EVERYBODY! OH MY GOODNESS! Last night was AMAZING!
This is the closest thing I've had to my name up in lights! Last night, the opening of CHEERLEADERS VS. ALIENS was filled with laughter and surprise and all the goofy/silly fun I dreamed of.
I have so many people to thank. First up, Jamie Wilcox, artistic director of the Egyptian Youtheatre who said yes when I came to her with this wild and crazy idea and gave me more support than I have ever had with a new play. THANK YOU JAMIE! Thank you my brilliant and fabulous director, Alicia Washington who brought all the crazy details I had in my script to life and steered this wild and zany script so beautifully!
Candy Summerhays and Megan Crivello absolutely hit the costumes out of the park, every detail from the cheerleading uniform to the spectacular aliens (pictures to come after the show closes, I promise) blew my mind! Candy also took on props and was an instructor of the kids running tech crew because she's an amazing human being, AND Megan was our dramaturg over the summer last year and came with such insightful questions, I don't know what the script would have been like without her there poking it and me.
Ash Crystal, our stage manager, managed the TWENTY TEENAGE actors plus all us weird theater types since February! Matt Sincell was our set designer, and I absolutely LOVED everything about his set! There are 10 different settings in this quick paced play, and Matt's design gave the audience enough to know where they were at, it was beautifully simple and quite clever.
Jenn Silva and Missy Hilton were the video designers, and OH WOW was their design AMAZING! It gave the audience the comic book vibe of the play and a sense of place as the play moved all over the school. I hadn't seen it before, and I LOVED it so much I might have to ask permission to use it when I take this project on its top secret next step! The lights, by Peter Mayhew, were beautiful and fun and surprising and great, and I desperately want to listen to the entire soundtrack that played during the show last night every day for the rest of my days, from the sound engineer Hyrum Summerhays. Also huge thanks to the other tech crew instructors, Maya Rung and Missy Hilton!
AND of course, huge thank you to the student tech crew: Hazel Pike, Henry Hunt, Indigo Paine, Keegan Fitlow, Marcus Rung, and Wesley Sergent! You guys nailed it last night!
Annnnnnnnd, last but not least, thank you to the twenty fantastic student actors who joined me on this wolrd premiere show, a lot of whom helped shape the play last summer in the workshop: Aidan Wilcox, Amanda Green, Amanda Rossi, Anna Diamond, Avery Westover, Brody Dicks, Bryce Bargowski, Caroline Waldmann, Chelsea Cowley, Dino Allen Gutierrez, Gemma Feltovich, JT O'Rielly, Kat Moss, Katherine Ward, Lance Rothchild, Lily Malin, Lindsay Miller, Mallory Kosiba, Wolfgang Reighard, and Zach Mazzie! You absolutely killed last night, AND I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE YOU DO IT AGAIN!
(My mom came out to Utah for the show! She got super teary eyed with pride and spent much of the show crying and laughing at the same time.)
My sister, brother-in-law, and mom also made the trip out from California to see my play, and I was so grateful they made the trip! THANK YOU FAMILY!
(Is it show time yet? Now? Now? My kid is more than a little ready for the play!)
Other kid didn't want a picture, but both of them LOOOOOVED the play. They're seeing the show again on Saturday afternoon, and are planning to get autographs from all the actors after the play.
In typical nervous fashion, I couldn't eat before the show, but after I celebrated with a late night burger and chocolate shake, it was an excellent choice.
And last but not least, we have THREE shows left! We weren't full last night, and the kids are raring to perform to a sold out house, so come one come all, get your CHEERLEADERS VS. ALIENS tickets now! You only have three chances left to see this world premiere, and while I'm biased, you 100% cannot miss it. It's SO FREAKIN’ COOL AMAZING GREAT!
Tonight we have a show at 7, tomorrow we have two; one at 2 and one at 7!
HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!!