Drama

I need a t-shirt that reads:

Band Mom
Track Mom
Drama Mama

We just wrapped this year’s musical. The school put on Little Shop of Horrors. It was really fun. There are some seriously talented kids at that school. There are also some less talented kids but I won’t name names because that’s just mean and they’re kids, for Pete’s sake. (I started to type Pete Sakes but figured that joke is old at this point…) sigh.

I helped with hair and makeup again this year for the musical. That was an adventure. There was one other mom. ONE. OTHER. MOM. She did most of the hair, I did most of the makeup.

Guess what? That other mom also works full time. I know for a fact that there were kids in this play who have parents (usually moms) who do not work. Were they there at 5pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday afternoons until after 9pm each night doing hair and makeup?

Nope.

You want something done? Ask a working mom.

I made several ‘bump-its’ for the girls to wear in their hair. The other mom, let’s call her Dani, made four wigs for the four ‘street urchins’. Sure, her daughter was one of the urchins but it was still really freaking nice of her to cut and color three MORE wigs for the other three girls.

I did the makeup for the boy who played The Dentist. He was very nice but had only bothered to audition for the play because his girlfriend was cast as Audrey (the lead) and she’d lamented that not enough guys were going out for the play. He hadn’t expected to get the part and so was totally unprepared for what was asked of him.

I did Alyssa’s hair because, duh, she’s my kid. I also did the hair of one of her besties, Simone. That was kind of fun.

Now that musical is over, I get to move on from being a drama mama back to being a band mom. Now we start pep band at basketball games. I’ll probably go to one game, just to watch the band. It’s what I do.

Come March, April and May, I’ll go back to being a track mom. I am not looking forward to the snow, rain, wind, freezing temperatures that lead blistering sun and increasing humidity that come with track season.

One funny moment in my drama mama life was when the show was over on Saturday night, I was waiting for Alyssa to finish changing out of her costume so I could help her take her hair down. There were only a few of us in the room.

The girl who voiced the plant, Audrey II, came into the room, looked around a bit frantically and then walked up to me. She said, “Everyone I know well is already in the cafeteria at the after-party. Will you smell me and tell me if I stink?”

I laughed. Then, being the good drama mama I am, I sniffed her and told her she was fine.

She thanked me and said, “I didn’t know who to ask but then I saw a mom and knew I could trust you to tell me the truth.”

I told her I have a huge fear of being stinky so I totally get it.

It was a moment.

There was one other moment that wasn’t so entertaining. When Alyssa and I got to the school on Friday evening to start getting ready for the play (two hours before it started, just so you know) we went to the back of the school where we always went for practice, rehearsal, what the heck ever. We got there just as Tessa, one of Lyss’s friends, arrived. The three of us made our way to the door.

The door was locked, which wasn’t unusual. We saw Audrey’s mom inside. We knocked. She moseyed on over and let us in.

Then, as she walked away, she said over her shoulder, “Future reference - these doors will be locked to people can’t just come and go during the performances.”

Yeah, okay, thanks for the info, Susan. You’re a big help. Future reference…we’re not the people you’re trying to lock out. I made the thing that made your daughter’s hair look amazing on Saturday night, so yeah, you can just shut your trap and keep your future references to yourself.

Yikes, I just reread that last paragraph. I didn’t mean for this to be a bitch session. But then, I also don’t always expect to be treated like a second class citizen just because my kid isn’t the freaking lead, so…yeah. There’s that.

And for what it’s worth, the next night, Audrey and her mom were locked out right along with the rest of us schmucks while we waited for the director to get there with the keys to the building. Ha. Hahahahaha.