This is where we began, being what we can

I visited ARGS today, which involved me driving to ARGS alone for the first time. It was great, until I got off at Jeff Davis instead of 95. And then I ended up going onto 288 when leaving because I realized I didn't know how to get back to Bon Air. Suburban navigation. It will always baffle me. (In my defense, I didn't live in Bon Air when I was going back and forth to ARGS every day for four years.)

Anyway.

It was delightful to be back their during a school day, largely for the "some things never change" factor. I sat in on Show Choir working on the number "Hair" which was being revamped because Becker thought it was too sterile. ("This whole show has no basis in..." "Anything remotely show choir?" "Right. It's like... show choir performance art.") He was, of course, forgetting the lyrics/making new ones up all over the place. I, of course, had been jamming to that song on the highway on the way over.

Becker: Okay, let's take it from, "the splendor, the wonder, the uh-buh-duh." [The lyrics are "the beauty, the splendor, the wonder of my hair."]
Me: Some things never change.

Becker: What are you eating?
Me: Food?
Lindsey: She hasn't eaten anything yet.
Me (in a British accent for no apparent reason): I haven't eaten anything all day!
Becker (glaring): Some things never change.

Becker: Let's do it once as a roll-off, and then once in unison, and then Colleen and I will decide which looks best.

While the black box now has florescent lights (I voiced my stout disapproval), and Becker's office has been completely rearranged (the fire marshall apparently came in and had some words), much is the same. "Colleen - Theatre and Its Double" is still written on his white board from when I borrowed it two and a half years ago. Stoneking still has his death boots. Show choir is still bodyrolling. Walking into the sub-basement, you still hear someone playing a piano sonata and someone practicing drums and someone scatting.

I ended up staying there longer than I meant to (because I NEVER stick around school buildings, NEVER EVER) because I ended up in a meeting about the budget and board meetings and that kind of thing. It was a handful of students, a couple alumni, and one of the teachers, chatting about a meeting coming up and questions to be raised and how to present things, etc. I won't go into the specifics of everything here, but what I will say is this:

ARGS has worked through a lot as it has struggled to get on its feet and establish itself and its programs. The crisis it is currently facing with budget cuts threatens all of that work and is probably the biggest crisis ARGS has experienced to date. And what does ARGS do? It takes an awful situation, and engages the students. The students, who love the school and want to do something. The meeting was all about finding out all the information we can, analyzing it to raise questions, and then presenting those questions in an effective, informed manner. Some of this analysis is even really intense classroom math things that I absolutely didn't understand, but the more math-minded people were jumping at. In short, I saw ARGS taking this scary situation and using it as an educational opportunity. Incredible. Inspiring. Especially when I know a lot of people (not at ARGS) actually just want the students to shut up and be quiet.


Snapped this on the white board in the black box (heh). At the top there's a bit of IPA. At the bottom there's a bit about the voice. And in the middle, the word "semiotics", which we at PHTS tend to call "composition". I have no idea why it's written there, but it made me grin. ("The unison looks cleaner right now, but I like the idea of the roll-off because they come into unison for "haaaair" and that contrast is really exciting. And the coming together makes semiotic sense.") It really should not be a surprise I turned out how I did.