Put the work aside for the night, you deserve it!

Let me set the scene: it’s Monday, and you wake up to an invite to a Broadway play in the middle of the week. You’re a little stressed about the paper you’ve been procrastinating for two weeks, but maybe having a commitment will force you to finish it, right? And besides, you really want to go…

Well, this was me last week, faced with the choice between a fun New York activity or another endless night in Butler. The choice was obvious, so fast forward 48 hours and I’m en route to Times Square. The play Maybe Happy Ending, starring Darren Chris (yes, from Glee) and Helen J. Shen, follows the unlikely love story of two robots (known as Helperbots) nearing the end of their finite shelf life. Although I might not have chosen this one myself, I was in tears by the end, captivated by the story and reminded of the beauty of live theater. That inner theater kid truly never dies. 

Before making the journey back to campus, my friends and I hung out outside the Belasco Theatre hoping to have our Playbills signed by some of the cast. After waiting a while and feeling discouraged, we saw Matthew Morrison leaving the theater. After sharing a few hellos and waves, he made his way down the street, leaving me speechless with my jaw dropped to the streets of Times Square. 

If that wasn’t enough, the rest of the cast came out, signing playbills and taking photos with adoring fans. 

At this point, satisfied having seen Matthew Morrison and starting to get cold, I almost tapped out, thinking of my almost too-warm dorm room. Instead, I reasoned that at this point, that paper is not getting done, so I might as well collect Glee cast sightings like infinity stones (Lea Michele, I’m coming for you next). 

Once he finally came out, Darren Chris made time to greet and give autographs to every fan who waited for him. When he found out my friends and I were Columbia students, he thanked us for coming all the way downtown and told us to invite all our friends to see the show. I’m not just writing this article because he said to recommend it, but seriously, go see it if you can.

Just as we were about to leave, my expectations of this interaction completely exceeded, he doubled back to wish us good luck at school. Little did he know, luck was my last hope of finishing that paper on time. These are the real connections this Columbia degree is bringing me. Fuck an internship (I’m kidding please someone hire me), I want to meet more B(C? D?)-List celebrities on the streets of New York. 

And for all of those concerned: the paper was turned in approximately 20 minutes before the deadline (hold the applause). So, the moral of the story: go to that event downtown, because even if it feels like a really bad decision in the moment, everything always somehow gets done, and you’ll probably get a fun bwog-worthy story out of it. 

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