Some truths come out

     So I haven’t written since Neena got on Dor’s case at lunch.  I had this half- written in March, then life got crazy and school’s been tough, with teachers excessively assigning stuff as if to justify their jobs…..anyway, I’ve been busy.

     Let’s start where I left off – with Dor’s tormentor.  The popular girls are ticked because Neena got in trouble.  There is going to be an assembly sometime soon on tolerance, according to Miss du Stique.  The kids think it’s because of the Neena incident.  But hey, it’s not as if these kids would pick up a newspaper and read about that guy Ravi who was found guilty of bullying through invasion of privacy.  Schools all over the state (and the country) now have to worry about bullying that might result in a suicide.  There’s even some movie that’s coming out about bullying.  I guess I’m in style!

     Seriously, tho’, this bullying stuff with Neena is water under the bridge for me.  So much stuff has happened since I posted that.  First off, the often postponed play was offered a date and a venue – the first weekend of June, in the old Frost Spring Men’s Club building behind the historical Frost Spring United Methodist Church.  They have a stage there, and room to set up chairs for an audience of 200.

     Now I haven’t said too much about the play lately.  It’s been crazy, and I don’t know where to begin…..

     Remember the speaking parts we’d been promised?  Besides singing in a few of the ensemble numbers, we get to shout “Turn that frown upside down!” whenever “Shirley the Smile Sprite” appears on the stage.  Whoopee!

     I shouldn’t complain – the script is both cloying and pandering, but I knew that by the time I’d read the third page of the script.  I was in this for the whole crew, not for myself.  But hearing the lame lines and the sappy songs, day in and day out for a few months now….it’s torture!  How else would you describe a play with lines like “Shirley you can be happy,” and songs like “Grinners Are Winners”? That’s “Shirley the Smile Sprite’s” big song-and-dance number – the one where they plan to have streamers attached to her wings and wand.  They’re discussing silver and gold streamers.  Are we in the First Grade?  Ugh. 

     The chorus of that song makes Carl and me want to puke: 

     “Grinners are winners – And winners are cool

      Frowners are downers – So don’t play the fool”

      The other day, a few of kids the director chose for singing parts didn’t show up.  So there was another audition.  One that Wren never told us about!  So none of us even had a chance at auditioning for a play that we all knew practically by heart, because we’d been there for like three months, listening to the lines and songs over, and over, and over…

     I’m beginning to think that Wren is losing sight of what this play was supposed to be about…it was supposed to be a vehicle to raise money to take our group out for a cool end-of-the-year trip.  But now Wren hardly notices us!  She’s more interested in the “stars” of this play.  And she’s switched her loyalty from us to the first group of Antonio’s picks, and from them to Antonio’s new stars.  Carl’s talked about quitting, but he doesn’t want to disappoint Dor.  So instead he channeled his emotions by re-writing some of the lyrics.  I mean, we have to do something while Wren and Antonio put their new pets (Heather, Brittany, and two girls named Madison) through their paces.  Here’s Carl’s version of “Grinners Are Winners”: 

     “Grinners are winners – And winners are tools

     Frowners are downers – And they smell like stools”

     Although we were supposed to go over the scene with “Shirley the Smile Sprite,” the new Shirley didn’t know where to stand on stage, or how to move her arms as she danced (pranced?  minced?), so we were, once again, forgotten.  Then they went through another number, and suddenly Heather – or is it Brittany? – decided that she wasn’t getting enough attention.  I get these chicklets mixed up; one’s the costume maker’s daughter, and the other is the niece of the guy who’s in charge of the sound system, but they are both prima donnas. Anyway, all of a sudden, Brittany (or Heather?) starts losing her voice.  Hmmm…

     Finally Mrs. R decides it’s time for us to go home.  She’s here because she had originally tried for the Narrator part.  But then Antonio had the bright idea (after some of the first bunch of kids had quit) of casting adults for the parent & teacher parts.  So Mrs. R is now the “erratic mom” as well as the “guidance counselor”.  But as the “family chef,” she told Wren & Antonio that we’d have to go now.  As we were leaving, Wren called out to remind us to be sure and study our lines.

     Is she serious?  It’s not as if we could forget something as ridiculous as “Turn that frown Upside down!” 

     On the ride home, Mrs. R asked us if we thought that Wren or her husband had political aspirations, and if this “do-gooders youth group” she’d started was nothing more than a resume enhancer.  Mrs. R’s mind was going down a path that we kids would have never explored, but her theory makes sense – political aspirations needed some kind of substantive base to stand on – maybe her concern for the community’s youth was just a foundation to build a local political career upon. How else would you explain a grown-up’s change from avid interest to barely concealed impatience toward a group of kids.  Wren was acting more like a middle-schooler than us middle-schoolers! 

     How pathetic is that?  I thought you were supposed to grow up after you graduated from school.  I guess that only works for some people.

           Until my next post…

           Randi