Well, the name's Luke Pickett, for everybody in the Monday-Wednesday banjar in Francis's William and Mary 'Intro to Classical Asian Performance' class, and I have just begun to write the blog that should have been started months ago! JOY!!!! Yeah, well, great timing, eh? The last performance is done, and now I start. Well, time to stop groveling...
I'd like to say that the performance at the middle school on Monday was very great, indeed, considering the mishaps and the sense of urgency that occurred before we even got to the auditorium. That, by the way, gives me a sense of guilt, since I wasn't even there for the preparation to go. To make a long story short, a talk with a professor of mine over the topic of a paper for one of my classes went on waaaaaaaaaaaaay too long, and when I noticed that it was 3:10, I began to panic. I think my normal reaction to making mistakes like being late is to 'run and hide,' and to pretend they don't exist. I was so worried about showing up late and being labeled irresponsible for not getting ready in time that I almost convinced myself to avoid any shame by not showing up at all....
Apparently, I had enough of a moral compass to 'test the waters' for how the other members of the banjar would think of me, so I called the Anderson twins to see how everything was going. They told me to get over to PBK as soon as possible, which I did, although I was cringing inside to even think about how late and unprepared I was. By the time I entered PBK, nobody was inside, it was 3:30, and Jeni and Amanda offered to give me a ride to the school. I hopped in after meeting them out in front of the building, asked them what to do about the costume preparation that I had missed, and was relieved to see by Amanda's full monkey costume that nobody had to wear the eyeliner. At least one thing was written off the list!
Getting into the auditorium while Francis was in the middle of his speech, I realized that I had no monkey costume to wear. A few curse words later, Mohammed offered me his robes, saying "Your part is more important than mine. Take this." I obliged, gratefully, although I felt a tremendous amount of guilt inside for bumming his costume.
Suddenly, as if to prove that a god exists, Eddie Hong came in through the back, carrying an extra monkey suit that he still claims he "had a hunch that he needed to bring." In what seemed to be happening all at once, Mohammed got his monkey uniform back, Francis called us all to the stage to start performing, and to my greatest relief knowing that I was not the latest person to arrive at the school, several other actors came through the door, fresh from driving all the way from the College.
What can I say now? The performance was just as we had planned (it was only the preparation that tore our hair out, I guess...), the costumes were great, 'sir-tit-pung-tit' didn't speed up...much, and the audience got involved! I think it was a great day for the performance, not due to the performance itself, but for the close ties of the banjar that I felt. The Anderson sisters, despite their need to get to the airport in time for their flight to Chicago, got me to the performance and were even kind enough to drive me back to PBK after the show to look for my lost jacket, and then back again to the school, where I finally found it and rejoiced. Mohammed gave me his costume when I was empty-handed, and Eddie came in the nick of time to supply Mo with a new one, and Francis's mother was kind enough to drive me (as well as Kalyani and Ravali) back to campus. In short, my ass was saved on Monday by no less than five people, and I have yet to come up with any idea to repay them in deed as part of this great banjar.
Great work, everybody. We did it!
Luke
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