Call Backs are Boring

Unless of course, you are one of the actors who is being called back.

At our morning rehearsal we had several students sing a few roles for us to help us better make casting selections. Then we asked all the students to sing the part of the Wolf as one last chance to make an impression on us. And impress they did . . . I stood in the closet for most of the morning and was greatly surprised to hear all our kids! The timidity with which some students sang in the first week was gone; replaced with strength of voice, self-confidence, and a desire to be heard. (Who doesn't have that?) I was very excited by our kids and certain that we were going to have an even harder time casting the show!

In the afternoon we did the same, but with speaking lines being read and re-read by several students as well. You can guess by now what roles we were trying to cast . . . the bears and the pigs. How did mice get more popular than bears anyway? People don't give babies teddy mice. Must have something to do with Walt. For some students whom we did not need to see again, I suspect this was boring. You could tell by the chatter that would flare up or the chair movements. The kids played a pivotal role, however, as we wanted to be certain that our actors could play the parts comfortably in front of an audience. And, it was a lesson in how theatre works.

I talked with the kids for awhile, once again, about the importance of every role. I reminded them that there are no tears in theatre (yes, I took some liberties with that line) and that when they got their roles tomorrow that everyone should embrace their part and shine onstage. Clearly, I have been saying this for several days because when I asked them if they were going to be sad if they didn't get the part they wanted the kids all looked at me, bravely, shook their heads and answered, "No. We won't be sad." I told them, "Of course you will be!" which took them by surprise. Then I continued, "So be sad in your heart for just a moment and then get your part and become the best you can at the role you play in the show." (Or something like that. I really shouldn't use the quotes because I have no idea how I said that but it was that sentiment that I was trying to get across. Call it literary license to build blog drama. That's our club after all.)

Your kids are quite special and I'm very excited about our next weeks together as the kids learn their parts by heart and start to become baby bear learning forgiveness, or become the giant who learns not to judge people by the way they look, or become the pig who wants to build with bricks because it is the right thing to do even if it isn't the easiest.