A Year of Drama

Last summer, Maggie took a Drama Camp. It was just a week camp that culminated in a show at the end where every parent applauded proudly at their cute little thing up on the stage. Maggie was Thomas O’Malley the Alley Cat in Aristocats. She was adorable.

And… she was bit by the bug.

The drama bug that is.

As soon as she finished the camp, she BEGGED to audition for a role in 101 Dalmations Junior. Audition? How does a kid even audition? Does she need to sing a song? What’s the protocol on that?

She went in and sang a song from Aristocats. Then, they had her sing “Twinkle, Twinkle.” She got the part… the one she wanted. She was Jasper in both Cast A and Cast B.

She was at the studio two and three times a week. She wanted to be there EVERY day. She LOVE, LOVE, LOVED it. We had never seen her so happy.

Then she wanted to audition for the competition troupe. My heart stopped. This was serious drama people. This was five hours every Saturday. As in, no birthday parties, no family trips, no missing for anything ever, five hours EVERY Saturday… for like 6 months. Then, the last month it got even more intense… like three times a week for three hours or more intense.

Not to mention the cost. There was travel (to Disney no less) and the cost of the show and this and that, and we were slightly overwhelmed by the thought.

We talked it over AT LENGTH as a family. We prayed about it. Would this be the best thing for her to do? Would this be best for our family? Would she start and then get upset a few months in that it controlled her life?

And, this mama PRAYED HARD for her little girl’s heart because this mama honestly didn’t think her baby would make the troupe. These were mostly middle and high school girls who actually knew what they were doing. My Maggie, um, I didn’t think she really knew what she was doing.

This mama… was WRONG!

We let her audition with the understanding that she would have to help raise money for the trip if she made it and with the understanding that she was committing to something and there was no backing out.

She made the competition troupe.
She was over the moon excited.
I was was seriously in shock and pulled out the calendar immediately.
How was this going to work?

We made it work. She missed multiple birthday parties. We went to no GA games. She missed several friend opportunities. But, she didn’t care. She was in her happy place. There is NOWHERE she would rather be than the theater.

And, in February, Mags and Mama traveled to Disney for her to compete. We went without the Daddy. We’d never been to Disney without the Daddy, but this was a different kind of trip. We were constantly on the go and then there was competition day and all that went with that. It was INTENSE. It was AWESOME.

And, they brought home the SUPERIOR rating and a special judges award for one of their dances.

More importantly, Maggie learned to be a part of a team. She learned to work hard. She learned to listen to constructive criticism and get better. She made great friends. And she had an AMAZING time.

All in all… it was an awesome year of drama.

Says this Drama Mama.