On Stage In Drama Club
Melody and April both went to the Drama Club meeting at the school on Wednesday afternoon. Melody loves the idea of being on stage. To sing, dance, and tell jokes. To be in front of an audience that paid money to watch her. To win the hearts of strangers and have lots of friends.
“Okay, let’s all settle down,” announced Mrs. Mary Sherman. “We have a lot of new people here today so everyone: please help everyone.
“There are advanced drama students here too,” She turned to the group in the back by the door. One of the members of the elite acting group was Isabel who was dressed in mostly black with tiny red accents that perfectly matched her boots. Her red boots laced up to her knees. She looked like an actress and acted like one. “They will be your guides and give you tips. Say ‘Hi’ guys.”
And the group did.
Melody spied Travis, a tall Sophomore wearing a tight teeshirt, black sweat pants and black slippers on his large feet. He looked to her like he was dancing when he walked. “My leading man?” Melody imagined.
Mrs. Sherman took the small stage and started, “We’re all people in the same classroom. So what makes me different than all of you?”
The first-time students were silent and finally one of the advanced students spoke up, “You are on stage and we are not.”
“And why am I on stage?”
“Because you want to be there.”
“That’s correct.”
Then she addressed the whole class, “If you want to be on stage then you have to get out of your seat and climb a few stairs. Physically getting here is not difficult. What is very difficult is to commit yourself to climbing up the stairs and being on stage.”
It all sounded true to April. She understood the metaphor right away. The stage was her life and she had to live her life. Being on stage and interacting with others was life. Watching your own life from a balcony seat was losing your life.
Mrs. Sherman explained how one needs to be a ‘bit actor’ in their own life. The masses say, ‘be a star in your own life’ but that’s a mistake. The star is the one on stage with the biggest ego and strongest sense of self-entitlement. A small bit character is much better because it puts you in an egoless place where you can really be yourself and experience your life fully.”
“How do we do that?” Vanessa asked and mimed her question.
“By engaging in your life. Take an active roll and create new situations to meet new friends. Make yourself into a new character by wearing different clothes and having different personal habits. Don’t try to grab the attention of the scene. Rather, wait for the scene to grab you. Then let it and do your performance with all your heart.”
“Yeah, I get that,” agreed Vanessa and her hands.
“On stage you have more freedom because nobody is judging you.”
“That’s right,” acknowledged Isabel.
“Being on stage is being active. You can move your body anywhere you want it to go.” Mrs. Sherman finished, “And live your truthful life rather than a fake life with a little sweet frosting on top.”
Then she waited a minute or so until the students started getting restless.
“So what are you waiting for? Your whole life is passing you by and you’re just eating popcorn and sitting in the cheap seats.”
She grinned, knowing what was going to happen next. Every student got out of their chair and climbed the three little stairs to his or her own life. They walked around on the stage and began living their life. It was a party onstage and everyone was alive.
“Welcome on stage. Welcome to your life!” Then Mrs. Sherman got off the stage and started directing the students.
“Our first exercise is the hardest to do for any stage or screen performer. If you can do this successfully you could become a first-rate actor.”
The students liked the dramatic set-up and were ready to perform.
“Stand still. Pick a spot and just stand there. The challenge is that you must be engaging while you are doing nothing. The audience will notice you even though you aren’t doing anything.
“So do it. Get busy. Stand still. Casual, natural, and now, be interesting.”
The students did just that and the results ranged from funny to weird. Everyone laughed when they started, having a difficult time not moving. But the students recovered, refocused and finished the exercise with aplomb. The group looked like they were all casually waiting for a train.
Mrs. Sherman let the exercise go on for another full minute then wrapped it up, “Excellent, excellent, you all were fantastic. Most of you really looked like you were just waiting for the train. Applause, applause,” she said snapping her fingers like her hands clapping.
They took a short break and then were introduced to ‘Improv’ acting.
“For you newbies, Improv is acting without a script or rehearsal. You just perform in the moment and try to make up funny actions and clever dialogue.
“Someone is the leader and starts the improv. They help direct the dialogue and action. Always be positive and supportive of your other actors. Work with them and the show will be funnier.”
Chris, one of the advanced students started, “We all are going to a big party. It’s a dull party and everyone is droopy. Then we walk in and turn dull into entertainment. Ready? Scene!” he shouted, then started.
Chris acted like he had just arrived, “Hey everybody! Glad to be here!”
A newbie answered him, “Hey, good to see you. Did you bring the tacos?”
“I brought a vegetable and pork rind soup,” Melody spoke loudly and proudly.
“I didn’t bring anything,” Travis spoke in character, “Just me, my dancing shoes, and a bad attitude.”
“Let me put on some music,” Megan spoke like it was the next natural thing to do.
“Oh, that sounds nice. What is it?”
“It’s the Baby’s Lullaby by Brahms.”
“What? Don’t you have any jazz?”
“Jazz is for musicians who can’t keep a steady rhythm.”
“Like Jasmin, Jaslyn, and Jasper?” Chris punned.
Mrs. Sherman interrupted the improv, “We’re not really going anywhere folks so let’s move on. What doesn’t work will never work.”
The students mulled around on stage chatting.
“For the next improv, how about I pick one of the first-timers. April, how about you?”
April felt a rush of fear but then stepped up anyways, “Okay, Mrs. Sherman. I got a good idea.” April explained it to the group, “This is a story about the Storm and the weather.
The group was attentive and willing to take any action upon their new director’s cue.
“Hands in the air!” April spoke loudly, feeling more secure. “Now start moving randomly all around the room.”
Students got into it right away, running all over the big room and dancing with their hands and making Storm sounds.
April then assigned parts, "You are the Wind, you two are the Rain, you three are the Trees blowing in the wind.”
It was getting fun, and April became more enthusiastic, “You are the Trash blowing around all over the ground. You are the Lightning Flash and you are the Thunder.”
As soon as Isabel, with aspirations to star in movies, was assigned to be the Wind, she blew the ‘Gales of November Come Early’, blowing everyone off the stage. Including April, which April did not like, feeling her power as leader slip.
But, ’on with the show’ April conceded and continued on with her own show.
She went to the students standing in the back, the ones nervous to participate, and assigned them each a role. She pointed to Chris and Megan, “You two are now the Gods of Weather. You encourage the Storm and are thrilled when there is destruction.”
“What’s your name?”
“I’m Travis.”
“Hi Travis. I want you to be ‘Trouble’.
“I’ve been called that before.”
April laughed, Travis was all in. “So, how about, you are a TV news reporter who goes about messing with other people’s things. But in a cheerful way with smiles and politeness.”
“What should I do?”
“Pretend you have a microphone in your hand and go interview victims of the Storm.”
“Got it. On my way.”
April turned to the students grouped by the front door, “You three are Nervous Children who want to know what’s happening. Go ask everyone lots of questions.”
Travis got into character and turned to the students now playing Nervous Children. “This is XYZ News and this is Travis Trouble, reporting live! These poor children have been without food for two days! Tell me now, how are you all feeling?” and the News Reporter Travis Trouble thrust his imaginary microphone into the boys’ and girls’ faces.
The improv continued and April was so busy creating characters that she didn’t notice Mrs. Sherman’s complimentary smile and nods of satisfaction. Students became their characters right away, then expanded their characters by taking risks. So it seemed, it was easier to play the Wind than a human being.
When the dark cluttered clouds finally started to give away their precious fluids, the improv moved outside and into the rain. April directed everyone out the door and onto the quad. At first many of the students were hesitant but when Mrs. Sherman nodded in approval and pointed the way, they all joyfully exited the dry classroom.
Mrs. Sherman loved to perform outside, in the fresh air and Nature’s elements. She had spent a summer in San Diego performing Shakespeare at the Old Globe Theater outside in Balboa Park. Best performances of her career.
“Dancing in the rain was exactly what these boys and girls needed,” she thought. “To use their bodies, interact with Nature, and be loud and free and say or do as each of them sees fit.”
“We’re singing in the rain!”
They became an entertaining spectacle for everyone on campus.
April directed with confidence and humorous excitement, “The Wind is blowing over here by the stairs, and Troubles coming! Travis, you’re now Trash and falling on everyone, asking senseless questions. But the gods of weather, Megan and Chris, where are you?”
“Gods here!” Chris shouted from the other side of the quad.
“Goddess too!” Megan chimed.
“You both arrive just in the nick of time! Now chase down Travis Trash and stop his interviews!
“Trees over there! Birds flying here! Melody, be the Wind now, and do your circle spinning thing down on the walkway! Yes, now spin all the way up! Great!”
Having the students perform in the rain was a visual treat. The teachers walking across the quad were all smiles and smirks. And the students were all in envy.
Then Mrs. Sherman spread the word to her flock, “Wrap it up. Five minutes!”
April led the Gods, Wind, Rain, Trees, and Trash back to the classroom. The students were wild and chatty as they dried off.
“Amazing!”
“That was the best!”
“Dancin’, dancin’, in the rain!”
Mrs. Sherman shook April’s hand as the Club ended, “Well done, April. You would make a great stage director.”
“Thank you Mrs. Sherman. I’ll be back next week.”
“I know you will,” Mrs. Sherman said now focusing directly on April.
April caught the subtle implication, got curious, and decided to hang around a little longer, until the other students had left the classroom.
She followed Mrs. Sherman walking down the front row in front of the stage. Mrs. Sherman then stopped and directed April to sit. She did, in the exact middle chair. Then Mrs. Sherman walked up the stairs and onto the stage.
She was big and powerful on stage. April could feel it. Mrs. Sherman was just a teacher, but on stage she was a performer, a power to be observed and understood.
“I am on the stage in my own life.” Mrs. Sherman walked across the stage and then back the other way but closer to the audience’s seats. April watched her and understood the lesson. On stage Mrs. Sherman was all grace and excitement. Not herself but that part of herself that showed those qualities.
“Get it!?!” she said loudly directly to April.
“Got it!” April shouted back because she did. When an actor gets on the stage she becomes a different person. Like how Lisa had talked about shape-shifting. You don’t really change physically into another being. But you take on their characteristics and emotions, their voice’s timber and their funny habitual actions, the character’s social skills and needs, wants, and desires.
“So come on up onto the ‘Stage of April’s Life’.”
And April did.
“Not too fast,” Mrs. Sherman coached. “Go slow, be natural. You became a performer the moment you stood up. So be one, right now. Every movement, sound, and action you make or take must be performed by your character. And done in a way that supports your character’s Truth. Show us who you are and why you are here on stage.
“And today your character is ‘You’. Not so difficult to play.” Then Mrs. Sherman paused and April knew why. She was giving April all the time she needed to figure things out for herself.
“Maybe this would be my most difficult role to play?”
“April you’re thinking like an A student. Exactly correct, and you got it with your first shot. Bullseye!”
Mrs. Sherman greeted her on stage in character and April responded in her new character: April. They chatted and Mrs. Sherman’s character was over the top with funny talk and lots of actions.
She waved her hands as if creating a wind storm. “Be visual! Use your body! All of it!”
April played the ‘April’ part, and danced on stage with her teacher. “What freedom! This isn’t acting. This is living!” April thought, now imagining a future career on stage.
Mrs. Sherman sat down on the edge of the stage and April sat next to her. They both breathed hard and happily.
“Right here,” Mrs. Sherman said, “Right here is the edge. The edge between the reality of the audience and the reality of the actors.”
“Wow, acting is so fascinating. It sounds like an exciting career.”
“It is. I’ve had a wonderful time working professionally as a performer and have traveled the world.”
“The world? I want to travel,” April jumped in but then recognized the weakness of her statement and quickly corrected herself, “I mean I’m going to travel, I hope to Paris, this summer.” She said it like it was true and a done deal with her parents. And maybe it was.
“Yes, like that. On stage you can be anybody and go anywhere. No ticket or airplane needed. Just a couple of guys to repaint the backdrop and we are there! “Paris? Easy! Imagine the big backdrop behind us painted with a river and the Eiffel Tower, give us a couple chairs, a small table and the dressings of a French cafe and we’re there! In Paris! Prove to me that we’re not!”
Mrs Sherman started walking as she talked, collecting props, two chairs and a little metal folding table, and then setting them up.
She sat and so did April. Then she spoke with an improv style and exclaimed while stretching her arms out into the air, “Ah! Paris!”
“Bonjour!” April spoke brightly. She had never said a word of French in public.
“That’s it! Good acting!” Mrs. Sherman loved a student who caught on quickly. “The French always say ‘bonjour’ when they enter a new environment or meet new people, always.
“And it’s always said with bright, enthusiastic intention. Which means, the greeting is always sincere.
“I was in a big restaurant one afternoon. There were only a few other customers scattered around. Then an older woman came through the front door with a classic ‘Bonjour!’
“I could feel how it changed the energy in the room. I immediately felt more relaxed. The restaurant felt more cozy and it was like I now belonged with the group of people there.”
April understood, “The French woman was saying ‘good day’ to her new environment, not just the people in it. She was simply greeting everything by announcing, ‘Good Day!’”
“Bonjour!” Mrs. Sherman replied brightly. “You get an A, April. Welcome to Paris!”
“Bonjour!” April greeted her environment and teacher like a French girl.
The scene was titled, ‘April In Paris’.
“What’s ‘waiter’ in French?” she asked.
“Garson, which literally means, ‘boy’.”
“I like that! He’s my own personal ‘boy’.” Then April commanded, “Garson!”
Her teacher then coached her on what to say next to their imagined handsome French waiter. “Bonjour Monsieur. Ça va?” (pronounced ‘sa va’)
April repeated, “Ça va?” and Mrs. Sherman thought she sounded pretty good for an American’s first time in Paris.
“It means, ‘what’s up?’ or ‘how you feeling?’,” Mrs. Sherman explained. “It’s the most common French expression. Even the French people joke about saying ‘ça va’. It is just a greeting, but it can mean anything the speaker wants it to. Just add some sincere emotion, which is what being French is all about.”
April adjusted her body in her chair. Her imagined dreams and fears were all in play on stage, staring her down and encouraging her to stand at center-stage and do her life-dance.
“Now you would order, so just learn the French words for your favorite foods and you are on your way.”
“Okay,” April said with hesitancy. It sounded like a lot of homework.
“So, here’s some magic. No studying needed. You already know most of them!”
“What?” April responded in disbelief.
“Sure: omelette, baguette, café which is coffee, buffet, au gratin. And for dessert: chocolat! crème brûlée! and an eclair! And the French word for milk is—can you guess?”
“Latte!” April answered.
“Yes!, you’re correct, well, almost. In French, it’s ‘lait’ or ‘le lait’, the milk. So you order a ‘un café au lait’ or ‘un café crème.”
“That makes so much sense!” and April laughed, again in disbelief. Her teacher made speaking French sound so easy. And maybe it wasn’t so bad if April couldn’t speak French. But maybe she really could pull off an authentic ‘Ça va’ as an American.
“And remember, you’ll always have a menu, and pointing to the pictures on a menu is considered an international language.”
April listened in awe. Her dream of living Parisian style was coming true, and right before her eyes.
“Imagine this April: you are a foreign traveler in a country and a city you don’t know. You can’t speak the local language or understand how to do anything. But you are very hungry.
“Now it’s easy to figure out which businesses are likely restaurants. You know, they have flashing colored lights, usually an open door, and a menu posted outside for customers to read. And the menu will have plenty of pictures to point to when you are finally sitting and ordering.
“So let’s order our French meal and we can learn some more French eating words. Oh!, like ‘cuisine’ which you already know! Cuisine is simply the French word for ‘food’.
They practiced the improv and it was ‘magnifique’, Mrs. Sherman said.
April rode her bicycle home as the sun set. She imagined it as a giant backdrop on her own personal stage. She was an actor in her own life. Not the star of the show. No, that role would be too much trouble and have too many lines. She was just a bit-player called April, satisfied with her character, her lines, and actions.
April’s eyes got wide as she added things up and experienced an ‘epiphany’. She had always harbored a fear of the world. All the unknown people and things and rules. But now, as an actor, she could take on her fears without being scared or obsessed that she would say or do the wrong thing.
She could never say the wrong thing. That would be impossible for the actress April. Every one of her actions was directed and therefore perfect. Whatever foolish act she did, she was free! acting out her stage play of ‘April’s Life’. As her character, April, it would be easy to go after her needs and wants without anyone knowing.
Not even Mikie or Bill.
* * * *