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As far as preshow reception spreads go, this one exceeds expectations.
(Rowe is also a ringer shes married to Playwrights audience-services manager, Katasha Nelson.)
(Clearly, Nelson understood the Educators Night assignment.)
Malvia Rowe steers me over to two teenagers chatting over the free food.
Yo Yo goes to Millennium Brooklyn; Angela goes to Brooklyn Tech.
Theyre both 16 and very happy that the high-school test stress is behind them.
Angela started test prep for the SHSAT in fifth grade.
It was kind of high-stakes since everybody kind of puts a lot of pressure on you, she says.
Everybodys working really hard to get into these, like, really good schools.
So I just felt pressure.
So I just went in, and I just took it.
I ask if her parents would have minded if shed opted out.
I think theyd understand if I didnt, but I just wanted to because they paid for my prep.
So, like, thats the least I can do.
Angela says that everyone is happy now.
I let her and Yo Yo go back to their cheese.
I respond, I get to pick?
and receive a clarification: Its more off vibes.
Don is smart, passionate, and funny.
They (I picked; vibes) did not get into their first-choice school.
I sobbed, like, very loudly, very dramatically, Don tells me.
Like, theres different fairs.
You have to interview at different places.
Some places you have to take tests, auditions.
But yeah, its pretty cutthroat.
I ask Don if it was worth the stress.
I mean, no.
Nothing I was too worried about when I was younger was worth the stress.
I ask if that is an unfair advantage.
(She did finish it.)
Im kind of disappointed in myself, she says.
I ask if shell check that to get a good nights sleep next time.
Ill just do my best.
I think thats good, she answers.
It is also only available in English.
Kids can receive testing accommodations, including extra time, for special needs.
She can spot the prepped kids a mile away.
While Im teaching things in class, theyve already learned it from their tutor, she says.
And I have others who have no idea what Im teaching in class.
Theyre completely struggling, but theyre mentioning topics at higher levels, because theyve been going to tutoring.
And theyre like, but when are we going to do slope?
And Im like, thats not even in our content.
(I only very vaguely recall slope and feel certain that I could not pass this test today.)
I spot a group of students from SUNY Purchase.
When I talk to her students, they call her Peggy.
She does not recall the high-school process with particular fondness.
Theres just a great deal of competitive feeling.
Like theres only so many slots, she says.
I notice that Peggys students seem happy.
They clump together for a group photo in front of the step-and-repeat and seem to be enjoying the reception.
Some are old enough to drink, so that probably helps.
Nelson and Rowe start shepherding people upstairs to their seats.
After the show, though, he admits that it hit home.
If there were ever an audience forSchool Pictures, this is it.
In the final vignette, Cramer despairs, No, no, no!
I speak to Cramer afterward.
I feel sometimes like theater education is a pyramid scheme, they say.
Its very, very, very, hard to make any money.
After the show, I mill around among Peggys students to hear what they thought.
Cramer briefly comes out, and the kids give them a round of applause.
As they go back inside, one shouts after them, Milo, youre a real one!
