YTU 2009

Piper has been counting down for awhile now. And, actually YTU has been in session this entire week. Today as we were driving home I told her that I was living vicariously through her...of course I had to explain to her what that meant. As she was going on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on about everything that she did today, I got a little choked up. It makes me so happy that she loves this so much. Truly happy.

On June 5, I got an e-mail reminder for the YTU Orientation that was to be on Monday, June 8. In the e-mail it also talked about the auditions for the "Advanced Acting Company." Piper didn't sign up to audition because I thought she was too young. It ends up that there wasn't an age limit and she could still audition. She just needed to come prepared with a monologue. I talked to her about auditioning. She said that she wanted to. I told her that I would try to find a monologue, but she didn't have a lot of time to practice and memorize. I also cautioned her that she is one of the youngest kids at theatre school and that the e-mail told me that nearly all of the students signed up to audition, so she probably wouldn't make it. And of course, my sweet Piper said, "But still, it will be a good experience just to audition. It's okay if I don't make it."

I found a great monologue from Alice in Wonderland. I found it on Sunday morning. The weekend caught up with me so fast, I felt so bad that I didn't find it sooner. Piper didn't practice her monologue at all on Sunday. My cousin's funeral was on Monday, so that left Aaron in charge of helping Piper memorize and block her monologue. Right before I left for the funeral - around 10:00 - Piper recited to me the first paragraph of the monologue. HOLY CRAP!!! She does not get this from me, I am the worst memorizer (I know this isn't a word) EVER....but that's a whole different story. When I got home - around 3:30 - we had a bunch of errands to run, after running the errands, we went straight up to the orientation/auditions. I never saw Piper do her monologue. She recited it to me in the car, but I never actually saw it.

While Piper was auditioning, I was picking up her t-shirts and her class schedule. The T-shirts are purple with a green mother board on the front. Very cute. When I got her schedule, I was so relieved to see 'Acting for Film and T.V.'. I knew how bad she wanted this class and it was filled on a first come first serve basis. She was also in the 'Gold Company,' Musical Theatre and Poetry in Motion.

When her audition was done I showed her the schedule and she was so happy. She said that she would like to see what else was offered in the Poetry in Motion time slot. There were a few options for her and in the end, she chose puppetry.

As we were driving home from the Orientation - around 8:30, forever later - we were talking about her audition. She said that it went well, and when we got home she performed it for Aaron and I. She did a fantastic job. I ask her if that is how she performed it at her audition and she said yes. We never heard anything.

Finally, Monday June 15 rolled around, and an excited Piper was ready to go. She was so quiet the whole ride up, not a word. Nerves? I'm not sure, but I enjoyed the quiet ride. I dropped her off and she went running in.




I went up to get her at 3:00, but classes didn't get out until 3:30, so I talked to some teen aides and some other moms that were there waiting and I started reading notes on the wall. I saw a list that said "Black Company: Advanced Acting" I noticed Robin's name first on the list. I didn't think much of it, Robin is Psycho talented (and Piper's BEST friend). Then I continued reading....Guess who's name was on the list? That's right, about halfway down it said Piper Salazar! About 50 kids auditioned. 13 made it and my little Piper is one of them.

So, instead of the 'Musical Theatre *Gold Company*', she is 'Advanced Acting *Black Company*'And I am so proud. These kids are actually writing the script for the show that they will be performing. I cannot wait to see it.