Anyone who has been in a play, been on technical crew, or directed a show, knows the horror that can fall behind that dreaded phrase, "It's Hell Week." The very idea should fill you with dread. Your eyes slowly grow wider as you understand how little sleep you are going to get, particularly if you are a high schooler in two AP classes. Your mind races to remember all those little lines and cues you thought you had down but really didn't. You know suddenly you are going to find a million little things that you wish you had time to tweak about the show. Everyone else will do the same and your life for one week will legitimately be from hell. It helps if you love the show, but by the end of the week you'll probably hate the show. It helps if you love your part but by the end of the week you will wish you had a role that didn't have quite so many lines, or if you don't have a lot of lines you'll wish you had more stage time. This is the reaction I hope you will at least begin to understand when I say those fateful words when I begin my next paragraph. Ready? Go.
It's Hell Week. Though technically we have a scary abbreviated version of Hell Week, because we have a tech rehearsal at the competition location on Wednesday, and we will have shows on Thursday and Friday. So we have two days, one now, to work out all the little kinks and actually block and create the entire ending of the show.
Hooray.
As usual I am sitting in class trying to force myself to work. Technically I need to write up a journal about my week's worth of research by tomorrow at 2:00 but right now I just don't have the attention span. I wasted my life in science today, we sat and "looked at textbooks" that are meant for freshmen because the library wasn't open. It was so tedious that my brain shut down and now I just don't want to do anything, I want to curl up in a ball and stay there until I have to go get into costume at 2.
My costume is incredible though. I was really worried about the dresses because there were...complications. But mine looks awesome. The rest...are passable? Some are really nice. I love my size for the first time in my life though beacuse it meant I got the prettiest dress that floofs (a word I thought I made up but spell check isn't telling me I'm wrong...there goes my originality for the day) and makes me so happy. It's covered in this cute floral pattern and it's legit vintage. It was made in the fifties. I think my life is complete. Now if only I got to keep it...
But. Other than that I'm actually a little worried about this play. Not everyone seems to care as much as maybe...three people seem to care. And it's annoying because I want us to get an ensemble award for our work as this "machine" that moves perfectly in sync, but that takes a lot of work and not everyone is putting in that effort. One girl wasn't even at rehearsal yesterday. (Anyone who is in drama knows that missing a day of Hell Week is basically asking to die.)
Hell Week is one of the most horrific things I go through every year, but I love acting and drama so much that I repeatedly put myself through the stress of having to watch a set be constructed, finish memorizing blocking, learn how to move in a costume that's usually a dress, and then put on four (five) shows in the space of a week.
I don't understand my brain...sometimes I think there's something wrong with me.
