My High School Theater Experience

 

I'm the short one in the affectionate headlock
(Then there's Tom, Heidi and Jess)

Just yesterday, there was a high school reunion for my graduating class. I didn't attend, and I had no real interest in attending (most of the people I were close with were not going to be there, or were not in my graduating class), and, indeed, did not attend, but the very fact that such a reunion existed prompted me to think back on my high school experience. It is safe to say that without theater, I would have drifted to the outskirts even more than I did--- I had a tight, small group of friends (many of whom I dragged into doing plays with me), but I grew up and live in a community that doesn't value the arts perhaps as much as it should. It has improved since I was a high school student, but it will never be on equal footing with certain other activities. And since theater was all I cared about (and academics... I was Salutatorian of my class after all), I often didn't feel very popular or like I belonged... unless I was rehearsing for a play. 

I attended Foxcroft Academy in my hometown, Dover-Foxcroft, Maine, and at that time, the school generally put on three productions a year:  a fall (or sometimes spring) musical, the one-acts for the Maine Principal Association's One-Act competitions in the winter, and then a non-musical full-length play in the spring (or the fall, depending on when it was decided to the musical was going to be that year). While I loved being involved with all of them, the one-acts were my absolute favorite:  the competition play got to go to competitions and see a bunch of plays and meet a bunch of students from all over the state. We often got to stay in a motel (which is always exciting-- overnight field trips in high school). But I was definitely in it to win. I wanted to take home trophies or All-Festival cast certificates. I was perhaps, to my embarrassment, a little too invested in that aspect of the competition at times, and would brood if things didn't go as I'd hoped. 

Musicals were always the most challenging for me. Even though I was in chorus, I was once told that, if I hadn't been a good actor, I probably wouldn't have been cast in good parts in musicals, because my singing voice wasn't strong enough. This stuck with me for a long time, and it wasn't until I started doing musicals after college that I began to love being a part of them, and, in time, grew more confident with my singing voice (which, if I am to believe most people I have worked with, actually pretty good). But even though the musicals were challenging, I dove right in. 

Having grown up in a house with parents who were always in plays, and being involved in theater myself since the age of ten or so, I know I fancied myself to be quite the expert in high school. Looking back, I hope I wasn't too insufferable... I am fairly certain I never was obnoxious (I hope), but, in truth, I think the attitude came from the fact that I was not good at things like gym class (except volleyball, kind of), and I was not an athlete (except track a few times). Perhaps I needed to feel like I was the expert at something, maybe even the best. And even if I didn't think I was necessarily the best, I had to believe that no one could have loved theater as much as I did.  I know now that is untrue, too, of course. 

Mostly, though, I was able to let go of my own insecurities, and just enjoy being part of a cast, which, to me, is always being part of a new family. When you let yourself go, you forget about things like popularity, status in school, and all of that nonsense, and just work with everyone to create something together. That's why I love theater so much, why I have taught it and directed it all over the place. Theater builds communities. 

Builds families.

For fun, I am going to see if I can remember all of the plays I did in high school and list them below. And to be honest, I would have a reunion with the cast of any one of these plays in a heartbeat.

(Note:  In high school, I was also part of a program called Gifted and Talented Theater, but that deserves its own post)

MY HIGH SCHOOL PRODUCTIONS:

GUYS AND DOLLS (Rusty Charlie)

THE ACTOR'S NIGHTMARE (George Spelvin)

THE CRUCIBLE (Reverend Paris)

A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM (Hysterium--- pictured above)

AUDITIONS FOR A WRITER (The Janitor?)

ONCE UPON A MATTRESS (The Jester... years later, I would play Dauntless at Lakewood Theater)

TWO BOTTLES OF RELISH (I want to say William or Willie, maybe?)

THE PASSING OF AN ACTOR (The Old Actor)

FIDDLER ON THE ROOF (Perchik)

ARSENIC AND OLD LACE (Mortimer)

Selections from A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM  (the "rustics" putting on the play scenes) (Peter Quince)

Looking back, it feels like there were so many more... but, of course, my summers were full of Lakewood productions and there was also the Gifted and Talented program I will write about separately. 

Want my advice?  Go out for plays. Be involved in theater. It's good for you. And you will still look back on it fondly years later. Trust me.