And that was the biggest problem really. The kids on stage would be doing fine, but then they would over hear the circus going on backstage, get distracted and forget their lines and blocking. And between shows, I have never seen such a shambles backstage. Their were literally costume pieces EVERYWHERE. And of course costume strike was nightmare, though our contact's husband somehow managed to come up with all of the pieces were missing as far as we know. We have this brilliant new idea that, next time, kids have to empty out their bags and get their hand stamped before they are allowed to leave. That way we tell the parents, your kids can't leave until you see that they have a stamp on their hand. Something like a unicorn with the horn going in one direction so the kids can't mush their hands together and copy stamps onto a friends hand (not that I think many kids would actually do that, but you never know...)
Today a boy told me he wasn't feeling well. Well he's the cutest thing and I just adore him and he knows it, so of course I was all babying him and getting him water and checking up on him in the dressing room. Well as soon as I leave and come back, after he has had his nice cold cup of water, he is happy as a clam and all the kids are telling me he was faking being sick. So I asked him, he smirked and told me yes, that was in fact true. He WAS faking being sick because he wanted me to go get him some water. I told him I was SO mad at him. But of course he then said "didn't I do a good job of tricking you?" Of course I said "yes" and gave him a high five. (This kid also had an identical twin, and a little brother in the show and the cutest baby sister ever! I loved the whole family)
The shows actually went surprisingly well! And the looks on those kids faces when they were backstage before the first performance were just priceless. The kids playing the shadows, who were notoriously chatty backstage were all completely silent and getting mad at other people for making noise. They all couldn't wait for the show to start. Everyone in the wolf gang kept telling me that their hearts felt like they were going to explode. The littlest wolf gang girl didn't stop smiling for the whole show and kept telling me that I didn't need to push her out on stage (like I was doing to some of the other wolf gang) because she wasn't shy. The second show everyone had relaxed a little, so the show was actually VERY close to flawless, but that's when the circus backstage began. I mean it was so obvious that in the last scene when I was playing Grandma (we lost the actress actually playing her on Wednesday after rehearsal, and we didn't have any kids in the show that were old enough to play it) I said "Well there's enough in this basket for all of to have a party. And thank goodness because it sounds like there's a whole bunch right outside waiting for one!" (I also totally based my grandma off of my contact's mom, who is just fabulous!)
It's crazy the things that come out of your mouth sometimes when you're working with the kids. I hope to throw in a "good gugamuga" one of these days (hope you're reading Sarah).
Tomorrow we drive eight hours to Oklahoma. I can't pretend this wasn't a hard week. This is one of those weeks that I think is going to be more rewarding in the long run, when I realize just how much good I have done for these kids. I like to think I changed some of their lives. But I am hoping for something a little easier next week.
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