Day 1

We were standing in little circles in the lobby of the University of Arizona's Tornabene Theater, all casually chattering, greeting familiar faces we had seen at Thespian Conference, introducing ourselves to people we had never met, and it all just felt right. Everyone was friendly. Everyone was kind. Kind of quite too, yes, which is extremely unlike theatre kids, but that would be short lived.

April Jackson, SOS Program Director, stood on a chair and said, "Hello, and welcome to ATC Summer On Stage!" She had what she would later refer to as a "big goofy smile" on, and she would proudly wear that sunbeam smile all day. In fact, the entire SOS Team did. Every adult involved in SOS was excited and happy, and I could tell they all wanted to be there. It made me excited and happy. I knew it was going to be a good day, and I was right. To kick start the camp, we played a variety of ice breaking games. I met an outstanding array of people, all different, all special, and all so beautiful. Most importantly, they were all hilarious too. We all clicked immediately, and I could already feel a bond forging between us as friendships were established. 

Other than games, we were introduced to the scripts we would be bringing to life this summer; Amber Tibbits, the director of the SOS musical, announced half of us would be performing the world premiere of In Your Eyes, a musical by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey, while Katherine Monberg, director of the SOS straight play, announced the other half would be performing the play Elephant's Graveyard by George Brant. After reading both scripts, I was blown away. The level of artistic freedom, and the content of the scripts, instantly gave me a feel for how this summer's work would be, that is: a lot of it, a lot of it being painstakingly hard, but all of it being entirely rewarding. It's work I wouldn't be able to experience in a high school setting. And to me, that's the most exciting part of this program so far. 

Oh, and I can't write a post without mentioning Stephen Wrentmore, the Artistic Director of Summer On Stage. He's brilliant, he's inspiring, he's hilarious, and he's British. 'Nuff said.