Tale #14: Trust me, they don’t hate you. (Although they might be starting to).

Working with kids can have incredibly rewarding moments and incredibly challenging moments all smashed into one surely exhausting experience.

I have worked with more kids than I would ever be able to count during my time at VACT.

Over the years, certain kids stick in your memory either through a truly memorable performance, a truly memorable personality, or (and this one’s my favorite) a truly memorable meltdown. We shall call this particular young man “O”.

I first met O when he was seven years old during a camp production of The Aristocats KIDS. He was a very quiet little guy who didn’t always want to do the prescribed activity of the moment.

The first time I experienced his unique way of melting down was during a dance rehearsal. Our camp assistant Brady was helping me teach the kids a jazz dance to the song “Everybody Wants to Be A Cat”.

The majority of the campers were rocking it. Their swinging snaps and larger than life step touches were filling the room with a vibrant energy.

Except for little O.

He did not enjoy the dance and did not want to do it. With little kids, they are usually very straightforward with their opinions.

I told him he needed to participate because it was important for his part in the show. He very slowly, and very begrudgingly, stood up. 

I got back to teaching when all of a sudden Brady turned to me and said “Psst.” I looked and said, “What?”

He subtly pointed to O on the side of the room.

O had pressed the entire front of his body against the wall. His cheek was smooshed, his hands and arms extended to the side, and his tummy pressed against the studio wall. He then proceeded to slide down the wall.

The kid dragged himself around the entire perimeter of the room before reaching the mirrors and myself on the other end.

At that point I just let him sit out because really kid, bravo. That was a highly entertaining meltdown.

My next memorable run in with O came the following year. My friends Sara and Joanne were co-directing a production of Annie KIDS and O was playing a New York City person.

One Sunday, I was sitting in the office eating my lunch when Joanne came in. She knew I had previous experience working with O and his unique form of meltdowns. She said, “we need your help.”

I followed her out into the theater and up into the audience seats to find O sitting behind the last row, smooshed against the wall. Out of anger, he had marched his little self up there, climbed over the seats, and slid into the small space between that final row and the wall (a space no adult would ever be able to fit into). He was, of course, refusing to come out.

Joanne had to go back to leading the large group of kids in rehearsal, so I told her I would handle it.

I sat on one of the chairs, leaned over, and said, “Hey bud. What’s wrong?” All he could say was, “they hate me.” I said, “who hates you?” He just kept replying, “they hate me. They hate me.”

We went back and forth with this for a while before I got fed up. My salad was sitting in the office and I only had thirty minutes until my own rehearsal started.

I stood up, reached my arms down behind the seats, grabbed him by the armpits, and pulled him out of there. I plopped him in a theater seat and asked again, “who hates you?”

I think it was a combination of shock and fear that motivated him to finally give me some more information.

He pointed down towards the stage. “They hate me.”

“The kids?” I asked. He said, no “they hate me,” and pointed more fervently.

I finally realized he was pointing at Sara and Joanne.

My mouth said, “Trust me they don’t hate you.” My brain thought, “Although they might be starting too.”

He said, “Yes they do. They keep telling me I have to go stand over with the other kids and I don’t want to. They just keep telling me what to do!”

Let’s keep in mind that Sara and Joanne are the directors and O is the cast member. Kind of how rehearsal works.

I continued to reiterate that they did not hate him as they were grown-ups and didn’t hate their child cast member.

O finally agreed to come back down to the floor with me. I called Joanne over to talk to him with me. I explained to Joanne what O felt and she continued to reassure him that nobody hated him. We finally got him to go back with the other kids on stage to rehearse.

O will always hold a special place in my heart for his overly-dramatic and passive forms of melting down. Brady often threatened me himself that if he didn’t like the dance I was teaching, he was going to press his body against the wall and drag himself around the room.

O lord.