fun cast traditions... — Page 2

We have a tradition called Wompka before the spring musical. All of the seniors get to speak for a while about how certain cast members have made an impact on them. The rest of the cast remains silent and continues the silence until the first spoken word of the show.

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I have tons, but here are two of my favorites from high school.

We had an amazing director, who retired after my freshman year, but after each show, after we had done strike and cleaned up, we all formed a big circle around her holding hands and sang "We love you mama" (ala We Love You Conrad). After her very last show we did that and then we all gave her tearful hugs.

All the senior Thespians used to sign somewhere in the theater backstage after our final awards banquet. The last show I did was Steel Magnolias, and I played Annelle. I had a really quick change in which I had to put on a pregnancy pad and change completely in about a minute, so I used this small kind of creepy room at the side of the theater so I could have light. So I signed on the ladder in that room "I got pregnant in here." It's always fun to try to find where and what people signed, because the point is not to tell (younger) people.

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My favorite was in high school, our director would always read to us from "The Prophet"...the chapter entitled "Beauty." We all stood in a circle and held hands and he would walk around in the circle and read it...it's always amazing...and when I was a senior and heard it for the last time...I bawled like a baby. Also, anyone who stage manages for a show gets a copy, and I stage managed for the Laramie Project, and received a copy of the book.

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Ahhhhhhhhh.....so many traditions, really I seem to be involved in one for every performance I'm ever in. I'll just give you some highlights......

When I did The Two Gentlemen of Verona, the cast would all gather around and do the bannana dance, a completely self-humiliating dance which you cannot avoid participating in if you grow up in theatre. Then we would all get together and hold hands, put them up by our shoulders, and throw our hands into the center of the cirlce while loudly whispering, "Oh sh*t!!"
If anyone has performed in the G&S show HMS Pinafore, you are farmiliar with the extremely long length of the overture. Well, some of us daring cousins ("and so do his sisters and his cousins and his aunts"--lol, now that song will be stuck in my head all night) used only the overture to get completely ready for our show.....we always made it on stage with plenty of time.
In the production I'm in right now, a group of us get together right around the five minute call and listen to Sutton sing "Astonishing" as loud as we can for inspiration.

I love this post.....what is it with theatre people and weird traditions????

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In High School: Everyone had to kiss a picture of 50 Cent right before the show. Yeah, I went to public school.

Theatre Group: Everyone had to take a sip from the big bottle of Mountain Dew.

Camp: One year, when we did Guys & Dolls, our director decided to call us in early and have us do the whole show with the girls playing the male roles and vice versa. Off book.

College: (explicit lyrics:) We do an excercise that goes like this: "SH*T damn **** a damn, **** a damn damn. Some mother****er went and ****ed my man. I'll find another ****er better than the other ****er, **** damn **** a damn, **** a damn damn."

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