It doesn't matter what you are trying out for, the soccer team, basketball team, cheerleading squad, a play (hint hint), there is always that one group where all the kids know each other already because they have been on the team before and are pretty sure they are going to be on the team again. It's that group that when they are not trying out, get together and talk and laugh while others are trying to try out and the coach/leader/person in charge has to keep saying,
"Quiet in the peanut gallery!"
Now I know that when someone says "quiet in the peanut gallery!" they are not calling those people peanuts. I'm aware that it refers to the olden days when peanuts where sold to people in the cheap seats at performances, and the owners of these seats usually caused a bit of ruckus during the show.
But for the sake of the title of this blog, which I am quite fond of, I'm going to call the individuals that comprise this group, peanuts.
Yesterday night, I tried out for a play at my local community center. This is my third time working with this particular theatre troupe and every year you see pretty much the same people trying out over and over. A lot of these people also go to my school, so I also work with them in school performances. These people are also some of my best friend outside of plays as well. We hang out, have musical parties, talk to each other on facebook, treat the Tony Awards like it's the MTV awards, etc. We're friends.
And yesterday, if you haven't figured it out already, we were the peanuts.
First off, we were not heckling people or making fun of them. That is not how we "roll", as you youngins say. We were catching up, because two of them are in college now, so this is the first time I've seen them in months. The fact that we are dramatic people, and therefore loud and always joking around, didn't help. I was in stitches every five seconds from laughing so hard, and was quite unable to stop.
But we had a strict rule that once someone started to actually read for a part, we shut up and listen. We might whisper here and there when we saw someone we liked a lot but other than that we were angels.
However as soon as no one was on the stage we started back up again, resulting in us being "SSSSSHUUSSSHHHH"ed quite frequently.
Now it was not a complete confidence that we were going to get a role no matter what that had us so relaxed, and because the fact is everyone usually gets cast with this particular troupe, so we were actually more worried about what part we would get than getting a part period. No, the reason we were peanuts yesterday was because we tend to be like that any time we're together. Because we're friends.
Loud, causing a ruckus, unable to breathe for laughing, friends.
Which isn't ideal for a very serious audition, but for this one I don't think it did a lot of harm.
The best actress there was in our little group, and even though she is amazing and therefore could probably get away with being stuck up, this girl is fun and hilarious, not to mention incredibly nice. So every time someone finished reading, she started clapping and hooting and hollering like we were at a football game. It was a confidence booster I think, to those doing this for the first time. One of the better guy actors, another peanut in our gallery, is just as dramatic as this girl, so of course they went back and forth on who would clap the longest and hoot the loudest. Overall, I think it made what can be a very nerve-racking experience, fun.
There are some places where the peanut gallery probably should tone it down, but I think there are also some places where a bit of ruckus is okay.
And peanuts should be welcome to hang in the gallery.
Sincerely,
Elle
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