"Ordinary Days" Can Change Your Life Forever
In honor of Stageworks’s new show Ordinary Days, they have asked me to share a story of an ordinary day in my life that ended up changing my life forever. Thank you Stageworks for inviting me to your show! Be sure to go see Ordinary Days from October 31st - November 17th!
Link for tickets will be at the end of the blog! And visit my Instagram @HannahbellHockman to see how you can win two tickets to see Ordinary Days on November 8th at 8:00!
My ordinary day started last March, when I was finishing rehearsals for If/Then at Not Your Normal Entertainment. I was packing up my rehearsal bag when fellow cast member Gabe Flores asked me to audition for his show Call it in the Air. I really wanted to take a break doing shows and focus on my studies but something was telling me I need to audition. Little did I know that this choice would send me on a year long journey of two theatre festivals, my 54 Below debut and start friendships that would last a lifetime.
The first rehearsals were very intimidating, not because the environment itself was intimidating but because I was anxious about being a leading lady and working directly with the writer, both new experiences for me. At the time, we were all under the impression that this show and this cast would only be together for one month. I thought its just one month of my life and when I get out the other side I will be a stronger performer. So once I got past the initial fear of “oh my goodness I’m in a lot of scenes and sing by myself so much oh my goodness oh my goodness” everything was fine! I am so grateful that the cast was incredibly supportive and we all quickly formed a little family. Then when there was a position in the cast that needed to be filled, my best friend Brittany Clark joined us! This made things a lot easier as every time I hit a difficult note or did a difficult scene she was there jumping in the corner and cheering me on.
At our first show at the Tampa Bay Fringe Festival and I was terrified. I’m forever grateful to my onstage and real life “mom friend” Bethany Moore for keeping me calm throughout the shows. After the first couple shows, the nerves started to slip away. I was so much more confident on stage and I got to enjoy being a leading lady. When the festival ended, we immediately started working on improving the show for the Tampa Bay Theatre Festival. We did what we thought was our last performance together and, at the time, it felt like a happy ending. Then a month later I got a call.
The cast answering questions about being in an original musical at a talk back after our performance at the Tampa Bay Theatre Festival. (Left to right; Bethany Moore, Devan Kelty, Brittany Clark, Erin Johnson, Zach Finley, Rachel Rodriguez, Hannah Hockman)
Gabe Flores (on the piano) and myself rocking out to Here We Are, Here We End, my character’s song that gave her freedom from her past life.
“The music paints our drewry soudtracks...”
Just when I thought I had finished my run with Call It in the Air and I was returning to classes at Eckerd, I received a Facetime call from Gabe Flores telling me to “Start working on those high Cs again because we’re going to 54 Below!” I honestly thought he was joking! When he assured me multiple times that he wasn’t joking and this is actually happening I was ecstatic and terrified. I never thought I would get the chance to perform at 54, much less while I was still in college. I called my voice teacher and got to work.
Rehearsals were at my house several times a week. Since I live on the beach it made it fun for everyone to take a trip to the beach whenever we were on break. Singing in my living room with my best friends was a great distraction from the anxiety building up when we got closer to the performance. On our final rehearsal Gabe said “See y’all in New York.” and it suddenly got very real and kinda terrifying. We were going to be singing at 54 Below.
On March 21st 2019, it was time to make 14 year old Hannah’s dreams come true. My best friend and fellow cast member Brittany Clark woke me up early that morning for sound check. We ran to our Uber in the snowy NYC weather, with our bedazzled Starbucks cups and false eyelashes in hand, and met the rest of the cast and crew at 54 Below. Walking into 54 Below for the first time was overwhelming to say the least. After shedding a few tears when I stepped on the stage for the first time, it was time to get to work. We started singing through the show and we were all so excited to sing the show we love in such an iconic place. We spent the whole day in rehearsal and finally it was showtime. When we all got onstage it was no surprise my mom sat right in the center with her phone out taking hundreds of pictures, just like she had for all the performances we’d done the past year. Everyone shared a giggle and it felt like we were all at home.
Checking this off my bucket list already was very special but getting to do it with my best friends made it so much better. I had watched videos from 54 Below since I was 14, always dreaming of having one of those cool videos of me singing an original musical with my name in the box in the corner. I am so grateful for that “ordinary day” when Gabe asked me to audition. I’ve changed so much throughout the show. I’m so proud of the work my friends and I put into the show and everything we accomplished over the year of doing the show.