This is a moment in: BUILDNG A THEATRE PROGRAM IN A SMALL TITLE ONE SCHOOL.
Four weeks ago, I wrestled 10 kids into agreeing to perform in a small "Showcase"- simply an evening demonstrating what they've learned since January. They don't even need to memorize anything new, just revisit a piece or skill they did in class and perform for friends and parents. Low Risk.
Ten. I had to cajole and beg half of them. The other half were gung ho and ready to go.
The Showcase is this Friday, 25 April
Yesterday, 21 April, the following happened.
2nd period, the two girls doing their Odd Couple scene for the showcase, who have been rehearsing and want to perform (they did Cabaret in February) can no longer do their scene. Kid 1 has family issues that are encroaching on her time, and she will have to attend therapy Friday evening. Kid 2 had her knee surgery in February--we're "cadaver buddies" as we had the same surgery---was in a car accident with her mom this weekend and reinjured her knee, causing new appointments to be scheduled --she cannot rehearse. They were both very upset to have to drop, which I appreciate. It is not their fault.
4th period, the SPED kids have their show on Weds during class time, and two of their representatives were slated to "perform" a brief moment from their play on Friday night. One of them, Kid 3, got suspended last week for gang tagging and upon his return has chosen to ignore class attendance. A second student, one of the two gen ed kids enrolled to help out, has said she will not be coming to class, or the show. She just doesn't want to. I have four narrators---two gen ed, two sped---and one on each side just bailed. MONDAY. The show is WEDNESDAY. This also impacts Friday night as Kid 3 was supposed to do a short version of this play with his buddy for the Showcase.
5th period, the small group is split up, mixing and sharing a devised piece, The Great Dictator monologue by Charlie Chaplain, and a scene from Mean Girls. I rallied them at the beginning of class to tell them I'd lost three performers and made them all promise to see this through on Friday. They all agreed.
One of the actors, Kid 4, who we have supported and talked into doing the Mean Girls scene on Friday has done nothing to learn lines or create a character. He clearly has the movie memorized, but does not come to class enough to have improved as a performer. He doesn't understand why we rehearse and speaks in a whisper.
So I said as much, and his answer was simply "Why? I'll do it Friday." I patiently explained for the Gozillionth time that this is what rehearsal is, we repeat. I don't know he'll project on Friday because he's never projected in class. I did not say anything about his weak attendance because truly he takes the bus from Arvada and misses class half the time. Nonetheless, this is a performance for an audience and you have to learn your lines and project, at bare minimum. I gave him suggestions and had them do it again. Then he went silent and went to the bathroom, from which he texted his group that he was dropping out of the scene. Not only is it Monday and the scene is Friday night, but it's a performance grade for class on Friday. Sadly, nobody was surprised.
6th period, Kid 5 is supposed to perform the prologue Friday night with a partner from 6th period. She did not show up for school or class, unexcused. No idea if she intends to show up Friday.
So of my 10 kids, five have bailed.
Gratefully, I have two who can step in and the remaining five can shuffle.
Seriously? It should not be this hard.
The kids who are dedicated are left holding this together, which is not fair to them at all. However, that's pretty typical for high school theatre, I just never noticed in a department of 50 kids.
Man it is noticeable now.
And I never noticed at Hink because kids wanted to do theatre, they just needed to be trained appropriately. I had No Boys though, and we did have to use a kid who was not ideal when our Roger got pulled out of RENT (due to a sweep for kids who did not have enough credit hours to graduate I have so many opinions about that decision). That sucked, but I had a kid who was willing to step in. Of course by then, I'd been at it for three years.
To be fair, I walked in in January of 2020 and there were kids in classes and a musical in rehearsal. They just didn't have a permanent teacher. It all ended on 12 March 2020, and the next two years were a scramble to rebuild in person with kids who had no interest in being anywhere in person. That was hard, but I did it. I put up seven productions last year, only to be cut back this year.
I digress.
I don't remember having so many bailers, ever. Certainly not at Littleton, we were turning kids away from Cabarets and cutting them from auditions. At Hinkley, they failed A Lot but they showed up. Nobody bailed. Never once did a kid who was given a role in class to perform for an audience say "I'm not doing this". OK, sure, they wouldn't show up on performance day, but that was for class. You're a gen ed kid assigned to helping sped kids with their show and you're bailing. That's a new level.
This is not on me, this is not because I'm not engaging or don't have bell ringers or blah blah blah. This is what has happened to kids who have no hope. The gen ed bailer is a drag, but her friend who is also in class involuntarily and has been sketchy with attendance, has had the opposite response. He stepped up. He's taking lines that aren't his, stepping in to help kids keep on track, working on his projection. He knows his blocking and cues. When these two started in January, he had moved to theatre because he was ditching band. He's a ditcher, don't get me wrong, and when they started he leaned heavily on his friend. He had to be put into her group for scenes. Now, she's bailing and he's finding his own way. The paras commented on it yesterday, they wanted to make sure I had noticed.
I noticed. And I'm ending on that positive note. All is not lost.
And this is harder than it needs to be.
Two things can be true.
Scene
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