"This is a Call:" Of Teens, By Teens, To Teens - MASCKS' Production 2011!!

- February 23, 2011, Wednesday

- Again, I am tremendously happy that I didn't have any scheduled exams for today. It was hard to do my schedule since the play date constantly changed. The original "sure" play date was supposed to be tomorrow, and I wouldn't be able to go if ever because of my Korean final written exam. Good thing Henry will be having a contest tomorrow, so the play had to be moved today. (Friday will be a holiday, and most of the dancers who happen to be part of the cheering squad, will have a competition this Saturday.)

- I arrived earlier than the 6:45 call time, and was able to practice a bit with my musical mentees before the "final" dry run. Soon, the junior and senior high school students entered the auditorium and settled down. A series of AVPs, relevant dances and a fashion show (that showed the typical "degrading morality" of today's youth.)

- "This is a Call" is the renamed and longer version of "Of Teens," the play wrote by Henry Morco (really talented and intelligent student/friend.) A few photo albums back would tell you that this play was, again, used to compete in the one-act play competition of St. Paul Pasig, "Phases 2010," last October 2010. The theme of the contest was about the degrading teenage morality, and the main theme of our entry was premarital sex. For the extended performance this morning, we added more characters and other minor themes such as drug use or smoking.

- I am not normally a fan of plays with many many many, and often irrelevant dances and superficial numbers. However, this play showed that most of the dance numbers, as well as the singing numbers, are very much relevant to the theme and message of the play. Some other numbers are understandably there for aesthetic purposes.

- I am really proud of my mentees for doing a really great job with their respective instruments. They were all fast-learners, and really talented people. During the performance, there were some times when we'd make mistakes, either us or the singers (that I trained at the beginning; Mrs. Villaver was in charge of their actions,) but it was great that no on stopped in the middle and gave up.

- At the end of the morning, all efforts within the last almost-a-month were fruitful. I still am very proud of MASCKS for producing a very nice and highly-relevant play.

- Epilogue: I went to III-1, the current junior year's star section, in order to rest and hang out before going home. I still wonder how I got to know their whole class, and how I came to be "close" to some people here. They're an awesome class. :D:D:D:D While resting, Sharon and I had a guitar-violin duo. We played random songs until the bell rang. They had to go to their Chinese classes, and I had to go home. *Sob.*

- With this photo-album-blog entry, my 8th year of MASCKS has finally ended. I am not sure what the future holds for me, and hopefully I'd be able to help MASCKS out in the future. For now, MASCKS has given me hope that it will still produce great plays - not necessarily big, but if so why not - and that it will always welcome great an maybe even undiscovered or inhibited talents. Because of this, I am leaving MASCKS just because I need to (especially if I'd be accepted to the graduate studies program I would be applying in soon.) Still, I thank everyone for not being afraid to show their talents, and that they have inspired me to do more and be more as a person of the arts and cultures. MASCKS, thank you once again for having me, and I have never regretted staying in MASCKS as a mentor after high school graduation. I love you all. ♥♥♥♥ (cue in You Gotta Be, MiChi's version. Hahahaha.)

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