Small Town Fall Frivolities

There's a strange sort of magic in the air come Autumn. The leaves begin to change. The smell of woodsmoke fills the air and the chill breeze bites at exposed fingers and ears and noses as you step outside into a world of gold and brown. Frost creeps across your window in the early hours of the morning. Leaves crunch beneath your feet on the way to class. And in the town of Buena Vista, Virginia, the giddiness and excitement of the approaching holiday season spread through the campus like wildfire, infecting everyone and everything they come in contact with. And who can complain? For there is nothing so perfect as a small town holiday.

Homecoming

This was the first time I have ever been officially asked to a dance, as a date. And I was spoiled rotten. There was a candle-lit dinner, a corsage, and I danced every dance. After the dance we crashed at Kory's place for a few hours, and we all slept in and went to the 11:30 ward :)

There was a bit of an issue with the fact that I was supposed to go to homecoming with a friend of mine. But a) he had other things he had to do that weekend and b) I told him that I wasn't interested in him the way that he was interested in me. But everything worked out in the end. Kory didn't want me going to homecoming alone, so he took me and treated me like a princess. And [insert unnamed guy friend here] and I are closer than ever now, and have decided that we will remain good friends no matter what.

Of Injuries and Illnesses

For those of you who don't know (and even for those of you who do) I'm a klutz. Two Saturdays ago, I was running outside and fell. My hand bent at about a 90 degree angle, and I hyper extended tendons I didn't know I possessed. I was rushed to the hospital (and by rushed I mean cruising along the freeway in President Smith's Toyota Avalon at a casual 90 MPH) by two members of the cast. Arielle held ice on both sides of my hand and sang primary songs and showtunes with me. Brayden went into "missionary mode" and started quoting comfort scriptures to me. I was eventually given a prescription for Perciset, which did one of two things to me: it either made me completely loopy, or put me to sleep. Either way I was hit with horrible dizzy spells, and I never knew which way I would go. Suffice it to say, class and rehearsal were VERY interesting for about a week...

The first few nights, I had around six girls staying in my room with me to make sure I didn't die in my sleep. Brayden, Aubrey and Arielle took turns watching out for me. Then Aubrey and Arielle both got sick, and I took care of them. And then we were all sick. And by all, I mean most of the cast.

Harvest

I was invited over to the Cluffs' house for their annual "Fall Harvest Festival" on Monday. We sang and ate muffins and casserole. We carved pumpkins. It made me miss home, and at the same time it made me feel at home.

Brayden came to pick me up and we walked to his house through the woods. I couldn't help but laugh at the random fire hydrant just sitting in the middle of the path, and I felt moved to take a picture.

Also, Brayden and I have decided that we are no longer allowed to try and carve the same pumpkin. It was half an hour of "No, you're doing it wrong! You're supposed to cut HERE!" "Hey now, I'VE got the knife! Watch what you say, buddy!"

Eventually though, we managed to pull together and compromise long enough to create this. Charlie Doug, named after Charlie Brown and Doug Funny. The Anti-Heroes.

Halloween and Stone Tables

None of us could make it to the Halloween dance, because we had a performance. It was the second to last one (not including the filming). So, instead of dressing up right after the curtain closed and catching the last half hour of the dance, like so many of us SAID we were going to do, we headed off to Lee-Hi's.

Lee-Hi's is a 24-hour truck stop that happens to have a fantastic restaurant attached. The waitresses there know most of the SVU crowd by name, and even if you don't have so much as a penny in your pocket, someone will cover for you.

Closing night of Stone Tables was the best performance we had ever had. We were playing to a packed house, including the balcony. They had to add extra rows of seats and even then we had audience members standing in the back. And while we're all sad the experience is over, I don't think any of us could have dealt with any more of the seemingly endless stream of bad luck that hit our show.

We had cast members being sent to the hospital. Seizures. Broken set pieces. Everyone was sick by the end. About nine different relationships were made or unmade between cast members during the course of the month. We rehearsed for two weeks without a script, and once we got one it was not a finished script. The orchestra was still getting new music five days before the show. We had people loosing consciousness during rehearsal. I myself witnessed eight separate priesthood blessings on cast members, and I know at least a dozen more took place.

But we pulled through. Even with the injuries, the illnesses, the sleepless nights and the painfully exhausting days. Even with our director, bless his heart, staying up until 4 in the morning every morning, orchestrating the numbers for our show. Even with the costume malfunctions, the memorization issues, the impossible music and the sheer size of the cast, we all pulled together, and made it work. And that is an accomplishment to be proud of.