Word + Wisdom = Crazy Delicious

Saturday was the BIG DAY! The youth in our ward have been working for months on this Road Show and it was finally time for us to put on our performances.
But first... "What is a Road Show?" you may ask... It is a show that is taken on the road - literally. Groups of performers move to different audiences, who are able to stay in one place and let the entertainment come to them. Because of this, all props, scenery, etc need to be very portable. There are no scene changes in a road show - the curtain never closes during the performance. There is, however, an "olio" or an opener that starts each show off. The olio is performed in front of the curtain and has a short time limit - 3 minutes. It's purpose is to allow the props, scenery, and actors time to get into position. It also introduces the show at the end of their own little performance (which usually has nothing to do with the actual show, but is in itself it's own little show). The actual show has a time limit too - 12 minutes.
We were one of 6 wards participating. And we all had two locations to perform at. We were given the same theme - Arise and Shine Forth. Each ward then took that theme and put their own spin on it. And it was all kept secret until it was time to perform. We had no idea what the other wards were doing and they had no idea what we were doing. And that brings us to Saturday...

The day started EARLY. We had dress rehearsal at 7:45 am! We did get about 3-4 hours break after our rehearsal was done though. But at 1 pm we were back at the church having pizza and veggies for lunch and participating in a workshop by a teacher who came from BYU to see our Road Show. Then it was showtime!

We performed that afternoon for the other wards' youth. We were first up, which is always a hard spot. But our youth were ready and they did a great job! After having one performance under our belt, we started to feel a little more confident for the others that we would be doing that night. After we finished our's, we got to sit and relax while we watched the other wards perform.

All of the wards were good. There were two that seemed to stand out as truly exceptional. The greatest part about these Road Shows, is that it is done by the youth. They helped write the scipts, they came up with the ideas, helped get props and costumes ready, etc. This was THEIR Road Show. And they did awesome! It was fun - and impressive!

After the youth performed for each other, we were given our "box dinners" and prepared for the "real" performances that night. Our first show was in another building, so we packed up and headed on out. We ate our dinner, touched up our make up, and before we knew it - it was time to begin.

Again - we were the first up. Again - a hard spot. This was a new building that we had never seen before. The stage was different from ours. It was carpeted and had NO room backstage! But we did pretty good. The only part that was really bad was that the sound system failed us... which really was bad. It made the dance number VERY difficult and seemed to throw off the kids a little. :( But other than that, it went pretty well.

As soon as that performance was done, we packed up again and quickly made it back to our building. They had started at the same time we did, with other wards taking the first slots. And we arrived as their 3rd show was in progress. We were next. We quickly unloaded our props/scenery and waited patiently (and as quietly as 40 + people can wait) in the hall behind the stage until it was time for us to perform once more.

This time we were on our "home stage". This is where we had practiced, it was where we had started. It was infront of our "home crowd" too. It was our families and our friends who were watching. And this time - THEY WERE PERFECT!!! And I mean it - they didn't mess up a thing! Everyone was RIGHT ON!

If there was any one performance to nail, this was it and it felt great to have it happen there. Afterwards, we waited in a room while the other Road Shows finished the night. And then it was time for the "cast party".

I wouldn't exactly call it a "cast party" since there was nothing planned or organized. But there were extra food items to munch and the kids had fun finding friends from other wards and talking about the performances. Our ward had decided to make T-shirts for us all to wear. We handed them out first thing that morning. They had our show's name: "Word + Wisdom = Crazy Delicious" on it and the kids loved it. Anytime they weren't in costume, they were wearing their shirts. And the leaders were too. It was just one more fun part of the experience.

Finally - after a couple of hours, the judges were done crunching numbers and they were ready to hand out the awards. We were thrilled to get three awards: Most Humor, Best Script, and Most Overall Impact!!! All of the wards did well and recieved awards, but we were very pleased with the awards we received. Our focus from the beginning was to have FUN! We were constantly looking for ways to make our Road Show a little funnier... and it was great to get recognized for it. And it was a great surprise to get "Most Overall Impact"! That was a big compliment!

As I said in an earlier post, it was a LONG day! But it was so fun and well worth it! I was too busy backstage to get any pictures of our performance. :( But I understand that there was a DVD taken and will be available for us to possibly purchase - I plan on doing that. :)

I thought about posting the jist of our Road Show on here, like telling the story - but it could NOT do it justice to be typed out. You need to SEE it.

But I will tell you that we chose a "western" theme. Our Road Show took place in a bar... but it was a juice bar. We looked for anything that was "western saloon" like and twisted it to be funny and to fit a juice bar instead. For instance, the wanted posters were of our Stake Presidency. The bathroom key was HUGE and the handle end was shaped like an apple. The name of the juice bar was "Choose the Juice" (CTJ). The boys who played cards all day, were playing Uno and other games like Twister and such. The names of drinks on the menu were "Anti Nephi Keylime" and "And It Came to Passion Fruit", etc. There was a "bathroom guy" (yep, that was his name in the script, lol) who was constantly ordering more apple juice, then constantly needing the bathroom key, lol.

We really did have fun - every step of the way. Our practices were great, we laughed ALOT! And so Saturday's performances and the awards we received were just the perfect ending to our Road Show experience. :)