Expectation in the Shade

Last night, my quirky best friend and I made the inconceivably hot ride down to Orem to check out the Hale Center Theater's production of 110 in the Shade. I know a person in the play and they were able to get me tickets. It's the story of a small town in Depression-era south that is experiencing drought seen through the eyes of the Curry family. When a "rain-man" comes to town promising to bring rain in 24-hours in exchange for $100, he ends up bringing a lot more than rain to some people.

Oh, and it's also about a woman, Lizzie, who's apparently getting up there in age, sees herself as plain, and is told that she's going to end up being a schoolmarm. Her interest in the "widowed" town Sheriff, File, is quite lovely, and her attraction to the rainmaker Starbuck awfully believable and swoon-inducing. I related to Lizzie, File, Starbuck, and her loving but interfering father and brothers.

It was also a night of expectations. There's this scene in 500 Days of Summer where the main guy goes to this party with all these expectations of what's going to happen when he gets there. The movie employs a split screen to show how his expectations are very different from what actually happens. While mine was in no way as drastic as Tom's in the movie, it certainly wasn't all that I expected. Not bad, actually good, but maybe sorta awkward. But I'm just an awkward person.