Go, Fight, Win?

State Drama was a week and a half ago, and I’ve been too busy with Charlie Brown to blog about it (since I know you readers are DYING to know how it went).

As you may recall, I officially gave up on making the kids care about The Monkey’s Paw. (See here.) I didn’t want to ride the bus with them to Murray High, and Teri hadn’t seen the show yet, so I invited her and Bristol to ride with me.

We got to Murray High around 9. The kids and CT got there at about the same time. We unloaded everything and took it into the school. Instead of the auditorium, the shows were in their blackbox theatre, which wasn’t TOO bad. We were scheduled to perform at 10, so the kids were frantically trying to finish their makeup, which I had asked them to get done on the bus. Blech.

While the kids were working on their make-up, Bristol walked over with me to get a better look. One of the kids said “HEY! It’s Little Showgren!” I laughed and said “It is?” The students proceeded to tell me that I couldn’t fool them, because Bristol looks JUST like me. (Teri, should we start telling people the truth?) I got a good laugh out of that.

The play before us finished around 9:30. The kids were not done with make-up yet, so I told CT that I wanted to go ahead and wait until 10. (The timer doesn’t officially start until your time.) I don’t know WHY he was so anxious to go, but he only gave us five more minutes before he told them we were ready to start. I was really bugged.

We rushed to get the stage set, and some of the kids rushed their make-up. I took the cast backstage, and while I was giving them instructions on where to make entrances in that space and how to make sure the beginning of the show was good, I realized that the theatre was COMPLETELY dark. I freaked out and said “Guys, get ready! I think they’re starting without me. AGAIN!” I had hoped to give a few last minute instructions, based on the feedback we got from Region, which I had just gotten from CT. I ran out the backstage door, and when I got to the main doors of the theatre, the show had already started without me. I rushed to the lightboard to help Chris run the show, and CT was standing there. He said something to the effect of “Sorry. The lights were off and they were waiting for us to start.” I was furious. I shook my fist at him and then sat down by Chris to help run the show.

The performance was subpar. The kids were very frazzled by the quick start. The make-up was worse than it had been since the first rehearsal when the kids tried it. I hadn’t had time to make sure that the foley artists were spaced away from the scene correctly. I was really bummed, even though I had tried not to care about the show.

In the middle of the show, another school arrived, with at least 30 kids. They walked right in and sat down. They were terribly noisy, and I was pissed that their teachers not only didn’t try to shush them, but actually talked along – OUT LOUD. Stupid jerks. They sat right in front of Teri and Bristol. It’s pretty sad when a 4 year old is more quiet and respectful in a play than high school theatre students and teachers.

After the play (which was over shortly after 10 – when we were supposed to start), we got feedback from the judges. The first judge, who was a recently-retired, award-winning high school theatre teacher, said he loved it. When he saw what play we were doing, he had wondered how we were going to get a fresh take on it, and he was blown away by the concept. He said it reminded him of the actual old black and white horror movies.

The second judge, who looked like Bob Ross, and was dressed like a sloppy-artsy guy, didn’t get our concept. He went on and on about how he just didn’t get it, and he spent the first half of the play thinking that they were all supposed to be zombies. He didn’t understand the black and white make-up, costumes, and set pieces. The other two judges looked at him like he was stupid. The more he talked, the more uninformed he sounded. Then one of the other judges said something to the effect of “I thought you’d get it, since you’re a film person.” WHAT?! They have a FILMMAKER judging State Drama? That bugged me. Yes, film and drama are very similar, but I’d prefer people who are focused on theatre to be giving my kids their scores.

The third judge, who was Rodger Sorenson from BYU, was VERY complimentary. He loved the concept and didn’t have trouble understanding it. He praised specific aspects and performances, and then offered some GREAT suggestions on how we could have made the concept more clear, which would have made the play better. It was very constructive, and I appreciated it a lot. He kept reiterating that he loved it, too. One critique he gave was that the beginning wasn’t clear, and if it would have been, the concept would have been solidified. I turned to CT and shook my fist at him.

Then Bob Ross started talking again and admitted that maybe the problem was that he was just too stupid to get the concept. So, he tried to dig himself out by trashing on us. His comments were not constructive like Rodger’s, and with every word, he made himself sound even more stupid. He chastised us for not having tried out the play on other people, and informed us that when he has an idea for a film, he runs it by his wife first, and if she likes it, he knows it’s good. Does he not realize that you go to Region before State? We HAD tried out the idea, and nobody had questioned it yet – not even the high school students and kids who had seen the show. Poor guy. After we were done, the kids were all talking about how stupid he sounded.

Also, after we were done, they announced that they were taking a break to let the judges rest and to get back on schedule. I was majorly pissed.

The kids all hugged me, thanked me, and told me good-bye in the hall afterward. I was a little sad that I’d never see some of them again. Some of them, however, I’ll be GLAD to never see again. I think that’s pretty normal for a teacher. At least, I hope it is.

Teri, Little Showgren, and I then went to Costco to activate my membership (thanks, Mom!) and browse. We didn’t buy a single thing. I got close to buying a Wii, but this was just a couple days after Tax Day, and I decided it was best to save up for a while.

We finished our day of State with a trip to P.F. Chang’s, where we were served by the world’s most personality-devoid waitress. The crispy honey chicken was EXCELLENT, though. By the time I was done stuffing my face with amazing Chinese, I was no longer mad, and was trying to focus on the good aspects of the performance and the overall experience I had with the play. It was fun to challenge the kids. Some of them didn’t really rise to it, but some of them really did, and I was very proud of them.

I e-mailed CT last week and asked if he’d gotten the results from State yet, and he said he hadn’t. I haven’t heard anything since. Maybe he’s bugged at me for shaking my fist at him so much. I’m not mad anymore, I promise!!!

I’m going to be TICKED if the second judge kept us from getting straight superiors. When/if I’m a high school teacher some day, I’m going to be the type who gets really defensive of his students, and I’ll probably raise Hell over judges who I believe are unqualified. I don’t have kids of my own, so I gotta be a stage parent somehow, right?

Get the $#@% Here!!!

The one act performances for region drama were on Tuesday. Here’s a (not so) quick rundown of what led up to this point.

When I first got to the school for student teaching, I was given the option of directing the one act play. At first, I didn’t want to, but when I found out that I could use class time to rehearse, I decided it wasn’t a bad idea to rack up some more high school directing experience. You may recall that in 2006, I directed A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Meridian and it made it to state. That’s the only time I’ve actually directed something in a high school, though.

I was given the choice between a script that CT had chosen, or finding my own. While looking through my scripts, I found my copy of The Monkey’s Paw, and remembered how fun my concept had been when I did a 3 minute scene for my directing class a year ago. The concept was to do the show as a live classic Universal Horror movie, complete with over-acting and spooky sound effects. Combining that with the idea of black and white makeup, which I used in my SAST show last year, I thought it was something that could get the kids excited, and it would be something interesting and conceptual- two words that you don’t hear associated with high school theatre enough.

I pitched the idea to the kids, and they got pretty excited. In addition to the over-acting and the black and white makeup, this time I added in live sound effects via a foley crew. The foley crew were to be costumed in color, to show that they were not a part of what we’d see on the movie screen.

We had auditions and started rehearsing. I was really frustrated with the rehearsal process, because it seemed like we never had enough time to get through anything. Add to that the fact that the kids weren’t doing too hot with their memorization, and the fact that we had crew members who weren’t doing ANYTHING to help. Also, we kept getting booted from the auditorium by the dance company and the choir (even though were had more right to be there than they did).

Last week, everything started coming together quite nicely. My biggest concern was that the kids were so scared to look stupid that they weren’t quite grasping the over-the-top acting. I warned them repeatedly that if they didn’t stop doing the acting half-arsed, the concept wouldn’t work, and the judges at region would just think they’re bad actors. I found out who the judges were, and I told them that I knew one of them would complain about how quiet they were, and another might not be a huge fan of the concept. They started to step it up more. However, it still wasn’t enough to get a ticket to state drama. I called Teri after our last rehearsal to invite her to see the show, and I flat-out told her “It’s better than I thought it would be, but it’s not very good.”

We arrived at region Tuesday morning, bright and early. We were scheduled to go last. Some of the other shows we sat through were AWFUL. I was really embarrassed for some of the schools. After the lunch hour, we immediately started getting costumed and made-up. The black and white makeup takes FOREVER to apply. Putting white base all over everyone’s faces, necks, and arms (and for some girls, chests), takes twice as long as performing the whole play.

We finished getting getting ready with only minutes to spare before our performance time. I helped the kids get the stage setup and then my stage manager, Chris, and I went out the backstage doors and down the hall to get to the back of the auditorium where the booth was, so that we could start the show. To our surprise, all of the doors were locked. By the time we got to the lobby and backtracked into the auditorium, they had started the show without us. Guh! I missed the first minute or so, but when we got to the booth, I crashed. I had gotten so stressed during the prep time that my brain pretty much shut down.

The kids did surprisingly well. SURPRISINGLY. All day, as we watched the other performances, I pointed out flaws and said “Make sure YOU don’t do that.” Sure enough, the judge I had warned them about gave feedback to other shows about their volume. They learned from watching the others (hooray for going last) and most of the notes I had given them over the last few weeks were fixed, or at least markedly better.

After the performance, the judges gave us feedback. It was VERY positive. We were given a few suggestions to fix it (one judge apparently didn’t get the concept), but it was clear all three judges liked the show. During the feedback, one judge said “It felt like I was watching an old black and white suspense thriller” and all the kids started clapping and cheering, so I joined in. One of the other judges went on and on about how good the blocking was. That was probably my favorite comment, because I’m always paranoid about my blocking, after somebody publicly bashed on my blocking in Bye, Bye Birdie.

The kids were floored by the feedback. Some of them didn’t believe that the judges really liked the show. They said that when the judges had critiqued other schools, they were more harsh and not as nice. I had to try to convince them that they were genuine. Some of the kids were paranoid that they were disrespectful by cheering during the feedback. I assured them that it was okay.

Late that night, I got a text from someone telling me that one of the judges had been telling everyone how good the show was. He had brought up the show at least 3 separate times to praise it. I thought that was really nice of her to text me and share that.

The next morning, I was sleeping in because I had stayed up way too late. I was awakened around 8:30 by my text message ringtone (a quote from Airplane where the pilot is questioning the little boy about gladiator movies and stuff- hehe!) going off three times in a row. Then I heard the phone actually ringing. I rolled over and checked it a few minutes later. The text messages were the same message from my friend, Laura, which had been sent three times for some reason. It was congratulating me on getting straight superiors at region. Her cooperating teacher had just gotten the e-mail with the results. Then I checked the voicemail, and it was CT telling me that we were headed to state. CT and I played phone tag for a while, and when he called me back one time, he called during class and held the phone up so the kids could cheer.

I found out that one of the other judges saw Trash Ball and told her how good the show was, too. When I went to UVU, my department chair got really excited to hear the news, and he started bragging to people that he saw in the halls. I was quick to point out that this was not the first show that I’ve taken to state. :)

So, that’s the story of region drama. We’ll go to state in a few weeks, so I’m sure you can expect more boring blogs about it over the next month.

Oh, and the title of this blog comes from the fact that half the cast couldn’t say the word “fakir,” so we had to practice by comparing it to that phrase. It’s probably not accurate pronunciation, but it’s better than what they were stumbling with before.

These Days

I was thinking the other day about how all I ever blog about anymore is student teaching. This could lead one to get the impression that I don't have a life outside of student teaching. That impression would be correct.

I have done a LITTLE bit outside of student teaching in the last month and a half. Let's see how much I can remember:

I went on a trip to St. George and Las Vegas with my family in January. My brother-in-law, Mike, and my nephew, Braden, were running in the St. George half-marathon, so we went to support them. Then we went down to Sin City for a couple days. Everybody seemed to get along pretty well, and I bought some cool new hats (my family seems to think that the best part of vacation is shopping), and lots of new "teacher" clothes. I'm getting a sweater vest collection that would cause Chandler Bing to be jealous.

I had a birthday (in St. George, actually). I feel really old. I got some great presents, though. And my sister's family broke into our hotel room (okay, so maybe they got a key from the front desk, no questions asked - CREEPY) and decorated it all out in birthday balloons and streamers.

Chess came and went, and it was incredible. We got a LOT of positive feedback, and some nasty feedback as well. I can't remember being more proud of a show, and I went as much as I could. I'm having major withdrawals now. Dave Tinney told me to call my sponsor and get them to help me through it, and recommended repeating "Chess is not stronger than I am." It's hard, though! I loved that show.

I've been playing the acting role of a lifetime. Not really, but it's kind of fun. In December, part of my stake presidency approached me and asked me to help with ward conferences this year. They're going around to each ward and giving a presentation on Alma 30 to each group of young men/women. They wanted someone to act as Korihor and someone to act as Alma to reenact the classic battle of words. It's kind of creepy when a member of your stake presidency tells you that you'd "make a good Korihor." Being the slave of duty that I am, I agreed to do it. I helped them with the concept (they originally wanted period costumes, among other weird ideas) and I helped pick the Alma. I've been going to the different wards, and it goes something like this:

• Member of stake presidency starts talking about Church-related things
• I start laughing in the back of the room
• People start getting uncomfortable, unsure of who I am
• SP member asks if I have a problem
• I say I do, stand up, and take the floor from him
• I totally attack the Church and many beliefs of the Church, comparing Korihor's arguments to modern-day issues
  
• Kids are caught off-guard, but gradually catch on
• Some of the adults FLIP and are about ready to leap out of their chairs and give me a piece of their collective mind
• Alma argues with me
• I demand a sign that God exists
• SP member steps up and saves me before it gets TOO heated

Fun, eh? Apparently, I'm not doing to bad. Some of the people have really freaked out. One girl said that I "scared the crap out of" her. One lady had to hold down her friend, because the friend freaked out and was ready to claw my eyes out. Playing an anti-Christ is fun! (Mostly.)

I've also been doing a lot of relaxing lately. By the time I've taught school 5 days in a row, with piano lessons or youth theatre afterward every day, I'm spent. My Saturdays are full of working and teaching piano, too. Fridays and Saturdays I've been too exhausted to even leave the house very much. This is good, though. I'm getting to bed earlier than usual some nights, and I'm catching up on my Blu-Ray collection.

Another "relaxing" thing I've started doing is watching Lost from the beginning. It's been 3 years since I've seen the first 2 seasons, and now that it's giving out answers and recalling previous information all the time, I thought it was a good idea. So, I introduced my sister, Emily, my niece, Kaylee, and my nephews Braden and Jason to the show. They're hooked already. We're going a weekly Lost night, and if people don't keep up due to silly things like Academy Awards, they have to catch up on their own time with the Internet. I forgot how amazing Lost was right from the get-go. However, it's a little frustrating to patiently wait for certain storylines and characters to come into the picture. Not gonna lie- I miss my Juliet.

I'm now harboring not one, but TWO internet crushes. Ugh. It's a disgusting double-standard. I'm totally opposed to meeting people over the Internet and hooking up with them in reality, but if you've met a girl in person, it's TOTALLY okay to secretly pine after her by reading her blog and/or Facebook page. It's also okay to have conversations with her online on a regular basis. Just not if you don't know her in person. Judge me all you want, but at least I know these two girls aren't really hairy, middle-aged men who have a thing for artsy, nerdy guys in their 20s. Now if I could just find time (without cutting into my relaxing or Lost time) to actually ask them out in person... *sigh* It will happen, though. The next time I see one, I'm totally going for it.

That's about it. I guess I really haven't been doing THAT much other than student teaching. At least teaching hasn't TOTALLY consumed my life yet, though.

Oh, one more thing - this blog post's namesake. This Thursday, Teri and I are going to Rascal Flatts. Some people have questioned if Teri is dragging me there. However, it's time for me to come clean. I freaking love Rascal Flatts. In fact, I'M dragging Teri there. Our seats aren't the best, but I don't care. I haven't been to a good concert in a while (Hello, Fray! Time to stop touring Australasia and get your butts back here), and concerts are always best when you're surrounded by drunk cowboys.