Cottonwood Joseph post #2: No small parts

I posted again on the Cottonwood Joseph blog. To read the post, click here. However, I encourage you to read all of the posts on there. It's going to be a fun show, and I like reading all of the different perspectives :D

Have a happy day!

[For convenience' sake, and because I'm afraid the Cottonwood Joseph blog will suddenly disappear one day, here is the post in full:]

I just finished performing as Milly in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. It was a huge role and consequently a lot of work. If I wasn't onstage then I was getting ready to go onstage. I felt enormous pressure to do everything perfectly. I didn't want to let down my cast, my director, or myself. It took a lot out of me! After closing night I was exhausted.

I woke up the next morning, went to work, and then went to my third rehearsal for Joseph.

To be honest, I was looking forward to "just being in the ensemble" in Joseph. I thought it would be a nice "winding down" after Seven Brides. I liked the idea of standing in the back and singing a few songs and letting someone else do all the hard work this time.

Ha! I forgot that in a show like Joseph, the ensemble is in every scene and is onstage more than some of the leads!

There's a well-known cliché that states "There are no small parts, only small actors." It's absolutely true! Everyone who auditions for a show hopes to get one of the lead roles. They want to stand in the spotlight and have the applause all to themselves, and then if they are cast in the ensemble they are disappointed. I can understand the feeling. Being the lead is pretty cool.

But whether you're cast in the lead or the ensemble, you have the exact same responsibility: work hard to learn your part and perform it as well as you can EVERY TIME.

Every actor on stage is important because everyone on the stage is telling the story. You might be talented enough to play a lead, but guess what? Directors need strong actors in those ensemble roles as well as in the leads. Sometimes I joke as an ensemble member that "nobody cares what I'm doing except my mom," but I know that if I'm not performing my very best that I am the only one to blame if I look dumb. Plus, for all I know, there is someone in the audience who doesn't know anyone in the show, so they randomly decide to start watching me. I'd hope if they do they watch me because I'm talented or intentionally funny, and not because I look bad. I don't want to wreck the show!

Every person in a show has a unique experience in that show. I've done both Bye Bye Birdie and Brigadoon twice, once in the ensemble and once as a lead, and I loved both versions equally. I think my favorite part of being in the ensemble is that I get to make up my character's story. Does my character like Joseph? Does my character like pizza? What's my character's name? What's my relationship with that other ensemble member who is standing across the stage? Why am I sad during this scene and happy in the next?

The production team told us at the first rehearsal that they want each character to have a "Rockstar Moment" and we each get to decide when that is. I've chosen my moment (and if you want to know what it is, you'll just have to come and see the show). I love to stand in the back or the front or wherever I'm blocked and just sing and dance and have a good time. Maybe my mom will be the only one watching me, and even if she is I am going to have a great time!