by Christin Siems. 09/10 Dramaturgy Fellow
It’s a cloudy, November Saturday… You’ve already escaped an afternoon on your couch with your cats and re-runs of Hannah Montana.
Good for you.
You’ve now made it, out of breath
but full of hope, to L’Enfant Plaza metro where a sinister man hands you a spool of thread. “What kind of clue is this???” you wonder as you peer inside it… Ah! A note! What luck. It reads:
“Head to the thread between the needle and thimble, then go west to ride the ponies. The girl with the sapphire necklace has your ticket.”
Do you:
A. Sit around and think about it for hours
B. Give up and go cry to your cats
C. Head to the Carousel on the National Mall
If you said A or B, you’ve FAILED. Sorry. Other teams have passed you. Your cats ran away while you were gone.
If you said C… You’re in the lead! And you’ve just been handed a blue necklace with another clue that will eventually lead you to grand prizes from Arena Stage! Restaurant gift certificates and opening night tickets to see The Fantasticks!!!
It may sound like the stuff of fiction, but ya’ll, the Scavenger Hunt this past Saturday was epic. EPIC. While I wanted so badly to traipse around the city with everyone and collect the whimsical Fantasticks clues, I had to WORK. And by “work,” I mean dress-up as “the girl with the sapphire necklace” (Fantasticks character Luisa) and wait at the Carousel for teams to pass through. Not really “work” in my book… The real Luisa was making magic in rehearsal along with the rest of the cast, and so the administrative staff at Arena had to shed our administrative skin and get down and out… fun. We might have looked silly, but we had a great time.
I didn’t get much of a chance to talk to the participants because they came blazing through, grabbed their clue, and tore off like tornadoes. But I did enjoy dishing out hope. “You’re not far behind!” I told everyone, including the two people on scooters who came at the end. “Yeah RIGHT” retorted two other participants who said they had looked for me for hours.
Some people are really intense about their scavenger hunts.
But hey, I would be too. The prizes were great, the weather was only a little bit freezing (I’m a native Texan, so I almost died in my requisite sundress… “all for the art”), and many fliers about Striking 12 and the rest of the fabulous Arena season went out to people all over the city. You could smell the adventure in the air. And, mmm, the Carousel’s hotdogs.
Sorry you missed it? It’s okay. Come see The Fantasticks, take your kids or take a date, opening the day after Thanksgiving. The choice is yours…
Do you:
A: Stay at home and cry about your missing cats
B: Dig a hole and hibernate till May
C: See The Fantasticks at Arena Stage
Only one of these leads to… adventure….