Nomatophobia

Ok, so I've fallen of the blogging bandwagon a bit, but here I am, so shuttie.

About a month and a half ago, my old drama 2 teacher called me up. You see, last year around this time, I was in a play called "The Foreigner" (WOW, was that a year ago?!). I played the part of of an old Georgian lady named Betty. Before we even began working on the play, the director informed us that some judges from the Elly award committee, part of SARTA (the Sacramento Area Regional Theatre Alliance) would be coming to a couple of our shows and judging us. All I was told was that it was like the Oscars of community theatre, which I thought was pretty darn cool. So, the judges came on random nights; however, as it turned out, they came on our WORST nights.

So, graduation came and went, summer vacation was flying by, and I was spending most of my time volunteering in a Bible education work, when I recieved this phone call. Here it is in a nutshell:

Mr. Johnson: So, Asia, you remember that those Elly judges were coming to watch the performances?

Me: Yeah?

Mr. Johnson: Well, overall, Del Oro High was nominated 10 times. And you were nominated for best supporting actress.

After this, the conversation is fairly untypeable, as it consists mostly of squeals and jumping up and down. Yes, I had pretty much forgotten about this whole Elly deal. So I (almost) dieted, bought a new dress, new shoes, tried to tame my hair, and dragged my family down to the Crest theatre in Sacramento for the 4 hour awards ceremony, which was last night. It had occurred to me that this whole deal was just some kind of scam (though my ticket was free, as a nominee), that it wasn't as formal as I thought, and that there wouldn't be as many people there as I thought. However, when I got there, I was blown away. The theatre was packed, everyone was dressed to the nine's, and I could see that this thing meant alot more to some people than I had expected. Mrs. Johnson (who helped design the set and costumes) told me there were seats reserved for my family and I with all the other people from Del Oro. A couple of the nominees from D.O., Andrew Dominitz and Randi Stevenson, couldn't be there, as they are in college far away, but their parents were there to represent them. So, the ceremony began with speeches and a racy bit from "Chicago". As my category neared closer and closer, my tension grew unbearably. I told my sister I had decided not to win, and even had her pass it on to my mom.

As far as I knew, I was against a girl with the last name of Steel, who was nominated for her part in "Steele Magnolias", and against Randi Stevenson, one of my fellow castmembers; however, when the announcer began listing the nominees for my category, there were more than just those. That was when I truly resigned myself to the fact that I wasn't going to win. I only hoped that Randi would win so Del Oro (which is very new in this whole drama thing) would win something. After all, as they say, "it's an honor just to be nominated!" It was just in this second, as I had come to terms with losing, that I heard "And the Elly award goes to...Asia Sanchez!"

I'm pretty sure I shook the whole row of seats I was in. I have never been so shocked in my life. I couldn't even comprehend...was that MY name? The thing is, as I had been sitting in my seat prior to my internal resignation, I had been unable to decide if I was more afraid of losing or if my nerves were due to the fact that the winners had to make a speech (which I hadn't known) which I hadn't prepared for! I was severely worried that I might have to walk all the way down there and onto the stage and across it and make a speech! And now I DID have to! I stumbled through my row as the spotlight controller found me, almost fell down the stairs, and tripped a little when I fell out of my shoe on the way down the rampart. I ran up the stairs onto the stage, almost missed the guy who gave me my plaque AND the announcer who gave me the winning envelope. I went to the podium and said:

Me: K, seriously someone coulda told me I had to say something.
(Audience Laughter, thank goodness)
Announcer behind me: You have to say something.
Me: Thanks.
(More Audience Laughter)
Me: Um, so I just want to thank Mr. Johnson for encouraging me to keep acting, and...my family, and Mrs. Dominitz for seeing the old lady I really was.

As I was leaving the stage, the announcer chose that moment to say he wasn't hearing enough thank you's for SARTA and the Elly judges. I was so shooken up about that, that I couldn't remember who else I had forgotten until too late: My cast! How could I forget my ensemble cast!? Well, I thought, someone else from D.O. will win and do it. Little did I know I would be the only winner of Del Oro's 10 nominations! I felt terrible! Not only did those who had worked just as hard as me not win, but I had forgotten to thank them! This put quite a damper on the whole experience.

However, I'll never forget the excitement of that evening. I kept hugging my plaque, as I have too many times dreamt about similar things and woken up to dissappointment. I literally had my sister pinch me (I've always wanted to do that) to make sure.

Well, I got my night at the Emm--I mean Elly's. As much as I enjoyed it, I'm going to try to not let this make me lose my focus on my recent goal of increasing my time in the above-mentioned volunteer work. As happy as I am about this acknowledgement of all my hard work, in the great scheme of things, it is a truly small and temporary happiness.

Well, that was long! See, that's what happens when you put off writing for too long of a time!