The School Play

Mom and I ventured out last evening to see my friend, Heather, perform in her school play. It was quite a long drive, but we decided to go anyway as Heather was in dire need of moral support.

Despite the fact she is totally blind, Heather decided to take drama, which she said became an interesting experience. The school play was the culmination of all her hard work.

The play was a comedy, detailing a grand mystery party that a rich dowager was holding for her nearest and dearest granddaughter on her birthday. Just before the party, the granddaughter stole a considerable sum of money from a mafia family, who later came to the birthday party—out for blood. Many things that were meant as harmless stunts at the party became far less harmless; a chandelier that was supposed to drop toward someone’s head, having a near miss at the last minute, did drop on their head with some help from the mafia.

The comedy came when the partygoers decided to drive off the people who were trying to ruin their party. They used lots of full wine glasses as their main weapons. When rehearsing for this scene, Heather had a mishap. Since she can’t see the director to get cues as to the timing of events, nor can she see the other cast members for visual clues, the teacher came up with more physical choreographic cues. Heather’s cue to throw the glass of wine was supposed to be when one of the cast members stepped on her foot, which meant the person she was throwing toward was ready to duck. As the cast was moving about the stage, someone accidently stepped on Heather’s foot, and she threw the contents of the glass and splattered one of the guys. Thankfully, it was a rehearsal and the glass was just filled with water. The teacher then had to warn the cast members to be very careful as if that happened in the real play, there would be grape juice in the glass which would end up all over someone.

The play ends happily, with the mobsters being vanquished and the people planning another grand party to make up for the one that was crashed.  But keep in mind that this was a high school drama class, with varying levels of talent.  There were the inevitable stumbles, along with impressive performances, including the girl that played the granddaughter of the dowager, which was originally the role my friend wanted.

After the play, I asked Heather, who had never performed drama before, if she was nervous. She said that unfortunately the nervousness never fades, despite how many times you rehearse and then perform. There are still two more showings left; one on Friday for the students and one on Saturday for family and friends. “I’ll be as nervous on Saturday as I am about Friday,” she said ruefully. She said that there is one advantage to Friday’s audience however; she knows nearly half of them will be asleep, meaning that there will be far fewer people watching, and fewer eyes always help to settle the nerves.

I have to say that after attending the play, I was quite intrigued.  I didn’t really grasp the fact that with some assistance, a blind person could be a successful thespian. I might have to take a stab at acting as well, even if it is only on the side for the college drama club!