Journal Entry #11

February 27, 2008

Dear Prospective Students,

Life is alive with theatre!

Between on-campus involvement and an off-campus venture, it has been one crazy week for theatre.

Over the weekend, amidst the plays we saw during our New York adventure, plenty of theatre activity was taking place on campus as well. Theatre Fairfield's New Works Festival opened Thursday, February 21, of which I was part of the tech crew.

The New Works Festival was a collection of staged reading of plays written by Fairfield students and faculty. Featuring Kerry Davies '11, Jayson Cowley '10 and resident playwriting mentor, Staci Swedeen, New Works consisted of five plays - Staci Swedeen's three plays made up the second act.

For New Works, I initially agreed to be head usher. However, at last minute, I was asked to be part of the tech crew because they were in need of someone to switch the configuration of the set between plays quickly and efficiently. The set for New Works solely consisted of chairs and music stands, so in between play changes, two other crew members and I, dressed completely in black, would sneak out and readjust the set to accommodate the next play. Then we would sneak back to our little hideout in the next room, peaking at the performances through a hole in the door.

Then, the following Tuesday, February 26, I volunteered for the first time as an usher at the nearby Westport Country Playhouse. My friend, a recent Fairfield graduate, now works at the Playhouse and was encouraging people to utilize this untapped resource to gain theatre experience. Among the most common volunteer positions is usher, which I was most interested in.

Luckily, I responded at the perfect time because the Playhouse was in desperate need of ushers for the preview night of "Vigil". A sarcastic comedy starring Timothy Busfield, "Vigil" is about a man coming to live with and take care of his dying aunt whom he has not seen in 30 years.

I jumped at the chance to volunteer! And I'm so glad I did because I got to see a wonderful show for free just by helping out. It was actually the first time I had ever been inside the Playhouse, too. And I already can't wait to do it again!

Talk to you soon!

love, anna.