Misfit Theater Company (Wattys Winner 2018)

32. Your Juliet

I nod. It's just us in here, but it still sounds too rash, too sudden, too ill-advised, as Juliet would say, to admit it out loud. Especially with the "great acoustics" in here.

"Audio recordings are a pretty standard tool other dyslexic actors use."

I decide to ask Patti something, since I'm pretty sure she would know. "So, Mrs. Thomas told me that a lot of actors are dyslexic. Is that really true?"

"I did a lot of research about it once I realized that was what you struggled with--"

"--How did you--"

"--Timothy told me. And what I found out through my research was that drama schools report that about 30% of their students have dyslexia, which is much larger than general populations. A lot of actors have to listen to their lines on a loop before they have them memorized. So I can make you that loop if you want."

"That would be awesome, thanks Patti."

She nods and makes a note for herself in her agenda, which she has also pulled out of her backpack. I decide to ask her opinion on something else, since, again, I feel like she would have an answer to this.

"Why do you think so many people with dyslexia turn to acting?"

She shrugs, but then I can almost literally see the light go on in her brain. "Maybe it's because when you have trouble in one area, you compensate. Can't read well? What do you do? You watch the readers who can. You pay attention to the little details everyone else is too busy to notice. I don't know, though. So anyway, meet me at the front entrance after school, and I will give you my phone to listen to the recording on."

My jaw drops. "You'll give me your phone?"

She waves it away. "I have another one at home that my parents never traded in after they got me this one for my birthday. Just don't let your mom catch you with it tonight, and tomorrow I'll give you my old one for the rest of the week."

"Sounds like a plan. Thank you. I really, really appreciate all you're doing for me."

She smiles. "I'm just happy you can perform with us. Class isn't the same without you, which I know must sound silly, since we did it without you for a year and a half; but it feels like you've been with us all along." She shakes the smile from her face. "Back to business. Let's start from your entrance in scene 5."

Some things never change, I think, and for the rest of the week, Patti and I meet over lunch to practice more. The next day, Tuesday, Patti brought in her Snowball dress for me to try on in the bathroom, and oh my gosh, she was so embarrassing. She had her big, poofy dress in it's zip up bag over her shoulder, and as she dragged me through the congested hall toward the bathroom, she called out, "Make way, theater nerds with costumes coming through." I'm used to being inconspicuous in the halls, not being announced, but I guess I'll have to get used to that for Friday's performance.

When I tried on the dress, though, all of my embarrassment melted away. I've always thought blues and purples looked best on me with my olive complexion and my dark hair, but I was wrong: Red is my color. And while the top of the dress was a little snug, causing my cleavage to seem way more pronounced than it normally is, I felt oddly comfortable in it. Not physically comfortable--the top is a corset and is super stiff--but emotionally comfortable. I looked beautiful in the dress, and a thought I'd never really considered until that moment popped into my head: I'm sexy, too.

When Patti stopped adjusting the skirt of the dress and looked at me in the full length mirror, she said, "You look amazing. I swear, this is a magical dress."