<p>Here’s a girl one. In middle school/high school: A snobby matron in a large hat, a Wal-Mart manager, a tree sloth, an arrogant spinster who is “stung by a bee,” a kooky saxophone player, a singing fairy, a bookish older sister, a sarcastic queen, and an obnoxious next-door cousin.</p>
<p>Okay, I’ll play…a British flirt, a motherless teenager in love with a Nazi postman, a seller of oranges, the younger sister of an ambitious young writer, a 12-year old politically aware speller bee competitor, the boss lady in a town that charges people to use the bathroom, and a young girl who befriends a boy who never grows up.</p>
<p>In high school my daughter was almost consistently cast as a pregnant teen. Oh, and Queen of the Fairies, and, randomly a stage manager (a role, not an actual stage manager.) But mostly: a pregnant teen.</p>
<p>I was one of the “founders” of my old high school’s theater course, I did most of my plays in a theater school as an extra curricular activity. Starting when I was a kid: a student who discovers a witch convention, a greedy baker, a princess with blonde curls and a star on her forehead, an aspiring film director, Woody Allen as a man who’s looking for a murderer, Woody Allen as a murderer, the judge of a peculiar messy Russian town, a queen who likes to behead people, the mystical servant of a man who conjures up a storm, the grandfather of a Jewish family living in the Bronx in the 30’s, a woman who’s deemed crazy by her husband and has been wearing pajamas for years, Female Greek Chorus (mother/aunt), a 14-year-old boy who sleeps with his stepmother, a girl who’s in love with a doctor who’s in love with her stepmother, a poor British actress, an old prostitute. Some student-written plays, which include a girl stuck with 2 other people in a bed during the apocalypse, a spirit of the woods who speaks Russian, etc.</p>
<p>As you guys can see I have played a lot of male roles. I never knew it could be possible for a girl to be typecasted as a boy, especially considering that in all of those plays, with the exception of one, I had pretty long hair. Maybe it’s my husky deep voice, who knows…I don’t mind :)</p>
<p>Fun - stumbled on this thread! Mine is a girl, too, but as a petite girl usually plays someone’s daughter or little sister:</p>
<p>Orphaned daughter of prostitue adopted by reformed bread-stealing convict, daughter of Latvian immigrant in turn-of-the-century New York, younger sister of gun-slinging wild west star, younger sister of miser, child who talks to elephant and saves the world, a missionary nurse, a gypsy, a bartender in a gay bar and a poodle with a big party hat!</p>
<p>A poodle! Hope you didn’t have to make that costume.</p>
<p>glassharmonica - similar to your “pregnant” daughter, S had a friend who was always the person who died in the play or musical. The kids started calling him “dead again”.</p>
<p>Keep it up - so fun to read the descriptions!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I was SO glad when the days of being responsible for costumes were over. My son was in Aladdin Jr. once, and all the parents were scrambling like crazy at the last minute to help the boys figure out how to approximate turbans.</p>
<p>Yes, I am also glad that the days of scrambling around for props and costumes are now behind me. It often seemed that the requirements were impossible, or at least required me to drive all over on borrowed time. A police costume. A long string of fake pearls. My daughter signed on to be assistant costume designer for a play at her school this semester-- so I guess she enjoys it more than I do!</p>
<p>LOL - no, I didn’t have to make that one. But it was a “pseudo” poodle – hot pink unitard with tutu and a feather boa, so I probably could have managed. The “party hat”, however, weighed more than she did and she had to tap dance in it. (It was a Theatre for Young Audiences production the high school did of Go Dog. Go!)</p>
<p>My older D was one of those kids who seemed to die in every role in HS - usually by the end of Act I. In her senior HS year she wrote in her bio “D1 is grateful to have finally made it to Act II.”</p>
<p>I don’t know how common it is for a “dead actor” to be positioned lying on the floor with his head pointed toward the back of the stage, and his feet facing the audience…but, when I was watching one semi-professional performance, I was sitting in a spot where all I saw of my son for five minutes was the bottom of his feet and his derriere!</p>
<p>Too funny! S was in Ajax as a one-act play. He does himself in about mid-way thru, so S had to lie still for about 20 minutes!!! </p>
<p>For Sweeney Todd, he also “died” with his feet facing the audience. I actually marveled just how large those feet had become . . .</p>
<p>My daughter had to die in Our Town and I sobbed each time…I told her next time she died on stage, it would be nice if it was not so gut wrenching.</p>
<p>After my son “died” in the play in question, he was made to reappear in dim light behind a translucent scrim, playing a mournful tune on his violin!</p>
<p>My D died in Metamorphoses, wearing a wedding dress - that was a bit disconcerting.</p>
<p>None of my kids ever had to die on stage, nor did I ever have to make a costume (thank heavens)…but I just got finished helping my son shave his head for his current role. Not an experience I ever hope to repeat! :P</p>
<p>Oh, Times3 - are we going to get the photo of him in the Siamese diaper!!!</p>
<p>Since I’m actually the legit photographer for the school productions, I can promise you pictures, Marbleheader! First full dress rehearsal/photo call is tomorrow–stay tuned. :D</p>
<p>My D has listed on her FB family info all of the kids who have played her daughters and sons :). My H found it a bit disconcerting when in one play she was crying, hugging her “father.” The version she was in also described her death in detail while she stood silently in a spotlight. That was creepy. We have yet to see her actually die, or kiss someone.</p>
<p>It is disconcerting the first time they address another woman as as “mom” in a role. Shacherry has probably experienced this many times.</p>
<p>My son has played the offspring of a memorably high-spirited English queen and a memorably high-spirited Jewish mother.</p>