October 26 - November 1, 2003

LaRissa Broughton-Gray

[Mime Day, Thespian Induction Week 2002]

School Shows:
Sophomore Year
Grease: some random Tech jobs wherever

Junior Year
South Pacific: I was the original Technical Director but some anonymous twin who shall not be named, but for the purposes of this exposé, let's call her "Kristine H."...no that's a little too obvious, how about "K. Hoppenworth"...better. Anyway, this "person" stole that position from me and I was booted down to Stage Crew Manager...it was all good tho. Much luv "Anonymous Twin"! [Ed. Note: Hey now, I actually had the title of Tech Director from the beginning... but for some reason I got assigned to work with the AD during practice and then randomly found out that during the dress rehearsals and show nights I had to be back stage.]

Break A Leg: By far the craziest show I've ever had the almost non-existent pleasure of doing...I was the Technical Director for that one... Or the STD
(Super Tech Director) as called by Kyle.

Wiley and the Harry Man: Technically, this doesn't really count because it was a last minute thing at Districts where the One Act was missing a Tech Person and guess who they turned to...Jeff, but he was already in the play so Jeff sought me out instead...about 10 minutes before they had to perform.
I felt honored...

Pantomime: I did a pantomime at Districts with my other half, Camille...yeah we definitely didn't start on it until about 5 minutes before we were supposed to perform. We did pretty well on it though...cuz we rock!
Not really...Steven slept with the judges for us...

Senior Year
Oedipus Rex: Gotta love those Greek men in togas outside with a breeze
...mmmmmmmmmmm...And Again...Technical Director. But I owe that position to Ryan cuz he mostly did all the work... I just took the credit. Between Ryan, "Luigi," "Trucker," "Gloves," and "Primo" is just a comma...and a space...voided out by yours truly.

Almost School Shows:
Junior Year:
Captain Potato: I was the robber...but due to lack of umm...rehearsal, motivation, DIRECTION from the director whom, might I add, left us this year (You Suck JEFE!) ...that show was never put on because we are a bunch of slackers...WOOT WOOT!! [Ed Note: hehehehehehe]

Non-School Shows:
Senior Year
The Mikado through the autistic vision of Lynn and Michael Fugate @ the
Orange Park Community Theatre: Holy Bejeezus! What the crap show is this? If it wasn't for Sexy Shirt, I wouldn't have survived. Anyway...I sorta did tech...I helped with the scene changes (moving a tree on and off stage...and occasionally finding black shoes in the dark). I was also one of the minions...fun stuff. This is where I got the nickname "Scaredy Cat." But that's another story that you have no business worrying about.

Non-Theatre Related Shows:
Under the supervision of Mrs. "I don't Remember her name..." [Ed Note: Racine, Perchance?], I've done tech for Mr. and Miss RHS and also the "Prom Expo slash Talent Show" again...fun stuff...not really tho.

My Favorites and Not-So-Favorites
I don't really have a favorite anything as far as Drama is concerned.
All of the shows that I have participated in have been equally fulfilling.
Ummm...collectively, though, I have to say that I love the dress and tech rehearsals the most out of every show and every experience. And the rehearsals where tech has to build things...the most interesting conversations occur when everyone has sweated out every drop of liquid in their systems and are delirious from being overworked, scratched, gashed, bleeding and just plain old tired. A word of advice... "Do it like a door!"
I think one of the most crucial things that techies should know is that at one point during their tech lives, they will be stuck on stage whether they like it or not...in my case, NOT! I hate being on stage... PERIOD! Anywayz...my Not-So-Favorite moments mostly consist of me being stuck on stage...holding up backdrops for the span of an entire scene...keeping the curtains closed...lying on the floor behind a crate/"dock" as not to be seen…standing with a towel to wipe up water...God, I hated South Pacific...cuz most of these memories came from that show. I did have fun working it though….lots of pranks…**weird music plays in background and cynical laughter grows increasingly louder**
My ultimate not so favorite thing is...Stupid People...
One really dumb person who tries to work hard but loses points
on stupidity claims to have the ability to burn the school down by lighting the concrete on fire...
...And the list goes on...we'd be here all day if I were to give u my
complete list...
But my all time Not-So-Favorite thing is when during musicals...you get
the songs stuck in your heads and you remember them still a few years
later.
Here I am...a senior...and then in the middle of Spanish class "Happy, happy, happy talk..." A song from last fall. Drama does have an impact on ya...everything will come back to haunt you. But it's addictive as anything
and I keep coming back cuz I love it...call me stupid. My parents do...

My Message
...**insert inspirational words here** I have a hard time inspiring myself to get up in the morning much less write an essay about how Theatre is an inspiration to me. At some point, it was a stress reliever but somewhere along the line it switched roles as I became more involved. But it's an addictive stress...it's like a drug. You know you want to quit and you promise yourself that you will tomorrow...then tomorrow becomes after the next one...then to just "one day." There is no getting out. It's a cult. But it's all good.
Theatre to me is like a mind-altering substance. You can watch TV and watch them do some funny camera trick and then you'll sit there for 2 seconds and figure out every possible way they could have done it...Infomercials anyone??
Can we say "body double"?? With theatre though, those tricks take more time to figure out. I enjoy theatre more because it takes more to grab the audience's attention and to keep it. I'd rather have an "ok" rating from a theatre production that I was involved in than a phenomenal rating from a TV show or movie just because I know how much more "on the pot" work is involved. Anyone with minimal computer knowledge can transition from camera to camera after extensive training, but a real technician can rig a mike stand with Styrofoam and a piece of a broomstick 2 minutes before it needs to be on stage. The thing with theatre is, one has to constantly be on their toes...ready to make split second decisions in case something goes wrong. There's no time for laziness. Most importantly, though, while theatre is about 70% hard work the other 55% is BS-ing stuff. That's my favorite part...the BS. Can't no one BS better than a techie and without my excessive practice during rehearsals, I might not have had gained my ability to do so and thusly, I'd be dead. So to make a short story even shorter, I owe theatre my life because it actually gave me one. Thank you to all that helped me along my path to realize this...and to everyone else...--------![Ed Note: Oh boy, LaRissa, you are a fun, fun character... but this is a school-related website, remember? :)] cuz I love you!