Grey Skies
It is a few days past the middle of April. We had some wonderfully warm and sunny days, then the weather turned north and it got cold, rainy, and grey. Last night we had severe thunderstorms that knocked out power in some communities (although, fortunately, not ours). We are among the many of North America who really wish spring would just get here and stay for a couple of months and then turn into summer before it cools off again and we prepare for another winter that will, inevitably, be cold and miserable.
Back when I was in high school (over ten years ago--that's right: this May is the 10th anniversary of my high school graduation), I was actively involved in the school plays and musicals as the Chief Spotlight Operator. I had tried out for a play my freshman year and, upon not making it, was encouraged to sign up to do lights with my friend Jacob. The current spot light operators were both Seniors, so the drama/art/woodworking/who-knows-what-else teacher, Mr. Hershberger, affectionately known as HB, needed some new blood to operate the spots. I quickly took a shine to them (hahaha) and kept up with it. For the rest of my high school career, I was the guy at the spotlight on stage left. If there was a special event that needed just one spot, I was the one who did it. Usually we had two spots, but I kept my post, which consisted of standing on a somewhat rickety platform with an ancient light worth more than my life (at least, that is what HB constantly told me).
By my Junior year, I knew more about operating the spotlights than anyone in the school (except Mr. Hershberger, of course, but he never intervened). I will always cherish the day that the student director of our play, Kirsten something-or-other, tried to give me spotlight cues that didn't make any sense. Finally, frustrated with her lack of comprehension as to what spots can and cannot do, I told her, over the radio band that most of the technical crew used, to shut up and let me do my job. She started to get huffy but HB, ever the dear old man, politely told her to let me do the spots the way I saw fit. I didn't get smug about it, but I did feel happy that I had the full support of the Man in Charge.
It was my Freshman year, though, that I was first introduced to the musical Bye, Bye, Birdie. I haven't seen it since, but I remember almost the entire show. You see, the spotlight operators have a fully copy of the script of any given show so that cues can be recorded and planned. And I was at my post throughout all of the rehearsals. So instead of seeing the show once or twice, I saw it several dozen times. This was true for all the productions we did, which is why I can still sing along with Godspell, South Pacific, and Annie Get Your Gun (and Bye, Bye, Birdie, of course). One of the best-known songs from this particular musical is Put On a Happy Face:
As the lyrics say: Grey skies are gonna clear up; put on a happy face! It is gloomy now, but it is going to get warm soon! The skies are kind of grey for us, as well, but they, too, are clearing up! Good things are happening, and they are going to continue to happen. As C.S. Lewis put it in The Magician's Nephew: "When things go wrong, you'll find they usually go on getting worse for some time; but when things once start going right, they often go on getting better and better."
Back when I was in high school (over ten years ago--that's right: this May is the 10th anniversary of my high school graduation), I was actively involved in the school plays and musicals as the Chief Spotlight Operator. I had tried out for a play my freshman year and, upon not making it, was encouraged to sign up to do lights with my friend Jacob. The current spot light operators were both Seniors, so the drama/art/woodworking/who-knows-what-else teacher, Mr. Hershberger, affectionately known as HB, needed some new blood to operate the spots. I quickly took a shine to them (hahaha) and kept up with it. For the rest of my high school career, I was the guy at the spotlight on stage left. If there was a special event that needed just one spot, I was the one who did it. Usually we had two spots, but I kept my post, which consisted of standing on a somewhat rickety platform with an ancient light worth more than my life (at least, that is what HB constantly told me).
By my Junior year, I knew more about operating the spotlights than anyone in the school (except Mr. Hershberger, of course, but he never intervened). I will always cherish the day that the student director of our play, Kirsten something-or-other, tried to give me spotlight cues that didn't make any sense. Finally, frustrated with her lack of comprehension as to what spots can and cannot do, I told her, over the radio band that most of the technical crew used, to shut up and let me do my job. She started to get huffy but HB, ever the dear old man, politely told her to let me do the spots the way I saw fit. I didn't get smug about it, but I did feel happy that I had the full support of the Man in Charge.
It was my Freshman year, though, that I was first introduced to the musical Bye, Bye, Birdie. I haven't seen it since, but I remember almost the entire show. You see, the spotlight operators have a fully copy of the script of any given show so that cues can be recorded and planned. And I was at my post throughout all of the rehearsals. So instead of seeing the show once or twice, I saw it several dozen times. This was true for all the productions we did, which is why I can still sing along with Godspell, South Pacific, and Annie Get Your Gun (and Bye, Bye, Birdie, of course). One of the best-known songs from this particular musical is Put On a Happy Face:
As the lyrics say: Grey skies are gonna clear up; put on a happy face! It is gloomy now, but it is going to get warm soon! The skies are kind of grey for us, as well, but they, too, are clearing up! Good things are happening, and they are going to continue to happen. As C.S. Lewis put it in The Magician's Nephew: "When things go wrong, you'll find they usually go on getting worse for some time; but when things once start going right, they often go on getting better and better."
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