Stage Fright

Opening night, the night that we've been waiting for, for three months, has finally arrived. The stage is crammed with people frantically trying their best to move without sound. While everyone else is moving around or nervously praying with their friends, I stand in the middle of the stage, calm, listening to Mrs. Robinson speak to the children in front of the curtain, kids in the front and the teens in the back. This isn't my first play, maybe my fifth, but what is so special about this one is that it isn't a play at all. It's a musical. The first musical ever put on at Dalton K-12 School. Because this is the first musical we've been working our arse's off trying to perfect every note, making sure that the kids who did drama just to get the easy way out, were ready as well. With all the preparation and practice that we put into this performance, no one would mess up. At least I hope no one will mess up. That thought always sets me off edge. Someone with an easy part getting quick stage fright and forgetting a line, but even that can't mess with my cool.

I'm never nervous. Every production I've been in I've never broken a sweat or stuttered a line. It's my personal game to see which play could ever set me off, and even though this is my first musical, I won't let it mess up my perfect score.

Without realizing, being caught up in my own thought, Mrs. Robinson is done and my best friend Sadie is pulling me off the stage and behind the curtain.

"Death, come on it's starting," she hastily whispers.

"What?" I look around and see that the curtain is pulled almost all the way open. I look at her with relief and give her a silent thank you.Others might think I'll forget my lines because I almost messed up the whole thing but no, I'm still calm and collected.

"Good luck, Meredeath." She smiles so wide. She was ecstatic when she got to play Dorothy from the wizard of OZ, but she probably wasn't as happy as me when I learned that I was playing the lead, Maleficent from sleeping beauty. She is the narrator of the whole thing, and she also has one of the biggest parts.

The play is about how Maleficent, played by me, puts a spell on characters from children's movies. The characters wind up going into other characters stories and mess their whole lives up. Thankfully, though, in the end the seven dwarfs help to take back the spell and restore peace.

I look out to the stage, from my spot behind the curtain, waiting for my cue to step out in front of everyone and speak. When it comes my heart starts to beat loudly, but not out of nervousness, but out of delight. I thrive for this moment when I can become someone else entirely, especially when the have powers. As I step out the fog make a cocoon around me and as I near the front of the stage I whip of my cap, like she does in the movies and the fog blasts away from me. This is where it begins.

My lines are deep and brooding and I make an effort to be mysterious. When I make a small joke I pause and wait for the kids to laugh. When it finally isn't just me up there and the other characters start to speak it seems that all the subsequent lines aren't as powerful, beautiful, or in character as mine. I know that sounds like I'm a brat, but it's the truth. As the play comes to a slow end I feel my heartbeat lessen and the joy of being on the stage come to an end. When I finally am at the last scene and melt to the ground in defeat, the curtains close and we hear the loud claps. I stand quickly getting ready for the curtain call but fall back down as Sadie slams into me.

"Die," I laugh. She gives me a huge hug one the ground and kisses my cheek.

"That was amazing. Definitely your best performance ever!" I smile and we both laugh standing up to get ready to bow.

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Over the next few weeks the praise is immense. Mrs. Robinson even jokes about telling the principle that she was going to abdicate her position and give it to me. Although I would love that, I'm only in eighth grade so she wouldn't be allowed to. Sadie and I run from the hallways away from all the commotion and and lay in the gardens freshly cut grass. She takes me hand and we let the sun devour us completely.