It Is What You Make of It by Justin McRoberts

Author:Justin McRoberts
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: 2021-03-25T00:00:00+00:00

O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend

The brightest heaven of invention,

A kingdom for a stage, princes to act

And monarchs to behold the swelling scene!1

So many students selected that prologue that my friends and I, a small group of students from Clayton Valley, made it a kind of running gag. As the first two rounds of performers took the stage and introduced themselves, they’d say something like, “Hi, I’m Tasha. I’m from El Cerrito High School . . . ,” and we’d whisper to one another, “I’ll be performing the prologue to Henry V” and then giggle among ourselves. We were right about half the time.

I had chosen a piece from Richard II. The speech worked for me, not only because far fewer students had chosen it, which made me feel special, but also because the speech features words like discontent and deformity. I was listening to a lot of the Cure at the time, so performing Richard’s character meant I could keep with the whole brooding, downer vibe.

Apparently, my plan worked. At the end of the first day, I was one of only seven finalists. Later, I noticed that four of those seven finalists were performing . . . (whisper it with me) . . . the prologue to Henry V.

During the finals, I was the fifth to perform. Before me, three of the first four had already performed the Henry V prologue. When my name was called, I walked to the center of the stage and said, “Hi. My name is Justin McRoberts. I’m from Clayton Valley High School, and I’ll be performing the prologue to Henry V.” Then, after pausing a moment to catch my friends giggling in the back of the room, I continued, “Actually, I’m not doing Henry. Everyone else seems to be.” A few more giggles and sideways glances moved around the room, which was very satisfying. Finally, I introduced my selection, got into character, and put together what I believed at the time to be one of the best performances of my life—all 17.7 years of it.

I did not win the competition.

You probably saw that part coming.

The winning performer was an actor named Adrian. I don’t remember what school he represented. I do remember that he had performed the prologue to Henry V.

Oh, yes.

Yes, he did.

It was a stunning performance, in all honesty. And I don’t just say that for the sake of the story. The moment he finished, I rose to my feet and clapped, knowing, along with most people in the room, that he’d won. Adrian left the competition with a nice ribbon, a plaque with something written on it (in iambic pentameter, I assume), and a scholarship to NYU.

The following Monday, in drama class, Tom didn’t mention the competition’s results when he addressed us. He just said it was an enjoyable weekend and that he hoped undergrads considered attending the following year. When class was over, he gently pulled me aside and asked if I would find him at the end of the day but before rehearsal started.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.