Put on a Happy Face

On Tuesday I was back home and ran into a friend at her place of business.  She told me how excited she was when she saw an email stating that I had blogged; just to find out that it was a promise of a blog post...it was nice to know that I have a reader out there.

Monday was my understudy run through for "Bye Bye Birdie."  I understudy Albert Peterson, for those of you unfamiliar with the show he is the male lead.  So I had spent the weekend prepping.  Memorizing lines, locking in all the music and dances, and all the blocking.  It is a stressful experience being an understudy.  For our company, we have two types of understudies: In-Cast and Out-of-Cast.  An In-Cast understudy, or understudy, plays another part in the show whereas an Out-of-Cast, or standby, is not in the show.

I am an understudy, so I am part of the ensemble on a daily basis.  My part consists of five lines and some ensemble songs...my understudy role consists of many more lines, 4 songs, and a dance break.  As an understudy you get one chance to impress the ensemble, one shot to sink or swim.  I was beyond stressed all weekend and even during the run through felt the effects of stress.  Every mistake I made seemed like the end of the world...but I got through it.

During my drive to my parent's house on Tuesday morning I was able to look back and separate the stress from the experience I realized that I wasn't as horrible as I thought.  I can attribute my success to the overwhelming support from my friends and cast mates.  They helped me run lines, pointed me in the right direction during the run, and gave me encouragement.  I was told that if I ever have to go on that the show wouldn't suffer.  Which is a nice thing to hear.

So for now, I will just sit back and put on a happy face and wait...and pray that I don't have to go on.  While it would be fun I still don't think that I am ready.

Short blog this afternoon but will continue to write and post more regularly.