A Life of Puropse

We sat huddled in the green room around a space heater, rehearsing some last-minute lines. I was distracted from the task at hand by my nerves; I didn’t have a clue how my co-workers were going to react to our performance. Would I be able to show my face at work again? I never had any trouble acting before, but this show has my name on it. As I drew the curtain I held my breath for a minute and then marched onstage.

What I didn’t expect was their laughter. Through the entire show, we were showered with applause, cheers, and laughs from the audience. We were told the lines felt effortless and that the themes were engaging and thought-provoking. The clown make-up lent legitimacy to the show’s absurdity. They were surprised by the show’s polish.

The positive energy that radiated from the audience members was an accolade to the hours that we poured into our creation. We spent two solid months writing and re-writing the script, making set pieces, searching for costumes, choreographing, practicing vocal and instrumental pieces, designing programs, and launching a website. And for just that one performance, our investment was returned to us ten-fold.

There is certainly a wide margin for improvement, but for our first self-produced show, I'd say it was pretty darn good. We had a blast and learned so much from the experience.

The feeling of walking off the stage was a post-wank euphoria.

So here are the videos; the second is the actual performance, the first is just a rehearsal of the opening dance and beginning of the show taken in our basement. Unfortunately, those parts were cut off in the final video but I wanted to include them.