#1
Posted: 11/28/06 at 12:46pm
While typing my response on the "What Show Rekindled Your Love of Theatre" thread, I started thinking about special moments that didn't neccesarily happen onstage that reaffirmed what makes theatre so important to me. As a former high school theatre/chorus teacher I had a lot of opportunities to experience these types of moments through my students. They happen sometimes when you least expect them, but they always leave you with a smile on your face and a deeper love for the power of the artform of theatre. Some of my favorite examples:
-- When former students excitedly e-mail me to tell me about shows they have been cast in or have seen, and then I remember their first day in theatre class when they had no prior experience whatsoever.
-- When former students told me that they went to see Bat Boy at a local theatre, or The Producers national tour because they remembered me talking about them in class.
-- When you take someone who has never been to New York before to their first Broadway show and see their face when the lights dim and the music starts.
-- When you pull out a Broadway show medley to do in Chorus and although the students complain about it at first -- by the time the concert rolls around they all love every note of it -- and then sing songs from it at pageants, talent shows, etc.
-- I cast the school's star basketball player one year in a musical I was directing and he had a blast. A college came in to recruit him to play basketball for them, and began to ask him about what subjects he might be interested in majoring in. He mentioned music, and when they asked this 6'4" stereotypical basketball prospect what kind of music he liked best -- he gave a very non-stereotypical answer -- showtunes!
-- When I watch high school and amateur productions and see the joy on the faces of the actors, musicians, stagehands that shows how much they love what they are doing.
-- When kids are in tears on closing night of a show because the experience has meant so much to them.
-- After I left teaching, I worked for about nine months as a box office manager for the big local performing arts center. One day while I was supervising the box office for a performance of Cathy Rigby in Peter Pan, a teenage boy and his mother came up to buy two tickets. They asked for two seats on the back row of the top balcony because at $20 a piece that was all they could afford --and it was very evident that they were telling the truth. At that same time the company manager called up and let me know that I could release any of the seats they had on hold for cast members for general sale. Two seats on the front row center orchestra came available as a result. Instead of selling him 2 seats on the back row I was able to give him the seats on the front row for the same price (due to a student rush discount). A few weeks later I got a letter in the mail from him and he wrote that being able to sit there and have Cathy Rigby fly over his head and sprinkle pixie dust on him and his Mom was one of the greatest moments of his life and one he would never forget.
Does anyone else have any similar moments they would like to share? They don't have to be from students like mine are, but from anywhere or anyone.
-- When former students excitedly e-mail me to tell me about shows they have been cast in or have seen, and then I remember their first day in theatre class when they had no prior experience whatsoever.
-- When former students told me that they went to see Bat Boy at a local theatre, or The Producers national tour because they remembered me talking about them in class.
-- When you take someone who has never been to New York before to their first Broadway show and see their face when the lights dim and the music starts.
-- When you pull out a Broadway show medley to do in Chorus and although the students complain about it at first -- by the time the concert rolls around they all love every note of it -- and then sing songs from it at pageants, talent shows, etc.
-- I cast the school's star basketball player one year in a musical I was directing and he had a blast. A college came in to recruit him to play basketball for them, and began to ask him about what subjects he might be interested in majoring in. He mentioned music, and when they asked this 6'4" stereotypical basketball prospect what kind of music he liked best -- he gave a very non-stereotypical answer -- showtunes!
-- When I watch high school and amateur productions and see the joy on the faces of the actors, musicians, stagehands that shows how much they love what they are doing.
-- When kids are in tears on closing night of a show because the experience has meant so much to them.
-- After I left teaching, I worked for about nine months as a box office manager for the big local performing arts center. One day while I was supervising the box office for a performance of Cathy Rigby in Peter Pan, a teenage boy and his mother came up to buy two tickets. They asked for two seats on the back row of the top balcony because at $20 a piece that was all they could afford --and it was very evident that they were telling the truth. At that same time the company manager called up and let me know that I could release any of the seats they had on hold for cast members for general sale. Two seats on the front row center orchestra came available as a result. Instead of selling him 2 seats on the back row I was able to give him the seats on the front row for the same price (due to a student rush discount). A few weeks later I got a letter in the mail from him and he wrote that being able to sit there and have Cathy Rigby fly over his head and sprinkle pixie dust on him and his Mom was one of the greatest moments of his life and one he would never forget.
Does anyone else have any similar moments they would like to share? They don't have to be from students like mine are, but from anywhere or anyone.
"You pile up enough tomorrows, and you'll find you are left with nothing but a lot of empty yesterdays. I don't know about you, but I'd like to make today worth remembering." --Harold Hill from The Music Man
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