Why Not Just Memorize the Entire Script

              When Jenna was seven years old I had signed her up for an acting class.  The show to be preformed was “You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown”.  A few hours before taking her to the “audition” she painted red dots all over her face and told me she couldn’t possibly go because she had the measles.  I don’t know what she had against Charlie Brown at the time, but I know the entire “Peanuts” gang were not high on her list of shows to watch.  Pretending she was one of them seemed against her nature.

          That first night of class the script was passed out.  Three boys and four girls read the script according to how the instructor had assigned them before she changed what parts to read for.  Lucy and Linus were cast that night but she was still getting a feel for who the other children would play and who would be double cast (as there are just six characters).  Jenna had memorized everybody’s part except for Charlie Browns.  She was hoping to get cast as either Schroeder or Snoopy.

          The following week the children went over the script again.  Neither the instructor nor I could see either of the boys playing Charlie Brown as one seemed highly unfocused to play a main part.  The other spoke Spanish as his native tongue and did not read English well enough to pull off Charlie Brown.  Thus the instructor had asked if Jenna would be okay playing Charlie Brown.  She wasn’t, but we made Charlie Brown a girl instead of a boy. 

          Long before the final performance Jenna had memorized the entire script.  She has continued this for years.  She has never taken drama at school until this year.  Script was written and parts passed out – more students than characters.  Thus to include Jenna additional supporting characters were written in so that, if nothing else, she would at least be seen milling in the background.  People who say “there are no small parts just small actors” are full of it.  There are parts or even characters that are insignificant enough that they can be written out. 

          To her credit, Jenna has learned others’ parts as she has practiced going over lines with some other students.  During the course of time she has been asked to substitute for various students who would not/will not make it to the final performance (or sometime during the week of performance)  She has done that before – playing multiple characters or saying multiple lines when she is on stage with the one she is saying lines for (for example, there were three aunts in "Madness, Murder and Matrimony -or-Have Some Madeira, M'Dear?" who appeared on the stage at the same time, but when  another aunt was unavailable to perform one night, Jenna said both of their lines. 

 I am such a proud parent that I just feel the need to boast.  Here  are some of her accomplishments here and more on her Charlie Brown experience here.

Being a Part of the Choir

           I love to sing but was not blessed with the talent that makes others want to listen nor have not taken the time to develop my vocal ability.  I have joined a number of choirs through the years – well mostly church choirs.  I have joined for more to contribute to body count rather and overall I have enjoyed the company. I know I am not the greatest singer and so it is nice to belong to a body of those who do.

          I remember my entire family having joined the stake choir when we lived in Kearns.  We performed twice a year as I recall – once during conference and once the first Sunday in December.  The December performance was always so awesome.  There was always at least one song that would tug at my heartstrings and my eyes would moisten as the male voices would soar behind me. 

          Our choir director’s name was Diane.  She had quite a pleasant attitude and would always say things to make us smile – for we needed to smile when we preformed and not appear grumpy.  I have tried to keep that image with me whenever I have performed.

          I remember one stake conference I had gone to each practice diligently with Roland and the boys.  Though we arrived early on Sunday morning for one final practice I ended up bailing on the performance. I had just learned that I was pregnant with Jenna and was experiencing morning sickness.  I had started out sitting in the pews closest to the stand to watch my men.  After a while I went from the front to the back of the chapel and finally to the back of the cultural hall.

          Our stake president found me in the cultural hall amongst the empty chairs and joked “You need to come early to find a good seat back here.”

          I told him I had initially come to perform but was pregnant and needed to be as close to the restrooms as possible.  After that we all seemed to taper off being in the choir.  After we had moved to West Valley we would try to return to Kearns stake on the first Sunday in December to watch others perform.  We didn’t always make it because of the weather.  I don’t know why, but it seems like it always snowed that night as though testing the diligence of those involved.

          Some callings or talks are assigned by inspiration – others have come from desperation.  I don’t know what the reasoning was behind asking Jackie and I to sing something together when I lived in West Valley.  We didn’t have a choir in West Valley and I found that odd.  I’d never been in a ward that didn’t have a choir.  Perhaps if they had everyone would have known that Jackie and I couldn’t sing – each believing the other sounded worse.

          I think we might have been asked just to prove that God does have a sense of humor.  I smiled big and proud.  I thought perhaps if I had followed Diane’s advice, people wouldn’t notice how bad I (we) sounded. We sang a primary song. I think we sang “Jesus Said Love Everyone” (here)  although that does seem shorter than what I remember. Perhaps we sang it through twice.

Even though I had smiled (and maybe Jackie did too – I wasn’t looking at her) I’m sure that we were as pleasant to listen to as two wounded cows. I had posted about it on facebook.  A couple of years later I made a comment that I noticed we had never been asked to perform again.