Inside the Interns Studio: Hot Days and Jello (Just Don't Mix)

Dallas here with another update from the intern world! We just completed performance number eleven of Romeo and Juliet and the show just keeps getting better! This past week has been pretty exhausting—two Student Discovery Matinees, one Meet the Artists matinee, one Shindig, two Tasting Nights, a smattering of backstage tours, not to mention Opening Night. It's a testament to the work ethic of this amazing cast and crew that we have even survived, but that's not to say there haven't been plenty of fun times. There have been countless Vespa rides around the Bruns, made-up lyrics to "Shut Up and Drive," mind-numbing games of Sets in the green room, and fight calls. Fight calls are slowed down versions of the fight scenes in the show that take place 45 minutes prior to curtain. With a slower pace comes room for improv and comedy, with versions of the Tybalt/Mercutio fight including Southern, Lisp, and Bored, with Julian (who plays the Prince) sitting in the audience, simultaneously reciting lines and reading The New York Times. It all leads to the seamless and realistic fight the audience then sees, ending, of course, in plenty of fake blood. I have included a photo of Craig Marker (Tybalt) taken especially for this blog just after said fight, and you can thank him for enduring the blood for this special photo shoot. Blood cleanup is messy at best, but things get especially difficult during matinees. After only ten minutes or so on the deck (the stage), which can become hot enough to burn bare skin, the Jello/Kool Aid mixture literally bakes in and becomes a black, sticky mess that resembles tar and is just as tricky to get up. It just goes to show that sometimes hot days and Jello just don't mix.