Lend Me A Tenor
Have you ever had an era of your life where you went full send and decided to try everything you possibly could before your time was up?
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The first time I ever tried this approach was when I was a Senior in High School at Beaverhead County High School (BCHS) in Dillon, MT.
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In playing three years of varsity football, I was able to witness a lot of Seniors give advice. BCHS has a tradition that each Senior gets to say something to the team the night before the Senior Night Game, which is typically the last regular season home game of the year.
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I saw a lot of, what I perceived as grown ass men, cry. I saw passion, regret, gratitude, and a number of other emotions…..and the biggest thing that I took away from listening to those pieces of advice was “enjoy every moment because it goes by quick.”
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With that advice, I approached my entire Senior Year in just that fashion; enjoying all of the moments. And because of this mindset, I was able to live more readily in each moment allowing me to be more and more open to new ideas. Living each moment is why I feel so fondly about this chapter of my life. It's also what taught me a lot about how to live life in present day.
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In the spirit of trying new things, I thought about trying out for the basketball team, even attending a pre-season team meeting, but decided I really didn’t want to commit the time. I thought about being a male Cheerleader and almost pulled the trigger, but chickened out last minute.
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What I did do though was join Speech and Drama. Particularly the drama part. Throughout high school I was never really in “that” crowd being an athlete. But a buddy of mine, named Bob, who was a fellow captain of the football team, a very studious and involved school figure (he eventually went on to Brown University in Rhode Island) asked if I would help him out and be a part of his drama group.
I said “sure” naively thinking it would be one or two weekends. But it turned out to be an entire spring season for Speech & Drama and just the two of us performing a skit. It was a comedy sketch about two guys carrying a rock to build the tower of Babel. This performance took us all the way to divisionals and even got me a Varsity Letter. I was able to interact with an entirely different group of people. I had known and grew up with them over the years, but I got to interact with them on a different level seeing what they were passionate about. It was less “macho” athlete and more…….”eloquent” and “articulate." Those differences were what made the experience fun and opened my eyes.
I know they felt awkward in the beginning about my involvement, but by the end of the season I really did feel like part of the team. Truly, I’m humbled and proud that I could exist and succeed in both settings; athletic and in drama.
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On top of Speech & Drama, Bigs (one of the homies) and I decided to try out for the spring school play. He didn’t make the cut and I ended up getting a part. I was bummed that Bigs wasn’t able to come a long with me, but he was proud of his effort and moved on with life, while I fully embraced being a part of the cast. ?The name of the play was ‘Lend Me a Tenor’ which is a story about a famous opera performer who gets drugged and is thought to be dead. An opera house assistant (me) then has to take his place in the evening performance to try and save the day.
The stage is an intricate set of doors, people coming in and out, comedy, singing, and I even had an on-stage kiss. Both exhilarating and nerve wracking.
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I remember practicing my lines thinking “my god I have a lot of lines.” The night before the performance, I was putting the finishing touches on developing my character and talking to my dad. I mentioned the number of lines I had. He then looked at me bewildered said “Alex……you’re the lead!”
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“Oh my god! What?” Not sure how I missed that detail. I thought it would be fun to try out for a play, be a part of a group that I wasn’t normally, and try something new. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would end up in the lead role. I wasn’t nervous until I found out the news (which none of the cast or the director mentioned to me in rehearsals)……which was a good thing.
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The play, the cast, and the stage crew were one of those ‘special’ groups that you become a part of without realizing it….until the moment is over and done. We brought the house down every night we performed. The theatre was full. Our dynamic was natural and we all worked so well together. Something that was interesting was the type of crowd I brought in being more of an athlete than a drama kid. This performance drew in a largely different demographic to see the show than our director and BCHS had ever seen.
I’ll never forget, the director looked at me and said “Tim Tollett is in the audience (he’s Tobin’s dad), I’ve never seen him at anything like this. I can’t believe the people that are here to see this.” Which made it even more special to perform.
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Acting is in my blood because of my dad. He’s always been an animated person and performer. Growing up, he would read stories to my brother, Kyle, and me and use different voices for the characters. Even now, since retiring from the Forest Service in 2009, he’s had a second career as a Voice Actor, running his own company.
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I used my instinct and my work ethic to develop into, what I thought, was a pretty damn good performance not having much experience. Aside from the occasional music video in my adult life, this was the height of my acting career.
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But also a highlight of my life. And even more importantly, it was a lesson; try new things with a different group of people. It teaches you way more than you think it will.
Alex de Golia
#longanimity