Some of you might not know this about me, but I am a drama queen. And no, I do not mean that in the sense of Angel's child or my own melodramatic five year old. I started doing community theater when I was ten and continued right up until shortly after I got married. I loved it! I met lots of people, got over my fear of public speaking and gradually advanced in my roles until I was playing female leads. I went so far as taking on the role of president for one of our local community theater groups. I even started college on a drama scholarship (we won't talk about why I didn't graduate on the drama scholarship).Zilla got into the act as well. In fact, during one of the last plays I did we played love interests. We had just gotten engaged and I had a habit of putting my hand on his rear whenever we stood together. The director go so tired of telling me not to do that on stage! It was kind of funny...and embarrassing. But it was so fun to share that experience with him.
So what does this have to do with Theater Thursday? Well, for one I thought it might be fun to actually talk about theater. And for another I've been fighting back the urge to audition for months. I haven't done a show in years. I miss it. The problem is that it takes over your life for at least two months. I just don't have the time.
But I feel the itch. I've even started looking at getting Baby Girl involved. I got my start at our local children's theater and I honestly think Baby Girl would love it (and fit right in. Have I mentioned the time I caught her practicing her expressions in the mirror at 3
?) The problem is, if I don't have the time to be at practice late into the night three days a week for the next two months then I really don't have the time to take her either.So I've been suppressing the urge. I'm just not sure how much longer I can do it. Oh well, I will be able to get my fix when I take the girls to a local show. One of our high schools will be staging Beauty and the Beast in the next couple weeks. I hope they love it...and I don't come away from the show grasping for the paper and looking for auditions.
Have you ever done theater? Were you the green bean in the kindergarten school play? Or do you just love to be an audience member?
Instigator
P.S. I'll be blogging today over at the Blaze Author's blog talking about our guinea pig infestation. Stop by and say hi! :-)
7 comments:
I was the voice of a magic rock in my high school speech and drama class's production of Rapunzel. I got to sit offstage and say my lines into a microphone.
My mom worked for a newspaper and sometimes got tickets to a summer stock theater in the next town. She took us to see The Sound of Music, My Fair Lady and The King and I. Thus began my love for live theater, but as a member of the audience, not a performer. I've been to everything from the grade school production to seeing Hair on Broadway. And this summer I'll be attending the Tennessee Shakespeare Festival in Bell Buckle, TN with friends. It's a real hoot -- Lane Davies (whom you might remember as Mason Capwell on Santa Barbara) rewrites a Shakespeare play so the lines are the same but the setting is different. I've seen A Midsummer Night's Dream set in the depression-era south and this summer The Two Gentlement from Verona is their production. From their website they describe it thus: This is not your Grandmother's Shakespeare--this summer's production will be set not in Verona, Italy, but in Verona, Tennessee, circa 1960, and our two gentlemen, Valentine and Proteus, are up-and-coming country and western singers, who make the move to a Milan that bears an odd resemblance to a well-know music capital of the South...
Original music will enliven this audacious and sassy retelling of Shakespeare's tale of love and friendship, set in a bygone and rowdy era of rhinestones and rockabilly.
Sounds like fun, huh?
P.S. Verification word = creers. Some folks have acting creers. ::grin::
My only acting involved the mandatory children's Christmas pagent at church. I was in the angel chorus a few years, then upgraded to 'triangle angel' with a solo of "Away in a Manger," then I got old enough to be one of Elizabeth's handmaidens (Handmaiden #2) and got one line - "It's your cousin, Mary."
Did some choir performances for a few years. Always wanted to try out for plays, my mom did a bunch, but I only went to a high school with a performing arts program one year. I've considered looking into the Huntsville Community Chorus, which does a spring musical, but like you - WHEN will I have time for that? You're either practicing for the Christmas concert, the spring musical, the summer music festival... no time.
I do love to go, though. I had season passes to the BTL here for a few years, but I haven't cared much for the plays they've had recently aside from Spamalot.
Oh, PM...you forgot your performance in the church Christmas program..."We are little candles, sending rays of light..."
I've been doing theater since I was 5, although my involvement has waned a bit since switching careers to write full-time.
I did my first official show at 5, after my dad built me a stage in our basement. I directed many productions teaching speech/drama. It's where my hubby courted me after college(we did Anything Goes and Oliver! together back in the day), and now it has become a family thing (although our son has decided he prefers backstage to being onstage, or playing in the pit orchestra).
We still try to do one show together when we can--directing, acting, singing, working backstage, playing in the orchestra--dramas and musicals alike. Our last Miller family extravaganza was OKLAHOMA for our community theater's summer show last year. Hubby directed, I played Aunt Eller, and our son and several of his buddies played in the pit.
It drains the time and energy, but I like to get a fix of theater every now and then. And when I can't do it, I love to go see a production and get carried away for a couple of hours or so into another world. Beauty & the Beast is a great show--both of our local high schools have done it in the past 5 years, and the professional version... be still my heart. That was magic! (like a great romance novel!;)
"...telling all the world that Christ is born tonight."
Oh how could I have forgotten?
I can't act and I can't sing (although I did do a lot of plays for someone who can't do either -- Tiger Lilly in Peter Pan and Willie Wonka in Charlie and The Great Glass Elevator are two memorable ones).
But I do miss being on stage. I'm a bit of a ham and get a kick from performing. I've toyed with the idea of getting involved with the Nutcracker or something around here, but yeah, the rehearsal schedule is a bit of a turn-off.
So, Playground SummerStock?
(And no, SP, this doesn't mean I'm going to be any happier about the Murder Mystery Party at the retreat...)
My DH is a Technical Director at a local professional theatre (Shaw Festival), so we live and breathe theatre in our house. I too would love to get my kids into theatre, but DH keeps insisting that his kids will not be actresses (can you tell he's had so bad experiences with Divas?). I'll have to hit him in a moment of weakness :)
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