Tale As Old As Time: My Recap of the Beauty and The Beast Hum/Com Fieldtrip
By Sara Torabi, Humanities-Prelaw ’14
Sara participated in the Humanities and Communication department fieldtrip for a backstage tour of the play The Beauty and the Beast. Students were given a behind-the-scenes glimpse into theatre production and were given complimentary tickets by the Bob Carr Performing Arts Center to see the play. Here is what she has to say about the experience at the first Humanities and Communication department fieldtrip.
I’ve heard that laughter is the best medicine So, you would think that with all the laughing that I did on Tuesday, I would be in excellent health. But here I am writing to you guys with a box of tissues and hot tea sitting next to me. It’s sad considering I had so much fun on Tuesday.
It all started when we decided to go to lunch and had to pull into the parking garage. “Can this van even get in here?” Kelsey asked. No one breathed as she cautiously drove the van into the garage. We all looked up at the sign praying that the van wouldn’t hit it. I looked at my fellow classmates and whose heads were ducked down. “Ducking your head won’t make the van shrink you know.” I stated. The van was filled with laughter as we as we trudged on into the lot successfully. We shrieked as we watched the second van faced the same obstacle. It too, passed. Eventually we reached the roof of the parking lot and slide into a parking spot. I smiled to myself as I stepped out of the van, I was so happy I decided to come on the trip.
“Disney’s Beauty and the Beast: Behind the Scenes Tour!” the email had read. At first I was a bit reluctant to go. I didn’t even know the story, I had never seen the movie before, and I didn’t know what to expect. But I was willing to give it a try. So I signed up and wrote the day in my planner. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t excited, some of my friends had signed up as well and I was told many times that the show was a must see. We left the campus Tuesday morning upon reaching the theatre we were led inside where we could see the crew hard at work creating the sets and designs. Memories of the theatre flooded back to me. I had been a thespian most of my life and had spent most of my days working in the theatre. Soon we were greeted by one of the stage managers, I listened to her as I watched the crew, she explain the casting process, the life on tour, and the job of she did as a manager. She told us funny stories of theatre experiences and explained hard circumstances that she had to face as a manager. She explained how she became a manager and what you had to do in order to receive such a job. After being dismissed we had decided to get lunch, and that was were we had faced the obstacle of the parking garage.
We laughed to ourselves as we made our way to the lobby of the garage. We were standing in the lobby deciding where to eat when my friend Julie gasped. “It’s Thor!” she whispered to me and Kate. We turned around and sure enough a Chris Hemsworth lookalike was walking past us. Fangirling would be an understatement. Some of us were still staring at him through the window even after we had left the lobby. Fast-forward after lunch and the mall, and we were back at Bob Carr to receive our tickets for the show. As we made our way to our seats we couldn’t help but gush over what the stage had become after the crew had finished its work. We chatted until the show started. The Show. The Plotline. How I had never seen Beauty and the Beast was a wonder even to me. The show was spectacular, and it was amazing to know that it was because of the work of the cast, crew, managers, and event coordinators that this show was able to be so successful.
As we drove back to the campus we chatted and stopped by at Wendy’s to get some food. As we were getting back into the van we noticed a group of guys in the parking lot. “Get in the van, don’t attract any attention.” we muttered to each other. Safe in the van we breathed a sigh of relief, they hadn’t noticed us. Did you know the van’s beep when being reversed? They beep. A loud, shrilling beep. A beep that attracted the attention of everyone in the parking lot. A beep that get us many looks. And so we left the Wendy’s parking lot with all eyes on us. Classy, no?
From seeing the behind the scenes of Beauty and the Beast, to managing to get into a parking lot, to meeting Thor and James Franco (oh, I forgot to mention that?), to being the center of attention in the Wendy’s parking lot at midnight, you could see why I had so much fun on Tuesday at the inaugural Humanities and Communication fieldtrip. Now if I could only get over this cold.
