"No Toby, do not shine the spotlight on Tate's bottom! Tate, wear slacks next time! Jonathon, get off of Alex! Christine, this is no time to be texting! Tom, we are not using balloons as breasts in this production! Are you all monkeys? We are trying to rehearse here, people. There is no time for such tomfoolery! The theatre waits for no one, we must be ready!" Our drama teacher, Ms Naphin, scolded loudly, her hands waving high in the air as she attempted to get the attention of all of the crew. None of them were acting professional in the least, and I was stuck waiting for them to calm down before we could continue running through the first act of the play. I was beginning to see why Ms Naphin had never married - the boys involved in this production were acting like a bunch of animals. They were screaming, wrestling, fighting, and none of them seemed to understand that our performance was coming up in less than eight weeks. Choreography was still needed for four numbers, people kept getting their lines wrong, the songs were off-key, everything was going wrong!
As Ms Naphin had said, the theatre waits for no one, and at the rate we were going, we would become the laughing stock of the school! Our performance of Wicked was going to be utter s**t. Tickets were already on sale, we had a sold out opening night, and nobody understood that we were nowhere near ready to perform! Of course, my songs had been perfected right off the bat, and I had almost all of my lines memorized and prepared, but still! Interaction between characters was what we needed to work on, along with the dancing and acting of all of my peers! No one else understood the hole we kept digging ourselves further into. We had talent scouts coming, scouts who wanted to see a quality performance. They didn't want to see a bunch of misfits acting like complete idiots on stage. Scouts did not have time for that sort of s**t. They were busy people, people who needed committed, dedicated, well-rounded people like me in their business. How were they going to notice my phenomenal acting if everyone acting with me sucked? They would leave before my big number, and I would never break out into a career in acting. Ugh!
Someone mentioned how soon the performances started, and that was when all hell broke loose. Tate started to tremble, nearly crying automatically from the news, while the boys had a different reaction. They were all staring dumbfound at the person who had spoken, a timid girl named Jasmine who now looked like she wanted to crawl back into her shell and hide like a turtle. I had to stifle a soft laugh at all of these reactions, standing in my marked spot at centre stage with a coy grin on my face. My hands were placed delicately on my hips, and I tilted my head a bit to the side as I waited for someone to speak again. When no one did, and everyone just stood there, I sighed heavily.
"So can we please start rehearsing now?" I asked impatiently, rocking back and forth on the balls of my feet as I waited for someone to speak. The other actors nodded quickly, rushing to their spots on the stage and nearly tripping over one another in their hurry. I stifled another giggle, pacing back and forth slightly as we waited for the band to begin from the top once more.
Rehearsing was my favourite thing to do. It came before friends, before schoolwork, before love, before life even. I was most comfortable in the theatre, it was where I belonged. It was only natural for me to be cast as the lead in Wicked. My blonde hair and happy voice, not to mention my top notch acting skills, made me perfect for the role of Glinda. She was the happiest, sweetest, most intriguing character in the entire play. The way she was able to manipulate everyone to do as she pleased was inspiring, and even though she wasn't happy with Fiyero in the end, she was still my favourite character. I ran a hand through my blonde hair, thinking about how great it would be to perform again. Last year, I had taken a one year hiatus from acting to satisfy my parents' desire to focus more on my school work, though that didn't exactly work as they planned. I ended up giving up my cell phone and computer in order to pursue acting once more. They didn't understand how I could do that, and were baffled by my actions ever since. I wanted to prove them wrong, make them realize how wrong they had been for doubting me and my ability, and by having the lead role in this magnificent performance, I would do just that.
We began with the scene between myself and Katie, the girl playing Elphaba. My favourite song, 'Popular', was in this scene, so I was in heaven. After singing my song in key perfectly, working out a few kinks in the choreography, and then running through the entire scene once, we moved on to another great scene - Fiyero's arrival at the school. He teaches them all that life isn't something to fret over, and they all make plans to have a crazy dance down at the Ozdust Ballroom. 'Dancing Through Life' was such an amazing song, so funny and lovable and even inspiring all at the same time. And in addition to how wonderful the song was, the boy singing it, William, was extremely cute. To be playing a role opposite him was a dream come true, even if he could be a bit of a downer sometimes. My optimistic attitude was usually able to even that out though, and we were usually the best couple on stage. He was able to learn choreography quickly, which was useful when I had to teach him one on one. We never needed help from others, and I liked working like that. It was easier working out kinks with one person than an entire group, because views end up conflicting when consulting in a large group.
After working on a few more scenes, we were dismissed for ten minutes to grab a bite to eat. I grabbed my purse, smiling to myself as I saw how wonderfully bright my entire
outfit was today. If there was one thing I loved, it was bright things. Colours, fabric, everything was better when it was bright and swirled together all in one. That was why I had never succeeded in finger painting as a child. I was always too interested in combining everything to actually paint a picture.
let out a soft sigh, stepping off of the stage reluctantly after seeing that everyone was going off in their own directions.
"Alright, I'll be back soon! Don't miss me too much." I said out loud, laughing at the fact that no one was around to hear my words. Walking down to where I had left my ipod and the cell phone my parents had recently returned to my custody, I picked both up and put the ipod in my purse, scrolling through the unread texts on my phone and replying to a select few while I had the chance. A small smile once more toying at my lips, I headed out of the theatre and towards the vending machines, intending to get some sort of junk food to satisfy my hunger. I wasn't a big meat eater, so running over to the burger place across the street from school wasn't an option. Therefore, I was stuck with junk food all the time. At least I was able to eat it without gaining weight, that was always a plus. I bought a bag of chocolate-covered pretzels from the first machine and a bottle of water from the one next to it, skipping back to the theatre and sitting down gracefully in an empty seat at the front of the audience, breaking open my pretzels and munching quietly as I waited for rehearsal to resume.
