School plays saved me. I know we hear that all the time and it makes a person roll their eyes. Hey it makes me roll my eyes too. Even though Iam an actor, I get annoyed by the Dbags who treat acting and the such like its curing cancer. But in all honesty it gave me direction.
When I got to high school I went searching for my place. I tried band and was truly awful. I tried wrestling and well just imagine me on the wrestling team. Yeah I know. I did learn what I was capable of taking. Then I went and tried out for a school play. It was the spring show which was Arsenic and old lace a play which I had seen the movie version . Now being me and akward as only a 15 year old could be I auditioned. I just remember, god I hate to say it, but I felt drawn to the theater. It was funny my mom who is an actress had been the musical director for all the high school musicals when I was little. Since we didn't have money for a babysitter my older sister and I got dragged to rehearsals at the high school. So plays like 42nd Street, Fiddler and the such where part of my childhood. That and teens getting drunk at my moms house( but that's a story for a different time). So in a sense going to the auditorium was like going back in time to bad 80s hairdos and sweaters.
I auditioned and didn't get cast. I was given the job of being everybody's understudy. So I went to every single rehearsal called or not. Now what's funny is that the director who shall remain nameless kept on having actors dropout and instead of saying " hey kid you get the part" would just cast other people who hadn't even auditioned. I remember being annoyed and just thinking " what the fuck? Had I been that awful?". Finally a week before the show opened, a senior was kicked out for being a flake and I was given the role of Lt. Rooney, a part where I chewed more scenery then Rod Steiger. I hadn't discovered the subtleties of the acting world yet.
The next year was my sophomore year and things on a personal level had gotten tough. Let's just say I could of out angry young manned John Osborne( ten points if you know who he is, yes Iam asking you Todd Peters). Stuff was happening at home and I just remember being angry and pissed but I masked it with humor and silliness. I hadn't even bothered to audition for the fall play instead deciding to do Cross Country a sport which, well is a little crazy if you think about it( my ass did look terrific). But word came out that they where going to do a musical for the first time in almost five years. Not just any musical but West Side Story.
Now I know they're those of you who scoff at the musical and I understand why. I'll just say that fucking Glee has ruined musicals and high school drama for a number of us( yeah I fucking said it! Fuck glee!). But when a musical is done right like Company or Pippin or South Park Bigger Longer and Uncut it's truly amazing and takes your breath away. I luckily had been raised in an environment where the musical was looked at in a positive light. Though maybe we where a little snobbish, but Sondheim was considered god alongside young Stephen Schwartz and yes Rodgers and Hammerstein( if you have a problem I will cut you!). All of the works of Andrew loyd Webber where looked on as crap. Thank you mom.
West Side Story held a special place in my heart. When I was 7 I had run home after mass so I could watch the ending of Star Trek: The Next Generation. I was a couple minutes late and had missed it. Instead of STNG I saw a group of Spanish looking guys led by a badass in a bright red shirt dancing through the streets of early 60s NYC. I was completely enamored. They danced and fought with a group of dirty looking white guys led by a guy I had seen in Seven Brides For Seven Brothers( as I said my mom liked musicals). They danced and sang but man they where fucking badass's. I wanted to be the that chief badass Bernardo. My parents came home and I swear my moms heart started fluttering when she saw Bernardo. Hey he was a badass.
I knew I wanted to be in it and I knew I wanted one of the leads. I felt only I could bring any of the three roles justice.
So when it was announced that there's would be auditions I put everything I could into the audition. I wanted to play Tony but was cast as Bernardo. I was disappointed , but as my mom and sister pointed out take all the shit you've been feeling and put it into this role. And that's what I did. All the anger I felt about my dad, all the feelings of being an outcast, of not belonging to the right family, all the anger I had at being so poor my freshmen year that I was stuck with high water pants I put into that role. Every bully I had dealt with all of it went into Bernardo. It gave me an outlet that I needed to express how I felt. And in the process I made friends with people who became my friends for the rest of high school. It helped me learn to not give a fuck.
The show sold out every single performance and gave me the greatest outlet in the world for what I was feeling and gave me a sense of direction that I hadn't felt before. I knew that I wanted to do this. When my grandfather, a child of the depression heard that maybe I wanted to be an actor, instead of saying no that's stupid, he said maybe that's what he should do.
Teenagers need some form of self expressive outlet. For some it's athletics, for others it's writing, for some it's things like shop. For a number of others it's choir, drama , jazz band, and yes fucking Glee. When you take away these activities from young teenagers you hinder their development as people. Keeping the arts and other programs in schools helps a teenager find the direction they need to become healthy members of society. They probably won't become the next Rhianna or Brando or Beethoven. But I will say this,for me if I didn't have school plays and the opportunities I was able to have because of the arts programs at my high school, I would of ended up maybe becoming one of those dark angry kids you see on the news.
http://www.change.org/petitions/citizens-of-jefferson-county-washington-encourage-the-ptsd-school-board-to-reinstate-drama-at-pths-as-an-elective-class
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