It's A Hard Knock Life

Anna Banana loves theater. Last summer as part of our childcare plan, the kids attended a Syracuse Children's Theater camp. Anna fell in love, begged us to cancel the next camp we signed her up for to attend another SCT session, and kept right on going until we moved. She described the folks at SCT as family, recruited other children to join with her enthusiasm, practiced diligently (not in front of us but in front of the house), and would hang posters at mine and her fathers' offices and canvas the neighborhood when it came time to sell tickets.  One of her biggest losses in leaving Syracuse was having to leave her theater company. To rub salt in the wound they are doing Annie in the fall. Annie! Annie would cut off her right arm to be in it! She's been waiting her whole life! What little girl theatrically inclined would NOT want to sing and dance to It's A Hard Knock Life. Heck, I wanted her to be in it with all her buddies!

Before we moved, we discovered there was a theater company in our new town and signed her up for a summer camp in order to get her connected quickly. Jeff made acquaintance of the administrator and despite the doubling of cost of SCT, felt good about the decision. A bonus was finding out it is a 3 minute walk from our door.

Customary butterflies and jitters accompanied Anna to the first day of camp, but at the end of the day she seemed optimistic. I was a little disappointed by the sheer volume of children and the unorganized way in which they were admitted and dismissed. SCT was like a bank vault of children - you were not getting a kid outta there if you weren't supposed to. I reminded myself that this is a safe and wealthy town and tried not to judge. Plus the staff seemed to think she was making friends quickly.

The end of the next day brought tears and distress. Anna had gotten a callback and read for one of the main characters. When all was decided, she ended up being a member of the chorus.  "I have no reason to go back!" she lamented. "I know the chorus songs and dances already!"

Anna has never been "just" a member of the chorus. She's always gotten speaking roles and solo song lines or been part of a smaller number. Never the main character, but enough to give her something to work on. I am not sure if all of this was due to talent; SCT was very in tune to trying to build in as many little parts and numbers into a script as possible to make sure that as many children as possible could do something special.

Jeff and I are fully aware that this is a life lesson that must be endured. Children need to learn that things don't always go their way, that sometimes you play a minor role and you have to play it just as well, etc. But come on! THIS is the time we needed the BREAK! Seriously - the kid is having a difficult time adjusting to her new life here and ANY kind of speaking role would have settled her a lot.

I have thought, "What if she decides she's done with theater now?! Her special thing!" The rational, thinking side of me knows that is a risk that needs to be taken in order to strengthen her character. The mama bear side of me...I don't even need to explain, do I?

Anna has a victim complex at times. It runs in the family (my side). She told us that "there was this girl who tried out for (the main role) who was AMAZING - but did she get the part? Noooooo.  (The director's) daughter did and she wasn't even good!" Yes, this goes on in the grown up world too and we have to learn how to deal with it. But as a neighbor was telling me what a lovely family the director's family is I mentally noted that he gives main roles to his undeserving offspring - I have that on good authority from my jealous 8 year old.

I tried to paint a less nefarious picture by explaining the difference between objectivity and subjectivity to Anna. Auditions in theater are subjective. When Molly tries out for an orchestra, there is a subjective measuring system. One person might hear something different than another, value different parts of playing the instrument, or have different ideas of what is "good." One person might give her first chair, and another might not admit her at all. When Molly runs track, however, there is an objective measuring system. The clock only tells at what minute/second/hundreth a person crosses the finish line. That's it. If Molly gets first place or last place depends on what her time crossing was compared to the other people in the race. Their running form, for instance, doesn't matter.

Anna apparently had to test her mother's explanation and took up the matter with her dad, who further decided to explore the idea of subjectivity vs. objectivity. He said, "So who is cuter, Justin Bieber or Zach Ephron?"
She found this hilarious. "Do you even know who Zach Ephron IS?" she asked.
 "Are you kidding me!" he exclaimed. "After all the High School Musical I have been subjected to you ask me this?! Really - who is cuter?"
"That kind of thing is usually decided by a majority." The 8 year old said.
"But is there a fair way of deciding? How can you prove if Justin or Zach is really cuter?"
Maybe she got it. She seemed soothed, anyway, when he agreed to buy her new pajamas to wear to "pajama day" at theater camp.

We are encouraging her to keep up her good attitude - maybe during regular season when there are less kids she'll get a speaking role? Surely the directors will notice her great attitude. I mean, they did give her a lame-ass paper plate "camper of the day" award the day she discovered she was in the chorus. We did not take the opportunity to explain the concept of consolation prizes and make-up calls.