Let me give you a verbal tour of the theater and where I got to hang out and play spoons with my friends.

First thing first, I make my way to the theater and one of the security guys opens the door for me and I thank him.  I then wait in line to sign in and I weave my way through people to get to the green room.  Once there I find my friends and we wait for at the most ten minutes.  Then once a chaperone comes by they take us out of the theater and up three flights of stairs to another building.  In the other building we have rented out a large room and everyone refers to it as "the dark side."  

We have three different roles in this large airy room that is carpeted with curtains and chairs.  Other than that and a couple trash cans, that's it.  Nothing else.  This is why we have games, phones and friends to chat and stretch with.  My friends and I all enjoy just hanging out and chatting and at one point I may have taken a nap, but more on that later.

For the first show of the day, they take us early down back to the theater where we go to the stage, mark the dance mainly to make sure that the little cherubs who take our harps haven't forgot their part again.  Typically the guy in charge, Mr Nutcracker makes them go again because they always forget to get off stage.  Then when the lights comes on and the  music starts, they stand there staring forgetting once again to go off stage.  It's cute but also a bit annoying seeing as the dance requires them to get off stage.  Often times the stagehands had to whisper/yell at the girls to get off the stage.

After we mark the dance we head back to "the dark side" until showtime.  Once the show has started we put on our ballet flats and head back over to the theater and up to a tiny dressing room smaller than my bedroom that we are somehow able to manage to fit fourteen girls and their angel costumes in.  After everyone has found their costumes we head down to the green room to get our makeup done.

The makeup consists of foundation, blush, eyeliner and bright red lipstick that stings.  We have a makeup artist apply the makeup and then we head to a far wall of the theater well out of the way and wait.  As we wait you ask those around you how your makeup looks.  If they make a face and start out with "Well..."  then you head to the bathroom and do your best to fix it.  I got very good at fixing things with just a wet paper towel and not a lot of time. 

We move up in the hallway and then when there is ten minutes before we have to be on we go backstage and they put our wings on.  We then grab our harps and cherubs and take our places on stage.

After the dance we hurry back to the closet dressing room, change and head back to "the dark side" and wait to get picked up by our parents who then take us hopefully out to eat somewhere nearby.