musical – KC J. Hutchins' Blog- A Journal of a Creative Creature

I was a theater kid in high school if I hadn’t said this before. Now, we possessed a small budget, which meant we needed to save money wherever possible. One way was to recycle old set pieces, using bits of it over and over again. This we stored in a closet. During my senior year, I noticed how disorganized it became over the years. Either I decided to take on the task to get my mind off things or I was assigned to it… I don’t remember. Whatever the reason it, I should’ve thought twice before agreeing. It. Took. Forever. To make things worse, it was very heavy. By the end of it I was sweating like a pig and sore beyond belief. Literally laid on the floor for a good twenty minutes to restore my energy. By the end of it, it was organized by size and easy to access. I was pretty proud of my work.

Closing night came for our musical and we were breaking down the set. They needed my height to help with it. I noticed groups bringing wood to the closet. Without a second thought, I reminded them I’d organized it and to please keep it that way. They agreed, but a feeling lingered in my stomach… So, once I was no longer needed, I went to check on it. Turning the corner, a clear yell erupted from my throat. Instead of my finely kept project, I was greeted with a wooden pile of chaos. My noise was so loud my stage manager across the way asked if I was ok. He at the time was putting away and organizing the props. Striding across the stage, his mouth dropped seeing the dilemma. He’d seen the finished product and said he’d talk to everyone later. Back to his spot, I tried to adjust a few pieces… and heard a bit of tumbling and creaking. I knew what was about to happen… crossed my arms and braced myself while the pile of wood crashed down on me. For a second, I just laid there… grumbling and growling from the pain. A friend of mine found me, yelling for others to help me. After a few pieces were removed, I shook off the rest while crawling out. I shot the group a look and walked away. I could hear some yelling at them, but I didn’t care at that point. Spent the rest of the time venting to my stage manager. On the positive side, I wasn’t required to do anything else for the rest of the night. It was a shame since it was the musical for my senior year. Left me with a bitter taste in my mouth… or was that just a mouthful of splinters? In all seriousness, I was fine by the end of it. No injuries to speak of that night. I wish there was a picture, because I guarantee it looked really funny with me under the pile.

When I was a senior in high school, I was lucky enough to play the male lead in our school musical… I heard that. The eye roll of a senior getting the male lead. What a shocker. A fair point I suppose given the general view of high school theater. I can assure you though my director didn’t possess this kind of bias. In previous years, they’d made a sophomore the lead. Anyways, in this musical I received the immense honor of tap dancing (something I’d never done before) and roller-skate blindfolded. The latter was the challenge. Of course, my eyes weren’t truly concealed. I could mostly see the stage… just the edge was the problem. Luckily, I never tipped off it. However… there was one injury which occurred.

So, in the show there is a scene where I must chase my love interest off stage. There were safety measures in place when I darted off. Three people were assigned to catch me as soon as I exited. Here we were practicing the same routine. On this particular day, I was asked to go faster than normal. I checked with the cast/director to make sure safety measures were in place. They assured me everything would be fine. Keeping in mind there were several close calls before I simply shrugged. Scene progresses as normal. Love interest exits and I dart off like a bullet. Through to doorway and I see… nothing. Not a single cast member in sight. You know what I did see? I terrified mini orchestra watching the comedy unfolding in front of them. (Granted they didn’t think that at the time. Genuinely concerned but might as well make a joke out of it) Here I went shoulder first into the wall making me twist into the prop bed… which I swear possessed a wicked sense of humor for the corner of it nailed me in the crotch. All of a sudden, I could hit soprano notes. I promptly keeled over that bed and tried to stop the spinning, pain, and blacking out. The first to get to me was the orchestra. They were quick to find aid and steady me. Next was my choir teacher who saw the whole thing happen from his office which was right next to backstage. He went to get ice packs while my director and my cast mates came behind her. Each made sure I was alright before my director called for all of them to meet onstage. Obviously, I was excused as I was still reeling from the event. I tried to listen in on the meeting… well it was more of a yelling. My director was furious the whole thing occurred. Telling them they were going to rerun the safety measures every time and it was one of the most important jobs they possessed to make the show work. Though maybe I’m remembering it wrong. I honestly was barely with it at the time and I’m pretty sure I took a cat nap. All I knew was afterwards they never forgot to catch me each time. On several occasions my choir teacher joined to catch the speeding me. Can’t blame the cast too much, I think. After all I was one of the taller people in the group. Who wants to try and stop an over 6-foot person whose roller-skating at full speed blindfolded?

Tag: musical

School Storytime: Woodn’t That Hurt?

School Storytime: Blindfolded Roller-skating