Happily Forever After

Calen has been involved in Children's Choir at church since he was in the first grade. Every Spring, they put on a play during the evening service. This year's play was called "Happily Forever After." As soon as he got the script he thought he might try out for the part of the "Knight." After looking through, he decided against it because that character didn't have very many speaking parts.

I take the script, list the characters, and then go through the script making a note of many speaking parts each character has. Then from there Calen narrowed his choice down to Sir Brags-A-Lot. Now, I must let you in on Calen and lines. He has been blessed with an ability to recall speech. He is constantly quoting movies, and he has been known to correct someone reading because they left out a word or read the words out of order. After reading through the script three or four times, he had the character down- even to the obnoxious bragging sounding speech.

We spent the following  weeks practicing about once a day. Danny and I spoke to him several times about the try-out process, reminding him that he may not get the part for which he tries out. A few days after the try-outs, the letter arrives, and as I scan down, I see that Calen did not get the part he had wanted. I continued scanning down, looking for his name. Found it! Calen has the part of the... Carpenter!?!

Now, the way try-outs work, is if you want to have a speaking/solo part, you have to try out. They try to give everyone who tries out a part. The bigger parts, usually go to the older kids (4th and 5th grade). Calen has the lead role- in 3rd grade. I was shocked and, at the same time, very excited.

I called Calen in to share the news with him, and he was very upset that he didn't get the role. We spent the following week talking to him several times, and try to explain that he got an even BIGGER role. That they really trusted him and thought he could handle it. He was still upset, and I said, "Calen, they know you can do it, you are playing Jesus. It doesn't get any bigger that that!!"

On Sunday, Ms. Brandy asked me about Calen and how he handled it, and wasn't surprised to hear that he was upset, and told us exactly what we had been trying to explain to him. When Calen walked in to try-out, he told them what part he was trying for, and they immediately wrote his name down next to the part. They knew before he started, he had most, if not all, of the part memorized. At the end of try-outs, as they were looking back over the paper, they realized that no one had tried out for the Carpenter. They decided to give it to Calen because they knew that he could learn all the lines. This was still a difficult concept for Calen to grasp, but he became very excited about it has rehearsals began.

Production night was wonderful. The kids all did an amazing job!!

Calen was embarrassed by all the comments and was ready to go backstage and change out of his costume.