Photo of Isaac’s King of New York iPhone case.
by Isaac Grivett
Last weekend, I had the privilege to attend our local theatre festival at Fullerton College. Although I have been heavily involved in theatre for a while, somehow I’ve never found myself at a festival until this year. After going to one this year, I really wish that I had made the time to go before.
I was fortunate enough to work with my school’s tech team for months to prepare for this festival. Since most of us were already pretty good at a lot of the events and had been practicing since November, I thought we might do well at the competition but nothing could have prepared me for how incredibly quick and accurate some of the techies were. I’ve never seen someone tie a trucker’s hitch in less than 15 seconds or actually know the names to obscure, random tools. Although I was there to compete for the Tech Olympics, my experience went far beyond that.
I am somewhat unfortunate enough to go to a school that has a theatre program full of people who aren’t very interested in discussing Broadway shows and actors. Coupling that with the fact that I am a technician who has gotten used to the expectation that I shouldn’t care about performing and actors as much as others, it was incredible being around so many other people who do care as much as I do. I’ve never been in a setting where I could attract friends simply by having a Newsies-inspired phone case or where someone just breaks out into a Spring Awakening song and people join in until they could play out the entire scene in the middle of the cafeteria. I’ve played sports and have been in bands my entire life and I’ve never been to a tournament or competition where there were so many people who have completely dedicated their lives to what they love and only want to find others who share the same passion. Those competitions are so much more about being with your team and don’t focus on making friends who love the same thing as you or having a good time. It also felt so good to see all of the people in the Tech Olympics and design rooms who were not only amazing at what they do but care about their work just as much as any actor there. It was the first time that I felt as much a part of my own company as well as the entire community as anyone else.
One of the most amazing parts of the entire weekend was seeing that with all of the talent that was there, hardly any schoolreally cared if they won or not. Everyone was either excited about winning or respectful to the groups that won. People from all schools spent at least 15 minutes after the awards ceremony congratulating each other. When watching each other perform, we didn’t hope that the judges graded them low and us high or pray that they would mess up so we would have a chance. Instead we watched incredible performances in awe, wondering how we could bring ourselves up to their level and supported those who may not have done well but had the courage to try. People were constantly coming up to us and telling us how well we did and how much our school is respected; I probably haven’t gotten so many compliments in my entire lifetime than I did in just two days.
Theatre has always felt like the safest and most accepting place to go. Last weekend only strengthened that thought and showed me that there is so much more to theatre beyond my school’s stage. I got to spend a weekend surrounded by people just like me doing everything that I love to do. It made me love theatre even more than I already did and I wish I could spend much more time than I did there. Theatre festivals are truly the greatest places on Earth!