24 Hours

This weekend was the Red Eye Festival at the Royall Tyler Theatre. For those of you who don't know, a Red Eye Festival in theater is when a group of people (a writer, a director, and various actors) work for 24 hours straight to write, direct, and perform a ten-minute or so play. It was so much fun, and everyone's shows were so amazing!

It began at 7 p.m. on Saturday when we kicked off the festival with a pizza party and talking with our groups. Our writer (Zoe!) had a pretty clear idea of what she wanted, and I was to be the director. Our writer also wanted me to act in the play because she wanted a third cast member and a guy to be in the show. The play was a comedy set in a mystical world where one lonely girl gets trapped, thinking she'll never find the man she loves, but does she really need to be in a couple to be defined? Anyway, I ended up playing her asshole boyfriend, a douchebag of a concierge and a very annoying maitre de. It was awesome.

Our writer stayed up all night, finally sending the script out at 6:30 a.m. We decided to meet at 8 a.m. at the theatre to start rehearsing for the day. The door, however, was locked when I got there quite out of breath. You see, I woke up at 7:20 a.m. when my alarm went off at 308, but then I fell back asleep, waking up at 7:40 a.m.! Needless to say, I made it to the theatre by 8. I'm not sure how, but...it happened. There was running involved. That's all I'm going to say.

Seeing how the theatre was locked, we decided to go to one of the actor's dorms (Ashleigh!) to work on the show and start blocking/making props. It was the first time I had ever been in UHeights on campus and it was absolutely gorgeous. I was kind of jealous and wondered why I hadn't accepted UVM's offer to get into the honors college so I could live there. Then I remembered...right, I don't want an extra class!

We kept making props, then we had lunch, and went back to the theatre where we rehearsed some more (can you see a pattern developing here?) until it was time for the Spring Candy Hunt! Allen, the costume guy at Royall Tyler held an awesome easter candy hunt around the UVM green. Just picture 30 theater students running from the theatre, across the road, and onto the green screaming for candy. It was that awesome. I had a plastic shopping bag that was absolutely full by the end of the whole thing.

After more rehearsing, and a quick run to 308 to grab more props, it was time for the dress rehearsal. That was rough. We were kind of nervous based on how horribly the dress rehearsal went. We were missing props, costumes, cues, lines, etc. It was crazy but then it was showtime. That quick. After throwing stuff altogether, we had a very good show. To top it all off, Megan suprised me by showing up in the audience, with a bouquet of flowers. I was expecting her to go to the Music Makers dinner at Becky's house which was Sunday night, but there she was. That's why I love her.

All in all, it was a classic weekend full of theater. Thank you to everyone who was there and who made it such a spectacular experience!

Peace out!