Remember in elementary school when you would sleep with your PJs inside out, put a spoon in the freezer, and standby your house phone just waiting for school to call a delay? Well, waiting around on Friday I felt completely the opposite. Carolina, Jessie, and I were all on standby refreshing our emails and sending each other group messages regarding the play. The show must go on. We were so eager to receive an email, “Full send to St. Josephs.” Unfortunately, that was not the final verdict. My group was so upset we were not able to watch all the scholars and OSHER adults preform.

A production that built anticipation for an entire semester had high expectations in my mind. Not that the acting would be fantastic, but that I would be able to see each of my classmates come together and show off their hard work. In fact, it was nearly impossible to visualize the outcome, so my imagination of the outcome was pretty spectacular. As my group practiced, they became more comfortable with their lines and actually added inflection to their delivery. It would have been fun to see if they would have dramatized it anymore in the moment. My favorite line in my part was one of Banquo’s. He says, “Ay, my good lord.” The scholar acting out Banquo would add to it and say, “AYYY, mah guud Lord” and it was so cute. If after two days on the script our scholars were able to get more creative, I could only imagine what other group’s acting abilities developed into.

It would have been incredibly rewarding to see the final production. But, the fact that we were unable to execute does not take away from the experience as a whole. The last practice, we had wonderful run-throughs of our part. I was so proud and congratulated my specific group, and the other group that only had two scholars. Both those scholars were so happy with their delivery that they asked if they could give me a hug. Of course, I did the side hug we were taught in class, but it was still so cute that they wanted a hug.

I really wished we had brought them treats for the final practice, and was hoping to have brought them something after their show Friday. This routine practice was something I will miss, but it will hopefully encourage me to volunteer for an after school program next semester. I would love to try to do something in the spring with them, or maybe just drop by a practice if Stage and Screen is doing a play again with the same program.