Another openin', another show...

So since my parents left, I've been busy preparing for the production of my «atelier theatre». I spent all day Friday and yesterday at rehearsal with nine other students, two light technicians, one music director, one student director, and one director. Let me tell you, last week, I didn't think we could pull it off. Not everyone knew their lines, we had one girl almost drop out because she was so scared, and we had yet to perform the play in it's entirety. It was awful. I cried. Friday, things got better: people knew most of their lines, and the pieces started fitting together. But I still had doubts.

Yesterday, we were all feeling it. Everyone was nervous. We finally got to perform the play, in its entirety, in order, without stopping, with lights, music, etc yesterday afternoon at 4pm (with our performance less than 4 hours away). Wonder of all wonders, it wasn't too bad. We skipped some text, some movements were messed up, but all in all, it was pretty fricken good for our first time through.

Our wonderful director, Yaël gave us all pre-show gifts, and I started getting that feeling--that "this is really going to end and I thought I wanted it to, but really I don't" feeling. Everyone was getting nervous, we jumped around for a while in the dressing rooms, and then we did some warm ups on stage. I did the "Funky Chicken" (my pre-show good luck ritual that I've done pretty much since I started theatre 8 years ago) in French (yeah, that was an interesting translation exercise) with about half of the actors/musicians and then we hid backstage while the audience filtered in.

The show started, and it was magic. It's crazy how fast it goes. We worked on this all semester, and it all came down to 50 magical minutes on stage. The show came together more spectacularly than I ever could have imagined, and even though it wasn't perfect, it was perfect. Maybe it's just because it has been SO long since I've done theatre like this, but it felt so special. It was exhilarating. I was so proud of us--of myself for pulling off the French, and being the mean sorceress, and of everyone else who did so well with the French (we were all foreign students), and who all overcame their fears. For most of them, it was their first time on stage.

Shinno, me, Anita, Yaël, Carmen, Elena, Melissa; Kako, Daun, Ethan, Vladimir; Sonia, Yuka

I don't even think I can begin to describe how I feel about this experience. I've never had theatre like this. It was a combination of the lowest of lows and highest of highs, and it was just amazing.

For those of you who are curious, Maddie filmed most of my part in the play, so I've uploaded what she's sent me (so far) for your viewing pleasure. I'll update as I get more video, but for now here's part 1 and part 2 of "La Socière".

Tomorrow it's off to Mont St. Michel with Angela!! *excite*