The 221b Babysitter: March 2016

Encore! Theatre is unique in one very specific and cool way: our goal is to train up the next generation of actors, producers, and techies. During the production of Treasure Island, this has been manifested in a whole new way: Pirate Training. Once every two weeks at a Monday rehearsal, all the younger kids (12 and under) get a mini-class on a different aspect of theatre and how it works. The first week they learned how to project (throw your voice) and have "stage presence." The second week they learned theatre etiquette--not running backstage, don't play with props, how to take stage directions, etc. This week it was my turn... I had to teach 12 kids basic stage makeup. *gulp*

Anyone that knows how I write knows that I handle life basically the same way: way too little planning, a lot of flying by the seat of my pants. (Thus my actions are often referred to by a certain director as "pantsing.") Monday was no different. I had very little of a plan as to how to go about teaching these kids makeup.

Two other people on the production team, Alex and Katie, volunteered as tributes for the kids to practice on. The way Carolyn (the head Pirate Trainer and Stage Manager for the show) and I set it up, we had four students and the two tributes lined up on chairs, with one student paired up with them to do their makeup. Alex and one of the boy students would be getting the Benjamin Button treatment (getting old), and the rest would be turned into pirates.

Basic pirate makeup includes eyeliner, mascara, bronzer, eyebrowing (is that even a term??? Well, I just made it one.), and scarring. Being such a wise seventeen year old, I decided to not let the younglings use pointy objects near each others' eyeballs, so we skipped the eyeliner and mascara. (Good call, me.)

The makeup ended up looking pretty horrific, but the kids had fun, and I hope they learned something. Who knows? Maybe years from now they'll be doing my makeup in a future show. ;)