other. No one understands the theatre life like another Drama Mama.
Kommentare