Yumeng Week #1: Behind My Scenes

“What do you do in the play?” My go-to answer is, “I’m in the running crew!” Very rarely, I’d say, “I’m AHSPA’s Assistant Props Master, and I help manage the running crew, props, and work closely with our Stage Managers and Director!” 


Admittedly, sometimes when I tell people what I do in theater, they look uninterested. However, I do understand that when theater is brought up, what happens behind the scenes isn’t always something most people focus on. Consequently, it’s common for people to overlook what backstage crew does, but I still never felt the need to justify my position. To me, it’s always been clear that my role as AHSPA’s Assistant Props Master is a title that I love and cherish, and there hasn’t been a moment where I regretted spending my falls and springs in the theater. 


I don’t believe that the small talk word limit or even a long, deep midnight conversation can ever fully measure the love I get to experience everyday in theater. The chaotic giggles we can’t contain while both crew and cast are trying to fit into the frame of one MacBook Photo Booth as a real show is happening on stage; the excitement me and my Head Props Masters feel, as we are counting down the days until we see our crew for the new production; the laughter from all the dumb videos we made in a hotel room the night before a Lenaea competition, and the bittersweet tears in the girls dressing room during closing night. 


From my freshman year to my junior year, theater has shaped and morphed me into the person I am today. Everybody from crew to cast to orchestra’s passion and personality inspired me and gave me a new perspective. 


Theater, more specifically Theater 70, behind my scenes has always and forever been something special to me. A type of special words will never be able to be expressed, even now as I am writing this blog!



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Eli Week 1: The n-Faced Creatures We Are

Image
I’ve recently become aware of the different ways I act around different people. When I went to a summer camp in North Carolina, I met and talked to many new people as I normally would. Then I flew to visit my grandparents with my mom, and it felt like my brain completely recalibrated itself. I was finally able to be “myself” again, becoming more energetic, unfiltered, and probably changing in many more ways I don’t even realize, without worrying about how others perceived me. Obviously, people act differently in different circumstances. A funeral and a wedding, for instance, or talking with a teacher versus a friend, each demand their own appropriate behaviors. Online articles such as this included similar explanations to my own, too. So, I attributed the differences in my behavior at the summer camp and at home to varying familiarity levels. However, I noticed differences in my language and communication even between people I’m similarly close to. It made me wonder, are these varianc...
Read more

Ellery Week 1 - Hella Californian

Image
“it’s hella hot,” I texted my friend. They responded, “yeah idk why. i thought it would be hella cold.” Hella. What a funny word. It reminds me of freshman year, when a teacher told me that using the word ‘hella’ was an instant, telltale sign that someone was from NorCal. To me, the word was just another word, and I didn’t feel any different from someone who never says ‘hella.’  This brought about the question, “Who do people think I am?” Not when I’m using professional diction to try and impress my AP Lang teacher, not when I’m speaking a mix of Chinese and English, Chinglish, to my parents, not when I’m trying to sound like a confident leader in a team huddle, but when I really spoke , without any filters. One could definitely tell I’m a teenager, especially when I talk with my friends, or giggle at the occasional 67 joke. However, this made me realize, the “filters” I thought I used also speak volumes about myself. Outside of being a teenager in California, I am a student with ...
Read more

Vihaan Week 1 - Fever Dream

Image
Yesterday, on August the 24th, I had a bad day. I felt the weight of loneliness and being unseen, because I felt that nobody understood me as well as I wanted them to. However, something very interesting happened to me that night. When I close my eyes at night, at first, there’s nothing. All I can sense is the soft hum of the air conditioning, the satisfying yet foreshadowing scent of pen ink and textbook pages, and the feel of my retainers forcing my teeth to go back into their original position. Then, completely naturally, all of it fades away as sleep starts to crawl in. In most people’s dreams, you would see the most utterly random things. One of which could be a donut with a lasso riding a unicycle trying to chase you down because you took a bite out of its friend. In the land of dreams , nothing is bound by the chains of reality. That night, I was lying in bed, that familiar feeling of relaxation settled in around me. I didn’t see any nonsense that a regular dream would have. I ...
Read more