For a couple years now, we have been trying to convince Liam to try theater. As parents of a naturally reclusive teenager whose strength is not in physical sport, we sometimes worry about the amount of time he spends on screens. The rule is that he has to be involved in some activity IRL and this year he wasn’t feeling the e-sports vibe (who knows why, Mr. Reader….as you may already know my job as the mom of a teenager is balancing when my ears are open and my mouth is shut) so we solicited the support of his big sister to help him reconsider theater. She used her persuasive charm to get Liam to join the crew for the production of War Brides that competed in ‘Festi’, the Massachusetts High School Drama Festival theater competition!
So over the last couple months, Ellie has practiced lines as one of the leads on stage, while Liam and his tech crew built the set and effects. Round 1 of Festi was held the first weekend of March at Marshfield High School. The kids have a total of 45 minutes on the stage which means a timed set-up and tear-down of the set and props in 5 minutes. If the crew can’t pull it off they are automatically disqualified! Liam was a wreck! He was so committed to winning Festi and advancing to the next round he was having trouble sleeping and almost all of his conversations with Ellie at home revolved around confirming which boards he was putting up in which order. He was in it to win and he LOVED it!
The Saturday competition came and we competed against 7 other schools for the spot to move forward to semi-finals. The whole day had such a great ‘theater kid’ vibe as they cheered for each other, made new friends, ate pizza and danced while the judges deliberated and then sang Disney songs at the top of their lungs in the last tense minutes waiting for the judges. Brent an I sat in the auditorium behind the kids and watched them sing and dance with their friends and noticed that Liam had found a spot sitting next to his crush, Kat! He was pumped!
Hull is a tiny school with a tiny budget. We don’t often move forward in competitions but these kids wanted so badly to be the school that moved on, making this only the 2nd time in the last 20 years for the Pirates. After awards were handed out, including one for Milo who is Liam’s good friend was in charge of the costumes, a skill not always recognized in a public high school!, the winning team was announced and…
We were headed to the Semi-Finals!!!! Ellie and Liam sobbed arm in arm the whole way home on the bus and got home FULL of stories and laughter and energy that was off the charts!
Semi-Finals was the end of the road for the Pirates. We lost the next round to some big names with very different approaches to their productions. But that’s ok. These kids had SO much fun and Liam has a new passion! He has already signed up to do crew for Romeo and Juliet in the spring. And Kat is coming to his birthday party!