This past summer, when I fell asleep on the train to my internship, I thought up of an idea that I never thought would be such a big part of me than it is now. I thought up of an idea for a one-act play about a girl writing a one-act on a tight deadline, but she is unable to find an idea for it. Later that night, three of her emotions, Anxiety, Laziness, and Creativity, are personified and attempt to help her come up with an idea, but end up making everything worse. In the morning, she finds the perfect idea after remembering the events from the night before.
I decided that this should be written on paper as a fleshed out one-act play and submit it for my school's student-run theatre organization's annual one acts festival this year. When I first started writing the script, I was pretty doubtful that it would get chosen for the festival due to how ridiculous the premise was, along with the fact that I never thought my writing was the best. When I got the email a week after spring break saying all the names of the one-acts chosen and the authors, and I saw my name and one-act on the list, I was ecstatic. I could not wait to get started on directing.
When it was time for auditions, I was both nervous and excited at the same time because I never cast a full-fledged show before. I saw so many talented people in the audition room that it was way too hard to narrow it down to just five people. Regardless, I cast my show and I knew I hit it home with who I chose. Once auditions were over and my show was cast, I was more than excited to get started.
Setting up a rehearsal schedule was a little bit tedious because I tried to make one based on both my availability and my cast's availability. I tried to squeeze in as many rehearsals as I possibly could during those three weeks without putting too much stress on my cast, along with being mindful of the fact that 80% of my cast was in more than one one-act. I had a total of five rehearsals with the cast before the tech/dress rehearsal, and that was enough time for us to block, make acting choices, and memorize lines.
And then, the tech/dress rehearsal came, which was both the most exciting and most nerve-wracking rehearsals. It was the rehearsal where everything is coming together and we could fully use the space, costumes, sound effects, and props. The show came together so smoothly and it ended up being a lot funnier than it was in my head. I was so proud of each and every member of the cast and it got me super excited for opening night the night after.
And then, it was time; show weekend. I could barely concentrate on my classes for the day because I was too excited for the show. When I noticed both days pretty much had full houses, I got excited to showcase the show that I've been working so hard on since the summer. Our show opened the festival and hearing the whole audience burst into laughter both nights gave me that feeling in my stomach that I haven't experienced in well over a year. My cast nailed each and every line, and I was about to cry tears of joy.
This festival was the only event that this organization put on that I was involved in all four years of college, and getting to write and direct one of my own for my last one was the experience of a lifetime. My mental health went in a complete downward spiral since spring break, and I almost did not submit the one-act altogether because of how terrible my mental state was at the time. But I'm so glad that I ended up submitting it anyway because this experience ended up being the light that was shining in my darkness.