Rehersal

The kids are rehearsing for the musical they are in.

Rehearsals are long and tiring. The songs change, the blocking changes, the choreography changes. It's sometimes difficult to keep up with what's going on if you've never been part of a play. If you have been part of a show, you expect regular changes and you know everything will come together in time for the actual performance.

Katie has a hard time with this.


Katie knows where she is supposed to be, and where everyone else is supposed to be, and she has no qualms about going over to another child and moving them if they are slightly out of place. She sings at the top of her lungs because she doesn't feel everyone else is singing loud enough and she is trying show them how it should be done.

Katie gets very frustrated when choreography changes. When they first started staging "Oklahoma" all the kids in the chorus slapped their hands on their thighs in time to the music. Unfortunately, it just wasn't coming together, so now everyone is to just stand there and sing behind the dancers. Katie keeps slapping her hands on her thighs, not because she forgets they aren't doing that any more, but because she thinks they should still be doing that. She even told the director that it looks better when they do the hand pat and came off stage crying when she was told no.


A little while later they were working on a different song and Katie was having trouble learning the choreography. She stomped over to me in tears, "It's too hard!" I encouraged her and sent her back on stage.


A little while later she was upset because she thought she should be in front where people could see her, but she had been moved back a row.


The last time she came crying to me (when they had not taken another of her suggestions), I had lost all sympathy for her.


"Katie! You do not control everything that is going on here. The adults are in charge. They know how this is supposed to work. Just do what they tell you if you want to be in the show. You are not the director!"


"Well I should be!" she snapped and stomped off back to her spot.