A play in The Cellar and...an announcement

Anyone who has ever complained about the (now-demolished) HFAC on BYU campus has never been to the Fine Arts Building on UGA campus. True, the HFAC was larger—by far—than the Fine Arts Center on UGA campus, more labyrinthine. To be fair, the Harris Fine Arts Center housed all the arts, not only drama. UGA has lovely concert halls, I'm sure. But I am equally sure I saw plays at The De Jong Concert Hall, for example, which seated 1268 people.

UGA's Fine Arts Theatre, on the other hand, seats a mere 678.

The Arena seats 100.

And The Cellar—that's where we were—seats 40. 

Forty people.

In The Cellar.

The building was completed in 1941—approximately 25 years before the HFAC was built, and yet it lives on in its charmingly decrepit way. And I'm 95% positive it's haunted (though it has yet to make a single list—wait, the Fine Arts Building is on this list and this list, so...a few lists).

The walk down to the cellar was...long...and winding...and eerie. Random drips. Open panels. Deserted hallways. 

But we found our way to the theatre and were stunned to walk into a classroom. This set was so well done it took us a moment to realize we were looking at a set!

I especially liked the way they had the hallway behind the classroom. It gave the actors two spaces to work with in the little "bottle set." They would rearrange the desks for different scenes, but every scene took place in the classroom. And it was just...so well done!

A few too many swear words for my taste, but a phenomenal performance.

Oh, did I even explain why Rachel and I went out on Valentine's Day? 

She is taking an "intro to theatre" class at BYU-Idaho this semester and she has to attend two live performances—one before her midterm examinations and one before her final examinations. So I looked up what was playing at UGA and we saw that John Proctor is the Villain would be on in mid-February. That was perfect timing for her! 

The midterm date at BYU-I is February 21st this semester (when first block classes end and second block classes begin), however, so going next weekend would probably be cutting it too close to her due date. 

But there was a stake dance scheduled for today (the 15th) so Rachel didn't want to plan to got to the play today (even though she skipped the stake dance to go to her friend's birthday party), so we determined that Valentine's Day was the best day for us to go. And it worked out to be a good day to be on campus—I attended a conference, had my picture taken for a magazine article, did a bunch of reading and research, and went to this play with Rachel.

Oh! And because it was opening night they had cake afterwards. 

Rachel had cake. 

And I had nothing (because I had my Invisalign trays in and I hate taking them in and out...and because the cake was chocolate).

It was lovely to spend the evening out with Rachel! She is very good company...though we did get a little antsy early in the evening because although BYU's date for acceptance notification was listed on their website as February 17, many of Rachel's friends assured her she would be hearing from BYU around 7:00 on February 14. 

We checked before the play—no notification.

We checked after the play—no notification.

"I guess your friends were wrong and I was right," I mused.

"Oh, I believed the website," Rachel said. 

"And you!" she quickly added, though I'm not sure that was true. 

But then this morning Rachel came into our room and said, "So...I have an email from BYU..."

We had her follow the directions to check her status and...she's officially accepted to BYU!

She's very excited. 

And it turns out that I was also wrong about when BYU would be contacting future cougars. But I'm happy to be wrong every now and again. Congratulations to Rachel!!