Love's Language Lost

Today is the last show of a production that was cobbled together by grit and determination and sheer stubbornness. In December, 2018, a close friend turned to me and asked if I'd like to go in on a submission to the Drama Society's Spring season. Sure, I thought! Sounds great! Nothing quite like doing an MA and undertaking a show at the same time, it'll be ah-maaaazing. We enlisted an additional friend and classmate and the three of us were off to the races. After some hemming and hawing, we chose our script, Julia Cho's "The Language Archive". And then, the unthinkable happened. We were picked. Cristi Scobee took on the Director's mantle, James Bigley, the evil mastermind behind this, took on Production Manager, and yours truly signed on as Stage Manager. Auditions, casting, finals , holiday break, it all flew by and there we were, January, with five and a half weeks to get this show together.

Productions are never rainbows and kittens. There is a level of tension that is created when a group of theatre-makers get into a space. It is a demand for excellence that you can feel. It leads to frayed nerves and raw emotion. This show was no exception to that rule.

Advice to self: When the whole cast and crew starts checking to see how furrowed your brow is before talking to you, maybe you need to take a moment.

Homework pushed aside, 15 hour days on campus, rehearsals, production meetings, begging donations of set dressing from various organizations*, and some Benny Hill running around brought us to where we are now. Our last show. Each night has gotten a little better and good Lord I hope that trend continues this evening. I made some glaring errors in calling the show yesterday that I'm hoping will be fixed tonight by actually remembering to eat something, anything, before the show. Because this is why we do theatre, isn't it? The push for excellence that causes so much grief and stress, eventually brings us to showtime. And when we push for the best throughout the process, we will push to the best in the smallest detail on the night of.

I'm so proud of the blood, sweat, and tears that made this show happen. Well done cast, well done us.