Opening night things run smooth...

I snuck a picture of the set!


Friday 13th, 2009. For some college students it is an excuse to party, for others the "library doesn't close till 11pm baby!", and for others it takes all day to mentally and physically prepare yourself for a theater performance on opening night...

As I immediately opened the door to the Ronald E. Barnes Theater at CSUSB I am already at the end of the line that's waiting to be admitted. Students, faculty members, proud parents, and alumni are waiting to see Much Ado About Nothing.

Cat and Terry are in the lobby dressed in semi-formal attire and are calmly greeting and chatting with people in the lobby. I take my seat and observe the sold out crowd waiting in the theater. Unaware of all the hard work, the crowd quietly murmurs amongst themselves, some joking, some serious, but all there for a common purpose.

8:08pm the ushers shut the doors.
8:12pm the lights dim...until complete black...seconds later...the lights are turned on and the stage is littered with actors and Much Ado About Nothing is underway...

Terry watches the play from a seat in the dark upper corner of the theater. This is Terry's moment of glory as he watches all the piece come together in this performance. He watches alongside colleagues, as his production plays out...

At the end the actors and actresses take a bow and the audience claps for what seems like several minutes...from an audience point of view, job well done.

Nick Jenkins who plays the witty Benedick, says "It went pretty well, we had lots of energy. We were so excited but we knew it was going to be tougher to perform for an audience, that did not only consist of only our peers" When asked what his favorite part of the production process was Nick said, “The rehearsal process! It was fun to discover who I am as an actor and my character (Benedick)..."

I asked Nick what he found most difficult in the production process and he replied, “Finding the ‘real love’ connection with Ashley (Beatrice). Her and I are good friends so we both have to dig into ourselves to find attraction…keep in mind its for profession-performance based reasons…”

After speaking with Nick further I brought up the views that students at CSUSB have on the theater department. Like I mentioned in the introduction, some student assume that a major in theater is easy, fun, not serious, and for a “certain type” of person. Nick strongly said, “We work very hard, this is our profession. This is something we take seriously that carries out into the real world…”.