Nutcracker Theater Analysis

“Annie, did you pack your extra nude leotard and tights?”

“Yes, Mom. And I made sure to pack my new pink lipstick!”

Dress rehearsal for the Nutcracker was held at the Kirkland Performing Arts Center in Kirkland, Washington. The theater has the small and cramped dressing room, but it’s the place we call home for the first weekend of shows in December.

“Dress,” as we call it, is the first full performance and the day where we try out our costumes for the first time. It is a day of excitement. For this year’s Nutcracker performances, I was cast in the Waltz of the Flowers, and as a butterfly, and as a mouse. The role that I was the happiest about was the role of the butterfly in the second act opening because I got to wear beautiful phosphorescent

In my group, I have Lara, Sara, Julia, Emily, Anna, and Francesca. We all basically have the same parts every year, so we see each other every day during classes and rehearsals. As we walked into the theatre, we had no idea what to expect. We were hoping that the size of the theater would be the same as the other theaters we’ve performed in, such as the Meydenbauer in Bellevue, and maybe even cleaner and more spacious, but we were terribly wrong.

Backstage at the arts center was a shock the first time I saw it. The whole building had a weird vibe that felt like people from the past who have had bad experiences were still present.It’s crowded, and claustrophobic, and the lighting is terrible. “I can’t see anything,” Lara said when she walked in. “How am I going to put on my eyelashes?” she moaned. “How can I put on my eyeliner?” I said. “AND WHERE’S MY SEAT! I WANT TO SIT NEXT TO ANNIE!” After Julia said this statement, I felt sorry for her and worried about her. She has been following me around for years, seven years to be

My seat was a corner seat, so I was not going to have to be rubbing elbows with two girls, just Lara. Eventually fifteen girls crowded into a room that had space for ten; there were clothes hanging from the ceiling and doors, and the makeup counters were a jumble of shoes, makeup, hairbrushes, food packets, and bits of costumes. There were crowns and tights and glittery objects everywhere.

Out in the hallway were a row of seven horse costumes, and boxes and bags of costumes. The costume corner was by the open doorway, and there were sewing machines already humming away. My mother is one of the seamstresses. “Hi Annie, do you have everything you need? Can you find Nicole to have her try on these wristlets real quick?” “Sure, Mom.” I ran off down the hallway to find Nicole.

Nicole was in the “big girls” dressing room at the end of the hallway. This hallway that 75 people had to compress themselves through was only 4 feet wide, which was a dangerous fire hazard for all. Even if there were people walking through the hallway, we had to nudge them out of the way, and run past them, saying sorry in a distance call as we ran across and away from them. This hallway was the only hallway that we could switch sides from, and it was a terrible way to switch since there were young adults, old adults, young children, and bratty