#crhq:grease

[thechoir-roomhq]

HELLO TITANS!

it is once again the time of year for fall musical auditions! auditions will be held wednesday, september 9th, but members can post their self-paras the entire week of september 7th, up until the 11th. (mon-fri). a cast and crew list will be posted on sunday, septmber 13th. directing duo and backbone of the arts department, dan and miss holliday have selected GREASE for the fall musical. please read below the cut for more details!

auditions will be held after school between three and five pm on wednesday. students are expected to slate with their name,material, and desired role if they so wish to disclose that information. an audition consists of a song, monologue, and some sort of combination that will demonstrate dancing ability. get creative with your writing for this part! roles will be chosen based off of the audition self-paras that are written. 

something to note is that dan and miss holliday wanted to shake up their adaptation of grease. seeing as it’s 2040 and mckinley high has seen their own variations of grease through the years, the directors have made the decision to have a genderblind casting. meaning all roles are up for grabs for anybody of any gender!

in addition to looking for talent, dan and miss holliday desperately need a stage crew consisting of a student director, stage manager, lighting crew, sound crew, student choreographer, and a costumer. those positions will be decided through an interview process of sorts. while those auditioning for roles will post self-paras of their auditions, we ask those interested in tech theatre positions write a bulleted list, in character, of why they think they would be a good fit for a particular position. please do a minimum of three bullet points, but don’t exceed five. make sure they are detailed!

please note that just because you have your character audition for a certain role or apply for a certain tech crew position does not mean they will get it. the cast/crew will be decided based on writing ability and stacked both evenly and fairly! you are allowed to have as many of your characters participate as you want, even if this seems like something they might not usually do! we want to see our cast/crew lists filled out. we’re excited to see what you all will do!

members also please remember tag these auditions/interviews with crhq:grease so that we’re able to go back and read them all come the end of the week!

now some more information about the roles in grease:

DANNY ZUKO: The leader of the Burger Palace Boys; good-looking, strong and confident, with an air of easy-going charm 

SANDY DUMBROWSKI: New in town; sweet, wholesome, naive, cute, and innocent 

BETTY RIZZO: Leader of the Pink Ladies; tough, sarcastic and outspoken but vulnerable 

FRENCHY:  A dreamer; good-natured but not too smart, she is heavily made up, fussy about her appearance, particularly her hair. She can't wait to finish high school so she can be a beautician 

MARTY: The 'beauty' of the Pink Ladies; pretty and looks older than the others, but betrays her real age when she opens her mouth. She tries to act sophisticated. 

JAN: Funny, loud, compulsive eater and awkward member of the Pink Ladies. Loud and pushy with the Pink Ladies, but shy with The Burger Palace Boys.

DOODY:  The youngest of the Burger Palace Boys; small and open, with a disarming smile and a heroworshipping attitude towards the others. Plays the guitar. 

KENICKIE: The second in command of the Burger Palace Boys; tough-looking, tattooed, surly and avoids any show of softness. Has an offbeat sense of humor. 

 SONNY LATIERRI:  A member of the Burger Palace Boys; funny Italian-American, a braggart and wheeler-dealer who thinks he’s a real lady-killer 

ROGER: The anything-for-a-laugh stocky type of character; a clown who enjoys winding people up, full of mischief and is always dreaming up half-baked schemes and ideas 

VINCE FONTAINE: A typical 'teen audience' disc jockey; slick, egotistical and fast-talking. He is also a veteran 'Greaser.' 

CHA-CHA, aka CHARLENE DIGREGORIO: The best dancer at St. Bernadette's; a loud mouth, wins the dancing competition with Danny. 

EUGENE FLORCZYK: The class valedictorian; physically awkward, with weak eyes and a highpitched voice.  a typical 'apple-polisher' - both smug and pompous, but gullible. 

JOHNNY CASINO: All-American, rock-star “greaser” student at Rydell High, whose real name is Clarence.

MISS LYNCH:  A no-nonsense, serious, loud, English teacher. 

PATTY SIMCOX: A typical cheerleader; attractive, athletic, sure-of-herself, but can be given to bursts of disconcerting enthusiasm. They’re a bit of a pain and unpopular with the Pink Ladies, and can twirl a baton. 

TEEN ANGEL: Frenchy's suave and slick guardian angel, who encourages them to stay in school. 

THE PINK “LADIES”: Ensemble, The club-jacketed, gum-chewing, hip-swinging gang who hang around with the Burger Palace Boys.

 THE BURGER PALACE “BOYS”: Ensemble, A super-cool, DAhaired, hard-looking group of high school wheeler-dealers... or so they think. 

Radio Voice:  A Radio Voice. See “it’s Raining on Prom Night”

[julienschuester]

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Every guy wanted to believe he had what it took to be Danny Zuko. He was the epitome of masculine power—a total bad ass and luck was always on his side. Tough, charming, confident, charismatic. Julien was roughly five-years-old when he watched Grease for the first time and felt like he somewhat understood it. With his nose pressed to the TV screen, he marveled at the music, the dancing, the leather jackets, the cars, the hair. He wanted in. Julien had a lot of roles he considered ‘dream roles,’ for example: Melchior in Spring Awakening, Link in Hairspray, Tony in West Side Story, Clyde in Bonnie and Clyde...you get the point. But at the very top of that list, above all else, was Danny. Grease was the first musical Julien fell in love with and it was through watching the musical over and over again that he realized what he was destined to be: a leading man.

Like Danny and hair gel or Danny and a cigarette tucked behind his ear, Julien and auditions went together. He was good at them. He had charisma, he had talent, and he was a tenacious performer. Most people got nervous in front of a casting panel, but not Julien. Every audition was a clean slate and a new opportunity to make a good impression. Plus they were fun. As he sat outside the Finn Hudson Auditorium waiting for his name to be called, he reminded himself that not only was he prepared, but he was born for this. Why would God have given him his precious head of hair if not to have him slick it back like a greaser from the 50s in his high school’s production of Grease? Exactly.  

It was Miss Holliday, not his own brother, that peeked out into the hallway and called out “Julien Schuester,” when the clock struck his audition time. He took a deep, steadying breath and hopped out of his seat, putting on a smile and quickly making his way down the aisle of the auditorium a few steps behind the Trouble Tones coach. He stopped in front of his brother and casually greeted him before handing off his completed audition and conflict forms along with his headshot and resume. It was a formality, obviously, because Dan and Miss Holliday were already well aware of who he was. After exchanging pleasantries, Julien made his way to the center of the stage and quickly found his light, clasping his hands together and flashing his million dollar smile.

“Hi,” he started, “I’m Julien Schuester, as you know, and for my audition I’ll be performing ‘She Used to Be Mine’ from Waitress, a Warren monologue from This Is Our Youth and the ‘Never Stop Dancing’ choreography from Footloose...with some of my own tweaks.” Julien’s goal with his audition was to showcase his range. He chose a traditionally female song to show that he was down with the bold choice to have a gender blind production...plus it was objectively a great song and he sounded really good. He was sure no other guys were going to walk in and sing a song from Waitress, so he hoped it’d make him stick out. As for the monologue, well, it was from his favorite play and it captured the essence of being a teenager and being into someone but not necessarily on the same page as them. Very Danny and Sandy if you asked him. As for the dance combination he chose...it was just to showcase that he could dance. And to subliminally remind the directors that he’d been cast as Ren before and was the strongest male lead McKinley had to offer...then and now.

Every piece of the audition went off without a hitch in Julien’s eyes. He hit every note, every emotional beat, every dance move. At no point during his audition did the thought even cross his mind that he wouldn’t get the role he wanted. How couldn’t he? He was nailing it. Despite his brother being the one actually named after Danny Zuko, Julien knew there was no one better for the part than him...not at McKinley, anyway. When he wrapped up his dance combination, the final piece of his audition, he walked back to the center of the stage until he was basking in the spotlight—smiling, breathless. “I forgot to say this before,” he started, running his hands through his hair, “but I’d love to be considered for Danny Zuko.” His lips formed into a tight smile as he vaguely bowed and clasped his hands together in front of him gratefully. "Thank you,” he said with a grin, feeling good about his execution and relishing in the approving smile he had elicited from his brother. With another audition under his belt, he made his way off stage and back into the halls of McKinley, wondering how the hell he was supposed to wait until Sunday for the cast list. 

[lincolnonline]

“So, I’m Lincoln Clarington-Smythe, pleasure is all yours. I know you’re thinking, now who the fuck is this? And the answer is; ‘very sexy, very talented & very new to this school.’ Today I’ll be singing Sign of the Times by Harry Styles, performing the iconic Cool Girl monologue from the movie Gone Girl and then busting my ass to a lil’ dance I threw together to Doja Cat’s Juicy. I wanna play Rizzo because, why lie, the only thing separating us is the threat of pregnancy.”

It had been a spur of the moment decision. Lincoln been aware of McKinley putting on Grease as their school musical for a while, after it had been mentioned in the Lima Group Chat but he hadn’t exactly been thinking deeply about it. 

Because, in his mind, he would’ve been going through the motions of another day at Dalton right now. But how the tables had turned. He looked around the halls of McKinley with a general air of distaste, heart-shaped sunglasses placed on top of his head. That had been a positive though, he was able to wake up this morning and put on whatever he wanted, make a statement. Said statement was a pair of high-waisted black pants and an eye-sore of a vintage sweater paired with the chunkiest belt he could find and a padlock necklace, with a pair of red Lolita-style sunglasses to top it off. 

He hadn’t felt like he was truly representing himself at school for a long time, it was a welcome change. Tapping an old picture of Anthony Perkins on the set of Psycho to the inside of his locker door, Link look over to some girls walking away from the auditorium, talking about how they were hoping for good parts in the school musical.

Ah, so auditions were today. Link pursed his lips in thought. It was his first week here and he was still working out how to go about auditioning for the New Direction’s. They seemed a lot more liberal in the songs they chose than the Warblers. It made sense to get his Doc Marten-clad foot in the door by giving them a sneak preview of what he could do. He checked the time on his phone. Yeah, his dad could totally wait in the parking lot for a little while longer.

Locker shut behind him, Lincoln marched himself into the auditorium, letting out a call of ‘Hey mamas!’ as he sauntered in. He saw the people - the coaches of the New Directions and whatever the girl group was called - turn around, visibly confused. “Sorry, I don’t know if we needed to, like, email beforehand but I was just chilling and thought ‘why the hell not?’,” he explained as he made his way up onto the stage. He had nothing really prepared, but immediately he knew what he was going to perform.

Link looked over the the man sat at the piano and shooed him away with a dismissive hand. “You can bounce, I don’t fuck with sheet music, sorry.” Pulling out his phone and setting up a karaoke track, ready to press play, Link moved to the front of the stage.

“So, I’m Lincoln Clarington-Smythe, pleasure is all yours. I know you’re thinking, now who the fuck is this? And the answer is; ‘very sexy, very talented & very new to this school.’ Today I’ll be singing Sign of the Times by Harry Stylez, performing the iconic Cool Girl monologue from the movie Gone Girl and then busting my ass to a lil’ dance I threw together to Doja Cat’s Juicy. I wanna play Rizzo because, why lie, the only thing separating us is the threat of pregnancy.”

He punctuated sentence with the pressing of the ‘play’ button and began to sing.

“Just stop your crying, It's a sign of the times.

Welcome to the final show, Hope you're wearing your best clothes.”

He had planned on bringing up the idea of performing this song with the Warblers the day he had been expelled. It was the first realistic idea he had ever thought of performing and he didn’t even get the chance to perform it. Figures.

Link gradually built up the song, letting his vocal range shine on the highnotes. He knew he could sing, and while he had never really sung a musical theatre song before, this was close enough. It was a powerful ballad, very ‘There Are Worse Things I Could Do’ of him. 

As the song flipped into the bridge and final chorus, Link let himself belt out every last note. If he was going to be in this show, he wanted to prove to whoever the fuck these two were that they wouldn’t have to change the original key. Rizzo was a bad bitch and so was Link afterall.

As the last notes of the karaoke track faded out, Link went straight into his monologue, not leaving any room for anyone to ruminate on his song. He knew everyone word from Gone Girl like the back of his hand, he didn’t need to rehearse that, he could perform it like he was Rosamund Pike herself. Finishing with the iconic ‘You think I’d let him destroy me and end up happier than ever? No fucking way. He doesn’t get to win,’ Link gave a small curtsy before moving back over to his phone and strolling through his Spotify for a second to find his desired song. Another song he had tried to convince the Warblers to do but to no avail. He’d tried to  make the choreography work in the Dalton uniform but it had been too restricting.

Starting the song mid-way through, Link began the dance he had prepared all those weeks ago. As the song went on and he began to realize he didn’t remember this dance as well as he though he did, he threw in some improv, sliding down into the splits and doing The Most. He let himself grind against the stage, he shook his ass, he pulled out a back-bend, letting himself make inappropriate eye-contact with the male teacher watching for moment as the song faded out. 

Pulling himself up on his feet and pocketing his phone, Link slid his glasses over his eyes and smirked, turning on his heels to head out the door before calling over his shoulder; “Oh and if one of you could email me the deets about how I go around auditioning for Glee Club, I’d love that.”

[ivystjamess]

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WHEN IT CAME TO THE PERFORMING ARTS, ivy st.james wasn’t one to play around. most of her childhood was shrouded in a whirlwind of vocal lessons, acting lessons, dance class, gymnastics, and theatre camps. ivy was a talent who snagged solos and leads left and right because she worked hard. and because her parents raised her to work hard. the effort wasn’t for nothing though, genderblind casting or not, she knew this rigorous training was going to pay off when she got cast as sandy dumbrowski. 

as far as ivy was concerned, every person in the world knew something about grease. it paved the way for movie musicals and despite it’s questionable message it was a classic in every sense of the word. without question, grease always has and probably always would sit at the top of ivy’s favorite movie and musical list. it was only natural she want to play sandy so bad. every serious thespian had dream roles and on ivy’s list, just above sophie sheridan and hope harcourt sat sandy dumbrowski. 

even though ivy st.james may not possess those same demure qualities as sandy, she knew she was a good enough performer to pull it off. after all, hopelessly devoted to you was her very own don’t rain on my parade. this wasn’t her first trip around the block when it came to auditioning for william mckinley high school’s arts department. and although she was seasoned at this sort of thing, it didn’t mean she was going to let her guard down. 

her nerves of steel couldn’t exist without her carefully crafted strategy of avoiding everyone like the plague pre-audition and chugging water whilst reviewing her materials. immediately when the bell rang, she was sure to change out of her cheerios uniform and into a simple, non-distracting yet still flattering black dress. of course, coach t wasn’t exactly pleased to have some of her cheerios participating but she wasn’t so psycho to the point of kicking them off. one lesson ivy had come to learn was that coach tanaka was a whole less scary once she realized that she needed the girls on her cheerios just as much as they needed her.

once she was physically ready, ivy kept to herself and got into the correct head space for her audition. she sounded great, her monologue was convincing, her dance combination looked good. everything was going according to plan. upon reaching all levels of preparedness, she took a moment to flip through her book which included other selections just in case and to check that her printed resumes were still pristine. maybe it was all a little much, but ivy would rather do too much and frame herself as a professional than fall short.

“ivy st.james?” was called and she took a final sip of water before setting her water bottle down with her other things, rolling her shoulders back, and striding into the finn hudson auditorium with a confident smile on her face. she greeted both dan and miss holliday with the customary, “good afternoon.” before moving off of the stage to hand them both a copy of her resume, “i know it’s not like a requirement or anything, but i figured it wouldn’t hurt.” she said, directed at miss holliday more than anyone. dan had compiled quite the stack of resumes from ivy st.james in the past couple of years.

back up on the stage, she planted herself center and spoke clearly, “hello, i’m ivy st.james and i’ll be performing how ‘bout a dance from bonnie and clyde, music by frank wildhorn and lyrics by don black.” she began without missing a beat, “in addition to my song, i will be performing hope’s monologue from almost maine by john cariani, then performing my own take on the ‘born to hand jive’ choreography. i would also love to be considered for the role of sandy dumbrowski.” after giving them a moment to process all of that information, she flashed yet another smile, followed by a, “thank you.” then a nod for her music to begin. 

as the beginning instrumentals drawled, ivy found a seat at the front of the stage, dangling her legs off of it. “how 'bout a dance, what do you say?” the song was undoubtedly a little sensual for someone looking to play sandy, but that wasn’t done without purpose. ivy might not have wanted to entertain the idea someone else could be sandy over her, but it was always a possibility especially since this was a genderblind production, so in choosing how ‘bout a dance, she was attempting to showcase her ability to channel some of the raunchier qualities of other characters. and if not that? it was a perfect window into just how well she’d deliver a ‘tell me about it stud’ on opening night.

“let's find a spot and dance the night away...” ivy sang with a certain clarity and tone that was captivating. boldly, she slipped off the stage to continue performing as the tempo of her song increased. maybe it was risky to hop off the stage and proceed with the rest of her number at the front of the house, but she’d rather leave an impression than fly under the radar and regret it. 

while ivy vocalized, she sauntered over towards an invisible person to her right. there wasn’t a single flat or sharp note that left her mouth as she continued her simple blocking. if there was one thing to be said for her performance is that there was little technical fault to be found in her singing capability. it was both easy on the ears and eyes as she continued to parade around the front of the house. periodically she would make eye contact with the director’s panel, but never daring to miss a beat or forget this invisible person she’d established to her right. 

that being said, as she arrived at beltier parts of the song, she paused her motions and faced front with her hands clasped over her chest in order to allow her voice to speak for itself. her talent, power, and presence as a performance were all undisputed, but she also knew there was something meaningful in, pausing, not performing, and letting her voice show off for itself. after a solid moment of letting her singing do the talking, ivy concluded with a gentler “you'll lose the blues, and you may lose your heart.” 

at this point, after issuing a thank you she was climbing her way on stage to do her monologue which started with a, “i took a taxi here. from bangor. to see him.” and ended with a “do you know him?” overall it was a comedic monologue, but ivy injected her own brand of sandy-esque whimsy when she talked about matters of love. still, the jokes managed not to fall flat and by the time it was over she was feeling pretty confident. 

another audacious choice of ivy’s was to perform her combination to a song from the show. but nothing in the guidelines said she couldn’t and what better way to prove she could do the style of dance the show demanded with ease. before she got to hand-jiving though, she took a moment to politely remind the directors, “it’s like, listed on my resume, but i am one of the best tumbler’s on the cheerios. i just thought i would like remind you i can do specialty work since it isn’t included in this routine.” she rambled, though she spoke quickly and clearly. moving past speaking, born to hand jive started up and ivy flourished with her own fast paced choreography. 

when her combination was concluded, ivy was feeling solid about her audition as she gave her final thank you to the directors. then dan piped up from up in his seat, eyes glaring down at her deep in thought “ivy, would you be willing to play any role other than, sandy?”  no. and just like that her confidence crumbled. not letting that absolutely gutted feeling show, ivy put on her best smile and answered, “of course, i’m absolutely willing to play wherever you see fit.” no director likes someone difficult to work with. “that’s all, thank you then, ivy, the cast list will be up sunday.” dan said and ivy offered a miserable little nod. “no, thank you.” and turned on her heel to leave the auditorium, wondering just what she had did wrong.

[frankiepucker]

MISTAKES HAVE BEEN MADE 

WHO: francesa ‘idiot’ puckerman WHEN: september 9th WHERE: grease auditions

as soon as frankie glanced around the auditorium, she knew that a massive mistake had been made on her part. ever since joey convinced her that everyone was forced to audition for the musical, even if they were only wanting to be part of the crew, there had been an unmissable lump in her throat. it didn’t make any sense when he had told her, and as she sat in the middle of her more outwardly musical peers, it made even less sense. “bro, are these like the audition auditions?” frankie quickly murmured to the person sitting next to her, only to be shrugged off at the expense of listening to the guidelines that were being laid out. frankie could feel a spike in her anxiety levels as soon as she realized what was going on.

god she was absolutely screwed in this moment. but soon enough, her name was called.

frankie made her way to the front of the auditorium before she was clearing her throat, trying to remember the words to any song in the world. she had wanted to perform a soulful and half assed acoustic version of ‘WAP’ but after hearing her mom’s level of excitement about her daughter showing interest in the school play, she couldn’t face the disappointment at the obvious suspension she would have received from her antics. “hi,” frankie said as soon as she was at the front of the stage, already hearing the confused noises rising from the various other members of glee club, drama club, and any other talented club. she didn’t blame them. it was supposed to be a cold day in hell before frankie was pushed to the limits she was currently. as quickly as her anxiety rose, her confidence dropped and whenever she heard the cue to introduce who she was choosing to audition for so that she could begin her song, she immediately started singing the only song that she always had playing in the back of her mind.

‘some things we don’t talk about rather do without and just hold a smile falling in and out of love, ashamed and proud of together all the while’

ever since she was a kid, her dad had been singing the same song over and over again. whether it be around the house while completing various chores, or trying to get frankie to calm down during one of her childish meltdown’s - the song was ever the same. frankie could still remember the loving look in her mom’s eyes whenever she explained the importance behind the song.

‘you can never say never while we don’t know it time and time again, younger now than we were before don’t let me go, don’t let me go, don’t let me go’

it was bad enough that frankie didn’t have any sort of musical track playing behind her song choice, but even worse whenever she paused abruptly in the middle of the performance. this wasn’t her. frankie pucker man wasn’t the singing piece of shit that everyone else seemed to be, but why had it felt so damn good to just… do that? “thanks,” frankie said as she began to exit the stage, only to be stopped with the repeated question of who she was auditioning for. another mental meltdown exploded throughout her brain as frankie tried to rack her brain of who in the fuck the character’s of grease were. “sandy.” the name was spoken abruptly and before frankie could even grasp what in the hell she had just done, she was fleeing from the auditorium. “what the FUCK,” she exclaimed as soon as she made it to her car, already knowing just how pleased her mother was going to be with the news.

[camevanss]

CAMERON EVANS is interviewing for the position of LIGHTING CREW . . . 

I want to try something new. I’ve been playing football for four years now and I’m not one hundred percent convinced that I even like playing football all that much. It’s my senior year and I want to see if I’m good at something else. Or even, great at something. Like I’m just good at football. I could be great at operating a lighting control console. You really never know. I’m not going to play football forever. I’m really not good enough to keep it going after high school, so it’s time that I looked into other interests.

I think I’ll pick up on operating the board pretty quickly. That sort of thing isn’t very hard. I honestly think operating an Xbox controller is more difficult and that’s the easiest thing ever. 

You might be thinking, ‘but Cameron do you really have time to do all this?’ Without a doubt. I can play football, be the vice president of the school, and run the lighting control console, which is something I googled before this. I can multitask. Plus, I like having a lot to do, especially if it involves McKinley. Go titans! I am all about school spirit. We need to support our theater the same way the school supports us on the football field. We’re a team. In the words of the great poet, Troy Bolton, we’re all in this together.

[finnschuesters]

FINN SCHUESTER is interviewing for the position of STAGE MANAGER . . . 

bullet points below the cut!

as seen in my resume, i have been a dedicated technician to the wmhs theatre department over the years. my experience alone qualifies me for stage manager simply because i am familiar with the ins and outs of our theater physically, but also what the expectations are throughout a production. 

in addition to having stage managed before and beyond my status as a veteran technician, i possess excellent leadership qualities needed for a stage manager as evidenced by my role as student council president. 

by nature i am both punctual and organized. these qualities would serve me well in this position in the regard of having my cues orderly, never missing a minute of rehearsal, and in general serving as a good example for other newer members of the cast and crew.

[aliceinanderson]

“Hi, my name is Alice Anderson. Today I will be singing Me and The Sky from Come From Away, then performing The Coat-Hanger Sculpture monologue from You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, finishing with a self-choreographed tap routine to Peter Allen’s ‘Everything Old Is New Again’. I would like to be considered for the roles of Marty, Teen Angel or Doody.”

Alice knew what she was good at. She knew her strengths and weaknesses better than most and her and her dad worked fucking hard to make sure the strengths outshone any of those flaws. ‘Don’t go for the leads, Ally,’ her dad had said when she told him about the upcoming Grease auditions, ‘they’re bland, they’re over-done. Go for the supporting roles with the show-stopping songs. Broadway may be dead, but high school theatre is thriving.’  So Alice had worked her ass off perfecting her song choice and spent hours in her room in her tap shoes, coming with a number that showed off her skills. 

She knew it would be hard competition, but Alice trusted her gut. The constant flood of nerves were a good thing, that was what she had convinced herself for the past eighteen years.

She walked into the auditorium following her name being called, head high and her dance bag slung over her shoulder. She could still feel how weak her legs were though, the anxiety of situation slowly setting in. There was always a level of uncertainty when Alice performed at school. It seemed like everyone she knew at this school had an amazing voice on them and while she never really felt threatened, she couldn’t help but feel like not being a member of the New Directions was a detriment. 

Taking a deep breath, Alice made her way up onto the stage, show smile plastered on her face the way she had been taught too, and placed her bag down next to the piano on the side of the stage. She loved performing, she truly did. But, God, she still over-thought everything when she did it. 

“Hi, my name is Alice Anderson. Today I will be singing Me and The Sky from Come From Away, then performing The Coat-Hanger Sculpture monologue from You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, finishing with a self-choreographed tap routine to Peter Allen’s ‘Everything Old Is New Again’. I would like to be considered for the role of Marty, Teen Angel or Doody.”

With a polite nod and a smile to the pianist, immediately switching into performance mode the second the song began.

“My parents must have thought they had a crazy kid 'Cause I was one of those kids who always knew what I wanted”

Alice slowly made her way down-stage. She hadn’t settled on any particular blocking or choreography for the song, she wanted it to be focused on her voice and her story-telling ability. It was what she was best at.

“They took me down to the airport to see all the planes departing Watching them fly something inside of me was starting I was eight when I told them that I'd be a pilot.”

She went through the song just as she had rehearsed, finishing off the grim ending to the song with her eyes squeezed closed, hands pressed to her chest. Once the music stopped, the feeling came back. The weird tingle in her legs that went up her body. Nerves. With a shallow breath, Alice went straight into her monologue, not giving herself time to ruminate on anything. The more she performed on autopilot, the better. She knew this monologue like the back of her hand, having played Sally Brown in her sixth grade production of You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown and it becoming permanently ingrained in her mind.

Ending with ‘the squeaky wheel gets the grease!’, Alice bowed and then made her way over to her dance bag, quickly switching her sneakers for her tap shoes and handed the pianist her phone with her chosen song ready to play and went into the wings until she heard the upbeat entrance of the song begin.

Tap was Alice’s dancing strong suit and while she couldn’t see Dan or Holly adding any tap breaks to the classic songs from Grease, her dad had encouraged her to play her best cards. Leave them wow-ed. A face and a name to remember.

Finishing the dance with a kick and a pose, Alice stayed frozen for a few seconds, just like she had been taught too. That was what performing was to her, it was a set list of things she had to do. And that wasn’t a bad thing per say. She loved rehearsing with the Troubletones and going to dance class and sitting in on her dad’s acting classes, but doing it as a career like so many of her friends did? It just didn’t sit right with her.

“Alice?”

At the sound of her name, Alice jolted back into a casual stance, realizing she had been standing, frozen, for a little too long. Grease was probably going to be the last show she ever did. God, she didn’t want to let her dad down...

With a ‘thank you for your time’ and a small bow, Alice grabbed her bag and left the stage, the light tapping of her shoes echoing in the auditorium.