So. I need to put a little back story, but I found this so bizarre that I need to see other opinions on it.
Perhaps I've made it rather clear that I'm a very, very big fan of acting (playing Puck in MSND WOO!).
I go to a magnet school, which is utterly dedicated to acting, dancing, singing, et cetera. It's pretty awesome, and the teachers are very professional and I've learned so much.
I am involved with the acting side, which is straight places and the like. I have those kind of teachers that want you to "be" a table and teach you how to connect with everyone in the room. Lots of tiring exercises.
Hopefuls, it's a lot harder than just memorizing lines.
Anyway, last year I had been a Musical Theatre major (they're called Majors, dunno why). And let me tell you... they're nuts.
Not "be a table" nuts. I mean frighteningly nuts.
So here's how it goes. I wasn't a "good enough" singer (because that's all they care about, they do very few real acting exercises), so I was put in the dumb class.
Dumb class? What's that?
Oh. Let me tell you all about it. The dumb class is full of all the extraneous kids who weren't good enough to be in the production class. The production class is the one that gets all of the attention.
Basically everyone in the production class is guaranteed a role in the fall and spring musicals. That's why it's called the production class. It's full of girls who like to lie on top of people and snobby boys in the closet (not counting three friends I have in there... but we'll ignore them for now). Every boy who applies for musical theatre gets in the production class, no matter how much his voice sounds like a seal being clubbed with a rusty faucet. It's becausethe teacher is a creeper they need as many boys as possible for the musical. Musicals always need boys, it's understandable.
Anyway, the aforementionedcreeper teacher is the head of the department and he scares the crap out of me. Bad experience, but in a nutshell I attempted to audition for Thoroughly Modern Millie but kept panicking because I don't get half enough preparation as much as his students do (not to mention it was sprung up on me because they only people who know when the production is happening is THEM), and I accidentally walked in on a private audition. Twice. He stopped the piano and yelled at me. I started crying. I immediately decided to never involve myself with those people again. Understandably, it's a terrible thing to walk into a private audition, but A.) he's still a jerk, and B.) seeing as the only people he casts as leads are his students, by then he should already have who's who mapped in his head. I don't even see why they bother with auditions.
Anywoo, this guy is a nutcase and scares the crap out of me, and his students are just as condescending and creepy.
So today, they were all skipping to the theatre during break (also: they never leave the room for break), when I noticed something peculiar.
They were all wearing black. I couldn't believe I hadn't notice it before. I turned to my friend and said, "Look. All of the musical theatre kids are wearing black." Black shirts, black pants. Maybe some grays and blues... but mostly black.
She then explained to me that it was a requirement of theirs. They had to wear black or else they would receive a zero for the day. It was to "make it less distracting for teachers" and "easier to perform" on stage.
Uh, no. It's a freaking uniform. They're separating themselves from the others.
I was suddenly reminded of Lord of the Flies, how Jack and his chorus boys all wore little black caps. If you've read the book, you'll remember how Jack led the boys into becoming vicious savages who reveled in the action of murder.
This may sound harsh... but if I were ever stuck on a desert island with my entire magnet school, I'd hide from the Musical Theatre kids.
Cheers,
Bee.
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