My Favorite Memory with My Dad

When I was a Junior in high school I won tickets on the radio to The Utah Shakespearean Festival.  I knew exactly who I wanted to take.  My dad was the one to teach and share his love for Shakespeare with me.  Between my school and his work schedule, we decided that we would go on a Thursday night.  He picked me up from school and we drove straight to Cedar City (4 hours away)  I was barely 16 and still learning how to drive.  I drove the whole way there.  He taught me how to use the cruise control.  We drove in his little red chevy cavalier that didn't have a CD player  and southern Utah doesn't have very good radio reception, so we made our own music.  We sang songs from our favorite musicals (we had a lot).  It was so much fun.  Once we got to Cedar City we parked and walked around.  We watched the pre-show and then got our tickets for Taming if the Shrew.  We were a little disappointed at first because the performance was not in the theater that was built as a replica of The Globe, but Taming of the Shrew was one of our Shakespeare favorites.  It turned out to be one of the best plays I have ever seen put on.  It was the same setting, same story, same script but the time period was different.  Instead of being in Elizabethan Italy it was 1940'2 Italy.  It was phenomenal. It was a prime example of how very important costumes and scenery impact the overall performance.  I had seen this play done live before at USU when my Dad designed the costumes and the scenery for it.  That time it was historically costumed.  I loved both of them. by the time the play got over it was really early in the morning.  We stopped at a gas station for Mt. Dew and Dr. Pepper and then headed home.  For at least 2 of the 4 hour drive we talked.  We analyzed the play; pros and cons of design choices, rated the acting, toyed with ideas that we would change.  I loved these post-theater discussions.  We had them every time we went to or saw a performance. We talked about Shakespeare and his brilliancy.  When we reached Provo it was about 5 in the morning, Before we left we had decided that it would be better just to sleep for a couple hours in the parking lot of my school instead of going home and coming back. So that's what we did.