Sibling Rivalry

"What play is the Intro to Drama class doing?" my first period class asked this morning.

"Harry's Hotter at Twilight," I said.  "It's a mash-up of Harry Potter, Twilight, Lord of the Rings, and a bunch of other stories."

"That sounds awesome!" they exclaimed.

"It'll be funny, but it's a pretty stupid play," I said.

"Why can't we do fun plays like that?" they complained.

"Because you're the Advanced Drama class," I said.

I was a bit mystified, though.  I don't understand why working on a mindless play would be more appealing than performing Shakespeare.  Shakespeare!  It's so much more engaging and funny and smart and human.  I understand why someone would want a burrito from Taco Bell in dire circumstances, but if you are given a choice between Taco Bell and Cafe Rio, why would you pick the lesser fare?

I think they lose sight of the value of the process, let alone the pleasure that comes from working hard.  They're past the novelty of the initial rehearsals and into the grind of it all.  There's always that stage where they don't like the play so much anymore - it's hard and it's too much work.  And there's their younger class playing with the shiny new toy that everyone's talking about.

They'll get over it.  They'll love their play again when performance week comes, and they'll be proud of the work they did.  And then, a few weeks later, they'll go see the Intro to Drama class play, and we'll talk about it the next day in class.

And they'll wish they had gotten to do that show, too.