Hey there, how y’all doing?

Its been a couple of days since I have sat down and felt the match light the candle that is my want to write something for you. Between finishing my school work for the semester and having tech week for A Christmas Carol its been hard for me to want to sit down and write for all of you. In my free time that I have had, I’ve been reading The Starless Sea and with just finishing that novel last night, I feel free to write for you all. (Well that and I have a lot of things to say and I also have to write my review for the book too)

So what has been going on? Have you been enjoying December so far? Oh me? Thanks for asking, its been a good month so far. I have spent every day this month at the theater, a feat that I am exhausted to admit. I joke, but I have spent every night in the theater, that was true. Sunday and Wednesday of last week was the rehearsal for the Christmas concert, Monday was final tech while Tuesday was a performance for Camp Good Days. Thursday was opening night and Sunday was the Concert so it was a lot of time there. I complain but it was all worth it, not only am I doing something that I love but I am also spending time with good friends of mine (also if I did not have these things going on I would certainly be staying home and not doing anything).

Ghost Story

Okay, I took notes for this event because I did not want to forget a single part of it. *shout out to the new notebook that I got for on the go notes*. So please take a seat and get ready because this story is fun. (Okay that is such a lie)

Thursday night after we opened A Christmas Carol some of the cast was hanging around. This is a typical things after anything we do there. We will just sit around and talk and be goofy, sometimes there will be footballs being thrown, other times we are screaming about what Muppet would be Sweeney Todd. This night was similar to that until one person asked how to get to the Stage Left Balcony. I take it upon my self to be the guide seeing as how I was right there and I love telling a story. As we walk through our costume room I mention how recently I heard noises while I was waiting for a scene up there and that began the conversations of ghosts. I take the few people over to the balcony and nothing happened.

After this a comment was made about the Bell Tower and next thing I know we are walking up the creepiest stairs in the building heading to a old bell that will cause destruction if we were ever to ring it (the building is old and the supports are old). We have to file one at a time to see the bell, and while I wait I ask the new people if they believe in ghosts and I tell them quickly about the show we performed about the ghosts in the theater. Eventually I get to get up there and the bell is old and cool and I took a photo (see below). DJ knocked on the bell and it was quiet but when he must have done that when I was waiting it sounds as if he actually rang the bell. So to find that he was only using his fist was a shock.

We went back down the stairs and by the time DJ and I were on the proper balcony, the rest of the group was down by the stage. Being at the angle of the balcony you get a view of the entire stage and with upcoming auditions, I bright up The Hunchback of Notre Dame and we started talking about what the stage will look like and what it takes to cast and pick a show. It is these kind of conversations that I love, getting deep into how a theatre runs and that it not always the best singer or actor that may get a role (I can get into that on another day). We talked for maybe 45 minutes and the rest of the group decided that they were going to head out, seeing as how it was 11:30pm/2330. Clare, a relatively new actress to the company was left sitting by herself on the stage but after about 10 minutes she came up to the balcony and started chatting.

Fast forward about 30 minutes we are in the middle of a conversation about what our Hot Takes were with certain musicals when we heard a loud bang. This was not the type of thing that would be made by a broom falling or even one of many ladders tumbling over. It was loud and filled the entire space, coming from behind the stage. Immediately the three of us fell silent and DJ said to us “That has to be someone”. We waited a few minutes and even Clare called out to people she thought could have still been in the theater. Silence.

Eventually we got up and started looking around the space. Both in the house, backstage, the wings, and even downstairs. We found nothing. We were back in the green room (where the cast stays while the show is going on) and we were looking at the monitor when we heard another bang coming from the monitor. We sprint, looking for whoever could be making the noise. Again nothing. At one point DJ thought someone had pushed a stage light of a stable spot to climb into this one area to hide so he took a metal pole and started to hit the area. Nothing again.

We kept looking and moving. I was scared and learned that in that moment I was like Shaggy from Scooby-Doo afraid of what goes bump in the night. I was back looking at the monitor when I saw a shadow move on the stage in the alcove far upstage. But it wasn’t a shadow of a person moving and blocking the light but truly a shadow moving. Saying this out loud made us go running again but we did not find anything. At this point I should mention that the theater is haunted and ghost have been felt and seen in the 20+ years the company has been in the space. I mean the building was built in 1889 and was a church before it was a theater so it saw some things.

So as we were looking around we opened the back door to see if someone had some in or if there was a car or anything and what we found was nothing. There was no car, no new tracks in the snow on the road, and right in front of the door a fresh layer of snow had fallen making a perfect place to make a footprint, and there was nothing. So this was spooky. But the last thing that happened is what scared me the most.

Clare went downstairs to turn off the lights and DJ and I stayed upstairs turning off lights. When we went from Stage Left to the Green Room I heard Clare say “yeah”. Which was weird because she was to be downstairs. There are no vents so it is impossible to hear people from downstairs, and for her to run from downstairs to behind me to get back down stairs would be near impossible and if she was able to we would have seen her. DJ finish our tour of the greenroom and get to the wings of Stage Right when I hear Clare coming up the stairs. So I said her name to make sure it was her (because at this point I am scared) and she responded saying “yeah” the exact way I heard it just few moments before. It was scary and we ran out of the building. It was also 1am/100 and I was exhausted and want to get to my bed.

So all in all, I had my first encounter with the ghosts of the theater. It was spooky and I learned how big of a chicken I am.

As I have spent a few days reflecting I think it was something to do with the Bell. I think the knock on it was enough sound for the ghosts to awaken. I know churches will ring their bells to call their followers in and I think that is what happened. A small noise was enough to wake them and bring them to our plane for a few minutes. And they decided to mess with us.

Annoyance

Okay now that I have shared that story I also was to take a moment to talk about my grievance from last week. I am waiting for grades on a few assignments that I have submitted in the past few weeks. One of them being a video where in a small group we had to identify and explore a type of trauma and how that trauma can impact a person development. This was due Friday November 15th and was about 45 minutes. There are 7 groups each with similar lengths and varying traumas. We chose LGBTQ trauma and I feel confident. But I still have not gotten a grade yet for the assignment.

I understand we are human and we have lives but I want my grades. It is such a whiny thing to complain about but I was to see if I can keep my 4.0 GPA or if I fumbled so hard that it’ll drop down to a 3.967 (lol). I was not focused on the first few quizzes that I made stupid mistakes.

I think its also because auditions are next week and I can only worry about one thing at a time. Or I should wait for one things so I need these grades before next week.

Ending

Thank you so much for reading this far. What kind of blog post are you looking for. Is there a topic you would like me to talk about?

Well see you next time and be ready because the next book will be announced soon. Also I do want to do a book club starting in January so any suggestions? Leave a comment!