What an honor...

"The Ragan Theater Showcase Award: an opportunity for UVSC to acknowledge and highlight the talents and accomplishmets of college, community, and high school achievments in the arts." Syd Riggs is a previous recipient of this award. This year, the award's recipient was my grandfather. But the award turned out to be more work than recognition.

Last August when my grandpa first told me he was going to receive this award, I was so excited! I was thinking, They're finally going to recognize the person who makes the most difference in fine arts. That's what we all were thinking. My grandpa, being the type of person he is, wasn't very thrilled. He was flattered, I'm sure, but he's not the type who needs to be recognized. He'd rather not be in the spotlight. That's why he directs: to give others a chance. My excitement just increased when my grandpa told me they asked him to direct Little Mary Sunshine, our favorite show, for the award showcase. My grandpa wasn't sure he'd be able to do it because he was directing A Christmas Carol at the time that rehearsals for Little Mary would start, but he accepted anyway.

And then the work began.

The first step was casting the show. Auditions are really hard, so my grandpa hand picked his cast. He chose the people who he thought would be the best in the various roles. After he had it all cast, we had to start having rehearsals.

We couldn't rehearse at UVSC until one week before opening, so it was up to my grandpa to find somewhere else to practice. Another aspect of rehearsals was finding a music director, a choreographer, and rehearsal accompanists. Usually, you have to pay these people, even for community theater. But, my grandpa didn't have any sort of a budget for these things. He was doing all this volunteer work for his own award, after all. Luckily, there are people who love my grandpa enough to help him, even without pay. I got to be the rehearsal accompanist.

The set needed to be built. So, my grandpa built the set. T came and helped us. She's an amazing set designer and a wonderful painter. T and my grandpa make a good team. Together, and with a little help from the cast and Orem's stage craft classes, they built a beautiful set. It took a long time though, and my grandpa isn't as spry as he once was, but somehow he kept up. He also found costumes for the whole cast.

My mom and my aunt volunteered to play the piano for Little Mary. The score was originally written for two pianos, and then later was transcribed for performance with an orchestra. My aunt and my mom have played for Little Mary before, and they did it again. It sounds better with two pianos then with an orchestra.

Somehow, my grandpa managed to keep going through all of this. He was directing two shows at once, teaching classes at Orem High, building sets for his two shows and for Orem's shows, but he never wavered. He's an amazing person. He got bronchitis, but he always gets sick right after a show opens. All the stress gets his immune system down, I guess.

So, he did all this work. And for what? Nothing really. Every night before the show started, this weird guy would get on stage and give a little speech about things, but his little speech did more harm than good. It was insulting at times, and it even poked fun at Syd's death, something everyone was trying to get over. Friday night was the night they were going to give him "the award". It was a nice little glass thing and a gift certificate for him and my grandma to go to dinner.

My grandpa is a very nice person. He is not selfish at all. That's why he does all this volunteer directing. Even so, his thoughts on the matter were "Next time you're going to give someone an award, make a show for them. Don't make them do the show for their own award."

I just don't understand how this experience constitutes an award. Especially since UVSC just announced they are going to be doing Little Mary Sunshine this spring semester. That's like a slap in the face. Why did they ask my grandpa to do all that work for that specific show if they're just going to do it themselves? But anyway...

The Ragan Theater Showcase Award: an opportunity for UVSC to get free publicity using people who the community loves and appreciates.

*On a happier note, the SCERA just gave my grandpa the "star of the year" award. Now that is an award he deserves and was presented in a very nice manner. It still embarrasses him a little, but that's because he doesn't like attention. I love my grandpa!!