It's Playtime!!!

Directing the school plays was absolutely my favorite activity while teaching. There were nights at practice that I just couldn't stop laughing; and the harder I laughed, the crazier the cast became. It was my goal to ensure that everyone had fun. Unlike other school activities, there was no pressure except to learn your lines which wasn't always easy. But they learned to be creative whether it was writing their lines on huge pieces of paper stapled to the back of furniture or plastering their palms or props with clues.

However, I didn't always feel that way, especially those first few years. At times I felt like a huge stress ball of nerves. Then again, all I had to do was look at my students who weren't exactly motivated to execute a command performance. It seemed as though it were more like "execute the director." Earlier in the school year, I had caught three boys purchasing beer while I was chaperoning them, several were accused of being intoxicated in school at 8 a.m., and they were all very, very much in love.

Love may conquer all, but it almost ruined my first production. The night before the play, a cast member failed to show up. When I asked where he was, no one volunteered any information until I became quite upset. "Mrs. C., he's at the bar." "WHAT? He's at the BAR? What is he doing at the bar?" "Ummm...playing pool?" was NOT the response I want to hear. Not funny!!! (though it was an idiotic question on my part)

As I left the cast to practice on their own, I headed out the door to retrieve my student. Once I found him, he bluntly yelled, "I QUIT!!" Explaining to him that this was not an option, I needed to know what the problem was...why would he quit? He unwillingly admitted that he had a fight with his girlfriend, and she dumped him. He didn't want to be anywhere near her. It's hard enough to convince a stubborn 18-year-old of "anything," let alone that "the show must go on." He did eventually return, but I believe he left his mark ...

...that mark being empty beer cans outside the stage door, like so many cast members before and after him. I heard about it every Monday morning following the production. "Really? There were beer cans outside the back door? How many? Only 6? I had no idea." Of course, I knew it was my responsibility and I did inform the students of the drinking rules, but in reality I was the director, not the babysitter. "What was that again?" as I was pondering to myself, "Let me see...I have a stage to check, makeup to put on 25 cast members, boys' hair to fix, money and programs to give to the ticket takers, and now you want me to check the playgrounds for stashed beer? This has to be a joke." And so it went until the school switched to coal for heating and the back door was blocked. Whew!

I did get other lectures, but one particular instance "sticks" in my mind. I couldn't imagine why "MY" boys would string chewed bubble gum back and forth across the stall doors in the elementary restroom. What a waste of good gum!! Oh yes! Then there was the feminine hygiene problem. I don't know who was more embarrassed--the superintendent telling me that the boys were playing with the tampons in the girls' restroom--or the boys when I told them, "I know you are the curious type, but please do not play with the tampons." I've never seen so many red faces in one place!

The students were extremely creative when it came to conjuring up costumes and props. We did have a little trouble finding heels big enough for Jason Nelson, but he could "walk the walk" with the best of them. Then there was Ron Etzel who had a plastic Brownie camera for an eye and a plunger for a leg. He, too, could "walk the walk" of a different sort. It seemed like we always had problems with those plastic swords and knives breaking, but it did get laughs...as well as the planned buckets of water being dumped on fellow cast members or plates of spaghetti being thrown across the stage and just praying that it would actually be caught. THAT TOOK PRACTICE!!
I always felt that the boys enjoyed going to the extreme when it came to playing tricks on fellow cast members. Most of them I never knew about until after the fact, such as Daren Reynolds sharing his tale of inserting Tabasco sauce into Zane Reed's medication during the matinee. That happened several times later in years as well. (I'm wondering if Daren didn't pass that trick along to others.)

The cast members were responsible for pre-selling the tickets and turning in the stubs and money before the play. I'll never forget the day that one young fella came to me with ticket stubs in hand and very, very meekly said, "I know I have to turn these in now, but I...I...I don't have the money." I was obviously quite surprised and asked, "What happened?" "I...I...I spent it--on cassette tapes, but I'll pay it back." I laughed uncontrollably because it had never ever occurred to me that anyone would actually do that. I responded by telling him that he didn't owe me the money, he owed the class fund, so he just needed to take care of it...and he did.

Our productions were always comedies, but when things went wrong, they became even funnier according to the audience comments. They always waited in anticipation for the "goofs." I can still picture students forgetting lines and the person next to them saying it for them, or hearing the prompter over everyone else on stage, or the actors and actresses ad-libbing ... which always caught me off guard. I remember them trying to hold back their own laughter, which just made it all the funnier. But, I'll never forget the time an actor skipped about 3 pages of the play and left everyone staring at each other on the stage in a dead silence. Whoops! The recovery was awesome, but it was definitely the topic at the cast party afterward.

The class productions were memorable moments for me, and I hope that they were for you as well. It is definitely what I miss most now that I'm no longer with you.

PS: Glenn McRae is searching for another copy of his class play because his tape is almost worn out from his kiddos watching it. If anyone has videos they would like to share with fellow classmates, please let me know.