Drama Queen

Hello my fellow night owls,

My previous post was about some ultra fabulous drag queens and the subliminal message they send to others. After the idea was graciously given to me by the lovely Kaliee Raulerson, I would like to tell you all of a time that I was on a stage. It is one of my fondest high school memories and I believe that I would not be who I am today if I had not experienced being a part of a high school play.

Let me just start with saying that I think everyone should participate in high school drama. Do at least one play! I tried to persuade Cassie to be a tree or a rock several times. You don't have to have a big part to matter or even a part at all. If it is not your thing to be onstage, do something behind the scenes. If you have graduated already, check out your community theatre. There were always adults performing at the high school.

We all know how clique-y high school is. Nobody really hangs out with anyone else except their own circle of friends. Plays open you up to a whole new group of people, and I think that is just splendid. Everyone needs to get out of their comfort zone at some point. Theatre may be the easiest way to do it, too. Nobody gets a concussion from reading lines on a stage, unlike someone who has never picked up a football and decides to try out.


My love for movies, especially dramas, started early. Fox and the Hound was extremely traumatic! When I was a little girl, my daddy told me I should be on The Young and the Restless because I was such a drama queen. In high school, I decided to give my flair for the dramatics some exercise and I tried out for BCHS's production of Dracula.

I really didn't know what to expect when I walked in to the auditions, I figured I would wing it as usual. Mr. Gerard gave me some hope as he gave instructions on how the auditions would go, we could talk in a British accent if we could do one! I was immediately ecstatic! Finally, all the many hours of watching Harry Potter over and over would pay off. When Mr. Gerard called my name on the long list of students to go up and read lines, my heart sank to my feet. I was so scared. I have no idea why I was scared, I never got "stage fright" from anything like reading in front of a class. I did my best, letting my inner Hermione talk for me, and read my lines. I returned to my seat not knowing how to feel about it other than, "Omg, that was so fun!" Mr. G called me up a few times to read, but I didn't think anything of it because that's what he did with everyone else, too. At the end of auditions he told us he would post call backs the next day on the cafetorium door. Yeah, that's right, our school is so poor they combined our cafeteria and auditorium. I love it though, and wouldn't have it any other way.

The next day I was at lunch and saw a crowd of people around the door. CALL BACKS! I had completely forgotten. I approached the door, trying to plan it to where it didn't look like I was looking just in case I hadn't been called back. I didn't want to feel bad with everyone looking like, "That girl obviously sucked." To my delight and complete surprise, I was called back! I did mental back flips, since I couldn't do real ones. Well, I could, but they were inconsistent and sometimes ended with me on my face instead of my feet. I went to call backs and tried my hardest to be good. Mr. Gerard, aka fantastic play director, announced that the final list of assigned roles would be posted in the same spot the following day.

I practically ran up to school the next day, but stopped short of the double glass doors. I was nervous again. What if I did that all for nothing? What if he had really thought I was stupid and just wanted to keep me up there doing a crappy accent for kicks and giggles? After saying a small prayer, I began to look down the list, and my heart dropped and then sky rocketed back up to my throat. I had made it! I was Lucy! I didn't even know who she was except for the few lines of hers I read, but I was her and she was me! At that moment, I had never been more excited for something! Hmm, I really am dramatic, high school play= highlight of my life?

Play practice was to begin immediately. I cannot express how much I enjoyed these rehearsals. I made friends with people who I would never have hung out with in a million years. I don't mean that in a bad way, I just mean I never would have met them had it not been for this experience because most of them were older than I was and in different classes. Jamie Allyn is probably one of the coolest people I met. Something about her wreaks awesomeness. I found it amazing that she could transition from vampire chick to pageant queen. Kudos Jamie! I love your versatility.

I think the part of Lucy was perfect for me. She was a freak! Her attitude and personality went from poor and sickly little dove to vixen like flirt to murderous villain. The flirting with Dr. Van Helsing, aka Garret Lucas, scene was my favorite! I will mention here that I was dubbed Class Flirt as my senior superlative. Probably the proudest moment of my life! Josh Mobley and I have a picture in the yearbook amongst the Class Beauties and Most School Spirit that I will treasure forever. Anyways, Garret was tall, cute, and had a nerdy swagger with his little glasses that he wore that made the scene realistic for me, and it was by far the best. I loved being able to play someone else for a while and do different roles within the role. I put on that red scarf and lipstick and bam! I was someone entirely different from who I was at school. And I got to use this otherwise useless talent of doing accents. I was using that British accent so hard I feel like I should have been breaking for tea time and saying Lou instead of bathroom.

Also, I got to be killed on stage. Absolutely awesome! I loved screaming at the top of my lungs with fake blood running down my chin when Dr. Seward, aka my dad in the play, aka Spencer Norman Gerard, drove the collapsible stake into my heart while I lay in my coffin.

I even got my little sister involved in the play. Nina was about 6 at the time. She played a little girl from the town that I was terrorizing called Hampstead. I got to pick her up and pretend to bite her on the neck and throw her limp body on the ground. It is an experience unique to us that I will never forget.

Might I add, I got to wear porcelain fangs that were super cool and super uncomfortable. They gave me a terrible lisp that I hope was not obvious to the audience. Polydent is disgusting, I hope I never have to have dentures. Take care of your teeth people, you do not want that pink blob of awfulness anywhere near your tastebuds. Also, fake blood tastes like absolute sh&%. All the girls who got to use it, including myself, would run and spit it out gagging over the sink. It's a taste I never got used to. I'd have to equate it with licking the bottom of a shoe that was dipped in rubbing alcohol, add a dash of melted plastic. I don't actually know what any of these things taste like, but if I had to imagine...

I had several other small parts in The Wizard of Oz and Snow White. I got to be a belly dancer, a crow, an Ozian, and much more. I loved being other things and changing costumes and putting on the different make up! The more the merrier really.

Before I performed with my high school, I had never seen a play of any kind. Now I am proud to say I am an avid Wicked freak! It is the best Broadway play ever and I have the soundtrack on my Ipod. The point is, this experience opened a door for me that I had not noticed was in my imaginary hallway of possible doors. I love theatre and everything it embodies. So, to Mr. Gerard, I am forever thankful. Thank you for offering me that opportunity my sophomore year. I will never forget it.

The point of me telling this story is not to brag about a small role I had in a high school play. It is to motivate you all to try breaking out of your shell and doing something awesome. Do new, scary things and meet awesome new people. In a perfect world, I would love to act professionally. I may not be good enough with technique or really know what I am doing, but I have the heart and thirst to learn. If you think you can do something, even if you have your doubts, do it! One of my favorite quotes comes from the movie "We Bought a Zoo" and it says, "All you need is twenty seconds of insane courage and something amazing will come out of it." The memories I made and the laughs I had are enough for me to thank myself and God for giving me those 20 seconds that it took for me to push open the doors of the cafetorium and put my name on the sign up list of the auditions.