The “No” That Started It

The teacher finally sent the email, and the list of crew members for the school play was released. I checked the list, skipping over everything to find the lighting and sound crew, and read the names carefully. But where was mine?

It wasn't a long-awaited role, but it was something I had tried for and been excited for, but my name wasn't there. Even though it didnt feel important before, my stomach dropped. Why wasn't I good enough for the crew?

I slowly scanned the rest of the sheet to find my name and eventually foudn it under the scenic crew, something I wasnt even remotely interested in. It goes without saying that I was extremely disappointed. Not only had I not gotten the role I wanted, but now I was stuck with a commitment to do something I didn't even want to do

After the initial disappointment and about a week or so had passed, I had started to come around on the whole scenic team thing. Eventually, it was time for us to get our first look at the auditorium we would be performing in, which was really cool. I can still remember the smell walking into the backstage woodshop area. It was a bit musty, but the smell of fresh sawdust made it all better.

Unfortunately, because I was a 6th grader, I wouldn't be allowed to use the power tools in the shop for another few years. After our tour, we started picking out scenic items from storage to use for the play. Sorting through that cramped and humid closet definitely wasn't a highlight of the process, but it also wasn't nearly as horrible as I thought it would be.

Finally, show day rolled around and we were ready for our first performances. The play was a mix of older fables rewritten as comedies. I don't remember much about it, but I remember Humpty Dumpty because our crew almost forgot to put out the wall, which would have been very embarrassing.

After a near disaster, the rest of the shows went about as well as you could expect a 6th-grade play to go, and it was time to pack everything up. We struck everything, got the space ready for the next group of kids that would be using the space, and went home.

The whole thing felt surreal somehow. Something I dreaded doing turned into something I enjoyed and was actually sad to be over with.

In the weeks following the play, my mom made the suggestion that I start volunteering on my church's production team, so my chances of making the lighting team would be higher for next year. Because even though I did actually enjoy scenic, I still wanted to do lighting or sound. So that's what I did. I signed up as a production volunteer for my church's children's ministry, where I would help run slides and play music for the younger kids.

During this time, the 7th-grade play was also in preparation, and like last year, I wanted to do sound or lights. This time, when the email was sent out, I got the results I had wanted. Turns out my mom might have actually been right about something, and the volunteering had increased my chances of making the team. I was really excited. We were doing the Lion King musical and I was on sound, but little did I know this wouldn't last very long. After about 2 meetings, we got the news that the musical would be put on hold because of Covid-19, and eventually they cancelled it entirely. I was devastated.

It wasn't all bad though. Because of Covid-19, services at my church moved completely online, and they asked me to be a camera operator for the main services, which was a pretty big step up from my previous job in children's ministries. From there, I just kept volunteering more and more.

At some point during my time as a volunteer, I realized that live production is what I wanted to do for a living. I loved it, meaning I didn't mind spending my weekends working for free.

A month or so before I was going to turn 16, one of the children's ministry production coordinators quit, meaning there was an open staff position on the production team. Pretty much as soon as I found out I asked for a job, and after a short interview process and some consideration, I was hired as a "HopeKids Production Coordinator." And the rest is pretty much history.

I've been working there for about 4 years now, and my role has changed significantly since then. As with any job, there have been ups and downs, but overall it's given me experience I never thought I would get to have this young. I have learned so many new things and made connections that reach much beyond my church, including working with one of the biggest production companies in Iowa on massive events like Hinterland.