7 November 2025
The struggle is real.
Yesterday, 6 November, I threw a script and walked off the stage in frustration. I can and have worked with very difficult kids, and managed to pull off shows, but the one thing I can No Longer Abide: Not Giving A Shit.
If you do not care, I am unsure what I am supposed to do. You have had ten weeks--TEN WEEKS to learn one scene. The date scene in The Female Odd Couple. You've been given tools, rehearsal time, free snacks and support. You were taught techniques as well as projection exercises, yet you refuse to A) learn your lines or B) project.
And to make matters worse, you stand on stage and whisper '"I don't know the lines" like that's OK. Like some magicall fairy is going to descend and whisper the lines to you. We open in seven days and you don't know your lines. I can't...even...what?!!! WHAT?!
This kid has been coddled, fussed at, supported, challenged and even yelled at by all three teachers in this department, and he still is Not The Fuck Getting It. He was threatened with not playing at a concert if he couldn't get it together. I have no idea what happened but he played. I can't threaten him with that because I don't have an understudy. I have a stage manager I can throw on stage with a script, which is not the WORST thing that can happen in a building that hasn't had a show in five years.
The WORST thing would be that this kid continues to whisper AND not know his lines when the curtain opens. The pressure on the other actors is ridiculous.
So I threw the script in the air, said "You're wasting my time" and walked away to do tech.
The girls continued to rehearse and he continued to whisper, then left early. Allegedly he had a game-he's a cheerleader- but he was seen wandering around downstairs. Later he came back to rehearsal as the stage manager was rehearsing his part, did not even register that he was supposed to be in rehearsal, asked if we had his backpack and left again.
I get trauma. I get oppression, apathy and learning struggles. I even get wanting to be a cheerleader and in the performing arts and having no idea how to balance a schedule.
But I do not get giving up.
Leaving a show in a lurch because you can't be bothered to do two baseline tasks: learn your lines and project.
So, stop wasting my time and I'll give the SM a script when you don't show up next week.
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I have a lot of PTSD with Neil Simon. In 2021 I mounted Rumors at Hinkley. It was a spectacular failure. Not only did the kids not project, but one flat out did not learn his lines. He exited and never returned on opening night. At one point, everyone exited and the stage was empty. It was horrifying. I would have just turned off the lights and ended it if I wasn't so stunned. I honestly did not see it coming. I assumed an audience would snap them back into reality.
Nope. Turns out the COVID lockdowns did more damage than I thought.
I walked in yesterday morning to the first set on the Kennedy stage in five years. It's not great, but it's theirs. The door frames are two inches too wide and the walls are not level, so the doors do not shut. But That's How You Learn. I'm not as wound up about the set as I am lines and projection. This place is an unforgiveable barn and I cannot figure out how to use the body mics. So. I got that going for me. They're working on it --all but "Manolo"--but honestly, these aren't theatre kids and they've not been in a theatre class, ever. It's hard.
I looked at the set when I walked in and smiled. I felt peace. As I approached it, I heard a voice somewhere say "The curse is lifted". I sighed and wondered...curse? I'm cursed? Then I heard John Paragon's voice say "The curse is lifted, long live Jambi."
I'm not cursed, I'm crazy.
Cool. Glad that's cleared up.
Scene.
