A Break! Sort Of.

I finished off spring semester of grad school two weeks ago. I earned A's in both classes again. (Yay!) And I finally got a bit of a break. Well... at least a two week break from grad school, but teaching school has been plenty busy. I will get another break from teaching when I go off track this Friday. Well... at least a break from teaching, but grad school starts up again Tuesday. At least one thing at a time is better than everything at once.

So I know you're wondering how things went with my class performance of "A Midsummer Night's Dream". I left everyone hanging for a while, and I'm sorry! It turned out very well! I did end up wiring Oberon to help him with his lines, but by the last performance he only needed me for a couple of lines. Vast improvement.

Between running the spot, the lights, the sound, and feeding lines, I was running out of arms to do everything, so I asked Brian to help out with lights and sound. He was a huge help! I'm not sure he loved all the adults assuming he was a parent volunteer, and he probably didn't love the 12-year-olds asking him if he "likes" me, but he was a trooper. I couldn't have done it without him.

Brian was also hooked up to the radio with a wire in his ear so I could give him lighting and sound cues. This made for some interesting moments. When I first read Oberon's lines to him, Brian responded with, "What?! I don't know what you said!" while Oberon stood on stage looking around very puzzled. And when Brian said to me over the radio, "Your wish is my command," Oberon found it very amusing and asked if I remembered that he could hear everything we said. The secretaries in the office could hear everything we were saying too and were shocked at what sounded like risqué phrases. They didn't know what to think of lines like, "I'll put love potion in your eyes" and "I must be thy lord" being whispered over the radio.

Puck was most definitely the star of the show. She was a fantastic actor! She had to be one of the best Pucks I have seen. She worked hard to get her lines down and followed my direction so well, but also added a lot of her own character and ideas to the part. In rehearsals her efforts to remember her lines were quite comical at times. One day while practicing the scene where she tricks Lysander and Demetrius into following her through the woods she accidentally shouted, "Come, thou coward! I'll smite thee with the Iron Rod!" She stopped and looked confused for a moment, then she and I both laughed so hard we cried. Between the bursts of laughter and the gasps for air she managed to explain that she had learned about that in church the previous Sunday. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time.

The Workmen of Athens did a wonderful job with their "play within a play" at the end of the show. Very funny. Pyramus hammed up his acting and Thisby used a hilarious high-pitched voice. I loved the way Wall performed her part too.

We only had a couple of disasters:
Oberon skipped two entire pages of the script in one show, but Puck was determined to say her favorite lines, so she went back two pages when she came on stage! It didn't completely make sense. But then, what 4th and 5th grade audience members can really tell what Shakespeare is saying anyway?
In another show, Hermia fell down the stairs in the dark just before the last scene. A fairy came running across the stage to inform me. I saw a teacher from the audience go back stage to see if she was alright, so I waited an extra minute. When all seemed well again, I turned on the lights. Hermia came limping on stage with tears in her eyes (ironic since her character had just been married). I later learned that her fellow thespians had said to her, "Get up! The show must go on!" and inspired her to continue. :)

At the end of the last performance, as Puck finished her famous ending monologue, before I was able to turn off the lights I heard Puck say, "But wait!" I was terrified of what she was doing - she can be just as mischievous as her character - and apparently my face showed my fear. She continued, "We would liketh to thanketh our teacher for directing our play." A fairy ran on stage with roses and I was waved onto the stage. It was a very sweet, fun presentation.

So, despite the stress the preparations for our performances caused, I can now say "All's well that ends well" after the production of our play.