Untitled

2004-08-26 @ 12:05 p.m.

sometimes people are a PIMA

OMG. I came home from rehearsal last so tired from having to baby a little whiney diva brat. I�m gonna call her PIMA (Pain in my ass). PIMA is 19-20 years old. SO. A little backround. In our production of Pirates, there are 7 daughters. We stand clumped together for 90% of the first act down stage right. Clump means a �scattered� 2 lines with the people in back finding �windows� between the people in front of them so everyone can be seen. I, for the first time am in the front. Eye is to my left. T is to my right and PIMA is SUPPOSED to stand in the window between me and Eye. Every night we stand there since we started rehearsal. And I am NOT exaggerating when I say EVERY night, I hear PIMA behind me mumbeling �no one can see me� �I�m in the back the entire time� �why am I here if no one can see me� �no one can see me�. Over and over again. Now, I look over my left shoulder often to see her and �play on stage� and she is never there. I look over my right shoulder and can catch a glimpse of her sometimes. This means she is standing DIRECTLY behind me. Why? WTF knows. Prob so she can stand there and whine about it all night EVERY night. But I let it go. I�ve told her a few times during rehearsal that that is how it works, sometimes you are in the front, sometimes you are in the back. Last night after Act I she complains right to face AGAIN that she feels disconnected b/c she is in the back and to be honest with you, I have no clue what she said b/c I have really have started to block her constant whining out. So I go and sit down. I hear her whining about still with the SM. The SM then comes over to me and says something about something needing to be done b/c she couldn�t see PIMA during the show. I finally lost it and I said �you know what (SM), let her stand in the front, I can�t stand her whining anymore and now she�s gone to you with it.� The SM said �She didn�t come to me, I went to her and told her I couldn�t see her.� I said �fine, whoever went to who is fine, I just cannot take her whining anymore� PIMA! You won, stand in the front, I can�t take your constant whining anymore.� PIMA then left the building and the SM said again that PIMA did not go up to her, that she went up to PIMA and that maybe we could work something out that she says that you and Eye are so close to each other that she can�t get in the window (um, by the way, no we aren�t, if anyone knows Eye at all you would know she is not going to stand that close to anyone � lol). I said (SM) it doesn�t matter. She stands directly behind me. I see her stand directly behind. The SM just went oh, I didn�t realize that. So the 2nd act starts, and the girls are on first. PIMA doesn�t show up. We do our 2 songs and exit. PIMA has not gone on stage to do this with us. I go to sit and observe what D is doing so I can give her some notes and such. Then I feel like I should go talk to her. Not b/c I feel sorry for anything that I said, but b/c if she is going to be in the show with me, I do not want her on stage next to me not knowing her shit and believe me, she needs to work on it. Besides, I don�t know how much theatre experience she has and maybe this is like her 2nd or 3rd show or whatever and she is just young and inexperienced. So I find her outside talking to her boyfriend. So I just stand there and she hangs up with him and I let her go first. She goes on about her life is hard, she works 7 days a week (she�s a lifeguard) and she eats dinner in her car on the way to the theatre from work. And how she admits that she didn�t get the CD to learn the music until last week. And she went on for like 5 minutes. I let her go on. I finally said, I understand about your busy days. We all have busy days. I eat dinner in my car as well, if I even get to eat dinner. Most of the people in the theatre do the same thing you do. And we all have busy and hectic lives. I said if you could live Donna�s life for 5 minutes you�d prob want to kill yourself. I�m no joking. You took on the responsibility and commitment to do this show with all the other stuff you had in your life. Then I said to her that the reason that I said what I said was b/c every day since we started blocking this you have been standing behind me saying over and over again �no one can see me� �I�m in the back the entire time� �why am I here if no one can see me� �no one can see me�. Even when you think I couldn�t hear you, I did. So then when the SM came over to me, I was just done. PIMA talked in circles. She was all I�m not a whiney diva who needs to be in the front, it�s just that she has no room to move her arms when we do the arm gestures. I said well, there aren�t a lot of them, there is nothing wrong with you taking a step back when the times to do them. She said we are supposed to be clumped though. I said, well then after you step back to do the movement, step back into the group again. I said I�m in the front and my arms don�t stretch all the way out b/c there are people on either side of me. I asked her how many shows has she done. She said like 35-40. I said, well then you have enough experience to know how to adjust on stage and find out what you need to do personally to make it work for you. She said she can�t see the audience and sing to them. I said you aren�t supposed to be singing to the audience except for like 1 or 2 parts where we are told to. You should be singing to the other people on stage. Then she said she feels like she doesn�t fit in with the other girls, that we are all friends and that she feels very alienated. D came out at one point and said, well, if you go around acting and stating that you feel alienated, then people are going to treat you that way. Yay D. Anyhoo, so I was giving PIMA suggestions. I said there is nothing wrong with you putting your hand on some ones shoulder to get their attention on stage. If you interact with someone, they are going to interact with you. She needs to be more aggressive on stage. I don�t mean push thru people and put yourself where you don�t belong. She said that maybe she would go on the outside of Eye and stand there. I said, how does that help? First off, you are pulling the whole group into a straight line and more center stage when we should be more right. 2nd you�ll be behind the leads and still not in the front. AND, if you are trying to react more with the other girls, you are certainly not going to do so standing further away from them and on the end. You would just be alienating yourself even more. I said again, you have enough experience that you should know what you need to take what is not working and find a way to work for you. Whining and complaining is obviously not the way to go with this group. The conversation always came back to her complaining about being in the back. I one point I said �PIMA, you are talking in circles! Do you hear what you are saying? Once again we are back to the fact that you are not in the front� and she was all, no that�s not it. I was like yes it is. I told her again that that is how it goes. Maybe you are used to be in the front b/c you are shorter, I am usually in the back b/c I am taller and bigger (she�s 5�4�, she�s not a midget) but it�s not always going to be that way. I said for example, I�ve done this show twice before, both times I was in the back the entire show. This is my first time in the front. When D came out PIMA turned that around and was like �well, I know how much it means to Maddie to be in the front and this is her first time� I stopped her right there and said �I did NOT say that. I said this was an example of how it�s not always going to be the same way and to realize that� Don�t turn around what I say to make me seem like the bad guy when I am out here trying to help you! Stupid bitch. I said to her, if Eye and I were too close, why didn�t you just tell us. Obviously we didn�t know you felt like you couldn�t fit in the window. I said today specifically I turned to look at you and Eye and you were not there. When I turned the other way I saw you behind and over my right shoulder standing directly behind me. You have to find the window as well. We are not going to stand there and make a hug gap for her and be all �oh here PIMA, here is a space for you we did all the work for you�. Get over it. Ugh. I said listen, which would you rather hear: someone behind you whining every day about not being seen in and in the back (and I mimicked the ways she did it) or would your rather have some one say, hey guys, I�m having a hard time finding a window to stand in, do you think you could move just a little apart for me? She was like, you�re right, I know I went about it the wrong way. Finally, it was almost time for us to go on and I was tired of talking in circles with her and now after the conversation I was certainly not going to let her stand in the front. She can whine till she turns blue in the face for all I care now. So I said, listen, Eye and I are going to try and stand a little further apart from each other and see how that works for you alright. And she was like okay, thanks for talking with me.

OMG.

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