Today we had an extended rehearsal for out high school actors for the up coming musical, The Wizard of Oz. It's going up in a few weeks, and I believe it's fair to say that the whole production is still pretty

disjointed. Between students not wanting to show up and our older faculty yelling at them, the stage being a mess of props and none of the timing being solidified yet, I guess you would say that this is a

normal play in terms of the amount of drama in theater.

Today was especially bad though, and as assistant director I tend to try to be a middleman to most goings on in the theater. I'm running back and forth to relay messages with students and teachers

taking the kids aside when they need to work on acting, lines, blocking, etc. I talk to all of the faculty that work in the different focused groups of music, dance, and acting. I tend to be an easier person

to talk to for both sides, whether it's students telling me they need to leave early because their parents are here, or the teachers telling me that a student isn't doing a part right and asking me to go fix it

So generally I consider myself to be a neutral party. The students like me and the faculty like me. But today it was literally the worst it's been since I started up with them.

Kids ditching, teachers taking it out on them, harsh criticism of performance. Really it never stops with these people. Our dog we have for Toto was really stressed out, we ran overtime... etc.

oh jeez :c

The only notes everyone else had for the students when this all ended were all these negative, "you don't know what it's like to run a show as large as this" comments, and it was just weakening to listen to.

I don't want to take sides, but today I had no choice. I had to pick an alignment.

oooh that must have been miserable. Im sorry

I told them straight up: "Are you all having fun? I want you all to focus as we enter tech week, but if you aren't having fun I want you to tell us. Right now, because this play is stressful, but that's

no excuse for you to all have it taken out on you." And a lot of the students actually spoke out about the subject! It was really nice.

But.. the funniest (and most embarrassing) part of it all was after that, I had my brother do the announcement for the senior play with me

And I while advertizing and playing it up I mentioned the fact that it was student run with me as the adviser and the students cheered and got really excited.

And somewhere in that speech I might've made a freudian slip about the senior play being more about having "fun".

And as soon as I hear students laughing, I look to the faculty members who just make this "so you threw me under the bus, huh?" look at me.

And my thought process on it all is, well shit man. What am I supposed to do to get these kids motivated if they're constantly in fear of drama after this production?

Another person's loss is my gain in this scenario, but I can't help feeling bad for both sides here as a 'responsible adult'.

Sounds like you have they right attitude and they can either jump on or stick to their sinking ship

high school theater should be fun. nobody is getting paid for this

I think you handled it as best as you could really. And I'm sure it will be a ton of fun so it's not like you were lying haha

Yeah, I should've just ran with it and Kiryuin Satsuki'd. Cause an uprising of students versus their captors in the previous generation.

well duh

But I guess that's the point I was trying to make! It isn't a normal show where it was their job. This is a lot of these kid's first show.

They should be impassioned by riveting speeches, not brought down by criticism and doubt.

yeah overall, the adults should be trying to make a positive experience for the students. Especially if it's a lot of newer kids like you said

You did good! It's really cool that you're being a good medium between the faculty and the students and it sounds like your students really respect you and appreciate it

I think you handled it perfectly. (theater kid woo)