Am I wrong to feel upset?

EmmyBet
Tue, 08 Jun 2010 16:25:58 +0000

Thank you - that is a very good statement, and very caring.

I’m glad that my D isn’t doing what you describe, because you are very right. She’s just trying to do a lot of theater this summer because she literally had 1 speaking part prior to this spring, and only one ensemble experience before that. She’s always been a theater buff, has read everything and seen a ton, wrote her own musical in 2nd grade, that kind of thing, but she came a little late to performing (acting, that is - she’s focused until now on music).

All she’s doing is trying to get a couple more parts on her list, while doing what she loves more than anything - being in theater. More importantly, she’s trying to get a handle on what acting means to her, what she likes and needs, to help her determine her next step. She’s probably looking at acting in college rather than MT, although she is a singer and can dance.

She’s done a full academic program (she’s even taking math AND science senior year, much to my surprise!), and she’s got a lot of experience in art, writing, vocal and instrumental music (including arranging, sound mixing, etc.). She does community service, too. She’s just come late to being on stage, and she’s trying to get experience in many ways - auditioning, rehearsing, performing, and looking at how productions are put together and what the experience as a whole is like.

And the shows she’s connected with this summer are of varying degrees of intensity - the main one is a HS summer school production, and the other 2 are a very informal Shakespeare in the Park and a summer youth musical, in both of which she is in the ensemble only, which she could drop if needed with no hard feelings from the director (same woman for both of them).

I was just getting nervous because of the one post that made juggling more than one production seem a little scary, although we hear about it all the time.

On a more humorous note, I read online today that on Broadway once they were casting for what the director called “a Donna McKechnie type” and when Donna McKechnie auditioned, she didn’t get it! So I guess it could happen to anyone!