By Laureen Zeni
Romeo and Juliet Reflection
Before entering Play Production at ERHS, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my high school life. I had a lot of friends and pretty decent grades. I was on the Drill Team for three years and Track for two years, but it just wasn't enough for me. As long as I could remember, I always loved attention and would perform simple things for my family. For example, when I would go over to my grandma's house, I would always sing and play piano for her. It was just something I had always loved doing. I'm super glad I chose play production over another year doing track. It really opened up my eyes to all the possibilities of careers and jobs and whatnot I could get out of being in this club. When I first joined, I mainly expected that I would just be learning lines and pretty much be just saying them onstage with fellow classmates. Boy was I wrong. All the depth everyone goes into is amazing and I have taken so many techniques and new talents from being in character as opposed to just reading onstage. I had also heard many positive things about Elly and was a little intimidated by her when I auditioned, but really, she was such a sweet person and she helped me out a lot in the beginning stages. I really appreciated that.
When I received the email from Mr. Copley with all our roles listed, I was so nervous. I had waited a week to know what role I had received and it was finally here. I opened the email anxiously only to not find my name on the list of roles. I was so mortified by then that I was just utterly confused as to what was going on. I thought maybe I hadn't earned a role in Romeo and Juliet. Later on though, I received another email from Mr. Copley and he asked if I wanted to be the role of Chorus. I of course said "Yes" thinking that it was that or nothing. Honestly, I was a little put down, but I got used to and really liked the face that I was the first AND last person onstage and that excited me. Although there weren't many lines, it was still an honor. I figured I would have to start memorizing my lines and I kind of put that off for a while and let myself down in the beginning, but once I got the lines down, I rocked them. It felt good delivering the first speech to a full audience. Everyone's eyes were on me and I felt like a million bucks. I must admit that it was a great feeling and I enjoyed playing the Chorus.
Once we started incorporating music into the scenes and acoustic stuff, THEN it started looking more and more like an "unplugged" show. In the beginning, Mr. Copley had asked me to write an original song or to incorporate the lines from my role into a song and play it instead of delivering the speech. I shockingly failed at all my attempts of writing a song. I had a few riffs and music that I honestly thought could work in the show, but everyone thought it sounded too happy so that hit me harder than anything. I had a tough time with that. One day, Andro and I were hanging out in the costume room with the other musicians and he started playing "Such Great Heights." I started singing it and he harmonized it and we were both in awe of ourselves. We spoke to each other and analyzed the song thinking it might just work in the show so we played it for Mr. Copley and he ate it up like soup. He loved it. THEN was when I really felt as thought we were putting on an acoustic unplugged show. That's when I really got excited. Our rehearsals got longer and longer and more and more tedious by the day. More music was added to the soundtrack and all the acoustic songs all flowed like water.
I honestly believe that the strongest performance was on opening night. Sure, everyone was extremely nervous, but Rod and Nicole really rocked it that night. I heard all positive reviews on opening night. Some went all nights and still told me that Thursday was our best performance. I think that all our built up adrenaline and nervousness led us to victory that night. We were all tired of late rehearsals and fight calls and just wanted to get our talent out there and blow the audience away. Well, we did and everyone told me very positive things about that night's performance. Some of the mics wimped out on us, but we pulled through and still made an impact. More and more tickets were sold after our opening night due to positive feedback. It was a total shock and a relief that our opening night went so smoothly. Only a few minor mishaps came along the road. We lost a couple weapons offstage and nearly killed a few audience members, but that's beyond the point. We all had a fun time and it really showed in our performances.
I was really bummed when we couldn't put posters on all the telephone poles. Doing that really made a difference in our attendance. I was really surprised on our opening night though. I really didn't expect to see so many people in the audience. Also, I realized that it takes a lot of time and money to put on a huge show like Eagle Rock Stage does. Mr. Copley has so much of my respect for all his hard back breaking work and patience. He really shocked me as to how late he stayed at school everyday to help with tech and lighting. He really surprised me. There was so much more work done in this show than in Cancel Christmas and it was a shock. A good shock, but a shock nonetheless.
The understudies didn't really show me much. I mean, yeah, they are both very talented and strong actors, but I really felt that Ray wasn't meant to be Romeo. His mannerisms showed too much in the play and I believe it just didn't quite fit. I understand that understudies are there for a couple reasons. They are there to relieve the lead actors, but are also there to get their shot at fame. I don't totally and fully understand why we needed understudies in this show, but I guess it worked. I heard a lot of iffy feedback though about how Rod and Nicole were on all the tickets, but two days they weren't playing the lead roles. Some people were let down by that because they weren't informed that there were understudies. If some people in the class hadn't made dumb mistakes, I really think this show could have been even bigger and we might have even had bigger crowds. We aren't responsible for their actions, but I believe it could have furthered us. And if I had had more time or experience, I could have written a song for the prologue. I was pretty disappointed in myself for not being able to pull through on that. Other than that, I don't think I could have done anything else to better myself. There was nothing I would have changed in my performance.
Crewmembers and performers have always had a weird, yet friendly relationship. I don't quite know how to explain it. Sometimes some of the actors thought they were better than the crewmembers, when really; it's the crew that puts everything together for us. I had a great relationship with everyone in crew this year. Jaleesa, my best friend was in crew and I got to know Nick better and Alex, and of course Patrick. I love them all. We are all quirky people just looking to make friends and have fun in the process of working. We all relate to one another and I think that we all got along really well this past semester. Dennis was most definitely the one coach I learned a lot about myself from. From crashing into walls in Cancel Christmas to flipping into action in the fight scenes from Romeo and Juliet, he was there showing me how I could better my fight stances and attacks. At first, when we started doing fight calls, I was a little offset on my feet. I wasn't sure where my feet were supposed to go and they kept cramping and I was a huge mess. Luckily Dennis pulled me aside and showed me how to stand correctly and how to fall and roll correctly. He was just awesome and I thank him so much for fixing my feet cramps. Hahahaha!
As for college, I am planning on attending Community College then transferring to a Cal State University to major in Theater Arts. Being in Play Production has affected me so much in such a positive way that I really want to further myself in this field of study and possibly even get a job in a theater or acting or anything. I can honestly say that I took a lot out of this program and I am really going to miss everyone next year. I made great friends and everyone in Play is like my second family. They were amazing and a huge part of my choice in majoring in this field in college. As for surprises, I'd have to say that Jemima really amazed me playing the role of Tybalt. She was perfect and it really looked like she knew what she was doing onstage. She was a fight master as well, which is a big responsibility. Every night she had an amazing performance. Her voice was strong and I really believed that she was in fact Tybalt. She did such a great job and I really hope she furthers her acting career. The one word I could come up with for describing this amazing experience would have to be Phenomenal. Everything about it was phenomenal. I couldn't be more proud to say that I was a part of Eagle Rock Stage.
