A Hands On Friendship

Gianni Palermo has been in and out of my life for the last five years. He had a huge crush on me in the eighth grade, and that’s where it all began. I never really understood why he was so attracted to a very awkward, pre-pubescent Yaz with terrible eyebrows and bright blue braces, but he later on told me that he wasn’t “peaced” (straight boys have their own language) with me because of my appearance, that it was my confidence on stage and my vocal performance that he was intrigued by. I know that might sound like a silly middle school crush, but it really is the root of our very intricate friendship. Our relationship with each other is forever changing.

While Gianni and I’s personal friendship is always up and down, performance is what keeps our connection with each other steady. Gianni’s ambiguous nature is always keeping me on my toes-but our shared passion for theatre is what keeps our friendship grounded. Whatever we collaborate on we can always find common ground, and because we know each other so well on a personal level, blocking pieces for our American Musical Theatre class is always natural. We know how to push each other when it comes down to it, and when we get excited on one idea, we combine our strengths to create the best version of our vision that we possibly can. As our high school career comes to close, I know our friendship will always stay strong, no matter where we are. I know that with just one look, everything will come flowing back and we’ll be able to carry a conversation.

Meshing your emotions with someone on stage and making it seem believable is never really easy. Being vulnerable enough with your emotions and your integrity is essential in infusing truth into your acting, but having to break that down with an actual human being instead of just a sea of people sitting in the audience that you can’t even see takes incredible emotional and mental strength. Gianni has seen me break and ache and cry to mold myself into whatever character I’m becoming, just as I have seen him break and ache and cry to mold himself into whatever character he’s becoming, and if we know we’re not where we need to be we’ll do whatever it is we need to do to push each other. I’ll miss working with someone who has rightfully earned their way into my heart and my mind. Gianni and I are currently performing together in our last high school production. In our production of RENT, Gianni plays “Roger”, an emotionally corrupt ex-junkie with AIDS, and I play “Maureen”, a very flirtatious performance artist with commitment issues, who is also genius in her own inventive ways. We close the show tomorrow night...I can’t believe this is one of the last times I’ll be on stage with someone I’ve been performing with since I first started theatre. Having Gianni (well, his hands) be the subject of my AICE Media Final Project will make this piece a bit more sentimental, as it will be the last time we’ll work with each other. Finishing the year off knowing it’s one of the last times I’ll be around some of the people I’ve grown with for the last 4 years is absolutely crazy, but I’m trying to make the best out of it!