Tomorrow marks the first day of my fourth and final year doing the Rising Star Project, an all-student production of How to Succeed In Business Without Really Trying put on by the 5th Avenue Theatre on the 5th Avenue Theatre’s stage. The program is tuition free and anyone aged 14-19 can apply. The entire cast, crew, orchestra, administrative, development, and producing teams are staffed by students with individual mentors.
Tomorrow we go into Tech week, and my part of the task begins. I’m part of the stage crew, an automation carpenter. That means I sit in the basement, watch the stage on tiny monitors that this year are actually HD, and push buttons to make automated things move onstage. This is my second year in this position.
The first year I did RSP, I was Automations Carpenter for Music Man. The second year, I was Flyman for Spamalot. The third, Sound Tech for Carousel. Now Automations Carpenter for How to Succeed In Business Without Really Trying.
I’ve met a lot of wonderful people in RSP, both mentors and other students. Some of them know my name. The mentors treat me like an adult, like I am competent and like I can learn a lot very quickly. This isn’t something a lot of programs for teens and high schoolers do. It’s an odd feeling, to be one of the older participants, and suddenly a lot of the other students are fourteen and fifteen. Only a couple people in the crew, and a few in the cast, have done the project with me in previous years. When I helped out at the Cabaret this year, the first time I was able to attend, the mentors treated me as if I knew what I was doing, as if I actually knew everything I was doing. It was great. I felt like I might be able to adult, that I might be able to have a job eventually and be competent at it.
The last four years I’ve turned my family’s schedule upside down to do RSP. My mom helps me get there. Especially this year when I have to commute between Olympia and Seattle nearly every day so I can still go to class. I’ve planned a year in advance, applied and interviewed and learned and been exhausted and let the hygiene of my room to go to shambles trying to get my homework done while getting enough sleep.
Learning everything I can in two weeks backstage with a mentor.
The next two weeks will be insane. Every moment will be spent in at the theater, commuting to the theatre, in class, or sleeping. And it’ll definitely be worth it!