BWW Blog: Amanda Bohlmann - Ohana Means Family

When I first joined my theater group at school, I had no idea I was going to find a second family. Every single person in my theater group has such a special bond. No one is ever left out. From day one, everyone just clicked. When I walked in as a freshman, I had no idea who was going to even talk to me. Everyone right away came up to me and introduced themselves to me and we were instantly talking like we've known each other for years.

I'm never one to really want to leave my dorm and do things, especially late at night. My theater group always makes sure to come and knock on my dorm door to get me to come out. I have had cast members come into my dorm, physically pick me up and try to carry me out the door

Our "thing" in our theater group is going to Applebee's for half apps as many times as we possibly can during the semester. The poor staff probably dreads when they see the group of somewhere around 15-20 of us walking through the doors at 10:00pm. We take over the entire back room and it's like a huge Italian family dinner. It's loud (very, very loud), and we're all laughing having a great time. There are so many hilarious inside jokes that we have from all of the crazy things that happen during our hang outs.

Even when we are at school, we are always together. After rehearsals, we never want to leave the theater. We've sat in the theater hanging out, playing video games and just fooling around. One day when the school was closed because of the snow, a bunch of us gathered into the theater and had a cereal party. We do the weirdest things but end up having the most fun memories.

Although we joke around a lot, on a more serious note of the family perspective, when things get serious, we are still always there for each other. One time our student director for one of our shows was not having a very great day. Every single person in the cast and crew lined up to give our director a hug. It was remarkable. It was a really great moment to see happen because even though we're always joking, when it comes to serious things, we are there like families still should be.

I've really needed this group of people more than ever this past semester. Every time I would walk into that theater, all my cares would instantly go away. I would be smiling and laughing for three hours straight and that was something I really needed.

At the end of every last show, we all sob our eyes out because we realize we are not going to be spending all this time with each other. Especially after the musicals when the seniors leave us. This past year was the biggest cry fest. Almost every person in the cast was sobbing on our last show as we said goodbye. It's truly hard saying goodbye to such an amazing group of people

I have been in a few different combinations of theater groups but there is something just so magical about this connection of my current theater group. I could not have asked for a better group of people to have met. Just from joining this show freshman year because I wanted to try getting back into musicals, I met some of the most incredible people that I will hold close to my heart for many years to come.