Menlo Drama at the Fringe Festival!

We are home safe and sound! Thank you for following our adventures!

Today was our final day in Edinburgh. I can’t believe the trip is already over! We started with a group breakfast before heading over to the AHSTF wrap-up ceremony. There, we watched a highlight reel/slideshow of the program and had an awards ceremony for all of the high schools. Every school got a cute award personalized to the theme of their show, and Menlo won the “Flip-a-phrase and Flick-a-Fan” award for the Learned Ladies. Super on brand.  After the ceremony, we went to the Edinburgh Dungeon, which was basically a simulated dungeon with actors portraying the city’s most infamous historical characters, like serial killers from the 1600s. It was pretty cheesy but filled with jump scares so we had a ton of fun. We then stopped at 2 gelato places before our final dinner, and yes, I got 2 scoops at both places. For dinner, we went to this Italian place and I got fried Mac and cheese balls and penne pomodoro. It was actually really good. We ate chocolate cake and then walked to St A...

To start off the day we woke up early at around 8:30 am to get ready for our bus tour around Scotland. We all had to be at the bus by nine where we boarded our bus to start our journey. We drove for around an hour before we got to our first stop at Stirling Castle. The castle was very beautiful! Isla and I dropped by the café and enjoyed a delectable breakfast. After that, we went and explored the beautiful garden full of all the different kinds of flowers that the property had to offer. At the edge of the wall, you could see a beautiful view of the city.  Next, we reboarded the bus and began our drive to our second stop, which was Loch Lomond. We enjoyed a delicious lunch and sat on the grassy hills overlooking the water.  After we finished eating the pre-packaged lunch we were provided, we took a walk down to the lake just to see the water. It was fun to see all the kids and families swimming and spending time in the water.  As we drove to our final destination we all t...

On this beautiful day, we slept in until 9:20 am. In the morning we separated into two groups, one half relaxed at the dorms while the other half went on a beautiful hike up to the highest point in Edinburgh - Arthur‘s Seat. I (Zach) and Beti enjoyed our hike so much that we might even wake up at 5am tomorrow to go see the sunrise from the peak! Afterward, everyone gathered for a meal in the dining hall before going to watch a show about all the Brothers Grimm stories. Immediately following the show, we traveled to the Royal Mile and then into Edinburgh Castle which, like Arthur’s Seat, had amazing 360-degree views of the city, bay, and countryside. But that’s not all (it was a very busy day if you can’t tell!) We then rushed back to the theatre to watch another show. This time a very meaningful and beautifully written, sung, and acted show called ‘The Beautiful Ugly’. It was so moving and it is definitely a show I would strongly recommend to others and worth watching for its thought p...

Today we had the luxury of sleeping in but in order to start the day right I got up a little early to take a quick shower and get ready before breakfast. Once everyone got up we headed out to the dining hall for breakfast and then got ready to join one of the fellows performing casts to support their show, Flowers of Algernon.  It was well done, and personally, I enjoyed it! Then we walked a while to the Lyceum Theatre where we were scheduled to partake in a comedy workshop. Before we went in we had some time to get lunch around the area. I was initially skeptical, but I ended up having an enjoyable time, and I thought many of the improv exercises were really funny.  After that, we had to walk a bit to find a bus station and once we finally got back to Pollock Halls, we had barely an hour to get ready for our final performance! We all got ready and met up at our usual spot in front of the dining hall, and then walked over to the bus and headed to the venue. We had a pretty smo...

 Today was a jam-packed day!  After breakfast as a group, we had the opportunity to attend a college workshop hosted by AHSTF. Along with the other high school groups, we talked to representatives from various colleges, got to listen to panels, and got free pizza! After the workshop, the group walked to The Underbelly, a festival area where we could choose from a bunch of food trucks for lunch. I had a delicious Cubano sandwich!! After that, we headed over to a circus performance, put on by a group from Ethiopia called Circus Abyssinia: Tulu. There were stunning acts that had us all on the edge of our seats, like contortionism, flips and stunts, fire juggling, and more. It was also all set to Ethiopian music and interspersed with cultural dance, which made it extra amazing.  After that, we fast-walked back to Pollock halls to change for our taster performance. We taxied over to St. Andrew Square, where we performed a scene from the show for a park full of people and hande...

Today was overall a great day. To start the day off, we had a very good breakfast. The same one as we’ve had every day, bacon, eggs - the classic breakfast items.  Afterward, we went to see another AHSTF show called Motor Court 103 from a school in Kansas City. It was written by students of the school which is really cool. The ending line of the play had everyone talking about it for hours after the show was over. After the show I went to sleep because I was exhausted and slept until our rehearsal at 4:30. We rehearsed for around 15 minutes and then suddenly it was time for our second performance!  In my opinion, it was the best show yet and everyone did great! Isla and Maya crushed it at the beginning and the Trissotin scene was absolutely amazing. The audience was great and were laughing and clapping the whole time! When the performance was over, some of us went out to get ice cream which was a lot of fun. I’d never gone out that late in Edinburgh and it was beautiful. Amory...

Today was the big day, the day we’d been waiting for for over a month. Perhaps the single most important 55 minutes this entire trip - opening night/morning. Did we crush it? I would say we did. Everyone had been saving up a ton of energy to bring to the show today, which certainly paid off.  The entire cast did a fantastic job! The show was not flawless, but it was pretty close.  Today was an outstanding achievement for everyone involved with the trip. After the show, the cast went back to Pollock Halls for free time, before rehearsing again to tighten up certain aspects of the show.  Finally, we attended a traditional Scottish dance and learned a couple country waltzes, which were surprisingly difficult (at least for me). It was a good and unique experience at the end of a jam-packed day.  Great work everybody! - Sam

Our day started out by meeting for breakfast at 7:15 am. I love the hashbrowns here, but there are many different options. The rest of our morning consisted of a quick rehearsal to warm up our bodies, remember our lines, and to go over a few quick notes. Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough time to review the entire show front to back, but it was still enough to let us feel comfortable about our performance tomorrow. After rehearsal, we took a bus to the Royal Mile to go to a museum and grab lunch, after which we had a bit of time to wander. The museum was great, mainly focusing on Scottish history, and there were many life-size exhibits including trains and even buildings. After the museum, we had a few hours to explore and eat lunch. A group of us discovered a good pizza place with awesome garlic bread. After lunch, we got back on the bus to our dorms and prepared for an afternoon of busking and promoting our show. To crest the biggest spectacle possible for the Fringe Festival crowd...

Day 4: Tech Day and more! Today was GREAT! We woke up bright and early and met for breakfast at 7 AM. I ate 3 fried eggs, toast, yogurt, and granola, and made myself a large latte. After breakfast, we went back into our rooms and put on our costumes for Tech. I was nearly knocked out by the noxious fumes that my costume produced when I opened the bag. It was a lovely way to start my morning. After we were all dressed, we walked through campus to get to the bus. On the way, we received loads of stares and compliments on our costumes which was quite the confidence booster. We then drove to Tech, and we met the tech crew who is helping us with our show. Personally, I found tech a little stressful, but that was expected. We lit our show, went through AHSTF protocols, and practiced with the new theater space.  After we finished tech which was only around 2 hours, we went back to campus to rest a little and eat lunch. For lunch, I had honeycomb cake, brownies, deep-fried mashed potatoes,...

Day 2: London Day 2  We started the day with a full buffet-style English breakfast, with everything from black pudding to hash browns. After breakfast, we got ready and took the tube to take a tour of the National Theatre. We explored 3 different theaters with their own distinct styles and got a backstage tour of the costume facilities, prop-making workshops, and set studio. It was interesting to learn about and see a theatre that is fully funded and supported by the government. After the tour, we grabbed lunch by the river and continued our journey to the Tate Modern Museum. We then took the tube back to the hotel to relax for a bit and get ready for our evening plans. After our relaxation time, we took the tube again to Covent Gardens to grab some dinner and shop around the area. Next, we walked back to the National Theater and saw Shakespeare's “Much Ado About Nothing” set on the Amalfi Coast. Then we exhausted selves went to bed! - Peter Day 3: Welcome to Edinburgh! Today start...

It is about 11:30 pm London time and we just returned to the hotel after a long day of sightseeing. We have an early day tomorrow as we head to Edinburgh at 6:00 am!  We will have 2 cast members write a longer blog post tomorrow with what we've been up to. But for now, everyone is safe, healthy, and happy!  Send us all the positive energy for our 10-hour bus ride.... :) More to come! Angela