Some of the strongest families aren’t related but are built backstage. In my sophomore year, I got to be in a play titled Noises Off!, a British farce about a group of actors putting on a show (ironic, isn’t it!). I played a ditsy, hysterical actor named Brooke, who was playing a character named Vicki. The cast of Noises Off! consisted of my boyfriend at the time, a first love, if you will, and some of my closest friends. Some I had known for years, and some I had only met that year and were instantly close with because our cast consisted of only nine roles. We spent a month preparing our show, and although we all loved it, it was very difficult. My director described the show as "organized chaos," and if we slipped on a line or any blocking, it could throw off the entire performance. But we worked together, running blocking in our free time and holding group phone calls to help one another memorize lines. We only performed the show for one weekend, but for one performance, we asked the Colorado State Thespian Society educators to score and critique our show to be considered for the mainstage. My director was confident we would be picked, so he kept us close to our show with rehearsals "just in case." I will never forget the phone call. At the end of rehearsal one day, our director sat us down seriously, as if we were going to be lectured, but surprised us by asking, "How would you kids like to perform on the Colorado Thespian Convention's Mainstage?" We all screamed, and a few of the crew and cast members began to cry - happy tears, of course. The next two months were some of the most determined of my life. Our cast became one another's priority. We were together all the time, whether running our show, making sure every line was exact, or helping the crew with our set. We even made a Minecraft server with our set so we could run blocking through Minecraft characters! They became my best friends - at times I saw them more than my own family! There were many stressful moments. One day, everyone collectively panicked over our time left and the pressure of performing for 8,000 students. We had to pause rehearsal to slow down for a moment and remember why we were all there and what our end goal was. It was essentially a group therapy session. But we comforted each other, and on December 9th, 2023, we performed Noises Off! for thousands of theater kids just like us! Without my castmates and crew, I never could have imagined performing for all those people. I keep in touch with all nine of them. The night before opening, I wrote paragraphs to each of them explaining my favorite parts of their talents and how thankful I was to work with them. I truly love every person involved in that production, and that experience will forever be one of the most meaningful and rewarding in my life. I look back on all the memories with joy, and I wish I could do it all over again. But more importantly, I learned that although theater can be stressful and difficult, it builds a family - a group of people you can learn from, share rewards with, and love even platonically.