Perfectly arranged.
This is a very short explanation to cover three days of intense set building, but it really was one of the most miraculous things I have ever taken part in. You have to understand: picture one became picture two (and this set is immense--the gate on stage left is eight feet tall, for perspective) after only three days and less than twenty-one hours of work by forty-two kids--kids, mind you--working with nothing other than sketches and ingenuity.
We are all very different people united almost entirely by the fact that we live for this. Under normal circumstances, we might not be friends. With a few exceptions, we check our prejudices and our backgrounds at the door. If someone pisses someone else off, usually a five minute break will heal all wounds.
Aside from drilling, sawing, measuring, and constantly revising, six other girls and myself have been granted the weighty honor of costume/makeup mistresses. While there is the normal dressing and hanging drudgery, we are also going to Broadway Costumes to help design and actually build costumes with Bob Schramm. We are going to be designing. Designing. This has not happened to anyone on All-State crew in recent memory, and especially not actually working at Broadway, which is an enormous and prestigious costume shop. I am beyond honored. I hardly have words for this.
Things have just been great, overall. I have made so many friends who make me laugh or who will spend a half hour smacking a Sharpie across the hallway to me with a piece of plywood. Our technical directors are brilliant and probably some of the funniest, most down-to-earth guys I have ever met. I have spent a couple days sawing two-by-fours into tiny bits and then screwing them back together to the tune of Morrissey, Death Cab For Cutie, and "You're The Best Around." I have a script with my name printed on a label on the side and my own pink measuring tape in the pocket.
Today we finished our work and cleaned up at 5:45 or so, and everyone went to sit in the house for our closing meeting. Our TD Conway sent Tommy to dim the house lights and bring up the stage lights. A uniform hush fell over the house as every person saw their work combine and meld with the rest of the set to become something infinitely more beautiful. We stayed completely silent and still for almost half a minute, and that's what it's about. That's really what it's all about.