One by one the students filter into the theater room. For the first evening performance, call is at 5:00, but by the time I’ve arrived at 4:30 room 220 is already filled with students busily preparing for the show. Costumes begin to disappear from the costume closet and a thin layer of powder and cream makeup appears on the counter. I manage to squeeze my way through the mob of people standing around, chatting, applying makeup, or curling hair and find myself a wonderful seat in front of the mirror. As I sit down I’m overcome with a thick, chocking cloud of hairspray.
Over the next hour students slowly transform into their characters, no longer the same people who walked through the door earlier this evening. The director enters and shouts
“Twenty minutes until show!”
Myself, and everyone one else in the theater room echoes in response,
“Thank you twenty!”
You can almost feel the level of excitement rising. The chattering gets a little louder. Soon after the announcement, the cast gather around the tables and began to stretch. The chattering dies down, and I begin to reflect over what we’ve accomplished over the last month and a half.
Five minutes until the show starts. Everyone circles up and join hands so the seniors can continue on the tradition of “The Energy Circle”.
“Are you ready?”
Everyone replies in their stage whisper, “Yeahhhhh!”
“Then let’s get ready to rumble!”
The wave is started around the circle. It goes around once, twice, and than dies out. It’s time to report to our places.
As everybody