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"I don't think I can do it; You Can all you need to do is forget everyone else and focus on what is right in front of you"
One of the things that makes me happy is acting, I never knew how good I was at it until I started it in school, it just came naturally to me and I didn't know why, Although I'm still learning to be versatile, I try my best to handle every role professionally.
A month ago I got to direct my first piece, it happened to be a drama piece. I was excited about it because I didn't just direct a script, it was my script. Like menh you needed to see me go. Although it was stressful for me it just came naturally. Writing the script was the easiest part of managing the actors; hard would be an understatement like you can imagine what it means to manage just one adult talk less of a team of 20 adults with different characters.
The first thing I had to learn was patience. No lie there were moments I wanted to flare up and yell but I couldn't because I needed the team together to finish a piece within a limited time. Getting costumes was another issue that came along with changing the characters of actors in part. At times I sleep only to be hunted by the things I was yet to accomplish in setting up the drama piece. That period is something I will describe as heaven in hell. Heaven because I enjoyed every moment of it, hell because I had to take the pressure all in.
But that wasn't even the hell part, we finally finished all rehearsals for the drama and were ready for theater night, that was when catastrophe began.
It started with heartbreak from two of my actors who suddenly said they wouldn't show up for theater night without any reason. Although me being me always plan for such scenarios so I implemented my backup plan which change some of the scenes a bit. Another blow came when one of my main actors started hiding knowing he was playing a key role and there was nobody to act his role. Now I was in deep shit like it just had to be him, I expected such from everyone else not him and there and then I had to look for a random person to act that part writing the exact lines to say. I thought that was the big blow not knowing what was waiting for me. Although I had already learned a valuable lesson there and then which was that "nobody is indispensable.
Did I forget to add that just when things were going bad the media guys decided not to display the graphics that would welcome us in, and stupid me forgot to give them the song that would usher us out? This was because I was everywhere at the same time, trying to get the actors ready on time for the costumes. After all, we got to the theater venue late as we had car trouble along the way. We finally started acting, we had to start our scene without the graphics we prepared, and just when it was as though we had finally moved past all the frustration we received the biggest blow that saw our main character had a wardrobe malfunction that revealed all her cleavages right on the big set. She was supposed to go again for the final scene after just coming out of an embarrassment that saw the crowd mock her, this was when she looked at me and said with tears in her eyes; Director I don't think I can do this.
At this point even I was frustrated, it couldn't get worse than this, I couldn't even find the right words to say so I just said, "you can, just forget everyone else and focus on what is right in front of you" and she did just that.
But that wasn't all, I now had to face managers and critics who wanted to talk my main actor down. This was when I learned another valuable lesson, we are a team, we rise and fall together so I had to ensure that I took the blame and responsibility for the costumes that caused the wardrobe malfunction which wasn't easy but I did it anyway, and just like that we were done preparing to go home heartbroken and devastated when I got a call from my senior director who said some producers saw my piece and loved it and would like me to join direct a national drama piece which would see our state governor and other dignitaries in attendance.
At this point, you can only imagine the feeling, but that wasn't all they loved my main actor the most and wanted her to act as the main actor in that next drama piece. Long story short our next piece was a blast, I learned from my mistakes and got to work with more experienced producers, directors, and actors and my main actor is becoming the star of the show. By next year we would be working on our first movie production I don't know how it's going to turn out but I know it would be better and In case it turns out bad, well I guess I would learn again and push forward.
If there is something I have learned ultimately from everything is that I should never be afraid to fail or make mistakes but rather learn from everyone I make.
Thanks again for reading I will also appreciate your comment and experience
Kilvnrex.....