The Theatre Bug: The Childhood of a Theatre Nerd

By: Tabitha Garnica

“I Won’t Grow Up!” ~ Peter Pan

"Our mothers all are junkies, are fathers all are drunks!"

There are typical things that seem to make up a childhood; believing in Santa, trips to Disney World, being afraid of the dark, etc. But, we all have those unique childhood memories that only we can understand or relate to. When I started becoming a theatre nerd at age five, it did not fully register that every child my age did not share this same passion. I had to go through certain experiences to realize that most children around me had no idea about the musicals, plays, and old movies I was obsessed with. Other kids did not dance to Gene Kelly in their living rooms, or reenact West Side Story with their Barbies.

My aunt gave me the movie West Side Story as a present for my sixth birthday. In the first grade, we would have a designated period of coloring time in which all children would take out their coloring books and color for half an hour. Suddenly, I started singing “Officer Krupke”. After all, it had been in my six year old head all day long and it just needed to come out. For anyone who is not familiar with this song, it is a comedic song from West Side Story sung by a bunch of gangsters, and is slightly inappropriate for a little girl to sing in her Catholic school first grade class. Especially when her teacher is a nun! Sr. Anne, appalled, said, “Tabitha! This is not the time for singing! You need to stop before I notify your parents!”

Cuz every kid must perform this in front of their third grade class

During the third grade, my parents told me that it would be my last year at my school because they wanted me to go a school closer to where we lived. I was heartbroken because I did not want to leave my friends and my school. However, I could not leave my school like a regular child. I had to do something special so my classmates would remember me. So on the last day of school, I came all dressed up, with a CD player, and performed a self-choreographed dance to “So Long, Farewell” from The Sound of Music in front of my class.

Every nine year old girl loves him, right?

That summer, my parents and I went on a tour of Italy. We were part of a tour group mostly made up of 50 and 60 year olds. One night, we were in Assisi, having dinner in our hotel, and a group of people was talking about actors from old movies. One lady talked about a male singer who was popular in the 1950’s. He had a real deep voice and was in Show Boat and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Unfortunately, she could not remember his name. All the others knew who she was talking about, but could not remember his name either. I, being painfully shy at this age, whispered in my dad’s ear what his name was. My dad looked at me with a huge smile and told everyone at the table, “Tabitha says his name is Howard Keel.” They all looked at me like I had seven heads. I could not understand why they were so shocked that I knew his name. Doesn’t everyone know his name?

In the sixth grade, I could not take the fact that my school did not have a drama club. I had just been introduced to the play Our Town and I needed to perform it right away! I went around and made a petition in my grade for a drama club. Unfortunately, I could only get about three signatures. I went to the principal with my petition and my idea. She rejected it saying that our school did not have the funds for a drama club, and not enough people seemed to want it; but it was a great idea. How could six graders not want a drama club!

These are just a few of my childhood anecdotes. My childhood was filled with incidents such as these in which my love of theatre made me different. However, the older I became, the less unique it was to love theatre. As I entered high school, I saw many of my friends and classmates fall in love with theatre. It seems as though most of the people I know who are in love with theatre found this love during high school. Luckily for me, now if I were to sing “Officer Krupke” with friends, they would probably join in! Sometimes I felt as though people were entering a party that I had arrived several hours earlier to. However, I will always hold my unique childhood in a special place in my heart. I am sure there are others who had a similar childhood, but we were special. We were the ones that no one understood and we were the ones that now seem like your average theatre freaks. But we were the first ones to find this magic. As I make more theatre friends, and introduce my boyfriend to all my old movie musicals, this world is no longer just mine. However, my childhood is. My childhood made me unusual and I would not trade it for anything in the world.

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