How I went slowly out of my mind

You know, I love the theatre. Always have, I think, although I haven't been involved very long. My very first director (bless his warped little heart) cast me in a role that was, quite frankly, way to big for me. Add to that the fact that I was in seventh grade and deathly shy at the time, and it's a wonder I ever got back into it at all. I did, though, my Junior year of high school. Once again, I got cast in a role too big for me, although I like to think I did better with that one. Aside from the accent, anyway. I don't know what it was, but it definitely wasn't German... The next play I auditioned for was Grease, and it was an undisputed disaster. And that, ladies and gentlemen of the press, was my introduction to the wonderful world of stage crew. I was only on run crew for Grease, and hated nearly every minute (although Mark's lap dancing skills were impressive. Don't ask.) Despite that, I went back and auditioned for Mackers (that's the theatre-approved version of Macbeth. Also known as the Scottish Play, but I've always thought that sounded stupid.) I got a role, albeit a small one, (Lord Ross. I'll give a cookie to anyone who can give a character description of Lord Ross. No Cheating.) and spent the majority of my time organizing stuff backstage. This was a tremendous help with my next play, since I was given the title of "Stage Manager." Cue swelling, inspirational music here. That was for Crimes of the Heart, which is a bloody nightmare of a set. Working sink, working refrigerator (ours was possessed), lemonade made on set, multiple bottles of coke opened, multiple walnuts crushed underfoot, and the most gods-awful scene change music in the history of time. I loved it all, and sometimes I wish I could go back. The point of all this rambling at no one in particular is that I am now more or less the stage manager of another show, Steel Magnolias. Technically I'm not the official stage manager, but the guy who is clearly does not want to be, so for all practical purposes, I'm in charge. I am by far the youngest person involved in the show, and as such people were rather patronizing at first, but I think it's getting better. Once they realized I know what I'm doing and am willing to help and be useful, they got a lot less cloying. The really weird part of all this is that my other run crew member is an older woman, late sixties I think. She's never done this before, joined the production on a whim, and seems to have adopted me as her own personal theatre mentor. It's kind of cool, really, makes me feel a bit like Ra's Al-Ghul. Of course, he was technically evil, wasn't he? Oh, well. It's kinda cool being looked up to and treated like I know more than I do. We open on Thursday, here's hoping things continue to get better as they have thus far.