Awww....the nurturer

Well gentle blog readers, as any of you who know me in real life know, I'm now a full-fledged teacher. Drama at that, which amuses me, because although I know a whole lot about jazz hands and kick lines, I am very much still learning about teaching "drama". Let's just say we ain't exactly covering Shakespeare.

But heck, I'm doing what I love and getting paid for it. Well, technically I don't get paid to put on the musical, but that's really a good thing. Because if I were paid, I wouldn't be able to give my big speech that I whip out every year when the kids start missing rehearsals.

I call it "The Guilt Speech".

It has elements of the following:

- "There are things I'd like to be doing with my weekend too! There are choices I have to make, because I've made a commitment to you."

- "When you skip rehearsal, you're not just letting ME down, you're letting down the entire cast! These people have made the commitment to be here, and now we have re-do stuff for those that missed a rehearsal."

And, the piece de resistance:

- "Do you how much I get paid to be putting hours and hours and hours of my time into this show? NOTHING."

Somehow it loses its effect if the answer was "a few thousand dollars". :)


So today in class I go over to one of the cast members who missed rehearsal yesterday (and has never missed rehearsal before).

"Johnny, I missed you at rehearsal yesterday afternoon."

"There was rehearsal?" he says, looking a little panic-striken.

"Yes, check your schedule."

I start the class. I look back and the kid is beside himself. He's starting to tear up and is wringing his hands and shaking his head.

Many might be concerned. I am slightly satisfied that my speech works so well in self induced guilt-trips. :)