Running the Show

This spring Emily was busy with drama.  First, she was in the school musical, "Little Shop of Horrors."  She played one of the street urchins.

As a fourth year drama student she also directed a one-act play, "The Devil in Sherman Marsh."  She chose the play, cast it, and directed the first year students.  They performed the play a few weeks ago as part of a three-play performance.  Of the three, Emily's cast was the easiest to understand.  It was exciting for her and fun for us because one of Megan's best friends was in Emily's show.  She may not continue drama in college but she has sure had a fun four-year run in high school!

If I Were A Rich Man

Emily's school performed "Fiddler on the Roof" for the spring musical.  They did a great job!

Emily with her sisters

Emily's seminary teacher and her husband came to the show.  Sister Miller teaches Emily's class and Brother Miller teaches Heather's class.

Emily was happy to put her old Trek costume to good use once again.

Exceptional Drama

Emily's drama class participated in a regional one-act play festival about a month ago.  Every school that attended presented a one-act play.  In addition to seeing the other performances, they also had a chance to mingle with performers from other schools.
Emily's school received a Superior rating and was invited to participate in the State Drama Festival.  They spent the day in Tucson but didn't place high enough to get an award.  However, it was a great experience to be able to participate with so many other exceptional young performers from around the state.

Shakespeare - Abridged

Emily was involved in her school play again.  The final performance was a few hours after Pat's wedding.  Below are some pics a friend took during one of the earlier performances.

Introducing the next story

Taking a bow

Emily's friend Stuart was in the play, too.

What a silly boy he is!

I don't know how he saw where he was going on stage with all that hair in his face!

Official Drama Queen

Before school let out in May, Emily was inducted into the International Thespian Society.  The honorary society for high school theatre students has troupes in more than 3,900 North American schools and has inducted more than two million members since its founding in 1929.  The Society honors excellence among students of theatre and support the work of theatre educators.

Emily was one of only two students in her high school to be inducted into this Society this year.  Pretty cool, huh?  I told her that this makes her an official drama queen.  True to form, she rolled her eyes at me.

Sweeney Todd

Emily during Act 1 - Don't you love that hat?

Emily's high school performed "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" as their spring musical. Emily didn't get a speaking part, but she was in the chorus. She had a great time and can't wait for the next play.

For those who are unfamiliar with the story of Sweeney Todd, it chronicles the activities of a barber in 19th century London who is sent to prison on trumped up charges by a judge who was entranced by the barber's wife. Once her husband was safely in prison, he seduced her.

After 15 years in prison, the barber returns to London seeking his family and revenge on the judge. He discovers his wife has taken poison and his daughter is a legal ward of the judge. He changes his name to Sweeney Todd, opens a barber shop, and plots the demise of the judge. What follows is a sometimes gruesome, sometimes hilarious series of events as Sweeney Todd murders his customers and the lady downstairs chops them up to make meat pies. I thought it was a bit too gruesome for high school students, but the cast and crew did a GREAT job.

The drama department has a twisted sense of humor, though. Act 1 ended with a song about what kind of meat makes the yummiest pies: lawyer, butcher, friar, etc. Immediately after the song, they dismissed the audience for intermission and sold meat pies in the lobby! Eeewwww! (They were quite tasty, though, according to my niece and Emily's dad.)

Below are some photos taken by a friend who attended the play the same night I did.

The cast onstage before Emily's entrance.


A crowd scene with Emily in the middle




More crowd scenes...

Asylum scene, poor abused Emily on the left

Curtain call

Outside with Dad and Mom

I am SO proud of Emily. She worked really hard and did a great job onstage. I can't wait for the next play, either.

Curly Girly

Emily, October 2009 (straight hair)

Emily doesn't like "girly" stuff. She considers curls in her hair to be the ultimate "girly" thing and absolutely refuses to have curls. It has probably been about three years since she has allowed me to curl her hair.

This month she was involved in a school play. During the week of the play, all the cast members were required to wear their costumes to school for the full day. The director also stated that ALL girls would have their hair curled that day. Emily didn't even own a curling iron! However, the wicked Mom in me found great pleasure in the thought of seeing her with curly hair again.

Before seminary that morning, we curled her hair with her new curling iron. It turned out SO cute! Emily was not happy, as you can see. (It took me three minutes to get that much of a smile out of her!)

And the back....

All of her friends thought she looked lovely, too. She got so many compliments that she curled it again the next day. I was one happy Mom!

(Be sure to tell her if you liked the curls.)

Drama at Denny's

Emily has a theater class this year. She loves it so much that she joined the Drama Club and tried out for the fall play at school. She didn't get a part in the play (there were only 8 parts), but she did have the opportunity to run the light board for the play. She missed our Friday Halloween party because she was at play rehearsals.

The following Friday I attended the play. Right before the show began, Emily and several friends approached me. Apparently it is tradition to go to Denny's following the Friday show. However, some of the parents would not allow their children to go unless an adult was present....and they met the adult to confirm the adult really was going. Emily asked if I would go so she and her friends could attend the gathering.

What I didn't realize until later was that I would be the ONLY adult with a group of 25 high school thespians. They were excited to be together, to finish up the play, and to be out on a Friday night. And these kids are trained to project volume from the stage. They were extremely LOUD!! They were super nice, funny, good kids, but they were definitely loud. I went home with a splitting headache, but it was worth it. I am so glad Emily is making such great friends.

Cowboys

The Disney channel has a show called Hannah Montana. Most people have heard of it, but for those who are unfamiliar with the show, allow me to summarize. Miley Stewart is an ordinary girl from Tennessee who wants to be a pop star but also wants to continue her ordinary life. She decides to move to California, don a wig, and become a blond superstar named Hannah Montana in one life and continue to be an ordinary brunette girl named Miley in another. She seems to have the best of both worlds.

Megan loves the Disney TV show and has been begging to go see Hannah Montana, The Movie for some time. Heather and Emily have been begging for just as long not to go see it. While they were still at camp, I took Megan and her friend Abby to see the movie.

In the movie, Miley has let stardom go to her head and her attitude. Hannah is late to her own concert and then has a knock-down-drag-out fight with Tyra Banks over a pair of shoes, ending with her picture in the tabloids. Miley’s Dad has had enough. He hauls her back to Tennessee so she can regroup and figure out her priorities. She starts to recognize what being Hannah costs her and has to decide whether she wants to continue her double life.

Along the way she is reunited with an old school friend named Travis. He is a cute blond cowboy who has had a crush on Miley for years. When Miley's friend Lilly comes to visit, she takes one look at Travis and says, "I want a cowboy!" Naturally, Miley tells her Travis is taken so Lilly has to find a different cowboy...which she eventually does.

In the car after the movie I asked the girls if they liked the movie. They said "YES!" I asked what they thought of Travis. Two little voices came from the back seat: "He was CUTE! "

Abby quoted Lilly, "I want a cowboy!"

Megan added, "When I am 16 and can date, I am going to date a cowboy like Travis."

Abby agreed: "Yeah, I want to date a cowboy, too!"

I am now very scared for the teenage years...

Wavy Hair

Megan's hair is naturally stick-straight. There is not a hint of curl or wave in her hair. Of course, everyone wants a different kind of hair than they have. Megan is no exception. At the conclusion of the day she planned, she wanted one more thing: WAVY HAIR.

That girl is something else. We put about 20 little braids in her hair to create the all-over-wave look. It took us about 45 minutes to complete the braiding process. She was thrilled!

This morning we undid her braids and put hot rollers in the bottom to avoid the icky ends from the braids. It actually turned out pretty nice. Everyone who admired her nails also had to admire her hair. She should go into sales or modeling when she grows up. She's a natural.

Drama Queen

If you were to ask my youngest daughter Megan if she is a drama queen, she will quickly say "Yes!" It seems everyone, including her, recognizes this attribute in her. At the end of her 4th grade year, the class voted for everyone who was "most likely to...." It probably will not surprise anyone who knows her to learn that Megan earned the "Most likely to be an actress" award!

That girls can milk any situation for the utmost drop of sympathy or laughter available. I am in awe of her skills. For example, last week we went to the dentist for routine cleanings. The dentist found Megan's first two cavities. When she heard that she had two cavities, Megan burst into tears. She was so dramatic that the dentist suggested we come back on a day when Megan wasn't so emotional. I had to break it to him that this was as good as it got. He filled the cavities the same day.

However, Megan still had to be high drama. She screamed when her mouth started going numb....and bit the inside of her cheek. Before the fillings were completed, her cheek had swollen to about 4x the normal size. The swelling lasted nearly three days, but Megan garnered every ounce of sympathy she could from each new audience. It was amazing to watch.

The swelling subsided but left a pretty colorful mark on her cheek. Megan told me "it looks like somebody jumped me." NATURALLY, she continues to get plenty of sympathy from everyone who hates going to the dentist.

*** Megan has requested that the picture of her bruise be removed.