There are so many things I miss from a year ago. I’ve talked about missing my old life several times. Part of missing things is having something fun in my schedule and being busy, but the other part is that some of these things have become a bit of a routine for me. And I feel lost without the routine in my life. I know we are getting closer and closer to gaining those things back again, but there will still be time before things are fully up and running again (and that I feel safe to do them).
One of the routines I miss so much from before is going to see musicals. The last musical I saw in a theater was only about a week or two before everything shut down. And I remember thinking then about how close together everyone was sitting, but not being too worried about it. Now, I can’t imagine doing that until things are safer and I almost can’t believe that we were doing that right before everything shut down. I still have musicals to see from that last season, plus we already bought tickets for the next. But I don’t think they will be restarting for a little while. So finding ways to fill the live theater void in my life has been something I’ve been working on since the pandemic started.
I have done some virtual theater nights at home. These have been mainly watching recorded theater at home. Sometimes it’s just me watching alone and sometimes a friend is watching at the same time and we are texting back and forth as we watch. Even though I don’t talk when I’m seeing live theater, texting back and forth while watching makes it a less solitary activity and feels like I’m a part of something bigger. It’s not exactly like watching theater with a crowd, but it’s better than watching alone.
And I knew of some Zoom theater shows that had happened, but I hadn’t really looked too much into them. But I remembered hearing about a Zoom show called “Inside The Box” last year. This wasn’t a musical, but a word puzzle and game type show. My dad and I are both word and puzzle nerds who like things like crossword puzzles and Scrabble. So I told him about the show last year. But it was sold out and I didn’t think we’d get a chance to watch it. Then I heard the show was extending the run, and we decided to get tickets. Since it was over Zoom, my parents got one ticket for them (the tickets were per household, not per person) and I got one for myself. And I was super excited to have a fun and nerdy night of puzzles!
I didn’t really want to watch alone, plus I knew I might need help with some of the puzzles. So I invited my friend Dani over to watch with me. Since we are both being super cautious, I knew I could trust having her over at my house. We did still try to keep things on the safer side (not sitting too close together and keeping my door open so there is airflow), but it was a risk that we both accepted and we understood the trust we had in each other.
The week of the show, we were emailed a puzzle packet. There was one puzzle to solve before the show started and a few things to prep before the show. We also had to have one game piece to use and something red. Both Dani and I had options because we weren’t sure what we were going to use them for and we wanted to be prepared.
First, the one negative thing that happened that night. Unfortunately, my parents were having some technical issues and they ended up not being able to be a part of the show. That did upset me because part of what I was so excited about was to do this with my dad. But I guess it wasn’t meant to be. But I am grateful to the staff at the Geffen who tried really hard to fix the issue so they could join in and then refunded my parents when they were unable to participate.
But besides my parents not being able to be in the show, I have to say that it was such a great night! The host/star of the show, David Kwong, constructs crossword puzzles as well as is a magician. And while there wasn’t necessarily magic tricks in the show, it did have that feeling. Both Dani and I said it felt like a show at The Magic Castle. And it was really fun to learn the different bits of history behind different types of word puzzles. I know sometimes a show can feel slow when it’s going into the backstory or history, but this did not. It was really entertaining the entire time!
And I’m so glad Dani was watching with me. We worked together the entire time to solve the different puzzles. There were some games that we were doing a great job at figuring it out and a few that weren’t that easy for us. But we were having so much fun the entire time. And when you solved a puzzle, you waved your hands so the host could pick someone to call on to answer. We were called on a few times to answer, and fortunately we were right each time.
The show was about 90 minutes long and ended with one last puzzle that Dani and I were just stumped on. I think we were both overthinking the solution, but as soon as someone else said the first answer we immediately got the rest of it. So even though we didn’t really solve the last puzzle, we still ended on a good note.
And after the show was done, we got some Chipotle delivered to my house. It was kind of the opposite of what we do when we see musicals because we normally have dinner first. But I’m glad we got dinner because it really did make the night feel almost normal for what we do. And it’s so good to see someone face to face these days. I wish I had more friends that I could do that with, but I think everyone understands why I’m being so careful and nobody is upset that I have such strict rules about things. But I am looking forward to when that won’t be something to worry about again.
I would love to find more virtual Zoom shows to get to watch. This is a part of what I want to do with my monthly challenge this month. Watching this show was one of the best nights I’ve had in the past year. And I know that I was so much happier the next few days because of it. I just have to put the effort into finding more shows and events, and that’s something I’m working on doing. And hopefully whatever I find will be just as fun as it was to be a part of “Inside The Box”!
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