Rejection

Rejection is something everyone has to deal with at some point in life, whether it be asking a girl or guy to prom, baseball tryouts, or even in performing arts. When a show only has twenty people in the cast and eighty five people show up to auditions someone is going to get let down.  

            There are many different reactions to not seeing your name on the list you so wish it was on. Some people get awfully angry and spend the rest of their life in a fit of hot rage. “Why not me?! I was so perfect for that roll!” Maybe they just get extremely sad, and go cry in a corner, silently. Another way people coup with rejection is to put themselves back out there, say “I know what I did wrong, and I will do better next time,” and then be on their merry way off to the next audition. Now I think the best way to deal with this blow is to do all of the aforementioned options!

 Now let’s begin at the time when you don’t see your name on the list. Your heart drops, and you feel the tears swell up. That’s fine! Be sad. There is a reason you wanted to be in that play/musical. And after the sadness you will probably be mad. Mad directly at the director. He did not pick you! It is his fault you are depressed! And then after a day or two, or less depending on your rebound rate, of quiet fuming you could get the courage and go talk to that director about why you didn’t make it in, what you can work on, and how you could still be involved.

            Every single director will tell you the same thing, if you go and talk to them; “It was a hard decision. There was just so many talented people.” It’s basically the page one on “How to Be a Director.” Which is most likely true. They don’t just put people in that they want. They go by talent, it may seem unfair to someone who didn’t make it in, but to those who deserve it, they understand.  Now no matter how upset about not making it in you are, being involved is a good thing! It may be hard to just help behind the stage with lights or costumes but it’s good to be there as much as possible, getting your name and face in their brain.

Play time Poppy

Play Time Poppy is a children’s theater activity at all of my city’s local high schools. They put on one play time poppy show per year per school for young children. They have put on shows such as “The Cat in The Hat,” The Little Mermaid,” and “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever,” plus many more. This organization has been putting on fun plays and musicals for kids for 62 years! The show includes a lot of audience participation and yelling and singing and just a lot of fun!

            Play time poppy’s mascot is an ear of Corn; her name is play time poppy. When you’re a kid and you go to one of their magical shows she sings in the beginning about where she was born and who she is. The kids really dig it.

The thing I find so cool about play time poppy is that its been around for so long.  I remember going to it as a kid and I auditioned for it just last week, its such an odd feeling. I remember as a kid, the show being so magical and getting to meet the people after and knowing they were such big stars( because of course I thought they were their characters) was a great experience and I think its really great that kids can still get the experience now!

           

Costumes, Hair, Makeup

From eighth grade on I have been in acting and in show choir. Two totally different things, but they both have a few things in common; make up, hair, and costuming. Obviously I do not mean that all of those are the same for each activity.

            Make up for show choir must be dramatic. At my school we use black, grey, and white for eye shadow, bright red for lips, and pink for the cheeks. That doesn’t sound horrible, but when you spend an hour trying to get it just perfect, just to sweat it all off… that kind of stinks. Literally. Hair has to be big. Because, as my director from freshman year, Mr. Muters, said, “You will look bald from the stage.” Of course that’s not true. It just looks like you have really thin hair.  So the poofs and curls are very nice to have. And last, costumes. Show choir costumes are a mixture of gross looking, adorable, prom dress, and versatile. If they aren’t sparkly they won’t catch the judge’s eyes but at the same time they can’t be a dress made of sparkles.  They also have to give the feeling of the songs being performed. For example we sang “Set Fire to the Rain” by Adele last year and our dresses were red and orange thus creating us, the fire.  Dressing changes are hard to do when you only get half a minute to get all the sparkled clothes off and fresh, new sparkled clothes back on again, so dresses must be easy for quick changes too.

            Make up for acting and plays can very. If a teenager was casted as a teenager his or her make up wouldn’t take as long to do as a toad or a witch, they would simply have to express their features more. Ring the eyes with black and blush the cheeks. You have to make your features able to be seen from far away. Now if someone was casted as a frog his or her make up would take longer because there is more to do. They would have to green their whole face and add details. Costumes are also harder for plays because they need to express a certain character. So there is a very, very, broad range of costumes. Hair has the same problem as the costumes; they depend on the character.

            In a variety of arts there will be a variety of details but having to do hair and makeup will always be a trail.

Glee

Glee is a lovable comedy show about to enter its 5^th season. It fallows a high school show choir in Ohio through the year, it also is about the kids in that show choir and their lives as “normal” teenage kids, although to me I don’t find any of their situations “normal” with a handicapped person, teen pregnancy, gays, and lesbians all thrown in one. But who am I to judge what’s normal and what’s not?

Like I said Glee is all based around one show choir. But the differences in the show and show choir in real life vary quite a bit.

In the show they spend their class periods singing any upbeat, new, or popular song they want without the consent of their teacher, Will Schuester, and without any practice before hand, which is pretty miraculous if you ask me.  Their accompanist also just somehow knows what to play perfectly when they say “hit it.”  Actually in one episode where the piano player got fired he was going on a rant about how hard it was to work with “spoiled kids who point at you and say hit it” and how “het just expect him to know what song to play perfectly.” From one competition to the next, state, regional, national’s etcetera, their set list changes, as do their costumes and dance moves.

Now for a show all about show choir it couldn’t portray show choir to the non in-the-loop world more wrong! None of those things happen! At least not where I’m from. As a group we work on specific hit points on one move for hours upon hours, one song for days and days, and a whole show for months and months! We don’t perform random songs from the radio for each other and we don’t have a piano player who just knows every song there has ever been.  People spend late nights putting together our costumes for us and we perform at more than three competitions.

So when my hair dresser askes me “what activities are you in?” and I reply with “Show choir” with a big smile on my face and she reply’s with “Oh like Glee?” I will simply say “No. Not really,” because Glee is not like real show choir at all. 

Inspiration

There is inspiration all around us and when you are in performing arts you need to be inspired in many ways. You need to be inspired to just get out of bed in the morning when you are tired, to do the best you can on stage, to look the best you can, and to feel the best you can. I have learned that there are two different types of inspiration, inner inspiration and outer inspiration. The majority of good athletes have inner inspiration. They strive to be the best they can be. It’s the same with singers, actors, and performers.

You can also be inspired from the outside like if you see or hear something that is just so amazing that you need to be able to do it, or, as many teenagers would know, parents can be exceedingly motivating, with the threat of diminished allowance and less time out with friends, but it is inspirational just the same.

It tends to be that the people who try harder every day to be better every day are the ones succeed the most. That’s not to say that the other inspiration can’t do well. They definitely can., and have. In fact I would classify myself as a person who needs an extra push. Most of the time inspirational speeches help that.

Before show choir, before a show, before surgery…okay so I’m not one hundred percent sure on the surgery one…but for the others, there is always time for inspirational speeches by directors or leaders and I think it is those, extra little, pushed that make people do their best and leave everything they have on the playing field.

Healthy Living

When you are performing you want to look physically fit, like you have a lot of energy, and over all healthy. The only way to look healthy is to be healthy.  Eat healthy food, drink non-sugary drinks, exercise, and get a lot of sleep.  I’ve been trying lately to be healthier throughout my life and here are my tips on how to do that.

Read don’t watch TV. When you watch television it sort of reminds me of a movie theater, at least more so then reading a book, so of course I want a snack because you always get on in theaters. When you read a book your brain is absorbed in what it is saying instead of what your stomach is saying

                Start little and work your way up. Start with not snacking after 8 o’clock pm. Then work to only snacking on vegetables, then maybe only one bad thing for you per day, like a chocolate bar or a few pieces of candy. It won’t seem like such a big jump then.

                Exercise when possible.  Now if you’re super busy like me, right now you’re probably like “ha-ha no” and I would totally understand. I’m just saying that in this day and age, with food companies putting what they are, into what you eat, there is no way you will be the 100 percent best you can be while not exercising.

                Sleep. Praise the Lord for sleep! And it being healthy for you! That’s not half bad either! http://www.sleepfoundation.org/article/sleep-topics/teens-and-sleep the national sleep foundation says teenagers need 9 hours and 25 minutes of sleep, which I know I don’t get. If you get enough sleep you will wake up refreshed and ready to start the day, Maybe with a little exercise?

Time management

Time management is a very good skill to have when you’re a teenager in high school because you need to be able to be in school, do homework, have good grades, be in extracurricular activities, hold down a job, have time for the social aspect of it, and let’s not forget sleeping! Wow. Wow is right.  For me those extra activities are performing arts, so it takes up quite a bit of time, actually a majority of it. Most of my friends in show choir and I would say that during competition season we spend most of our time at school or at a competition.  So I just have a few hints and tips about good time managing.

                Tip #1.) Be organized. If you have to run around trying to find something that you swear you left right on the counter you’re going to be late and therefore not very successful in what you were trying to do!

                Tip # 2.) Don’t stress too much. Most of the time people have so much stress over things they cannot control and once you learn you can’t control it you learn not to stress out about it.

                Tip # 3.) It’s okay to have a little bit of stress. it makes it so you get things done quickly.

                Tip #4.)  Don’t lie to yourself about how much time you have. You could always say “oh I can just double up on that later.” But why not do it now!

Now I have to confess something….I have been somewhat of a hypocrite while writing this because  when I do have a lot of things going on I do get stressed, So badly that I cry.  Most of the time I’m not very organized, my room is a great example of that right now.

                So who am I to be telling other people how to manage their time? Well I also wanted to make it known that I’m actually pretty good and everything I do. So being organized and all that jazz is good and it helps a lot when you can be but you can also do well just going with the flow.