Silence

Well, for reasons that I am still attempting to understand, I joined the school theater company earlier this year, and participated in the winter play. It was wonderfully fun, and helped me meet a bunch of new people (some of whom I am quite glad to have met <3).

Anyways, I decided to continue and try out for our spring musical. Now, let me explain something. I do not sing. Nope. Never. Singing is not something you will ever find me doing, as I am terribly bad at it. So why did I try out for a musical? That is a good question. For the audition, we had to read a monologue, and then sing part of a song. As soon as my audition was over, I went up to Mr. Fitzsimmons (the director), and told him that if this whole singing thing didn't really work out, I would be glad to do tech work or be stage manager or something. He said he would think about it, and so I waited.

Now, the play we are doing is called The Fantasticks. Apparently it was on Broadway for a freakishly long time, so a lot of people should (theoretically) know about it. Anyway, The Fantasticks happens to have a character who is a mute. The mute has no lines, and doesn't have to sing. As soon as I found this out, I began hoping that I could get the part of the mute.

Luckily, I did.

So, now I am a Mute. I have no lines to memorize, and I don't have to sing for any of the songs. I get to do a whole bunch of awesome stuff, and occasionally just blend into the background, and then reappear when I am needed. It is quite fun. I get to be silent, and just watch and observe everyone else.

Because of this, I have had to learn to deal with silence. Since I say nothing, the audience relies on my actions to understand my character. I can't use my voice to express emotion, and instead have to rely on my body. I must be more careful with my movements, and keep my facial expressions calm and clear. Silence is an interesting thing.