Happy Holidays 5: The Final Performance and Its Details

Hello, Tim!

Yes, we have just had our performance brought out to the audience on Thursday. Judging from the expressions and responses from the audience, we did an awesome job. I am not often the boasting kind, but this is one of the few moments when I can say although without much pride in my voice, that I am proud of ourselves.

The weather, albeit hot with the sun, was beautiful.

Contents of the Week

- First and Foremost, the Performance
- Group Photos Bombarding
- Still Need Time with the Book
- Questions Answering
- End

First and Foremost, the Performance

First of all, Tim, thank you for including our EHP events in the letter; it feels nice that the adventures we had throughout school years can be included and shared with other people.

Unfortunately, writing and updating the blog was not included in the assignment of the week, which means that I might become your only source (only for this week) for the performance.

So since the class just finished with our largest project yet, we had been in a rather laid-back attitude because we all need time to recover from the weights of fatigue we gained throughout the preparation. No letter assignments are needed this week (possibly next week) so I think I'll start by telling as much as I can about the performance on Thursday. Our performance.

 

Our stage, our show.

Aubrey, William, and I were the screenwriters (even though all we did were adaptions) and it was no easy task -nothing about the project was easy though-. There were fewer characters than required, and we had to come up with four extra characters to make sure that most of us have the chance to be on stage.

That was for the script, and what about the props?

We gathered about a hundred cardboard boxes, solely for the purpose of making props. Being just students, we were told to keep the budget as low as possible. Yet, our prop makers, Selena, Angela, and William had to keep performing magic on the boxes and turning them into various things: bat wings, the walls of the house, a set of lock and key, etc. It was their ideas that they made it possible for the show to go on.

Back to the actual performance. I would like to focus more on the evening performance, for there were our parents, the principal and other adults who came to the show.

Aubrey, our beautiful host of the day.

Melody, our other beautiful host of the day.

Selena played Renee, my scornful servant number one.

I was the old man, Gorgibus, in the show. With the tucked-in polo-shirt, the makeup from Cathy, and the raspy rough rumbling voice I forced myself to make, I think I made a convincing old man.

Sullivan, the servant, the doctor impersonator, was played by William. He was the only one who had stayed onstage longer than I did, and the execution of his character was awesome, especially the climax where he had to play the role of two people at the same time. He acted it out smoothly and it amused the whole audience vastly as they laughed unceasingly. Without our previous rehearsals, we the characters on stage would have been laughing, too, but no, we had had enough mental preparation, and we didn’t even break a smile.

Me, Gorgibus, the old man.

William/Sullivan, the doctor impersonator.

Miffy is the name of the maid I added to our version of Flying Doctor and was played by Candy. Miffy is a maid whose labor and help was more often than not, ignored or underrated. Resenting the fact, she barely had something remotely resembling a sunny disposition. When I was writing her lines, I knew that Candy would get this role because she can roll her eyes and hold an angry face better than anyone else in the class. She was one of the minor characters, but the audience liked her character, and so did she. Here is one of her lines: “Next time they would tell Miffy to go buy a car and then tell me to return it because you don’t need it anymore… A house, an iPhone X. People will tell Miffy to do the homework of Miss Lucy and when I finish they would say that it is no longer needed… Welcome to the life of Miffy. The mournful, miserable life of Miffy!” And knowing that the audience liked the characters I came up with, I couldn’t help but feel a bit happy and flattered.

Miffy and her eye-rolling skills.

Siana, played by Allison, is the cousin of Lucy.

Lucy, who is played by Doris, is the daughter of Gorgibus.

Angela is Gloria in the play, and she is pregnant with her husband, Greg's (played by Jay) baby.

Felix, the promised fiance of Lucy, is portrayed by Jack.

Before the performance, I had always considered it impossible for me to be on stage and perform in front of an audience of four hundred. The Hugo in me would have protested violently when he heard that Hugo would be dancing his awkward dance on the stage because he really can’t dance. The old man though was different. The Gorgibus on stage had enough money to be confident and doesn’t care what the others think about him. Those were the kind of thoughts I put into myself, convincing myself that it was another person doing the show, and ultimately, I found that I was finally able to enjoy the fact that I am acting. Our seniors praised us, individually and as a class, and I was quick to tell them that it wasn’t me on the stage, and that was the truth. I finally found the appeal of acting on stage. It can be hard work, either from the script writing, the props making or the stage managing (including the lightings, the spotlights or the sound effects), but at least, through this experience, I could see that the ripened harvest can be promising, sweet, and juicy.

Subtitles by Sabrina and sound effects by Otto.

We were all nervous that we might mess up something or not get enough reaction from the audience, but we not only pulled it off - sorry again for taking too much pride in this- we NAILED it.

Being with this group of 18, I found the courage to become someone I didn’t think I was able of becoming. For numerous times have I stepped outside my comfort zone and for countless times have I taken a bite of something vastly different. I am thankful to them because of that.

By the way, our seniors graduated the day after we had our performance. They also had a final performance, too.

Group Photos Bombarding

The Photos During Performance

 

'Well, it gets dumber.'

'We will have to work fast.'

'Give me a difficult job. I can handle anything.'

What's up, Greg, Gloria. How's the family doing?

'As you can see... We have a barbie and a Ken Doll without pants... Scandalous, no?'

' Hurry away and find a doctor! My daughter is sick!'

'No ordinary physician am I. In my opinion, all others are amateurs.'

'How do you do, Mademoiselle? So you're sick?'

'Lucy, Lucy, are you alright?'

'Welcome to the life of Miffy! The mournful, miserable life of Miffy!'

'Monsieur! You now see a poor man in need of help.'

'Narcissus! Your brother is waiting for you downstairs.'

'And brother, in front of Monsieur Gorgibus, I promise you that I will be good from now on, and you won't be angry anymore!'

Group Photos

Cathy and her artwork.

Disassembling the scaffolding during the 15 minute break (a.k.a. second floor)

Curtain.

Us.

Siana trying to take the cane of the poor old Gorgibus

Putting on the makeups.

Healthy-looking Amy and our drama teacher.

Photobombing old man.

Us, seniors, and the alumni of the EHP programs.

Still Need Time with the Book

I know, you know, we all know that I am going to dish out the usual ‘I was just too busy’, ‘We had to focus entirely on our play’ and blah blah blah. Those are true, mind you, but sometimes I dislike myself for getting away with the excuses. I have to keep up my pace or I won’t have time to read the books I have already bought. I got two more books in the convenience store at the moment, two books that arrived just yesterday.

Questions Answering

1. Sometimes, for the purpose of envisioning the tortured looks on the students, Mr. Maher write about food, knowing that the readers would be drooling before the screen, before mealtime.

2. Why the foods are related to summer and picnic…? I think that the reason is that grilling is often an outdoor activity, and normally, you won’t choose cold or rainy days for outdoor barbecue parties, will you?

3. People (adults) serve hamburgers and hotdogs to children because a) they haven’t developed the taste buds to appreciate meat like steak and b) kids just like those and probably would choose hamburger patties and hotdogs over steaks anyway. The steaks are just too high if kids don’t like the expensive food adults prepared for them. (Stakes, steaks. Get the pun? :D)

4. The ‘only in Iowa’ dish mentioned is a kind of bean salad that is often mixed with pickle relish, diced onions, and cheddar cheese. I am not sure why it is described that way though… Maybe it is hard to tell by just describing the appearance…? I believe starting the introduction of a dish from its ingredient is better than saying ‘It looks like a small heap of orange hill with some watery sauce around it’, and no, I (apologetically) wouldn’t want to try out the dish, but only because I am a picky eater. I avoid vegetables with strong tastes like onions or pickles. I reinstate. It was not the fault of the dishes; the fault is on me.

5. The three smaller and lighter dogs, Dot, Menia, and Ollie are donned the name ‘rat pack’ because they are small in size and possibly they run around the house like rat packs.

6. Menia and Ollie like to visit Mr. Maher’s house because the visits sounds like some of their few moments they can have fun and play with the other dogs since their other companion, Dot, doesn’t seem to be willing to join in any sort of games.

7. Liam stays in Mr. Maher’s study most of the time since he is the kind of dog who would rather enjoy a quiet environment and relax.

8. All the dogs, after running incessantly out in the yard before dinner, would all lay around, drained and exhausted during dinner time.

9. The class 220 (that’s us!) decided to bring a ‘17^th century romantic comedy’ to the audience, and through a small adaption they did to the original script and the result of the play, they (we) think they (we) did quite a formidable and agreeable job.

10. Just look at all the things we have done as a united class! The basketball competition, the volleyball tournament, the choir contest, the Halloween dress-up, the school fair. We are a mixture of students with different personalities, with different skill sets. We believe we can do almost anything, a yearly stage performance included. We have doubts, we have our pessimistic moments, but I think it is the fact that we are acting like a team, like a family that made us special.

End

Now things are getting tranquil, and tasks to do reduced, we would have to go back to the routine of studying. See you next week!

Sincerely, Hugo