A Teacher's POV - The School Play
By Time Lady
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Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon, "The Snow Queen," or any characters connected within. The only character I can claim here is the teacher, who is my own creation.
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Sometimes I hate my life. I really do.
It isn't that the kids are sometimes little maniacs and I feel like I'm being held hostage.
It isn't those foot high stacks of papers I need to grade daily.
It isn't even dealing with the parents.
No. It's those stupid little things that the school decides to drop in your lap with little warning that you find out you absolutely must do whether you want to or not.
Last time it was that wonderful trip to Scarlborough Fair.
This time, it's the school play. Yippee skippie. Last teacher who tried to run the school play had a nervous breakdown. I should only be so lucky.
As usual, the school play is the ending piece of the school's winter carnival. This year the play is "The Snow Queen," based on the story by Hans Christian Anderson. Loosely based, I might add. And revised to fit in as many students as possible. Wonderful.
"Next!" I called. The next acting wannabe came onto stage. "Name?"
"Kuma Makoto."
"Right," I said as I checked his name off my list. Take it from the same lines." I elbowed a dozing fellow teacher appointed as a judge. Kuma broke into the same line we'd now heard a dozen times straight. I tossed a ball of paper at another teacher to wake him up. Kuma recited the lines almost painfully. Needing acting lessons would be an understatement.
"Thank you Kuma," I said when he finished. "Next!" I winced as Daisuke Motomiya walked onto the stage. No way, no how was I going to let him in the play. I still had to let him audition though. "Name?" I called as a formality.
"Daisuke Motomiya."
"Same line," I said. I had to admit, he wasn't half bad - relative to what we had seen to this point. I still didn't want him in this play. Not after the stunt he had pulled at the fair. And particularly not in a play of this nature.
"All right. Thank you Daisuke," I said when he finished. Looking at the list, I groaned. 5 more boys to go, then we still had to start on the girls. This was going to be a long afternoon.
Two students later, Iori Hido appeared on stage. I was a bit surprised. He didn't seem like the kind to try out for the school play.
"Actually sensei," he asked, appearing a little embarrassed, "I was going to ask if there was some way I might help out with the play other than being on stage."
"Hmm. . . . Well, there are off stage positions. I can put you down for one of those."
"Do I still have to try out?" he asked nervously. I shook my head. Iori looked relieved.
"Just check the cast list to see what position I assign you."
The rest of the auditions went the same as the first few. Then came the hard part. Narrowing down 50 students into about 30 roles.
The next morning, I posted the cast list outside my door. I wasn't happy with the all of the choices, but it wasn't like I was given that much choice in the matter. As soon as the bell rang, students crowded outside my door.
"AWW MAN!" I heard one exclaim. "I got stuck as a stage hand."
"Hey Iori," called Miyako, who was tall enough to look over everyone's shoulders at the list. "Sensei made you assistant director."
"Wow," he replied, startled. "Really?"
"What did I get?" asked Daisuke, jumping to try and get past the crowd.
"Ummm. . . ."Miyako adjusted her glasses. "Looks like you're going to be the prince."
"ALL RIGHT!" he exclaimed. "And Hikari is most definitely the princess, right?"
"Wrong," said Miyako. "Hikari is playing Gerda."
"But she's perfect for the princess," complained Daisuke.
"Gerda is the main character," said Miyu. "She is the person the story follows."
"So Gerda marries the prince?" asked Daisuke hopefully.
"Gerda goes searching for her friend Kay and rescues him from the Snow Queen," explained Iori.
"Is there a princess?" asked Daisuke.
As if to answer his question, Akemi finally made her way to the front of the line. "YEAH! I GET TO BE THE PRINCESS!!!!!" she shouted.
I didn't think Daisuke could look so miserable. Until he asked "Who's going to be this Kay guy?"
"Takeru," replied Miyu.
"GAAAHHH!!!" Daisuke looked like he was going to explode.
This is going to be a _loooonnnnngggg _ month.
After school, the cast arrived in the auditorium. I sat on the edge of the stage, bullhorn in hand. No plain old megaphones for me. I needed something where my voice will carry. As soon as everyone was gathered, in a fit of optimism I called for silence. Like that was going to do anything. I pushed the siren button on the bullhorn. That got their attention.
"If you think I'm bad with the bell, you have yet to see me with the bullhorn," I said into the mouthpiece. My voice echoed through the auditorium. "If you don't want me to keep doing that, I suggest you close your mouths and listen." I paused and waited for absolute silence. "Thank you. Iori, will you pass out the scripts. Mika pass out the highlighters." I gave them a few moments to get started. "Okay. You all know what parts you're going to play. Go through the script, find your parts, and mark them with the highlighter."
It was fairly quiet for about 10 minutes as everyone read through the script. There was the occasional complaint at how lame the script was. "HOW COME I ONLY HAVE 5 LINES?" shouted Daisuke suddenly.
"Hey man, be glad you're not the rear end of the horse," retorted Kuma.
"The only large speaking parts are the narrarators and Gerda," I said, pressing my fingers to the bridge of my nose. "A lot of this play is visual. Meaning it's more what the narrator says and the actors do, than what the actors say. I didn't write the script. I didn't pick the script. You don't want to do it, I'm sure there are other people who would want to do it. Any of you guys want to be the prince?" Eight guys raised their hands. "Daisuke, you're not indispensable."
"Huh?" he said.
"Sensei means you can be replaced," clarified Iori for me. Daisuke sighed, then slumped down in his seat.
"Right, any other complaints?" I asked. Several heads shook no. "All right then. When you've finished doing that, you're free to go today. I want all stage hands and my assistants to remain behind so we can start going over things."
I gave the students a week to memorize their lines. I spent that week with my "staff" preparing them for what was expected, assigning duties, and teaching them the basics. By the end of that week, they knew how to run the spotlights, adjust the microphones, raise and lower the curtains and what not. Iori was something of a blessing. The kid's a genius when it comes to keeping things organized.
Somehow we made it to the final dress rehearsals, the day before the show. If you _really _ want to know what happened in the whole month, well, in summary:
- The boys who were stuck as flowers moaned and whined.
- Akemi latched onto Daisuke.
- Daisuke looked like he was going to scream every time he saw Hikari and Takeru holding hands.
- Takeru and Hikari held hands a lot.
- I was starting to lose my voice from yelling at the kids.
- Moose Thomspon nearly knocked over half the settings.
- 5 of the backstage lights went out.
- 3 of the microphones we were supposed to use wouldn't work.
- I gained 5 pounds from existing solely on ice cream, Coca Cola and chocolate (yeah, I ate other food, but that's what kept me going the entire time).
- Daisuke "accidentally" ripped Takeru's costume (I still haven't found out all the details).
- Akemi tried to pick a fight with Hikari for no apparent reason (though I suspect Akemi has a crush on Daisuke, and is jealous of Daisuke's crush on Hikari, when Hikari has absolutely _no _ interest in him whatsoever). Iori broke it up before it could get started.
- Miyu sprained her ankle trying to keep one of the sets from falling.
- Daisuke was hit in the head when Moose knocked over one of the backdrops. He was fine, except for nearly being smothered by Akemi.
- My "crew" spilled paint all over one set while trying to paint another backdrop.
- The horse costume was too small for Moose and Kuma.
- The reindeer costume was too big for Ami and Kasumi.
- Daisuke tried to attack Takeru during the last scene where Hikari hugs and kisses Takeru..
- The bandits started fighting over a video game.
- The programs were printed wrong and had to be redone.
Let's just say, I was glad the show would be over the next day. It was a Saturday. I would sleep as late as I could. I'd still have to make an appearance at the Winter carnival, but I didn't have to be there at any set time.
Meanwhile, I had to get through today's dress rehearsal. It looked like everyone was there. After a blast of the bull horn, Iori called the roll. "Okay people," I said into one of the microphones. "This is it. Tomorrow is the show. We need to make it through the entire time this afternoon, using the props and changing the settings, without stopping. Tomorrow we can't just stop and start over. Tomorrow is the real deal." There were assorted murmurs throughout the crowd. My voice was starting to crack. "Everyone get into position. If your scene isn't now, you need to be in the prep room off stage."
"Sensei, are you all right?" asked Iori as the students scrambled for their positions.
"Could you please get me some tea?" I asked. With a nod, Iori dashed off in search of tea.
I took up a place in the front row of the auditorium where I could watch the proceedings. The bullhorn was right next to me. After giving the students about 5 minutes to get ready, I tried to call "Lights." Even with the bullhorn at its loudest setting, I came out a hoarse squeak. I passed the bullhorn to Miyu and nodded.
"Lights," she said. The backstage lighting people flipped off the front lights. My spotlight people turned theirs on. I pointed at the curtain. "Curtain!" she called. The curtains opened. I pointed at the narrator, who stood at a podium to the side of the stage. "Spot on narrator," said Miyu.
As soon as the spot turned on, the first narrator began reciting her part. The lights slowly came up to show a gray, dreary overlay. Jei, the hobgoblin, pretended to fly around and look at his looking glass. One of the more trusted science students, who was also a prop person, managed to mist up the stage and give an eerie effect. The scene was very brief. And thankfully, the mist lasted only long enough for the duration of the scene. It also hid the fake glass's fall.
The curtain closed briefly. Narrators changed. The overlay was removed as the curtain was raised. On stage were Mara as the grandmother, Takeru as Kay, and Hikari as Gerda. Iori returned with my tea as Miyako made her appearance dressed as Snow Queen. The tea was overly sweet, the way I like it. "Iori," I said in a hoarse whisper, "would you oversee backstage? Miyu can't maneuver too well on her crutches yet."
"Yes sensei." Good thing Iori took his job seriously.
"Miyu," I said in a hoarse whisper. "Tomorrow night I want you to stay back with the guys on the spotlights and make sure they keep their attention where it should be. Miyu nodded. Our attention went back to the stage.
All right. . . two acts down. The curtains closed. The next narrator came on stage. This scene was a bigger change than the other. I could hear Iori directing things behind the stage, along with a lot of groaning and cursing. I handed Miyu a quick note. "Sensei says she shouldn't be able to hear your voices out here. She says you need to whisper and be ready for the next scene as soon as possible. Tomorrow she'll be back there, so you better be ready to handle it."
Frankly, I felt like I was holding my breath for most of the dress rehearsal. Things went well - almost too well. Problems finally started around the 4th act. I should have expected this. Akemi, as the princess, was practically hanging on Daisuke's arm. He looked like he wanted to die. Surreptitiously he kept trying to shake her off, but she held tight. Finally it was too much. "AKEMI, LET GO!" he shouted. I winced. Akemi got that hurt look in her eyes, then ran off stage bawling at the top of her lungs.
"Nice going," I heard Takeru say from backstage.
"Good job," said someone else.
I grabbed the bullhorn and summoned the last of my voice. "Hikari, go after her. Daisuke, get your rear end down here this minute."
Daisuke shuffled down the stage steps to where I was sitting. I pointed to the seat next to me. "How could you be so cruel?" I said hoarsely.
"She's been hanging all over me!" he protested.
"She's been trying to show you she likes you."
"Does she have to hang all over me?"
"Now you know what it feels like."
"Huh?" Daisuke scratched his head.
"Think about it. You above all should understand how she feels."
"I don't get it."
I pressed my fingers to the bridge of my nose. I should have realized that Daisuke was just too dense to realize that he was doing the same thing to Hikari. "Look. Right now, just apologize to Akemi." Hikari came back to the auditorium.
"Akemi is in the girls bathroom. She says she won't come out."
"So what are you going to do about that?" I said to Daisuke, my voice failing rapidly.
"I. . . . . . guess I'll go apologize."
"And I will make sure you do. Someone get me some more tea." I herded Daisuke in front of me towards the girls' restroom. "Stay." I told him. In the bathroom, Akemi was leaning against a sink and crying. It took a lot of convinceing on my part, much to the detriment of my voice, but I talked Akemi out of there. "Your turn," I told Daisuke. I leaned against the wall.
With much stammering, Daisuke made his apologies. "You're only sayin' you're sorry 'cause Sensei told you to. . . ." said Akemi.
"No, really. It's just that I. . . hurt my shoulder in soccer and you were pulling on it."
"Really?" she sniffed.
"Yeah." He rubbed his shoulder like it was bothering him. What an actor. . . now if he'd just apply his acting skills to where they were necessary.
"I still don't believe that you're sorry."
"I AM I really am." Daisuke sighed. "How can I make it up to you?"
"Well . . . ." Akemi considered a minute. "You can take me to the winter carnival."
"WHAT?" said Daisuke, his jaw dropping in surprise.
"I. . . knew you weren't serious," said Akemi with a sniff. She turned to go back into the girls bathroom.
Daisuke caught my irritated glare. "Well, I'd. . . uh. . . . love to take you. It's. . . just. . . I was gonna take my sister. She'll be disappointed, but I suppose.... GAH!"
"THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!" Akemi had Daisuke in one of her patented strangle hold hugs.
"Can't breathe. . . ." managed Daisuke, whose face was turning various shades.
"All right, that's enough, let's go," I said in a squeak, shoving the two back towards the auditorium. "Break's over people," I rasped out to the rest of the cast. "Start from the top of this scene."
"Sensei, you sound awful," said Iori as he handed me a steaming mug of tea.
"I'll manage," I said. "You handle backstage for now."
I resumed my seat. They started the scene from the beginning. Akemi settled for holding Daisuke's hand. At least he tried to not seem repulsed. The scene went fine until the horse appeared on the scene. Suddenly, everyone began holding their noses. The back half of the horse abruptly detached from the front. "EEWWWW," complained Kuma. "Moose farted!"
"DID NOT!" protested Moose.
"EEWWWWW" chorused a bunch of the kids. I shrank down in my seat. Lord, let me live through tomorrow. . . . .
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The next morning I woke up to a ringing phone. "Hello?" I managed to rasp out. Great, my voice was totally gone. Just what I needed today. I hung up the phone on the telemarketer.
For 3 hours I gargled with salt water and mouth wash, sucked on throat lozenges, drank overly sugared peppermint tea, even resorted to my mother's home remedy of mashing together garlic and honey and swallowed that down. By noon, I still didn't have a voice. Darn it.
I hoped fresh air might do something for my throat, so I bundled up and went to the winter carnival. The carnival was in full swing. I waved each time someone said "Hi sensei."
As I wandered through the carnival, I stopped at various booths. I have to admit, I couldn't resist the dunk the principal booth. I must have spent ten bucks on tickets, but it was very therapeutic. After all, he was the reason I was stuck in charge of the stupid play.
"Whoa, sensei," said Takeru. "Didn't know you had an arm like that."
"You should try out for the baseball team," said Hikari with a laugh. I noticed Takeru had his arm around her as usual. With a smile, I threw another ball and dunked the principal for the 4th time.
After a while I decided to give the principal a break and someone else a turn. "Hey sensei, with the way your luck's running, you should come by the basketball team's booth later and give it a try. There's prizes there for getting baskets," said Takeru. I gave him a thumbs up, indicating I'd give it a try.
"Sensei, is your voice still gone?" asked Hikari with a note of concern in her voice. I nodded. "You should be resting it." I pulled out my pad and wrote to her that I wanted fresh air. She nodded. "Well, don't overdo it. Come on Takeru."
I watched the two lovebirds dash off towards one of the other booths. Nearby, I saw Daisuke with Akemi. "Come on Akemi, let's go," said Daisuke.
"The ring toss is this way," protested Akemi. "You promised you'd win me something."
"But. . . ." Daisuke was cut off by Akemi, who grabbed his arm and dragged him towards the ring toss.
"Besides, I wanted to show off my new boyfriend to the other girls on the wrestling team," said Akemi, the captain of the girls wrestling team.
"Akemi, I'm not your boyfriend!" he protested helplessly. Boy, did that sound familiar. . . .
As I wandered around the fair, greeting several of my students. Miyako was there with that guy Ken from the fair. Iori was with his grandfather and mother. Moose was with his host family. Other students wandered around in various groups.
Four o'clock, I returned to the school building and made a huge pot of tea. Darn those little sugar packets. A teaspoon my foot. More like a half a teaspoon per packet. It took me several dozen packets before I got the tea sweet enough. I poured it into my jumbo 32 ounce coffee mug, then I did a last minute check over all the props and sets.
Five o'clock, I hit the bathroom, made another pot of tea, then sat down to write notes for Iori and Miyu. I thought a brief prayer to the theater gods. I went to the bathroom about 5 times (what do you expect after guzzling the amount of tea I had all day?)
Six o'clock, my dinner was delivered. A big container of ramen soup from a nearby Chinese delivery. The delivery girl was a bit strange, but at least the soup was warming to my throat. As I ate my dinner, the kids began to trickle in. Iori and Miyu were the first.
"Sensei, if your voice isn't back, you should take it easy," admonished Iori.
"I'll be fine," I wrote in a note. "Just so long as I don't talk."
More students began to straggle in. By 7 o'clock, everyone was there. Poor Daisuke. Akemi practically had him in a strangle hold. I could see Takeru, Hikari, and Miyako smothering laughter. As soon as everyone was seated, I blew a blast of the bullhorn. Once I could see everyone's attention was on me, I handed my first notes to Iori.
"Sensei's voice is totally gone," he said. "She wrote that she really wants this to be a good shoe." Everyone laughed as Iori looked at my note again. I snatched it back, scribbled out my messy writing, and corrected it. "Sensei wants this to be a good show. Be patient and do your best. If you're in doubt of what your next line is, Toya will be backstage with a script. Good luck. I believe in you. Break a leg."
I gave the cast a thumbs up, then handed Iori another note. "Now let's get backstage and get ready. The curtains raise at 8 o'clock." There was a mad dash to the restrooms to get into costume. Iory and Toya made sure the boys were under control. Miyu and I helped out the girls.
By 7:45, everyone was getting into position. "Eeep," said Miyako peeking through the curtains.
"What?" asked Takeru.
"Ken's in the first row," she whimpered. "I'm going to die."
"Huh? Where?" Takeru tried to peek through.
"Right between your brother and Hikari's brother. . . ."
Before Miyako could say anything else, I grabbed her and Takeru's collars and dragged them away from the curtains. With a lot of pointing and gestures somehow I got everyone ready by 8 o'clock.
8:05, the principal began the introductions. "I would like to thank all of you for attending this year's Winter Carnival play, "The Snow Queen" by Hans Christian Anderson. . . ." I lost track of what the principal was saying for a moment while checking directions with the curtain crew.
"Sensei, go out there. They're asking for you," said Iori suddenly. I found myself pushed out on stage to a round of polite applause. I waved and bowed. Not much I could say. With a pre-assigned signal to Toya, the lights were turned down. Miyu directed the spotlights. Noboyuki from the film club had volunteered to videotape the program. He began to roll his film. I signaled the first narrator, then slipped off stage.
The next hour or so was a blur. All I remember was pushing people on stage, directing various set changes, poking the lighting and sound people and just generally running back and forth behind the sets. The show took a lot less time than it had in all the rehearsals. Toya didn't do as much prompting as I thought he would need to. Kuma and Moose didn't kill each other. Daisuke survived his scene with Akemi. And thankfully, Akemi managed to restrain Daisuke in the scene where Hikari hugged and kissed Takeru.
Before I knew it, everyone was lining up for their bows. A whole month's work. Over in about an hour. Sort of anticlimactic.
Suddenly, Iori stepped out in front of the microphone. "On behalf of the cast and crew, I would like to thank our teacher for her patience and guidance. Despite fighting migraines and laryngitis, and not being able to talk at all today, she has stuck with us the entire time. None of this would have been possible without her. Sensei, please come on stage."
I was stunned, but a few of the kids pulled me up on stage. Toya handed me a bouquet of flowers. The crowd stood and applauded. The kids and I shared a bow, then the curtain closed. We retreated to a room where the principal had set up a small party for the cast. Everyone was ravenous.
"Man, all that work for just an hour," said Daisuke.
"I know," said Kuma. "Kinda leaves you with a weird feeling."
I scribbled a quick note and handed it to Iori. "Sensei says that if this was real theater, you'd be doing this three nights a week for several weeks straight."
"No way am I going into theater full time," said Moose.
"I'm with you man," added Daisuke.
"I don't know," said Hikari. "I kind of liked it."
"Well, you had the biggest part," said one of the other girls.
"Sensei?" said Noboyuki. "Here's the video."
"Thanks," I wrote on a piece of paper. I wrote another note to Iori. "For anyone who wants, I'll show the video to everyone on Tuesday."
"Tuesday? Why Tuesday?" he asked.
"Because I'm going to call in sick Monday," I scribbled.
Iori laughed. Hikari read the note over his shoulder. "You deserve to Sensei."
Over the next half hour, everyone trickled out. The principal had said not to worry about the leftovers. The custodians would claim those. Once everyone was gone, I scooped up the video and purse and made my way home.
Funny. I was tired as hell, but not sleepy. I popped the video into my VCR then plopped onto my couch with a pot of tea. As I watched the video, seeing everything for the first time without interruption, I realized that I had done a pretty good job.
But there's no way on earth that I'm going to do this again next year.
Author's notes:
1. Everyone's been asking me how I get these ideas. I am really a teacher. I teach computers in an elementary school (Kindergarten through 6th grade), though this particular teacher in my stories is a history/literature teacher.
2. Of all the "A Teacher's POV" stories I've done, this one has taken me the longest to write.
3. The idea for using a school play came to me when I came across a video of the school play from my school last year. I had volunteered to help the teacher in charge of the play get through everything. About two weeks before the play, she became very sick. So I was co-opted to take over the school play. It wasn't an easy job, because the 6th graders I worked with were not an easy group to deal with. But somehow we got through. I have the video to prove it. And yes, I did use a bullhorn to keep the kids in line.
4. Picking a play was not an easy job. I went through about a dozen ideas, including "Sleeping Beauty," "Cinderella," and "Romeo and Juliet." All of them just seemed too cliché. So I settled on "The Snow Queen." My basis for this was the story as found at: http://hca.gilead.org.il/snow_que.html
5. A lot of people have been asking me about Moose Thompson. No, I'm not dissing Canadians. One of my favorite shows is "The Red Green Show." I was watching an old episode of this when Red was telling a Moose Thompson story. I just couldn't get Moose out of my head. So Moose made it into the story. I'm sure anime fans will find names of characters from other anime popping up from time to time. Mostly because I couldn't think of another name at the time.
6. Before I get out another "A Teacher POV" story, I would like to finish another story that I've been working on. Hopefully I'll have another "A Teacher POV" out by New Years (since my next idea concerns New Years Eve).
By Time Lady
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Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon, "The Snow Queen," or any characters connected within. The only character I can claim here is the teacher, who is my own creation.
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Sometimes I hate my life. I really do.
It isn't that the kids are sometimes little maniacs and I feel like I'm being held hostage.
It isn't those foot high stacks of papers I need to grade daily.
It isn't even dealing with the parents.
No. It's those stupid little things that the school decides to drop in your lap with little warning that you find out you absolutely must do whether you want to or not.
Last time it was that wonderful trip to Scarlborough Fair.
This time, it's the school play. Yippee skippie. Last teacher who tried to run the school play had a nervous breakdown. I should only be so lucky.
As usual, the school play is the ending piece of the school's winter carnival. This year the play is "The Snow Queen," based on the story by Hans Christian Anderson. Loosely based, I might add. And revised to fit in as many students as possible. Wonderful.
"Next!" I called. The next acting wannabe came onto stage. "Name?"
"Kuma Makoto."
"Right," I said as I checked his name off my list. Take it from the same lines." I elbowed a dozing fellow teacher appointed as a judge. Kuma broke into the same line we'd now heard a dozen times straight. I tossed a ball of paper at another teacher to wake him up. Kuma recited the lines almost painfully. Needing acting lessons would be an understatement.
"Thank you Kuma," I said when he finished. "Next!" I winced as Daisuke Motomiya walked onto the stage. No way, no how was I going to let him in the play. I still had to let him audition though. "Name?" I called as a formality.
"Daisuke Motomiya."
"Same line," I said. I had to admit, he wasn't half bad - relative to what we had seen to this point. I still didn't want him in this play. Not after the stunt he had pulled at the fair. And particularly not in a play of this nature.
"All right. Thank you Daisuke," I said when he finished. Looking at the list, I groaned. 5 more boys to go, then we still had to start on the girls. This was going to be a long afternoon.
Two students later, Iori Hido appeared on stage. I was a bit surprised. He didn't seem like the kind to try out for the school play.
"Actually sensei," he asked, appearing a little embarrassed, "I was going to ask if there was some way I might help out with the play other than being on stage."
"Hmm. . . . Well, there are off stage positions. I can put you down for one of those."
"Do I still have to try out?" he asked nervously. I shook my head. Iori looked relieved.
"Just check the cast list to see what position I assign you."
The rest of the auditions went the same as the first few. Then came the hard part. Narrowing down 50 students into about 30 roles.
The next morning, I posted the cast list outside my door. I wasn't happy with the all of the choices, but it wasn't like I was given that much choice in the matter. As soon as the bell rang, students crowded outside my door.
"AWW MAN!" I heard one exclaim. "I got stuck as a stage hand."
"Hey Iori," called Miyako, who was tall enough to look over everyone's shoulders at the list. "Sensei made you assistant director."
"Wow," he replied, startled. "Really?"
"What did I get?" asked Daisuke, jumping to try and get past the crowd.
"Ummm. . . ."Miyako adjusted her glasses. "Looks like you're going to be the prince."
"ALL RIGHT!" he exclaimed. "And Hikari is most definitely the princess, right?"
"Wrong," said Miyako. "Hikari is playing Gerda."
"But she's perfect for the princess," complained Daisuke.
"Gerda is the main character," said Miyu. "She is the person the story follows."
"So Gerda marries the prince?" asked Daisuke hopefully.
"Gerda goes searching for her friend Kay and rescues him from the Snow Queen," explained Iori.
"Is there a princess?" asked Daisuke.
As if to answer his question, Akemi finally made her way to the front of the line. "YEAH! I GET TO BE THE PRINCESS!!!!!" she shouted.
I didn't think Daisuke could look so miserable. Until he asked "Who's going to be this Kay guy?"
"Takeru," replied Miyu.
"GAAAHHH!!!" Daisuke looked like he was going to explode.
This is going to be a _loooonnnnngggg _ month.
After school, the cast arrived in the auditorium. I sat on the edge of the stage, bullhorn in hand. No plain old megaphones for me. I needed something where my voice will carry. As soon as everyone was gathered, in a fit of optimism I called for silence. Like that was going to do anything. I pushed the siren button on the bullhorn. That got their attention.
"If you think I'm bad with the bell, you have yet to see me with the bullhorn," I said into the mouthpiece. My voice echoed through the auditorium. "If you don't want me to keep doing that, I suggest you close your mouths and listen." I paused and waited for absolute silence. "Thank you. Iori, will you pass out the scripts. Mika pass out the highlighters." I gave them a few moments to get started. "Okay. You all know what parts you're going to play. Go through the script, find your parts, and mark them with the highlighter."
It was fairly quiet for about 10 minutes as everyone read through the script. There was the occasional complaint at how lame the script was. "HOW COME I ONLY HAVE 5 LINES?" shouted Daisuke suddenly.
"Hey man, be glad you're not the rear end of the horse," retorted Kuma.
"The only large speaking parts are the narrarators and Gerda," I said, pressing my fingers to the bridge of my nose. "A lot of this play is visual. Meaning it's more what the narrator says and the actors do, than what the actors say. I didn't write the script. I didn't pick the script. You don't want to do it, I'm sure there are other people who would want to do it. Any of you guys want to be the prince?" Eight guys raised their hands. "Daisuke, you're not indispensable."
"Huh?" he said.
"Sensei means you can be replaced," clarified Iori for me. Daisuke sighed, then slumped down in his seat.
"Right, any other complaints?" I asked. Several heads shook no. "All right then. When you've finished doing that, you're free to go today. I want all stage hands and my assistants to remain behind so we can start going over things."
I gave the students a week to memorize their lines. I spent that week with my "staff" preparing them for what was expected, assigning duties, and teaching them the basics. By the end of that week, they knew how to run the spotlights, adjust the microphones, raise and lower the curtains and what not. Iori was something of a blessing. The kid's a genius when it comes to keeping things organized.
Somehow we made it to the final dress rehearsals, the day before the show. If you _really _ want to know what happened in the whole month, well, in summary:
- The boys who were stuck as flowers moaned and whined.
- Akemi latched onto Daisuke.
- Daisuke looked like he was going to scream every time he saw Hikari and Takeru holding hands.
- Takeru and Hikari held hands a lot.
- I was starting to lose my voice from yelling at the kids.
- Moose Thomspon nearly knocked over half the settings.
- 5 of the backstage lights went out.
- 3 of the microphones we were supposed to use wouldn't work.
- I gained 5 pounds from existing solely on ice cream, Coca Cola and chocolate (yeah, I ate other food, but that's what kept me going the entire time).
- Daisuke "accidentally" ripped Takeru's costume (I still haven't found out all the details).
- Akemi tried to pick a fight with Hikari for no apparent reason (though I suspect Akemi has a crush on Daisuke, and is jealous of Daisuke's crush on Hikari, when Hikari has absolutely _no _ interest in him whatsoever). Iori broke it up before it could get started.
- Miyu sprained her ankle trying to keep one of the sets from falling.
- Daisuke was hit in the head when Moose knocked over one of the backdrops. He was fine, except for nearly being smothered by Akemi.
- My "crew" spilled paint all over one set while trying to paint another backdrop.
- The horse costume was too small for Moose and Kuma.
- The reindeer costume was too big for Ami and Kasumi.
- Daisuke tried to attack Takeru during the last scene where Hikari hugs and kisses Takeru..
- The bandits started fighting over a video game.
- The programs were printed wrong and had to be redone.
Let's just say, I was glad the show would be over the next day. It was a Saturday. I would sleep as late as I could. I'd still have to make an appearance at the Winter carnival, but I didn't have to be there at any set time.
Meanwhile, I had to get through today's dress rehearsal. It looked like everyone was there. After a blast of the bull horn, Iori called the roll. "Okay people," I said into one of the microphones. "This is it. Tomorrow is the show. We need to make it through the entire time this afternoon, using the props and changing the settings, without stopping. Tomorrow we can't just stop and start over. Tomorrow is the real deal." There were assorted murmurs throughout the crowd. My voice was starting to crack. "Everyone get into position. If your scene isn't now, you need to be in the prep room off stage."
"Sensei, are you all right?" asked Iori as the students scrambled for their positions.
"Could you please get me some tea?" I asked. With a nod, Iori dashed off in search of tea.
I took up a place in the front row of the auditorium where I could watch the proceedings. The bullhorn was right next to me. After giving the students about 5 minutes to get ready, I tried to call "Lights." Even with the bullhorn at its loudest setting, I came out a hoarse squeak. I passed the bullhorn to Miyu and nodded.
"Lights," she said. The backstage lighting people flipped off the front lights. My spotlight people turned theirs on. I pointed at the curtain. "Curtain!" she called. The curtains opened. I pointed at the narrator, who stood at a podium to the side of the stage. "Spot on narrator," said Miyu.
As soon as the spot turned on, the first narrator began reciting her part. The lights slowly came up to show a gray, dreary overlay. Jei, the hobgoblin, pretended to fly around and look at his looking glass. One of the more trusted science students, who was also a prop person, managed to mist up the stage and give an eerie effect. The scene was very brief. And thankfully, the mist lasted only long enough for the duration of the scene. It also hid the fake glass's fall.
The curtain closed briefly. Narrators changed. The overlay was removed as the curtain was raised. On stage were Mara as the grandmother, Takeru as Kay, and Hikari as Gerda. Iori returned with my tea as Miyako made her appearance dressed as Snow Queen. The tea was overly sweet, the way I like it. "Iori," I said in a hoarse whisper, "would you oversee backstage? Miyu can't maneuver too well on her crutches yet."
"Yes sensei." Good thing Iori took his job seriously.
"Miyu," I said in a hoarse whisper. "Tomorrow night I want you to stay back with the guys on the spotlights and make sure they keep their attention where it should be. Miyu nodded. Our attention went back to the stage.
All right. . . two acts down. The curtains closed. The next narrator came on stage. This scene was a bigger change than the other. I could hear Iori directing things behind the stage, along with a lot of groaning and cursing. I handed Miyu a quick note. "Sensei says she shouldn't be able to hear your voices out here. She says you need to whisper and be ready for the next scene as soon as possible. Tomorrow she'll be back there, so you better be ready to handle it."
Frankly, I felt like I was holding my breath for most of the dress rehearsal. Things went well - almost too well. Problems finally started around the 4th act. I should have expected this. Akemi, as the princess, was practically hanging on Daisuke's arm. He looked like he wanted to die. Surreptitiously he kept trying to shake her off, but she held tight. Finally it was too much. "AKEMI, LET GO!" he shouted. I winced. Akemi got that hurt look in her eyes, then ran off stage bawling at the top of her lungs.
"Nice going," I heard Takeru say from backstage.
"Good job," said someone else.
I grabbed the bullhorn and summoned the last of my voice. "Hikari, go after her. Daisuke, get your rear end down here this minute."
Daisuke shuffled down the stage steps to where I was sitting. I pointed to the seat next to me. "How could you be so cruel?" I said hoarsely.
"She's been hanging all over me!" he protested.
"She's been trying to show you she likes you."
"Does she have to hang all over me?"
"Now you know what it feels like."
"Huh?" Daisuke scratched his head.
"Think about it. You above all should understand how she feels."
"I don't get it."
I pressed my fingers to the bridge of my nose. I should have realized that Daisuke was just too dense to realize that he was doing the same thing to Hikari. "Look. Right now, just apologize to Akemi." Hikari came back to the auditorium.
"Akemi is in the girls bathroom. She says she won't come out."
"So what are you going to do about that?" I said to Daisuke, my voice failing rapidly.
"I. . . . . . guess I'll go apologize."
"And I will make sure you do. Someone get me some more tea." I herded Daisuke in front of me towards the girls' restroom. "Stay." I told him. In the bathroom, Akemi was leaning against a sink and crying. It took a lot of convinceing on my part, much to the detriment of my voice, but I talked Akemi out of there. "Your turn," I told Daisuke. I leaned against the wall.
With much stammering, Daisuke made his apologies. "You're only sayin' you're sorry 'cause Sensei told you to. . . ." said Akemi.
"No, really. It's just that I. . . hurt my shoulder in soccer and you were pulling on it."
"Really?" she sniffed.
"Yeah." He rubbed his shoulder like it was bothering him. What an actor. . . now if he'd just apply his acting skills to where they were necessary.
"I still don't believe that you're sorry."
"I AM I really am." Daisuke sighed. "How can I make it up to you?"
"Well . . . ." Akemi considered a minute. "You can take me to the winter carnival."
"WHAT?" said Daisuke, his jaw dropping in surprise.
"I. . . knew you weren't serious," said Akemi with a sniff. She turned to go back into the girls bathroom.
Daisuke caught my irritated glare. "Well, I'd. . . uh. . . . love to take you. It's. . . just. . . I was gonna take my sister. She'll be disappointed, but I suppose.... GAH!"
"THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!" Akemi had Daisuke in one of her patented strangle hold hugs.
"Can't breathe. . . ." managed Daisuke, whose face was turning various shades.
"All right, that's enough, let's go," I said in a squeak, shoving the two back towards the auditorium. "Break's over people," I rasped out to the rest of the cast. "Start from the top of this scene."
"Sensei, you sound awful," said Iori as he handed me a steaming mug of tea.
"I'll manage," I said. "You handle backstage for now."
I resumed my seat. They started the scene from the beginning. Akemi settled for holding Daisuke's hand. At least he tried to not seem repulsed. The scene went fine until the horse appeared on the scene. Suddenly, everyone began holding their noses. The back half of the horse abruptly detached from the front. "EEWWWW," complained Kuma. "Moose farted!"
"DID NOT!" protested Moose.
"EEWWWWW" chorused a bunch of the kids. I shrank down in my seat. Lord, let me live through tomorrow. . . . .
---
The next morning I woke up to a ringing phone. "Hello?" I managed to rasp out. Great, my voice was totally gone. Just what I needed today. I hung up the phone on the telemarketer.
For 3 hours I gargled with salt water and mouth wash, sucked on throat lozenges, drank overly sugared peppermint tea, even resorted to my mother's home remedy of mashing together garlic and honey and swallowed that down. By noon, I still didn't have a voice. Darn it.
I hoped fresh air might do something for my throat, so I bundled up and went to the winter carnival. The carnival was in full swing. I waved each time someone said "Hi sensei."
As I wandered through the carnival, I stopped at various booths. I have to admit, I couldn't resist the dunk the principal booth. I must have spent ten bucks on tickets, but it was very therapeutic. After all, he was the reason I was stuck in charge of the stupid play.
"Whoa, sensei," said Takeru. "Didn't know you had an arm like that."
"You should try out for the baseball team," said Hikari with a laugh. I noticed Takeru had his arm around her as usual. With a smile, I threw another ball and dunked the principal for the 4th time.
After a while I decided to give the principal a break and someone else a turn. "Hey sensei, with the way your luck's running, you should come by the basketball team's booth later and give it a try. There's prizes there for getting baskets," said Takeru. I gave him a thumbs up, indicating I'd give it a try.
"Sensei, is your voice still gone?" asked Hikari with a note of concern in her voice. I nodded. "You should be resting it." I pulled out my pad and wrote to her that I wanted fresh air. She nodded. "Well, don't overdo it. Come on Takeru."
I watched the two lovebirds dash off towards one of the other booths. Nearby, I saw Daisuke with Akemi. "Come on Akemi, let's go," said Daisuke.
"The ring toss is this way," protested Akemi. "You promised you'd win me something."
"But. . . ." Daisuke was cut off by Akemi, who grabbed his arm and dragged him towards the ring toss.
"Besides, I wanted to show off my new boyfriend to the other girls on the wrestling team," said Akemi, the captain of the girls wrestling team.
"Akemi, I'm not your boyfriend!" he protested helplessly. Boy, did that sound familiar. . . .
As I wandered around the fair, greeting several of my students. Miyako was there with that guy Ken from the fair. Iori was with his grandfather and mother. Moose was with his host family. Other students wandered around in various groups.
Four o'clock, I returned to the school building and made a huge pot of tea. Darn those little sugar packets. A teaspoon my foot. More like a half a teaspoon per packet. It took me several dozen packets before I got the tea sweet enough. I poured it into my jumbo 32 ounce coffee mug, then I did a last minute check over all the props and sets.
Five o'clock, I hit the bathroom, made another pot of tea, then sat down to write notes for Iori and Miyu. I thought a brief prayer to the theater gods. I went to the bathroom about 5 times (what do you expect after guzzling the amount of tea I had all day?)
Six o'clock, my dinner was delivered. A big container of ramen soup from a nearby Chinese delivery. The delivery girl was a bit strange, but at least the soup was warming to my throat. As I ate my dinner, the kids began to trickle in. Iori and Miyu were the first.
"Sensei, if your voice isn't back, you should take it easy," admonished Iori.
"I'll be fine," I wrote in a note. "Just so long as I don't talk."
More students began to straggle in. By 7 o'clock, everyone was there. Poor Daisuke. Akemi practically had him in a strangle hold. I could see Takeru, Hikari, and Miyako smothering laughter. As soon as everyone was seated, I blew a blast of the bullhorn. Once I could see everyone's attention was on me, I handed my first notes to Iori.
"Sensei's voice is totally gone," he said. "She wrote that she really wants this to be a good shoe." Everyone laughed as Iori looked at my note again. I snatched it back, scribbled out my messy writing, and corrected it. "Sensei wants this to be a good show. Be patient and do your best. If you're in doubt of what your next line is, Toya will be backstage with a script. Good luck. I believe in you. Break a leg."
I gave the cast a thumbs up, then handed Iori another note. "Now let's get backstage and get ready. The curtains raise at 8 o'clock." There was a mad dash to the restrooms to get into costume. Iory and Toya made sure the boys were under control. Miyu and I helped out the girls.
By 7:45, everyone was getting into position. "Eeep," said Miyako peeking through the curtains.
"What?" asked Takeru.
"Ken's in the first row," she whimpered. "I'm going to die."
"Huh? Where?" Takeru tried to peek through.
"Right between your brother and Hikari's brother. . . ."
Before Miyako could say anything else, I grabbed her and Takeru's collars and dragged them away from the curtains. With a lot of pointing and gestures somehow I got everyone ready by 8 o'clock.
8:05, the principal began the introductions. "I would like to thank all of you for attending this year's Winter Carnival play, "The Snow Queen" by Hans Christian Anderson. . . ." I lost track of what the principal was saying for a moment while checking directions with the curtain crew.
"Sensei, go out there. They're asking for you," said Iori suddenly. I found myself pushed out on stage to a round of polite applause. I waved and bowed. Not much I could say. With a pre-assigned signal to Toya, the lights were turned down. Miyu directed the spotlights. Noboyuki from the film club had volunteered to videotape the program. He began to roll his film. I signaled the first narrator, then slipped off stage.
The next hour or so was a blur. All I remember was pushing people on stage, directing various set changes, poking the lighting and sound people and just generally running back and forth behind the sets. The show took a lot less time than it had in all the rehearsals. Toya didn't do as much prompting as I thought he would need to. Kuma and Moose didn't kill each other. Daisuke survived his scene with Akemi. And thankfully, Akemi managed to restrain Daisuke in the scene where Hikari hugged and kissed Takeru.
Before I knew it, everyone was lining up for their bows. A whole month's work. Over in about an hour. Sort of anticlimactic.
Suddenly, Iori stepped out in front of the microphone. "On behalf of the cast and crew, I would like to thank our teacher for her patience and guidance. Despite fighting migraines and laryngitis, and not being able to talk at all today, she has stuck with us the entire time. None of this would have been possible without her. Sensei, please come on stage."
I was stunned, but a few of the kids pulled me up on stage. Toya handed me a bouquet of flowers. The crowd stood and applauded. The kids and I shared a bow, then the curtain closed. We retreated to a room where the principal had set up a small party for the cast. Everyone was ravenous.
"Man, all that work for just an hour," said Daisuke.
"I know," said Kuma. "Kinda leaves you with a weird feeling."
I scribbled a quick note and handed it to Iori. "Sensei says that if this was real theater, you'd be doing this three nights a week for several weeks straight."
"No way am I going into theater full time," said Moose.
"I'm with you man," added Daisuke.
"I don't know," said Hikari. "I kind of liked it."
"Well, you had the biggest part," said one of the other girls.
"Sensei?" said Noboyuki. "Here's the video."
"Thanks," I wrote on a piece of paper. I wrote another note to Iori. "For anyone who wants, I'll show the video to everyone on Tuesday."
"Tuesday? Why Tuesday?" he asked.
"Because I'm going to call in sick Monday," I scribbled.
Iori laughed. Hikari read the note over his shoulder. "You deserve to Sensei."
Over the next half hour, everyone trickled out. The principal had said not to worry about the leftovers. The custodians would claim those. Once everyone was gone, I scooped up the video and purse and made my way home.
Funny. I was tired as hell, but not sleepy. I popped the video into my VCR then plopped onto my couch with a pot of tea. As I watched the video, seeing everything for the first time without interruption, I realized that I had done a pretty good job.
But there's no way on earth that I'm going to do this again next year.
Author's notes:
1. Everyone's been asking me how I get these ideas. I am really a teacher. I teach computers in an elementary school (Kindergarten through 6th grade), though this particular teacher in my stories is a history/literature teacher.
2. Of all the "A Teacher's POV" stories I've done, this one has taken me the longest to write.
3. The idea for using a school play came to me when I came across a video of the school play from my school last year. I had volunteered to help the teacher in charge of the play get through everything. About two weeks before the play, she became very sick. So I was co-opted to take over the school play. It wasn't an easy job, because the 6th graders I worked with were not an easy group to deal with. But somehow we got through. I have the video to prove it. And yes, I did use a bullhorn to keep the kids in line.
4. Picking a play was not an easy job. I went through about a dozen ideas, including "Sleeping Beauty," "Cinderella," and "Romeo and Juliet." All of them just seemed too cliché. So I settled on "The Snow Queen." My basis for this was the story as found at: http://hca.gilead.org.il/snow_que.html
5. A lot of people have been asking me about Moose Thompson. No, I'm not dissing Canadians. One of my favorite shows is "The Red Green Show." I was watching an old episode of this when Red was telling a Moose Thompson story. I just couldn't get Moose out of my head. So Moose made it into the story. I'm sure anime fans will find names of characters from other anime popping up from time to time. Mostly because I couldn't think of another name at the time.
6. Before I get out another "A Teacher POV" story, I would like to finish another story that I've been working on. Hopefully I'll have another "A Teacher POV" out by New Years (since my next idea concerns New Years Eve).