There are other companies they can go to but this was all theirs, and now they will be split up like children after an amicable divorce. My daughter is trying desperately to keep in touch with her friends, we have movie and bowing nights in central locations to them all. The hardest thing to let go of is the certainty that they can all be together and perform under a talented director. Lets face it, not all kids theatre is amazing and we will have a hard time finding someone who can put together a show like her old director. So this is the most disappointing change that my daughter had to face, it is a loss and she mourns it. I wish I could tell her that in the scale of things, this is not too bad, there are going to be much harder changes coming...
Friday, January 2, 2009
Changes
Change is hardest for children, especially when we have done our darndest to protect them. Yesterday my daughter was upset because the website for her musical theatre company is finally shut down. She was only in this company for the past three years, but it felt like home to her and her performing friends and she planned her year around it. She couldn't wait to get into the older cast. Last summer, we kind of had an inkling that it would fold. There were money problems, coupled with the death of the director's husband, the moving of the musical director, compounded by the introduction of her new boyfriend and his new fiance, it all just fell apart and the the kids paid the price.
There are other companies they can go to but this was all theirs, and now they will be split up like children after an amicable divorce. My daughter is trying desperately to keep in touch with her friends, we have movie and bowing nights in central locations to them all. The hardest thing to let go of is the certainty that they can all be together and perform under a talented director. Lets face it, not all kids theatre is amazing and we will have a hard time finding someone who can put together a show like her old director. So this is the most disappointing change that my daughter had to face, it is a loss and she mourns it. I wish I could tell her that in the scale of things, this is not too bad, there are going to be much harder changes coming...
There are other companies they can go to but this was all theirs, and now they will be split up like children after an amicable divorce. My daughter is trying desperately to keep in touch with her friends, we have movie and bowing nights in central locations to them all. The hardest thing to let go of is the certainty that they can all be together and perform under a talented director. Lets face it, not all kids theatre is amazing and we will have a hard time finding someone who can put together a show like her old director. So this is the most disappointing change that my daughter had to face, it is a loss and she mourns it. I wish I could tell her that in the scale of things, this is not too bad, there are going to be much harder changes coming...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
You can tell her that theaters folding and personal stuff having a huge impact on a performing company is a very common occurance in pro theater and how she handles this will be able to tell her alot about whether she wants to do this as a grown-up.
ReplyDeleteYou can also tell her how lucky she is to have been able to train with a good director and how well she applies those lessons when working with bad directors in the future will help keep that company alive. Actors always have an oral history they share when they go to new performing spaces ( Jeremy Piven is really going to regret the way he quit because of that) .
I don't recommend soft coating loss for a kid in theater- it doesn't help them at all later. Actors need to feel things intensely but they also need to get over those intense feelings quickly or they'll destroy themselves. Let her handle it badly for maybe three days and then it should be "on with the next show."
You think this is bad - you're going to be a very unhappy parent if she starts cold auditioning. Actors need to stay both very open and very thick skinned. That's why so many of them are insane : )
Love your insane friend,
Drinne
Thank you for the words of wisdom. I haven't said anything to console her, frankly I am at a loss for words because it was everything to her. I just listen. You know what a charmed life she leads, so I have been just hanging back and seeing how she deals with it on her own. She does have intensity, she gets very attached to people and ideas and no one can shake her while she is in that kind of state. I have found that if I give her space, she usually comes out of the emotional zone in a few days.
ReplyDelete