Committing to the Bit

On September 7th, 2019, AfterWork Theater kicked off their Fall 2019 season with Launch Day for High School Musical. For those who've never been, Launch Day is essentially first day of camp mixed with auditions; returners run to hug all of their friends, newbies stand awkwardly in the corner, and everyone is buzzing with nervous excitement. Tori had started AWT in Fall 2017, and so had been around for a bit. Adam was new, in his first show ever, deciding to give musical theater a try. Tori remembers the first moment she ever noticed him. Adam was up for his singing audition, and told everyone "I'm not that great at singing" before launching into his cut. Tori turned to the person next to her (Emma Lord), and said "Umm, he CAN sing." As luck would have it, the two of them got placed in the same cast in the same clique (#Brainiacs). Adam quickly was given the nickname "Hot Adam," which is high praise in the theater world. At one rehearsal in early October, Tori (hangry) was loudly looking for her headphones and couldn't find them anywhere. Already late to her next event, she rushed out of rehearsal and wrote them off as a lost cause. But during their next rehearsal, on October 13th, Adam came up to her and handed her a brand new pair, saying it was one of his extras. Tori was shocked, and thanked him profusely. That night, Tori messaged him: "Hey!! Thank you again for the headphones! That was seriously so nice of you." Adam messaged back: "Of course! Happy to help out a fellow brainiac. You know what though. You could make it up to me by letting me take you out for a cup of coffee." The rest was written through covid and cats, musicals and softball, friends and family old and new.