Personal Narrative

An Extraordinary Opportunity

by the Homeschool Jedi

I had no idea what a Snoogle-Fleejer was, but if it had anything to do with the Springer, I wanted to be a part of it.  In February 2011, Mr. Ron, the director of the Springer Theatre Academy, invited me to try out for the play, The Little-Baby-Snoogle-Fleejer.  Mr. Ron adapted the play based on the book by former president Jimmy Carter.  Six other boys were competing for the part.  First, at the audition, Mr. Ron and Mr. Adam, a teacher at the Springer, started some warm-up games such as Zip-Zap-Zop and What Are You Doing.  Then, we had to read a monologue to Mr. Ron, and rehearse a scene with Mr. Adam.  Mr. Ron said that he would call us to tell us if we earned a part sometime in the next two days.  At the end of the try-out, my dad came to pick me up.  He went to Dunkin Donut’s and bought donut holes while I was at the audition and we ate them on the way home while we talked about the fun I had.

            Two days later, on the way to my sister’s dance practice, my mom got a call from the Springer.  My mom gave me the phone and told me to answer it.  When I picked it up, Mr. Ron asked, “Is this Joshua?”  I responded, yes, nervously.  He asked me if I would like to play the role of Jeremy.  Jeremy is the main character in the play, so it was an enormous opportunity to portray him.  I accepted the part and said thank-you.  After I hung-up the phone, my mom asked what part I was offered.  I told her that I was going to play the lead role of Jeremy.  Immediately, I called my dad and asked him to pick up my script at the Springer.

            I worked all day and night for two weeks memorizing the script.  By the first rehearsal, I already had it completely memorized.  My first rehearsals started the last week of February with only Mr. Adam, who would play The Little-Baby-Snoogle-Fleejer, and me.  The two of us completed a lot of blocking, and by the next week, we were ready to combine the entire cast.  The majority of the cast was in the seventh or eighth grade, but at the time I was only in fourth grade.  My character, Jeremy, had a disability called cerebral palsy and I had to wear a leg brace.  The leg brace covered my leg up to the knee and made it difficult to walk.  I fell a couple of times during the practices, so the set designers had to put stairs on the side of the stage so that I wouldn’t fall off when I walked during the show.  

 

            The first show for the cast was March 23, 2011.  My paternal grandparents came all the way from Colorado to see me on opening night.  I was so excited to be in a play at the Springer.  I felt like I was going to explode with anxiety, excitement, and nervousness.  The play was excellent, and nobody messed up his or her lines!  After we changed out of our costumes, Mr. Ron met with the cast.  He asked us, “What did we do well, and what could we do better?”  The whole cast agreed that we could all be a little louder, but other than that it was perfect.  As soon as our meeting was over, I dashed into the reception room where the audience was mingling.  My family told me I did a splendid job.  We went out to eat at an incredible restaurant near the Springer called the Black Cow. 

            In addition to the evening shows, the Springer hosted school performances.  We performed a dozen school shows, where over three thousand students were present to see our performances.  During one of the school productions, my elementary school attended.  It was neat seeing my sister and familiar faces in the audience.

            Unfortunately, the final show of the Little-Baby-Snoogle-Fleejer caught up with us.  My maternal grandparents and aunt came to see me at the last show.  After the production, Mr. Ron gave me a copy of the original Little-Baby-Snoogle-Fleejer book with signatures from the whole cast.  It was very sad to end the show’s run, but Mr. Ron said, “There will always be another show!”  I couldn’t wait for that statement to come true because I love the Springer and acting.