Steph+Lars=STARS: Stars are pretty!

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Stars are pretty!

Nervousness,

dry mouth,

sweaty palms,

shaky hands,

brain on autopilot,

lack of eye contact,

and numbness,

followed by a jumping high that takes hours to simmer down.

These are symptoms of being starstruck.

(If you experience these symptoms don't call your doctor,

take two reese's butter cups then call me in the morning and tell me about it)

Saturday Lars took me to see a play in LA at the Stellar Adler Theatre on Hollywood Blvd. The play was Why Torture is Wrong, And The People Who Love Them, http://www.theblank.com/

It was a political satire. It had some funny parts, a few dark parts, and some slow parts. But it was good. I liked the characters and the actors did a really good job portraying them. I loved the leading lady, the narrator, and the reverend. It was so much fun to see a play and the theatre was small and intimate. But the best part of all and probably the highlight of my birthday was that I got to meet someone awesome...Nicholas Brendon. He is a wonderful film and stage actor, but many tv watchers know him as Xander from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He was a huge reason we went to the play. He did a fantastic job. I really enjoyed seeing him live. After the show was over we decided to wait around in the lobby to see if we couldn't get an autograph and maybe a picture. We were successful and here is the play by play.

As we waited we debated how to ask him and wondered if it was kosher to get a picture with him. Either way we wanted to be polite so I rehearsed in my head over and over to say, "Hi Nicholas, I am Stephanie and I love your work and am a fan. May I please have your autograph and a picture." Then we saw him walk out in a causal green shirt with a stylish jacket topped off with a hat and glasses and carrying a brown leather book back over his shoulder. My heart jumped and I froze a little. A few people beat us to him and got his picture with him and stuff. After they left he stood before the rest of the lobby scanning the room. This was about when my brain went on autopilot. I walked up to him and tapped him on the shoulder. The conversation went something like this;

Me: Hi

NB: Hi there!

ME: Great show!

NB: Thanks.

ME: Umn. My name is Stephanie and today is my birthday.

NB: Hi Stephanie, Happy Birthday

ME: This is my husband and he got me the tickets to this show as a surprise for my birthday.

NB: Nice (he shook Lars's hand)

ME: Can we please get a picture with you?

NB: Sure

We then handed off our camera to a stranger who thankfully knew how to use a camera and then we huddled in for a picture. During the huddling he apologized about how smelly his bag was. I don't remember if or how I responded to him, probably just a nervous laugh. He put is arm around me and I smiled big

Picture taken

ME: Umn. Can I please have you sign something?

NB: Sure, I'd be glad too.

(I begin to nervously pull out my Buffy the Vampire Slayer DVD episode guide. I flipped to a page with his picture and then handed him the book with a sharpie.

NB: Do you want me to just sign it or make a message out to you

ME: Umn. Wow, you can make it out to me....gee...thanks.

NB: Your name is spelled S-T-E-P-H-A-N-I-E, right?

ME: Yea...(then I think I babbled on for 2-5 seconds about how we love him and his work, not sure)

NB: There you go, he hands it back to me.

ME: Thank you.

NB: Thanks for coming you guys and Happy Birthday (He shakes my hand)

ME: Thanks you too. (YOU TOO, its not his birthday, silly me)

NB: (To Lars) You are a nice guy (He shakes his hand)

Both of us Thank you, have a good night.

I then skipped down the stairs and was on a cloud for a few more hours. It was awesome. We both kept replaying it out loud on the drive home and anytime I look at the autograph I get giggly. I didn't expect to be so star struck, but I was. And Nicholas was super nice. He was very humble and kind and I think he may have been a little nervous too. He was just so down to earth and nice. What a swell guy. I will remember this forever. I hope to see him in more plays in the future.