Breakfast with Amber

September 2021: Danny Anderson's Half-Baked Journey to SPACE!

You remember FYPOT, right? If you don't, it's understandable. I kind of glossed over it my freshman year, and my sophomore year, I didn't even participate. I just watched, and it was also virtual. My junior year, I decided that I had spent enough time away from TUPS. I was going to participate, so when they revealed that they needed writers and directors for FYPOT 2021, I signed up.

I was partnered up with Henry Couch and Aiden Lauritzen. Aiden was a junior just like me, and Henry must have been a senior because he was already an upperclassman when I arrived on campus two years ago, so the youngest he could have possibly been was a sophomore. He was also one of the writer/directors for my group when I was in FYPOT, so he and I already knew each other. Actually, all three of us already knew each other. It wasn't like I hadn't seen Aiden at meetings before today.

We actually met for the first time in July over Zoom to brainstorm. I personally had no ideas, so when Henry suggested we write a play about Danny Anderson, the president at the time, using Murchison Tower, our school's bell tower, as a rocket to launch himself into space, I was like, "Hell yeah."

Being the avid writer I am, as soon as we were done with that meeting, I started on the opening scene. The play starts with three first-year students; Xander, Peri, and Ben; reuniting with each other after attending high school virtually for a year and a half. Peri shows the other two about an article about Jeff Bezos going into space, and with that they make their way to the tower for our school's annual tradition of making all the first-years hike up the tower for a handshake and a photo with the president (or, as Henry worded it, the "tower-shakey-hand thing"). Then they notice that someone has put rocket engines on the tower and come to the conclusion that someone is planning on taking the rocket to space! Dun dun DUN!

I then noticed a week later that Henry had decided to write an opening scene of his own of Danny Anderson talking with Megan Mustain, the vice president of academic affairs, about his plans to go 351,211 feet into SPACE! "One more foot than that scoundrel, Bezos!" It was actually really funny to see Danny Anderson as this really exaggerated, cartoonish villain and Megan Mustain as his loyal servant. We decided to keep both scenes in, with Henry's scene coming first so that the dramatic irony is already there when the kids arrive on campus and see the rocket.

I pretty much did the rest of the writing, with Henry and Aiden pretty much just giving me ideas. For example, a major plot point in the play is finding out that the rocket launch would create a blast big enough to destroy half of the buildings on campus. I was originally thinking that meant the buildings closest to the tower, but Henry came up with the idea of Mabee Dining Hall spontaneously combusting at the exact same time as the launch, and I decided to add it in. We also considered changing it so that the whole campus blew up, but we stuck with half so that Danny Anderson could say, "A small price to pay for salv...the adventure of a lifetime!"

We had our script finished at the beginning of the school year. I didn't know what else to call it, so I called it "Danny Anderson's Half-Baked Journey to SPACE!" Yes, there has to be emphasis on the "SPACE!" I mean, it gets the point of the play across, so why not use that title?

Auditions held on August 25, the first day of classes. The policy at FYPOT is that everyone who auditions is guaranteed a role, so it wasn't so much about thinning out the pool of candidates as it was choosing who was going to be in our play dodgeball-style. Each directing group was assigned a number, and we'd select the first round of actors going 1-2-3-4-5. Then we'd select our second round going 5-4-3-2-1. We were group number 3, so we were in the middle every time.

I had to scroll down to our GroupMe from two years ago to remember everyone's names. There were six characters in the play initially, but we only got four actors, so I took over as Space Alexa, and we double-cast Elliot Schein as Xander and Megan Mustain. The other actors were Allison Waters, Madi Baker, and Jay Burdine. I don't remember who Allison and Madi played, but I remember that Jay played Danny Anderson. I have to emphasize that Jay was this short, scrawny kid with glasses whose Danny Anderson voice sounded more like the Wicked Witch of the West than Danny Anderson, but you know what, I wouldn't have it any other way. If anything, it added to the cartoon goofiness of Danny Anderson's character.