Tonight, my peers and I performed the pieces we’ve been working on for the past three weeks.  It’s a strange idea—we came to Ireland with no idea what we would create, some of us even with misconceptions about the genres we’d work within, and in three short weeks we produced plays, short stories, and poems that were polished enough to be performed on stage.  Tonight, a big part of our journey ended in a showering of applause.

Though it may feel like the hardest work is done, our time here is not finished.  We still have three more days of marvelous events at the John Hewitt Summer School. Though today I failed to attend as many programs as I would have liked on account of preparation for our showcase, I very much enjoyed the morning’s poetry reading.  Bernard O’Donoghue gave a good performance, but I was more captivated by Hannah Lowe’s poems and the unique perspectives she offered as the product of Afro-Jamaican, Chinese, and English culture.  Her work was both charming and telling of what it was like to grow up in a culturally and racially unique environment.

In truth, I think the highlight of the day for me (other than the finale of our performance, which yet again ended with me writhing on the ground) was the reception which followed our showcase.  It was wonderful to talk with our audience and receive feedback, and yes, praise for our hard work.  Irish Blogger June Caldwell, who is very quickly becoming my rock at the Hewitt, granted me several compliments on my performance, which I received in my awkward, heart-felt way.  It would seem I successfully convinced everyone that I am an actress, despite having virtually no clue what I was doing on stage.

After all the stress and the wine and the repeated conversations with kindhearted audience members, tomorrow will come as a bit of a relief.  Of course, as one patron told me after our show tonight, the festival is structured so that it builds as it progresses, so I can only assume tomorrow will be even more interesting than today.