That was easy!

Who doesn't love Staples? Well, I should mention this isn't about the Staples you're thinking. I'm talking about my 10th grade English teacher turned theater director during my junior and senior year, Mrs. Kimberly Staples. So this is going to be a dedication post to one of the most incredible people I know. She was just recently inducted into the Georgia Thespian Hall of Fame. I seriously can't think of anyone more deserving.

It was the first day of my sophomore year and I found a new name on my schedule. The last class of the day was going to be English with some lady named Kimberly Staples. I'm not going to lie, I wasn't exactly excited that I had the new teacher in the system. In high school, I'll admit I was basically a legacy and my brother had broken in every teacher before I got there, which made my days in classes so much more easy. All I could think was, "great, I'm going to have to break this one in myself". She seemed stern and it didn't help I hated English. The semester passed and there were days I just wasn't very fond of the class and I was having trouble warming up to my new teacher. After winter break, most of the sophomore class was about to start reading Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. At Buford High School, this meant only one thing, having to memorize Marc Antony's eulogy for Julius Caesar that resulted in the Roman revolt. Every sophomore dreads it and hates it. I personally wasn't looking forward to it, but heeding my brother's warning, I read over it during my winter break (overachiever). To my surprise, Mrs. Staples throws us a curve ball, she asked us to write a modern day version of the speech in the point of view of the person of our choice. I played the air head role in high school pretty well (still do) so I chose to write my speech in the point of view of a homecoming queen. I think this assignment alone changed my view of my new teacher in general as well. I was finally warming up to her and I started feeling more comfortable with her as well. At the end of the year we read the play Our Town out loud. I thought it was odd but I didn't mind because it was just reading and there wasn't really any assignments outside of class. She gave me the role of Emily and it wasn't until half way through the play I realized what the role entailed. Like usual I was in a state of oblivion and didn't even realize that Emily was a principle character in the play. Oddly, it was this part of the class that made me want to audition for the One Act Play the following year.

To this day, I still don't know how this lady was able to suck me in, but I'm just glad she did. She turned the math geek into someone who was actually interested in performing arts as well as literature in general (I mean really I have a blog). I decided the day of auditions that I wanted to try out. During break, I went to Mrs. Staples and asked to borrow the script for Our Town. I had decided that I was going to take the easy road and audition with Emily's final goodbye. I spent the next five hours memorizing the piece in time for my audition and I, of course, stumbled on every line and butchered the entire monologue. I figured, I would the very least be a stage hand at this point. When the roles were posted, I was astonished to find out not only did I have a part, I actually had a line! The play chosen that year for One Act was Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew and we even placed second in the State Competition. It was a great time, I made great friends and really saw a different side this woman I had at one point been afraid of. In a short few months, Mrs. Staples had turned me into, dare I say it, a theater geek. At the end of the year, I was inducted into the Thespian Society and I had one more thing to add to my college applications. However, for once I didn't care about some college application or having one more picture in the yearbook in the clubs and activities section, I really was falling in love with being on the stage.

For my senior year, I signed up for musical theater. This class alone changed my entire outlook of my final year at Buford High School. After I got accepted to my top choices, I checked out of my senior year and was ready to graduate, too bad I still had seven more months of tolerating the craziness. Mrs. Staples had chosen the musical theater class for One Act Play that year and the musical in question was Chicago. I was the character June, a merry murderess who was ditzy and in a constant state of oblivion (no typecasting there, huh). My voice was fairly hidden within the chorus, I didn't have much rhythm, had probably one of the funniest monologues, and played air head a little too well. Once again, one of the best experiences of my life. Even now thinking back at the moment on stage, I choke up slightly.

The second musical for the year was Stud Terkel's Working. This musical had a cast that outnumbered the number of people in the class, so we were given multiple part. To my surprise, I was given a lengthy monologue, along with my first solo (sang in Spanish, mind you). I remember being really confused when she gave me the part of your typical secretary working with a "boss that was Satan". She had a long monologue and I had yet to harness my talent in acting. I was good at the singing part, but that about covered it; leaving me to only be a threat and not a triple threat like the rest of the class. It wasn't until my classmate/friend Miles reminded me of my one little line in Taming of the Shrew, I realized I had come so far. I never expected to grow talent wise in theater, I just needed to find something to do to fill up my college application's extracurricular activities section. The role that gave me my solo, was nothing short of typecasting...LOL. I played a Spanish immigrant working at a grocery store. The solo was entirely in Spanish and sang in first soprano which I had been avoiding for a long time. The experience of singing that song still resonates in my memory and still seems overwhelming. I remember being sick about a week before dress rehearsals and somehow my voice tapped into muscle memory to help me sing it. At the end of the year, during Awards Day, when Mrs. Staples presented the Musical Theater Award, I had no expectations. I was one of four seniors, two of them played principle characters in the fall musical, I figured I was far from the running. One of the seniors, Miles, was absolutely amazing and I was sure she would give it to him for being such an outstanding/improving actor for three straight years. She begins to describe the person -- "This young lady has been a pleasure to have in class. Someone told me she had the voice of Charlotte Church...". I jumped to the conclusion that it was the other senior girl that played Roxie during Chicago, she was a principle and had a strong voice. I looked at my friend Danielle and just said "I knew it". Then out of nowhere I hear my name. I looked at Danielle again, "um, I didn't know that".

I look back and realize today I didn't need my brother to break this one in. She has the heart of gold and in my eyes probably superwoman. This woman can direct four different plays at once, judge competitions, be the State Student Officer liaison for the Georgia Thespian Society, the sound lady for the choral department, teacher, wife, mother, and friend. You have to wonder when the woman breaths, let alone sleep and eat. Once again I whine in the morning when I've been exposed to the Energizer bunny in the form of a talented, classy, sincere, honest (brutally), warm woman. I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful influence and mentor in my life. I hope everyone has someone so amazing in their life.