TETA K-12 Committee
High School At-Large
Like most of you, One Act Play season is the most intense time in my life. We cast our shows and begin rehearsals, only to dash away to the whirlwind weekend of Theatrefest. There are weekends of building the sets, making props, testing make-up looks, followed by clinics, a trip to New York City, Spring Break, and then WHAM! It’s time to put our masks on and compete.
Like most of you, I am the only theatre teacher at my school. I’m a bit of a control freak, and this is an arrangement that suits me fine. At least, it suits me until I recognize the full magnitude of what I have committed myself to. I forget at least once a day that my husband, Matt, is also a One Act Play director, and he has his own sets of rehearsals, clinics and trips to attend to. We are bogged down.
Did I mention that I have a 2 year old? Poor Clark. We call him the OAP Orphan. He sees so little of us from February through April. It was difficult when he was a little nugget and did not speak yet. Now it is positively heartbreaking. He has started asking me, “Mama, where Dada go? School?” “Mama onstage now? Why? I don’t like it.” Yep. That one stings.
With all of the tornadoes of work spinning around me, it’s easy to forget why we do this to ourselves. It feels like a punishment sometimes, doesn’t it? Our administration has no idea how long and how much we work with our students. Our budgets are so miniscule that we have to fundraise our tails off. We never see our families. We never sleep. We work with pneumonia because that show has GOT to be blocked. We try so hard to play Superman and save the world, one All My Sons at a time.
I am by nature a negative person. I love to play the villain. I get so mad at the system and I get so frustrated with the work ethics of my students! THE GLASS IS HALF EMPTY! Loud noises! My sarcasm is my shield. Elementary teachers, beware my wrath. It’s so easy to jump to the anger for me. I like to chew on a problem until it has no flavor and then stick it in my hair. I complain. I vent. I isolate myself and listen to Coldplay.
And now, I come to the point of this article: I need a time out. I need to re-charge my batteries, put my head on Matt’s shoulder, watch an episode of 30 Rock, and sing the “Soft Kitty” song from The Big Bang Theory to Clark. When I can do those things, it makes the next day a bit brighter. I try to take a lesson from Wonder Woman and put on my gold bracelets so I can deflect what the world throws at me.
I also need a professional teacher time out. I need to be around those terribly awesome teachers with so much positivity that sunshine explodes from them, like Jenna Hill and Michael Arellano. I need to listen to vets like Missy Cunningham McMillan and Gloria McLuckie laugh and pull magic from their impressive director’s hats. I need to giggle in the corner with Carl Woodworth and talk about Invader Zim with Justin Elliot and Matt. I want to show everyone how to do victory curls, hide their eyebrows with a glue stick and create a Cupid’s bow lip shape! Really, I want to show you!
You need a time out. You need to Pre-Register for Summerfest 2013. WE ARE SUPERHEROES. We stand for trust, justice and the American Stage. (Do you like that one? I’m proud of that one.) I am a Superhero. I teach Theatre. What’s your superpower?
See you in July! Up, up and away!