Road To 8 Years Legacy : Our Play

It all started when Pn. Monica announced the theme for the class drama competition. ‘Hey, let’s make this year the 8^th win streak for Angsana!’ Everyone was hyped about it and that gave us strength.

Chiam volunteered to be the director. He said he’ll be the next James Wan and everyone thought he was just kidding. He was a great meeting conductor back then. Ideas flooded in non-stop. Everyone had a chance to voice their opinions regarding the story-line. I couldn’t believe we’re the first class to work on the drama while the other classes had no clue what’s going on.

It’s a matter of pride. It’s Angsana. It’s our play.

Everything was fine until Chiam suddenly pulled out when we have meeting among the board of directors. He said he can’t handle the position of being a director (I forgot, was it stress?). He preferred being an actor. So Jie Hong took over. Scriptwriter Chase bears the burden of typing 20 pages of script alone (of course with our help).

And me? I’ll just stay in my comfort zone of being the head of the props. 

The class actively participated in picking their roles. We didn’t expect so many people to sign up for being an actor. Jie Hong and Chase worked hard distributing the roles according to their skills they demonstrated during our first sketch in 2018. Practices for the drama were held on every free period (not to mention Pn Low always steal English periods to teach Chem). Jie Hong has high expectations on the actors and that’s why everyone was doing the same scene again and again until he nods his head as an approval. Throughout the practices, there were times when everyone was pissed and we had laughter.

“Guys, I have something to announce. As you all know, the drama competition is around the corner and our progression is very very slow. May I know how many of you are staying back today? (Only 4 to 5 people raised their hands including me, Chase scoffed) See? That shows how much all of you care about our drama. If you guys can’t do it just tell me. There is no point staying back when you guys didn’t even have the heart to contribute for the practices. The solution is simple, either we cut down the actors or we give up.  Why waste time on this? I’m fine with any of your answers but if you want to make this drama happen, please think about it.” – Chase on Thursday during his birthday. Surprisingly, all the actors stayed back for practice on Saturday after road run. That might probably be the first time everyone saw Chase being super pissed.

I agree on him though.

Fun times? There are too many. There were a lot of motivation speeches by Jie Hong and Chase when everyone started to feel down. Gag reels were the most, thanks to Chiam and Yong Jin. I had a fun time laughing until my stomach hurts. But I’m not going to list out; it’ll probably become a 1000 words blog/essay.

Making Props And Drama Practice After Road Run

Still busy with the props... :v

Ready for the competition?

Then, came the day for the competition. Jie Hong was super nervous. Chase gave his last motivation speech to everyone. Seeing the other classes pulling out great acts, Jie Hong’s determination of getting the first place started to crumble. One minute before we were called to present our sketch, he said he wanted us to do our best so we wouldn’t leave any regrets behind.

So we did.

The flow, the transition to the acting skills, everything was flawless. I agree we did the best on the competition compared to the practices we had.

“We NAILED it!” was the first thing Jie Hong shouted when we came down. Everyone was super happy. Everyone was giving each other fist bumps and hugs. It was a history.

However, when Balau did theirs, we all knew it’s time to kiss 1^st place goodbye. Is the streak going to end here? Nobody knows. We acknowledge their acting skills because theirs was better than us. Somehow, everyone became scared.

When the time to announce the results came, we held hands and formed a circle with Jie Hong sitting in the middle (some summoning ritual??). Everyone was nervous. Everyone’s palms were sweating.

“Runner Up….5 Angsana!”

Everyone was stunned. Me either. I bet the all of us were thinking the same thing.

Why? How? Compared to the other classes, we put the most effort in it. We did the most practices. We started things earlier. We even got scolded. So…why?

I felt like I was lost for like 20 minutes. Same goes for everyone, especially Jie Hong (I mean he’s the director, how could he not?). I bet it’s very obvious because everyone was drifting away when Pn Monica was talking. But 20 minutes was enough. We accepted our defeat in those 20 minutes. The results might be important but the most important thing is we have fun. We did have fun. So, we celebrated for being 2^nd. We sang Gemilang in front of the hall and took class photos. It was awesome to see the same class getting hyped for no reason, not even the first place winner were as high as we did.

Chase and Jie Hong did a closing ceremony after that.

“From the beginning, it was just simple. We’ve been through lots of practices and we’re here. Today, 28^th of February, we made it. Seriously you guys did the best. I’ve never seen anything like this before compared to the other practices. I’m damn proud of y’all.” – Chase

“Seriously, we won everything. We won in teamwork, we won in friendship but we’re only one step behind 1^stplace. Honestly if we win or not, it doesn’t matter. You guys are number one in my heart. As long as we’re one, that’s enough.” – Jie Hong

🐯 Rawr 🐯