I awoke with a sudden jolt of electricity through my body and felt numbness from my neck down to the tips of my toes, I found myself in a particularly foreign location; a beige and dusty room with bright sunlight coming from the front window, and a humming vibration of the ceiling fan above me. I had forgotten where I was, why I was here, or how I got here? Then as I was suddenly starting to feel sensation in my body again, I remembered that I am in New York City for my 16th Birthday and I’m about to see my first ever Broadway show.

The mixture of raw onions and garlic taste burns my mouth as the taste becomes aware to me, morning breath, the most unattractive thing everyone has to go through first thing they wake up and today was not any better. I slowly start to lift all of my weight above the air mattress right before I fall back down on my behind, to discover that the mattress has been losing air throughout the night. I laugh at myself as I begin to lift myself off on the mattress once more and I reach for my phone to check the time and how “unpopular” I am as I received no notifications from friends. It’s 6:05 AM. The earliest I’ve ever had to wake up for an adventure so extravagant that I was already feeling the nerves tingling around my body.

I walk around the apartment to then sit down on a couch that was firm and rough, but still comfortable as I sit “Indian style” with my legs crossed underneath my person. My phone actually explodes with notifications as I receive messages from my friends about wishing me luck trying not to break down to tears as I live throughout my weekend in New York City!

This my first ever trip to “the big city” in my life. I had been here once before with my best friend to see a touring comedy show starring out favorite Internet comedians; but this weekend was going to be the trip I had been waiting my life for. I’m staying in an apartment my brother and sister-in-law had found through special arrangements with the church downstairs, since my brother is a pastor; he had to do a “special presentation” Sunday morning before we left the city. They had bought tickets to see my favorite Broadway show, the Deaf West revival of “Spring Awakening.” The original show had opened in 2006 at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre and closed only in 2009 after a three-year run that had started “Glee” stars Lea Michele and Jonathan Groff (who was only one block away the Richard Rodgers performing as King George III in “Hamilton”) and now in September 2015 it was being revived two blocks away from the “O’Neill” at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre.

“Spring Awakening” had been a favorite show of mine since one of my acting teachers was part of the original ensemble in the Off-Broadway production at the Atlantic Theatre Company. I had listened to the cast album for months since then, but had lost my interest because I had a new obsession about every month; then as a spark of coincidence I had listened to the album again and obsessed again for months and by the end of my obsession, they had announced the Broadway revival was happening that Fall and I had to let everyone know that I was going to see it regardless and on Friday, September 11, 2015 at 7:30 PM, my dream was about to come true.

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After an adventurous morning and afternoon, I had full tour of the Island of Manhattan from our apartment in the East Village to Staten Island. We’ve tried Cronuts in SoHo; we’ve had authentic Chinese food at a local dive in Chinatown; walked down Wall Street; saw the Statue of Liberty and took an adventure on the Staten Island ferry. Needless to say, it was a great way to really experience the lifestyle that is “New York City.”

Now, this was the moment I have been waiting for since I first found a love of musical theatre, we are getting on the subway to see the Broadway revival of “Spring Awakening” and my heart was ready to explode. My stomach had sunk to the soles of my feet and my body had become limb as I wait outside of the entrance to the theater. Pictures of the cast are on the front doors exposing some of the show’s most memorable scenes that include Wendla and Melchior on the haystack during “I Believe”, the ending pose of “Dark I Know Well” and the illuminating choreography of “The Mirror-Blue Night.” I was ready.

Our seats were located towards the back of Orchestra, but just underneath the mezzanine overhang. The Brooks Atkinson is a smaller sized theatre, about 1,050 seats in the entire theater; it was a perfect venue for the show because it turns out that no matter where your seat may have been located you had the best seat in the house. Soon, the cast would start appear onstage and the reality of seeing a Broadway show had begun. As the lights dimmed down and the show’s opening chords on the guitar had started, for the next two-and-a half hours, I would be transported to a story that had only been playing in my ears for a solid two years solid, now, I was about become part of the story that was “Spring Awakening.”

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It turns out that that night was just the beginning of a very close relationship I would have with not only the production, but of the creative team. I would soon find myself shaking hands with the show’s Book Writer and Lyricist Stephen Sater and the Director of the production, Michael Arden. After the show, I would go to the stage door and meet all of the cast members to congratulate them in English and ASL (American Sign Language). I would meet everyone from Josh Castille who played Ernst to Academy Award Winner Marlee Matin. I would soon later build a relationship with some of the cast members through the help of social media.

It was definitely a life changing experience that was later short as the show closed on January 24, 2016, which I was also in attendance for that performance as well. A lot of my friends ask me if there is an illegal recording of the show, and there is but I choose not to watch it or to share it. I refuse to do so because it was one of those times in your life where you had to say “You had to be there!” That’s truly how I feel when I mention the show, you had to be there, and I was, I’ve never be able to look at another show the same way again since then and I’m truly grateful for the experience.