Tech Week: Day 1

I've been part of a tech week before, but only once, and I don't remember any of it -- I was really little. I certainly don't remember my feet swelling up and turning pink, probably because I wasn't wearing character shoes. But I was last night!

Last night was the first day of tech week with my amazing JOY drama group, which I've posted about before. And it was unbelievable. Of course I had a great time (at JOY, I always do) but I wasn't prepared for how hard it was going to be.

Now, according to my veteran JOY buddies, there have been harder first nights. In fact, everything ran pretty smoothly. We even got done on time. But I've never had a harder one. In fact, I don't even think I was there for opening night of tech week on "Aladdin". So this took me a bit by surprise.

We ran the whole play all the way through (on our stage, which was awesome) and the first thing that started to get to me was the light. Oh. My. Gosh. My immediate reaction when the curtains opened up was "I'M BLIND!!!!". Of course I couldn't say that out loud, but it took quite a bit of concentration to get back in character. In fact, Anna got comments in the tech booth about how "her sister squinted when she smiled". Anna, who of course knows me and figured out what was wrong, shook her head and said, "She's not smiling." Yay for failing to fully stay in character!!! :D

So then there were the scene changes. Actually, that went pretty well. Everyone did their jobs and always managed to switch sets on time. But my goodness! Once the curtains close, it's so dark back there you can't see your own hand in front of your face. We're supposed to be quiet, but we relied quite a bit on each other's whispers to figure out where to put everything.

But probably the worst part (for me at least) were those SHOES!!! Shoes, shoes, shoes! I really hate high-heels, did you know that? By the end of the night, I didn't care how much my feet stank, I was taking off those shoes! My feet were huge and pink and sweaty and I felt like a hobbit -- not that that's too terrible a thing. But wow! Those might just be the most uncomfortable pair of shoes I've ever worn!

So yeah, last night was tough. And I know it sounds like I've just been complaining, complaining, complaining. But you know what? Even though last night was hard, I LOVED every minute of it! I loved joking around with my friends, and being a stubborn "Iowanian" and suffering right alongside my JOY buddies. The fact is, my friends there are amazing, and I'd do pretty much anything for them, including wear high heels. And the fact that my friends are there actually makes the high-heel-wearing fun. So I can't wait for tonight. It'll take longer, and this time we'll be in FULL costume, but that just gives me more time and more reasons to have fun. I can't wait to blog all about it! :D