There are three big reasons why I can't wait for the next rehearsal:
1. The school play this year is Sherlock Holmes, which I found out literally days after watching the final episode of the brilliant TV series Sherlock
2. I landed the role of the great detective himself
3. And for the past two years I have been in, and loved being in, the school play.
My friends, being in the school play these past three years has honestly been... well, I hesitate to say life-changing, but definately the highlights of all three of my school years. I'll go over why in a few minutes, but first I thought I'd breifly sum up my illustrious acting career.
It all started in about grade 2. My elementary school was putting on a school-wide production in which every single person of the school participated in. I'm sure it looked terrible, because the way they did it was they split up all the parts between about twenty people, some of which came on in groups of five. Oh, well.
The play was, I believe, A midsummer nights dream, and me and four or so other kids were assigned the role of the elf king. Orion? Oberon? I think the second one, although I'm not sure. I don't think that we were playing a constellation.
As old O_____, we had only one line to all say at the same time. It was something along the lines of "But look! Joe Blow comes hither!," and when we said this we were all supposed to point at Joe Blow. The problem was, nobody ever told me which way Joe was coming from. And so the way it ended up was, Joe would enter to the right as everyone pointed at him, while meanwhile little Mark pointed left. Yup, my acting career was bright from the start.
After that, I didn't really have the chance to act until junior high rolled around. Then in grade seven, I decided to follow in my sisters footsteps and join the school play. I was extremely exited when I got one of the three male leads... and then I realized that only three guys auditioned. Hmm.
Grade eight, I managed the lead again, partly because nobody male in grade nine auditioned. I still beat my best friend, though, who then became the villain. The grade eight play was a lot of fiun, even if I did have to pretend to kiss a girl who had a boyfriend while wearing bright blue tights.
And then grade nine rolled around, and I managed the lead once more while my aformentioned friend made the villain once more. Acting wise, life is good.
However, I'm sure that some of you reading this are wondering why I would ever audition for the play in the first place. That's easy; Laura had been in a few plays by then and they all looked like smashing good fun. Of course, I wouldn't have auditioned grade eight and nine if I hadn't enjoyed the previous years. So what made me stay? Five reasons.
1. Everyone in the play is super nice. I don't know why, but the ratio of nice people to mean people seems much better in the play then out of the play.
2. Perhaps because of the above, the actors in the play beome an extremely tight-knit group.
3. It's fun to pretend to be something your not! Who else can come home and say, "Hey mum! Today I stopped a super-villain from destroying the world!" And also, I swear that some of the character your playing rubs off on you. I play some super-confident, awesome dude, and I honestly beleive that I become more confident and awesome.
4. They bring in cookies to rehearsals. Mmmmm, cookies...
5. You create so many stories and experiences for yourself. For example, in the grade eight play I had just learned that the cruelty (a magical object we were trying to find) was hidden in shreikwood forest (It was a lame play, alright?). Unfortunately, on performance night I had my lines completely down, and I wasn't even thinking about them. Unfortunately, that meant that once or twice I slipped up on a word, and that night I really failed. Instead of saying "The cruelty lies in shriekwood forest!" I said "The cruelty lies in cruelty forest!" Oh, man. I still crack up thinking about that one.
In other words, it's a blast.
I have the time of my life in the school play. Rehearsals don't feel like work- they feel like paradise. I'm just now entering the bliss period of the school year. This last weekend I was feeling kind of down, feeling like I wasn't doing anythiong, and like nearly everything I was doing was a waste of time. I wanted to do something useful, and yet everything useful seemed boring. But now... life is good. Everything's coming up roses, and I wouldn't want it any other way. So I implore you... join your school play. Join the play today. It's lots of fun, eh? I'll stop now. Okay?
Thanks for reading,
-Mark
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