Week #26 - Denver, Colorado (Summer Staging 2013)

      Week number three in the staging process with Cast B and things are in full swing. Everything is picking up and is at high speed now. The week went by so fast can I barely remember which days were good and bad. Of course everyday in a program such as UWP is good, but this week has been a bit of an emotional rollercoaster. As we begin to put the show on stage, everything is high pressure and it brings back memories of last semester and old friends. So with everything at such a high intensity things I have had a few stressful moments, but for the most part things are still great. I am having a blast getting to know all the new people. I have noticed how different I am coming into this semester compared to last semester and it is very interesting to analyze. I do a lot more observing than I thought I ever would, but I still manage to lead, just in a different way that is not as bold and out there. As second semesters we are doing a really great job of guiding and leading by example, so if nothing else seems to be working, we know that we are doing our best to help.

      So this week started off with speed. We met our director from New York, his name is Humberto and he came in ready to work. We had a few different workshops this week, but a lot of the time we were cramming all the songs and dances and getting everything perfected before getting on the stage on Wednesday. We had a fun guest speaker who talked about the UWP “fish bowl” and we also had a great evening with the cast, which we call “Culture Jam”. It is a fun night where all our different countries can perform something to represent their culture. It is always super fun and just a great time for the host families and fellow cast mates to learn a little bit more about each other’s cultures and countries. We had our first couple of run throughs where we put everything together and it was a bit rough, but by just the third run through things were beginning to smooth out. We have one more week to get everything together for opening night and I have complete faith it will happen. This coming week is going to be even more crazy and hectic, but we will get through it and then in just one week we take off on tour J So everyone is super excited and awaiting the anticipation of leaving and seeing what life is like on the road.

        So with one week left I am starting to realize I have to say goodbye to my host family really soon and the more I think about it the more I don’t want to leave. I have a new home in Colorado and saying goodbye will be hard especially after I have become so comfortable with my roommates and family. This week we spent a lot of nights together around the dinner table and having an entire family event that we called “The Zac Efron Movie Marathon”.  Man it was enjoyable! We also went late night swimming one night and ended up at a family friends house where we sang around the fire and roasted marshmallows. On Sunday as a special treat they gave us the amazing gift of taking us to Cirque du Solei “Amaluna”. It was so mind blowing that I spent most of the show with my jaw dropped and I did not even try to fix it. I was speechless and thus have no words to describe it. It seemed as though we were watching aliens perform. The rest of our host family day evening was delightful as we had a delicious dinner with host family friends and cast mates. We even did a mock performance to practice! A fun filled, jam packed day but somehow relaxing! Here we go into our last week of staging! Yikes! Hold onto your hats!