BWW Blog: Miranda Jackel - My Summer at 'Heaven on Earth for Theater Geeks'

As we head into the new school year (*rolls eyes*), all of us are still reminiscing about those summer nights (yes, that was a purposeful Grease reference...obvi). Some teenagers chose to spend their summer relaxing on the beach, working on their tan...I am not one of them!! I spent my summer at the legendary theater camp, Stagedoor Manor, where I performed in two full-fledged productions over the course of 6 weeks. This was my 3rd year at Stagedoor, AKA, "Heaven on Earth for Theater Geeks", and it just gets better and better each year.

First day of camp. My roommate, Lily, and I are belting showtunes in the car at the top of our lungs, barely able to contain our excitement (shoutout to my parents for tolerating that on a 3 hour car ride at the crack of dawn). Finally, we see it-Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts Training Center-and begin to squeal (probably not the wisest decision before a singing audition, but...). To be honest, the first 2 days of camp are pretty boring-orientations, auditions, all that jazz, so I'll skip ahead. Things really start cooking on day 3, when rehearsals begin. I wake up on Wednesday morning, "excited and scared" (in the words of Sondheim) for what's to come. My roommates and I head down to breakfast, where everybody is having #allthefeels. After some proper stress-eating, we head to the Cabaret Lobby for "reveal", in which we find out THE SHOWS!!! The event kicks off with the announcement of the Dramafest winners. Dramafest is an amazing program in which students submit 10-minute plays, to be produced at camp, and published by Samuel French. My palms are clammy and my heart is pounding, because I'm dying to be one of the 5 lucky winners. Everything inside me says I don't have a shot, but then...I hear my name, and a surge of joy shoots through me! About an hour later, we hear the magic words: "Now, go check out the cast lists!" What follows can only be described as complete madness-pushing, screaming, crying, shoving, hugging-it all happens over the course of 5 minutes as the casting is revealed. I have been cast in a mystery-comedy entitled Women in White (nothing to do with the ALW musical-the names are just similar). I run to the Merman Theater, where I'll be performing, to find 10 other girls gathered around the stage. Little did I know, over the course of these next 3 weeks, those girls would become my family. After rehearsal and lunch, we head to classes. In addition to four hours of rehearsal, we also take three hours of classes each day, which range from Directing the Musical to Suzuki, and beyond. Over the course of the next 10 days, we work tirelessly to get our show on its feet, and delight in every second of it. The weeks fly by-and just like that, it's performance weekend! All 754 members of my fan club came to support me (not really; it was, like, six people, and they were all related to me). After an amazing weekend of doing what I love, suddenly, it's the last night of the session. We're all sitting around our room, eating Oreos and trying to stay awake for awards night (actually, that last part was was just me...I'M NOT A NIGHT OWL OK STOP JUDGING ME) Finally, we head to The Playhouse Theater, where the ceremony is being held. At 4:30 am, my roommates and I finally head to bed, only to be awoken to parents packing up their kids (not literally...), preparing to head home. I say a tearful goodbye to all my wonderful friends as they go on their way. I'm disappointed that the session is over, but grateful because I'm one of the select few "stayovers", which means I have three more weeks to savor the Stagedoor magic.

I'm home now, and so grateful for all the wonderful experiences I had with my crazy clan of theater geeks. I can't wait 'till next summer when I'm back in my happy place...

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