What A Weekend!

          I can't believe that it's been more than a month since the damn play's been over with.  It's like a bad taste that lingers in the mouth long after you've spit the offending food out.  Wren's probably out of our lives for good -- after the crap that she pulled, I doubt she's going to invite us back into her little after-school group.  I wonder if she's even going to continue on with that.  Aunt Lina seems to feel that it was a ruse -- that either political clout or money was involved, because there'as no other reason for this woman's attitude to turn on a dime like Wren's did.  
          Whatever.  I'm just glad it's over.  It will be a pleasure never seeing her again.   On with the funness of Summer!


          Remember “Cheers Not Tears—Just Smile!”—that play about teen depression that my friends and I have been working on since…oh, FOREVER?  Well, hopefully, this is the last post about it.

          I have been talking about this play, practicing for this play, drawing posters for this play, helping with costumes….AND I’M NOT SMILING ANYMORE.  And people wonder why kids turn to drugs and alcohol – it’s because of the stupid adults around them who can’t figure out which end is up!

          Now remember, we started this whole thing back in January and it’s now June.  We’ve had date changes, cast changes, venue changes…This play has been more problematic than “Spiderman--Turn Off The Dark”! For those of you who are in the dark (pun intended) to that reference, it’s a play that took forever to open on Broadway, that has been through falling cast members, malfunctioning machinery, cast changes, script changes, song changes, villain changes, director changes…it’s practically “Cheers Not Tears—Just Smile!” without as much drama!

           Wren finally found a place with a stage – the old Frost Spring Men’s Club building behind the historical Frost Spring United Methodist Church.  Their cemetery there has graves from before the Revolutionary War, and several Revolutionary War Soldiers are buried in that churchyard.  The Men’s Club Building is like 100 years old; the stage lights make the stage really hot, but there’s plenty of room to set up chairs for the audience.  She also decided to call it for the second weekend in June.

          Wren has been pretending to be nice to Mrs. R ever since that time with the rehearsal “misunderstanding”, but Ruby, Dor and Amelia say she glares at Amelia’s mom behind her back.  I smell Wren’s fear and rage, both about the play and Mrs. R.  Amelia’s Mom is terrific – she plays two roles, the Mom and a Guidance Counselor, and thinks nothing of slipping into and out of costumes around us backstage – although she did get upset when the light & sound guy’s little daughter opened a stage door as she was changing.  Mrs. R slammed the door shut and it made the kid cry.  She was standing there in her bra and jeans, & just reacted as any female would have! 

          The light & sound guy is the uncle of one of the Madisons.  Now I understand why these mediocre chicklets got all of the good parts – cronyism.  It’s a vocabulary test word that means giving jobs to friends or relatives as favors.  This guy’s time & equipment was traded for Madison’s chance to perform.  Plus, “Uncle Light-&-Sound’s” kids suddenly got added to the cast, too!  They play background, with Ruby, Dor, Amelia and me.  Suddenly, the after school group that Wren formed to do good works is being overshadowed by this play. 

          You know, the biggest insult was that our bios weren’t in the playbill!  But Madison, Madison, Heather, Brittany and Tom’s were there.  One of the Madisons even thanked her agent by name!  I swear, the trip that our good works group is supposed to get out of this had better be something terrific.  You know, pizza and bowling is not gonna cut it.

          So the rehearsal Friday night was tense.  As soon as we got there, Wren pounces on us and tells us to set up rows of chairs for the audience.

          “After all, you are the good works after school club.  Let this be your good deed for today.”

          As if we haven’t been doing a good deed by just staying in this damn play.

          I notice that no one else from the cast gets this honor.  Wren is really starting to annoy me!  I can feel my spine start to itch – the cat in me wants to pounce all over her.  Set up your own damn chairs, lady.  As if giving up my after school time and weekends for the past six months hasn’t been enough of a good deed.  I can’t wait for this play to be over.

          Uncle Light-&-Sound arrives with his equipment, and he’s brought the kids.  He tells them to leave him alone while he sets-up the equipment, and they run off and start to hang all over Dor.  She’s not too thrilled because we have work to do. They’re not too thrilled that she doesn’t have time to play, like she usually does. Then one of the kids runs across the stage, she trips and falls on a ribbon (from Shirley the Smile Sprite’s costume). You’d think she busted a femur or something! Oy, the yelling!  The only word anyone can make out is Dor’s name.  So they assume it’s her fault.

          Dor had been bringing the costume to Wren because some of the ribbon streamers were falling off….Long story short, Heather and the Madisons are claiming that Dor’s to blame, and Uncle Light-&-Sound’s Madison tries to  punch Dor!  Thank God Tom and Ron spoke up to say Dor was nowhere near the kid when it happened!  When Mrs. R heard that Madison had threaten Dor, she was ready to drive us all home and let Antonio and Wren find another “Depressed Mom,” “Guidance Counselor” and quartet of background kids to yell “Turn that frown upside down!”  Mrs. R was not exactly turning that frown around.

          Antonio calmed her down, but Wren’s no longer hiding her malice toward Amelia’s mom. On the ride home, Mrs. R turned the radio up loud, but we could still her muttering ‘One more day…one more f#$%ing day” over and over as she drove.

          Saturday at three we had a full dress rehearsal, and Uncle Light-&-Sound filmed the whole thing, “because he’s recorded plays so many times before”.  All of the main characters are given microphones, and when Uncle Light-&-Sound tests them out, they all work.  Even Brittany’s.  She’s the one who’s playing Shirley the Smile Sprite.  The best mike was supposed to be for Tom who’s playing the main character Johnny. Somehow, Madison gets that one (surprise surprise).

          Suddenly, its curtain time and we start to play what we’ve just been rehearsing for over 5 months.  And it’s going great.  Brittany’s awesome as Shirley the Smile Sprite.  Madison’s character, Crabby Kryssi, is tepid at best and it is so obvious.  God, what I could have done with a part like that – I’d have hammed it up and been super-surly and nasty.  Madison just whined her lines, and the contrast between her and Brittany was so obvious…then it was time for “Shirley’s” big number. 

          The music started for “Grinners Are Winners,” and Brittany opened her mouth to sing.

          And the mike went dead!

          I was in the wings with most of the cast.  We looked over at the sound and light console.  Uncle Light-&-Sound had a half-smile on his face.  He wasn’t even attempting to “fix” the “problem.”  I have to give Brittany credit; she just kept singing, even though only Tom on stage could really hear her.  But from the audience and the wings, her performance looked like a bad pantomime.

          After the song, Brittany ran off the stage and started crying.  Mrs. R was trying to comfort her, and almost missed her cue for the next scene. 

          Finally it was all over.  Wren & Antonio were upset about the mishap with the mike during the play’s big song-and-dance number.  Uncle Light-&-Sound said he didn’t know what had gone wrong, and promised he’d tape Brittany in the actual performance and dub her in. Somehow, I doubt that’s gonna happen.

          We had a quick bite to eat, then our audience begins to arrive.  Antonio’s bustling about because these people from some local theater awards committee are attending.  Wren’s fussing with everyone’s make-up, and we barely got a glimpse of Carl and Sal, who came with Mr. R, before she starts poufing powder all over our faces.  After we got our make-up on, I saw Mr. and Mrs. Koludis, and the Morgans and Aunt Lina.  Everyone had come out!

          The play went so much smoother than the rehearsal.  Brittany’s mike didn’t fail and the applause at the end of the “Grinners Are Winners” scene was thundering.  I noticed that Uncle Light-&-Sound never bothered to turn on the camera during the actual play.  So Brittany’s spectacular performance couldn’t be “edited in”.  We’re all supposed to get CD’s of the performance – poor Brittany will have footage of that mike failure to watch for the rest of her life.

          All too soon the play was over.  After one last shout of “Turn that frown upside down!” we took our bows.  Uncle Light-&-Sound gave his niece a dozen roses – orange with red edges.  Sal came up to the stage to give me a single yellow rose.  It was so sweet!  Then we got off the stage and it was over.

          It was finally over! 

          But then the real drama began.

          I wanted to give Mr. Morgan a kiss.  Right in front of Wren, on purpose, he says to Ruby, “Honey, you were great, but if this is what you’ve been practicing for all of this time, I’d rather see you in a school play next year.  When I think of all of the weekend family trips we postponed, I think your time was worth more than a bit part like this.”

          Wren’s face was purple.  Aunt Lina, who had heard about all of the problems Mrs. R had with Wren, snorted, then turned it into a cough.

          All of us received flowers from Mr. Morgan, even Mrs. R.  He’s so nice. 

          We collected our props and said goodbye to Ron, Brittany, Heather, Tom and the Madisons.  Antonio and Wren were fussing around them, and Dor stood to one side, trying to avoid being near the punching Madison, who still thought that Dor had made her little cousin trip on purpose. 

I gave Brittany a hug, and said “See you around,” figuring that in reality I’d probably not.  She’d been the nicest of the group.

          “Aren’t you going to be at the cast party tomorrow?”

          For what seemed like a small eternity, there was silence as Wren’s face drained of all color, then turned beet red.  Before I could respond with “What cast party?” she began to babble about how there would be a cast party Sunday afternoon at four, at her brother Philippe’s restaurant.  Ruby had been there for the Christmas party; it was a place called Robyn’s Nest, because it was above a furniture store on Frost Spring Ave. 

          “It’s just a little get-together to celebrate.  You know, if you have something scheduled or can’t make it, I’ll understand.” 

          The punching Madison was livid.  It was obvious to everyone there except Antonio that our little group hadn’t been told about the party on purpose.  I think Brittany suspected sabotage on the part of Uncle Light-&-Sound, and Wren hadn’t been too sympathetic, so she felt justified in spilling the beans to us.  My initial feeling was to forget about it.  I don’t need to go where I’m not wanted,  but I could see that Ruby and Dor wanted the recognition that a cast party would give.  And Mrs. R put the cap on it.

          “After all of the work that these kids have done, they deserve a party. “ She turned to the Mr. Koludis, and the Morgans, and smiled.  “If it’s OK with everyone’s parents, I’ll pick the kids up tomorrow a little before  four so we can celebrate with the rest of the cast.”

          Grinning broadly, Mrs. R turned to Wren, whose eyes had narrowed at those words.  “It’s so sweet of you to host the entire cast at your brother’s restaurant, Wren.  This little after school group you started really has blossomed.  These kids can’t wait to hear what their end-of-the-year trip is going to be.  It’s all they’ve been talking about for months now, anticipating something really fun.  Well, Amelia and I are quite tired, so I’ll see you tomorrow.”

          Wren was so stunned that her mouth opened and closed a few times, like a fish out of water.  Before she could come to grips with the situation, Mrs. R had spun around on her heels and walked away. Her exit was better than her performance on stage (which had been quite good, actually). 

          That’s how the play ended.  But not the weekend, so I guess this isn’t the last you’ll hear about the play.  I’ll have more to say about that tomorrow.

          Until my next post…..

          Randi