You Can't Always Get What You Want

Ah, the love of the grindy thirteen year old eighth grade boy who wants nothing... absolutely nothing to do with drama class. Why? Because he'll do anything to avoid attention. He wants to fly under the radar. He's chronically embarrassed by everything. Feels awkward just breathing. He's in middle school.

Monologue? Memorized? Perform on stage? In front of the entire class?

I will give him credit. He never talked back. Didn't refuse. But, oh how he growled quietly during the introduction of the unit, the exemplars of other kids performing, review of the performance guidelines and rehearsals.

And I didn't push him. Didn't force him on stage to workshop. Didn't call him out. Instead, I waited.

Performance day for the grade. Took a deep breath and called his name half-way through class. So, he wasn't first. Wasn't last. Tucked in the middle. Safer.

He steps on stage wearing a Rolling Stones t-shirt. I laugh and say, "Extra credit for the t-shirt. Now, lights, camera, action."

And he takes off... learned the monologue so well, he was able to ad-lib, expand, perform... ACT. Gestures, expressions, movement. Like a pro.

My jaw dropped. Beyond what I could have possibly expected. Delighted, I meet his eyes when the class erupts into earnest applause and a smile shyly escapes across his beautiful, pimple-scattered, yet-to-shave-but-almost teenage face.

I walk across the classroom to my desk, cue up the Rolling Stones and blast....

"but if you try sometimes, you just might find. You get what you need."