独幕剧表演

Susan著 小哭译

独幕剧，我们已经排练了一个月多了；上周四和周五，终于表演了！！简直棒极了，观众非常地喜欢我们的剧，我们也都很喜欢去表演。我无法描述当我在人们面前表演时所感受到的那种激动与紧张的美妙心情。但是我过一会儿会说说。现在让我们先谈一下后台的情况吧。

星期四，是上演的第一个夜晚。我应该在晚上六点半到校，那是演出开始前的半个小时。幸亏我准时到达，有半个小时的时间用来把所有的道具放在后台并换上演出服。本来时间足足够，但我还是觉得很紧张。我担忧着我们这个剧的台词。我的剧“请结账”中，很多演员还没有完全地背下来他们的台词，在彩排时还停顿很久。如果他们记不住台词的话，那当他们不得不在这么多人面前表演时，会怎么样呢？

然而，紧张只是我整个感受中的一小部分而已，另外我还有非常非常激动的感觉。“这个表演将会非常地了不起！”我这样想着。参与一件比仅仅是自己去做的事情更大的活动，感觉很奇妙。当然活动也不是太大，太大了也不好，会让我们失去这种已经在我们中间发展出来的亲密关系。我们剧的演员阵容很小，包括我只有十一个人。在我们排练的过程中，我们之间每个人都变得非常地亲密。那种亲密在上演的第一晚尤其显著。我们第一次将要在一起表演。没有人说话，但是我确信每个人都感受到了一起去努力带给观众们欢声和笑语的激动之情。这真是一种美妙的感觉。

我们都把道具放在了后台，然后回到我们的房间。我们的剧是那晚三个剧中的最后一个，“压轴剧”。我们老师说，最好的留到最后。我认为松鼠剧是最好的，但是显然，大人们都认为我们的是最好的。不得不在那个小白房间（好吧，不小，中等大小）里安静地等待令人很沮丧，我们无事可做，只是扭动着双手，复习着我们的台词，一遍又一遍地复习了一个半小时。最后我们都变得非常地亢奋，可能是因为即紧张又期待吧。我用对每一个人微笑的办法来处理我的紧张情绪，一遍又一遍地重复着“我们会做得很棒的，你们是最好的演员！”另一个孩子在处理他的紧张情绪时有点困难。随着夜色加重，每当有人犯错时，他就厉声地对待犯错者。不过后来，当我意识到他只是紧张而已时，我有点替他难过。他应该更正面地处理好他的情绪。

那晚的早些时候，我已经经历过了在观众面前露面。因为我是三个副导演之一（有三个剧，一个剧一个副导演），我必须得和其它两个副导演一起上台宣布那一晚的演出预告。令我高兴的是，我说出了那晚的第一句话“对不起，请大家注意。”计划中并没有要我先去说这些，但是因为另外两个副导演只是站在那里，什么也没做，我就说了。老师给我们写好了发言稿，但是那话听起来太正式了，所以我做了一些调整。嘿，这个剧应该是很搞笑的，对吗？所以我们应该脸上带着微笑去说话，好像我们是听众的朋友一样。我们不应该只是盯着讲稿、用一种单调乏味的语调来发布一个似乎是无比正式地通告（另外两个正在那样做）。

然而，我和另外两个副导演所做的那个小小的预告对于释放我那积聚起来的能量没有一点用处。我和其它的人在那个房间里一起等待着……到点了！该我们了！我们都安静（也许不是那么安静）地走到后台，准备我们表演的布景。前一个表演是关于松鼠的。他们不需要任何布景。我们的剧是关于一个男生和一个女生进行了一系列的相亲活动（包括一个自以为是的傻瓜，一个偷餐具的女孩，一个多重人格分裂症的女士，一个害怕紫色、食物以及中间所有东西的家伙，还有一个老太太），直到最后他们找到了彼此。当我们布置舞台时，我更激动了。我愿意以一种好的形象出现在聚光灯下，那一晚，我得到了我所热爱的东西。

现场表演与拍摄电影非常地不同，和电视上的现场直播也不同。对于媒体、电视和电影，演员没有现场观众。在剧院表演，观众就在我的前面，看着我，对我所做的每一个小动作都有反应。我从观众那里得到一个实时的反应，而不是不得不等着，去听有关我的电影或电视栏目的评论。即刻就得到满足，这感觉很棒。那一刻，我和剧里的十个人一起，挤在后台的一个小小的区域里，准备灯一亮就出来，很特别的感觉。我们看着彼此，露出鼓励的微笑。上演的第一夜……深呼吸，然后……我们来了！

音乐响起来了，灯亮了，魔法开始了。我是服务员，一个小角色，但那是因为我已经是副导演了的缘故。当我们的演员上演了迄今为止他们表演过的最好的演出时，我为他们自豪极了。观众一边笑一边鼓掌，鼓励着我们做得更好、再好。那就是我们一直在期待着的时刻。表演一开始，我就不再担忧了，我让自己随着演出这一魔法走，感觉演很真实自然。是的，我有点紧张，但这紧张是好事儿，让我的肾上腺激素流动，让我的心跳跳动。我不得不回到后台换上一个老太太的服装，我简直花了太长的时间去换衣服了。听到观众们在看到一个驻着拐棍的老太太走向一个小伙子时的笑声时，就觉得这一切都很值得。我们所有的排练都是值得的。表演非常地成功。

最后，都结束了。马克，穿着粗麻袋的家伙，说了最后的台词，表演就结束了。魔法结束了。站在聚光灯下面这么久，我觉得脸颊很烫。我发誓，那一定是一个加热浴霸，不是一个普通的聚光灯。我的紧张与激动消失了，取而代之的是一种骄傲的感觉。我不再亢奋了。那晚回家时，我已经等不及第二天了。星期五，我们还要再演一次！

星期五与星期四几乎是一模一样的，不同的是更多的观众是我们的同龄人。星期四几乎都是家长在看，星期五几乎都是学生在看。还是觉得这个剧跟表演魔法似的，但基本不害怕了（第一次表演时我真的是有一点害怕）。到了演出结束的时候，我们都很伤心于不得不走。我们已经在整个月的排练中成了朋友，而我们要不得不分开了。当然，我们在学校还会看见彼此，但是我们却不会有在一起做独幕剧时的那种团队意识了（嘿，这提醒了我“早餐俱乐部”！你看过那个电影吗？）。克拉林老师太好了！她给我们每一个人都发了一袋糖果带回家，袋子里面装满了糖果和别的小东西，每一个东西都代表着剧中的一个人物。**我们的一个演员感动得简直要哭起来了。我们都伤心于彼此即将分开，但也非常非常地高兴于我们演得这么地好。

在独幕剧中表演是一个极为特别的经历。我真高兴于我选择了它、也被它所选择了。我希望明年我还能够留在这个学校、再演一遍。关于自己，有一件事儿我一直没有意识到，就是原来自己有多么地喜欢在现场观众面前进行表演。可能，我应该考虑一下，如同做电影一样地，某天也做做戏剧！而现在……好吧，我绝对是将要参与接下来的歌剧表演活动！

**有点不好意思地说，我已经吃完了几乎所有可吃的糖果。袋子中唯一还留着的是一个可爱的塑料小猪存钱罐，一块粗麻袋片，还有两个糖豆儿。

【小哭介绍背景】真的是为Susan感到自豪！周五看完她的表演，我在微信上发感慨，说是才发现自己生了一个才女！那一周是第一个小学期的结束周，方方面面都在催账和汇报，Susan忙得不亦乐乎，她忙、累，并快乐着！！！我是全力以赴地配合着她，却偏偏赶上了小宝出水痘以及他们班的郊游志愿者活动，真是大家一起忙。赶上周五一早还有尼尔.舒斯特曼大作家的见面会，我是头一次见识到Susan凌晨二点半还在赶作业、头一次见识到她能够早晨五点就爬起来写作业！虽说不在同一天，可是连续这样的生活，她能够快乐地撑过来，我真的是对她刮目相看了。原来，她比我以为的上进多了！原来，她是一个为了理想和目标可以吃苦的人！原来，她是一个真的能够负得起责任的人！其实，我对她的剧演得有多成功没有什么感觉，来的都是亲友团，哪个会给喝倒彩？！哪个在表演有出彩的地方会不鼓掌？！我真的对她所说的“了不起”和“非常成功”没有强烈的感觉，可是我对她在出场时，能够从容镇定地临场发挥，主动开口，礼貌地请观众安静下来，印象异常地深刻！这并不是我心目中的那个孩子，这是我理想中的孩子啊！我为她感到自豪，因为她能够在台上保持冷静，能够知道自己当时的位置，哪怕仅仅是这一点，我也看好她的前途！何况她还提到在等待期间，如何处理焦虑情绪一事儿，我不得不对她刮目相看！

而看完她的文章，发现她和剧组成员之间已经结下了深情厚谊后，我非常地惊喜！其实做为家长，我多少都有点担心，一个本来并没有什么、可是她自己却以为是个啥的副导演，会导致她和演员们有隔阂。但现在看来，我的担心是多余的。这是一个和她平时的朋友圈子相当不同的圈子，这个剧组成员都是自己报名要演剧的，相对来讲都是积极主动、热情外向、愿意表达的一群孩子，我很高兴她能够又有一个新的朋友圈子了。就算是这个独幕剧结束了，秋季的表演落幕了，可是春季的歌剧面试马上就要开始了，而歌剧会有一、二百名成员，分成三个剧后每一个剧也要几十人的，我相信Susan会在歌剧的活动中体验到新的内容，丰富起她那正在丰富着的人生。

她说也有她需要提高的地方，就是她要学会表达负面的意思。比如，在排练时，当大家过于吵闹、乱成一团时，她要能够对一些人说“不”，要树立权威，维持秩序。嗯，这一点，可能是她的性格弱点，就算是她意识到了问题，也未必能够解决得了。但是，我在这里还是愿意看到她积极地去调整自己，适应新的角色。听Susan讲，歌剧的音响控制非常地重要，老师需要找到一个绝对放心的同学去操作，这活儿大概也是副导演才可以去做的。所以，在歌剧中，她可能只能二选一，要么表演，要么幕后。目前她决定选幕后，这是她自己的选择。

她们的戏剧老师真是一个有心的人，她给孩子们的袋子里装的东西虽然不贵重，可是情谊却很深。那天晚上我们一家人坐下来观看袋子里的小礼物时，Susan给我们一一道来，哪一样东西代表着哪一个演员，真是如数家珍哪。我想，Susan这辈子都会记得这个独幕剧，也会记得这个端庄优雅的克拉林老师，以及那个盛着满满爱心和情谊的小小礼物袋的……

附上英文原文：

1-Act Plays Performance

1-Acts. We’ve been rehersing for more than a month, and finally, last Thursday and Friday, we performed!! It was amazing, the audience enjoyed the plays a lot, and we all enjoyed performing them. I can’t describe that wonderful feeling of excitement and nervousness that I get when I performed in from of people. But I’ll get to that later. First, let’s talk about all the backstage stuff.

Thurday. Our opening night. I was supposed to get to the school at 6:30, half an hour before the show starts. Fortunately, I was on time, and I had half an hour to but all my props backstage and change into my costume. That was more than enough time, but I still felt very nervous. I was also concerned about the lines for my play. A lot of people in my play, “Check Please”, didn’t have their lines fully memorized and still hesitated a lot during the dress rehersal. And if they couldn’t remember their lines then, what would happen when they would have to act in front of dozens of people?

However, that nervousness was just a small part of my feelings. I also felt really, really excited. This is going to be great! I thought. It felt amazing to be part of something larger than myself, yet not too large that we would all loose the closeness that we have developed between us. The cast for our play was small, just eleven people, including myself, and we have all grown very close to eachother during the course of our rehersals. And that closeness was extrememly evident that night, our opening night, the first time we were going to perform with eachother. Nobody said anything, but I was sure we all felt the excitement of working together to bring to our audience laughter and joy. It was a wonderful feeling.

We all put our props backstage and went back to our room. Our play was going to be the last one our of all three plays that night, the “grand finale”. Save the best for last, our teacher said. I thought the squirrle play was the best, but apparently, the adults thought ours was the best. It was frustrating, having to wait quietly in that small (okay, not small, medium-sized) white room, with nothing to do but wring our hands and go over our lines over and over again, for an hour and a half. We all became very hyper, probably because of the combination of nervousness and anticipation. I delt with my nervousness by smiling at everyone and repeating over and over again “We’re going to do great, you guys are the best cast ever!” Another kid delt with his nervousness a bit differently. As the night wore on, he started snapping at everyone whenever he or she made a mistake. “NO! You can’t do that!” “Hey! Get back in here, they’ll see you!” I was annoyed at him at first, but then, after I realized he was just nervous, I kind of felt sorry for him. He should deal with his emotions more possitively.

I had already experienced a taste of being in front of that night’s audience earlier. Since I was one of the three AD’s (there were three, one for each play), I had to go up and make the announcements about how that night was going to go, along with the other AD’s. To my delight, I got to say the first line of the entire night: “Excuse me, can we have your attention please?” I wasn’t planning on saying that first, but since the other two just stood there and didn’t do anything, I said it. The teachers gave us a script of what to say, but the words all sounded really formal, so I changed them up a bit. Hey, the play was supposed to be fun, right? So we should talk with a smile on our face and act like we were the audiences’ friends instead of staring at the script and talking really formally in a monotonous voice (which was what the other two were doing).

However, that little speech I gave with the other AD’s earlier did nothing to release my pent up energy. I waited with the others in that room, until…FINALLY! It was time! We all quietly (or not so quietly) went backstage and set up our stage for our performance. The performance earlier was about squirrles. They didn’t need any scenery. Our play is about a guy and a girl that went through a series a blind dates (including a self centered idiot, a girl who stole the silverware, a schizoprenic-multipersonalitied lady, a guy who’s afraid of purple and food and everything in between, and an old lady) until they finally found eachother. As we set up, my excitement built up. I love being under the spotlight, in a good way, and that night, I got what I loved.

Performing live is very different from filming a movie. It’s different from going on TV live. With media and televisions and movies, the actors don’t have a live audience. With plays in theater, the auidience is right in front of me, watching me, reacting to every little thing I do. I get an instant reaction from the audiences, instead of having to wait to hear reviews about my movie or TV show. Instant gratification. It felt great. That moment, with all ten of us squeezed into a tiny area backstage, ready to step out the instant the light turns on, was special. We all looked at eachother and gave encouraging smiles. Opening night. Take a deep breath. And…. we’re on!

The music started playing, the lights came on, and the magic started. I was the waitress, a small role, but that was because I was already assistant director. I felt extremely proud for our actors as they put on the best show that they’ve done so far. The audienced laughed and clapped, encouraging us to do better and better. That was the moment we’ve all been waiting for. Once the play had started, I thought no more about my worries, and just let myself flow with the magic. It felt natural, it felt right. Yes, I was nervous, but it was a good kind of nervousness that got my andrenaline flowing and my heart pounding. I had to go backstage and change into an old lady costume, and I almost took too long changing. It was all worth it, though, hearing the audience’s laughter as they saw an old lady in a walker go up to Guy. All of our rehersals were worth it. The play was a success.

Finally, everything was over. Mark, the guy in the burlap sack, said the last line, and the play was over. The magic was over. My cheeks felt hot from standing under the spotlight for so long. I swear, that must’ve been a heat lamp, not a normal spotlight. My nervousness and excitement was gone, replaced by a feeling of pride. I wasn’t as hyper anymore. When I got home that night, I couldn’t wait for the next day, Friday, when we would act again!

Friday was almost the same as Thursday, other than the fact that more people my age came. Thurday was mostly parents. Friday was mostly kids. The play stil felt just as magical to act out, and less scary (for I was indeed a little scared that first time). By the end of the play, all of us were sad we had to go. We had became friends during that whole month of rehersals, and we had to part ways. Sure, we would still see each other in school, but we won’t have that same sense of teamwork as we did during the 1-Acts (hey, this reminds me of “The Breakfast Club”! Have you watched that movie?). Ms. Clarin was so sweet! She gave us all a goodie bag to take home, filled with candy and other small items that each represented a character in the play.** One of our actors almost cried because she was so moved by the gesture. We were all sad to part with eachother, yet also very, very happy about how well we did with the play.

Acting in the 1-Acts had been a most spetacular journey. I’m really glad I chose and got chosen to participate in it. I wish I could still stay in this school next year and act in it again. Something I did not realize about myself is how much I enjoy acting in front of a live audience. Maybe I’ll consider doing theater as well as movie production someday! As for now….well, I’m definitely going to participate in the musical!

**I’m sort of ashamed to say that I’ve eaten most of the edible treats already. The only things remaining from the bag is a cute plastic piggy bank, a piece of a burlap sack, and two smarties.