A Party to Murder- Backward Glances at Shine's Latest Production!

Early August- I stepped into my drama director's home, alongside my friend Bekah and our two moms. She welcomed us into her new and beautiful abode, seating us upon the sofas. As she chatted with both of us and our parents, she gave us the run-down about what drama troupe life would look like and demand from us. We moved through the rest of the proceedings, Bekah still auditioning the acting life and myself pumped and ready for another full-blown season.

Nine months and plenty of intensive practices later, I sit here in my living room, reminiscing over the fun, the trials, and the spoofs me and my eighteen fellow friend-turned actors experienced. May I share them with you?

For the first several months, we concentrated on games to enhance awareness of other actors and many different facets of acting. We'd laugh at one another's antics, cheer successes in team-oriented games, etc. But, before long, we had the first draft of a script in our hands, auditions behind us, and our individual roles distributed....

The crack-down rehearsals really began in March, when we'd go every Tuesday from 1-4 p.m. running through our script. Sometimes we got through only two scenes a day. Week by week, we inched the pages out of our hands, began to learn our characters, and were continuing to silently build bonds as a team.

Soon enough, we had a week before our first performance. We were so scared- many of us still forgot our lines, nobody had any idea what they were doing, and our director was only getting more and more stressed. Some thought we wouldn't be ready. Others believed that we would pour our all into it until we were ready.

Until the last Tuesday, when we went through the play once and a half in six hours. It was unbelievable- we had never done that before with this play! Surging over our faces, smiles dominated our cast as we filed home. A new realization, a sudden strength rushed through us- we could do this....

"Ten minutes," said our director as she poked her head backstage. I grabbed my friend Grace and we screamed quietly amongst ourselves- screamed with our whole beings and every nerve, yet bottled inside so we would maintain our concealment behind the artificial walls that consisted of our stage. Roving amid the crowd of nineteen actors, each and every one of us spread quiet words of encouragement to each other, whispering about how we were going to rock and trying to calm ourselves as a team. Before long, we were herded into our dressing rooms, the first actors onstage taking their places, and the rest of us trying to refrain from useless chatter and to concentrate on our scripts.

Nine pages into the play, I found myself standing behind the actor that played Sutton, my nerves going beserk. Applause escorted out the first scene. The lights went down and came back up. Putting one bold foot in front of the other, I stepped out to leave everything out there.

Several minutes went by...I knew I was starting shaky, but slowly I gained a foothold. More characters had been introduced, and we began to fake a tea party. One of the actors entered, set the tray down, and just stood there. Oh dear.....

My friend Christine began to think as we tried to buy time for our fellow performer. "Aren't you going to leave now, Sutton?" "Do you have anything to say, Sutton?" she said.

"No, Madam."

Somehow or other, he recovered himself and we continued...for about a page, until another actor said his line in the wrong spot. But, luckily, by now we were well-prepared to ad lib, and another character filled in the blank spot with a geniusly impromptu line, which we all applauded in our minds. Once I almost tripped over the stage, but I caught myself in time.

Other than that, the performance went smoothly. We all had so much fun-the murder scenes went off without a hitch, hardly anybody guessed whodunit, our cast performed their parts with a talent that definitely overruled our low-budget attempt at a mystery. With what God had given us, we had used it to create the best performance possible.

But what was peculiarly fun to the actors was all the interesting characterizations we got to do during a part when we all stole some coins and the Inspector demanded them back. "Surely you don't suspect me!" "At least I've still got my good looks." and "Simply an over-active writers imagination." were some of the few lines that never made it to the script but we nonetheless used to add style and taste.

The saddest part of the night, however, was actually after the curtain call. When our director acknowledged our seniors, she broke some grievous news to everyone (including us).

Due to their age and insurance issues, six of our beloved friends wouldn't be able to come back to us next year. It was terrible. These were people I had practically grown up in theater with! We didn't even have time to react because we had to act strong in front of the audience!

The very next day, we performed the last production of this play. This one went off basically flawlessly, save for one major mishap....

I happened to be back in the girls dressing room (only two actresses were onstage), when I heard this alarm. Oh dear....

Rushing out, I found the rest of the cast in quiet confusion. We didn't know what to do. Candles were kindled all over the stage as part of the set...could this possibly be our worst nightmare come true?

Well, we had no orders and we weren't about to abandon the performance we had worked so hard for if we didn't have to.

"Should I go on?" the boy who played a very stoic butler said.

"Yes, yes," we whispered, hurrying him on.

The two actresses were still onstage when he stepped before them. We still had no idea what he was going to say (in a very droll monotone), but what came out of his mouth rocked our worlds....

"There is no fire in the back room, Madam."

We laughed. We shouted. We cheered. It was unbelievable! Something Satan could have used to entirely wreck our hard work God had turned into an unforgettable, happy memory that spiced the play with the unexpected! And the audience loved it!

The lights went down for the last time. Backstage, we gave up a mighty cry, we hugged, we danced. We joined hands as a team, held on to each other through thick and thin, and came out to a victorious standing ovation- still a team. Even as our lead ran into the dressing room to change back into her everyday self, her and I chatted elatedly about the performance and people's reception of it.

Yes, it was a bit sad. Goodbyes to good friends are never easy to say- especially when a quarter of our cast will probably never return to our team. But together, God had given us memories, special time with each other, and raised us to a height we could have never reaced without Him or each other.