Saturday morning. November 14. Approximately 9:30 AM. 93 students are boarding a bus to travel to New York to watch Fun Home.

Fun Home is originally published as a graphic novel written by Alison Bechdel. I first read Fun Home my freshman year in Bryn Mawr as it was the book assigned to our ESEM class. That same year in Goodhart Theatre, Alison Bechdel spoke to us about her life, her writing process, her experiences in college, took photos with us and held a Q&A. It was a great experience, and one of the first times that I myself had with an author in front of me talking about a book they’d written. It was also a first glimpse into some of the great experiences that Bryn Mawr had to offer.

fresh man year farah with alison bechdel – sept 2012

It is really amazing to me that 3 years later, I got to see her show on Broadway, which was so amazing and so wonderful. I also wish that I still had my copy of Fun Home in the States, except that I am pretty sure it is back home. I would have liked to look through it today, see that notes I took in class and every single asterisk I must have placed at places of the novel that I identified with.

The day, as stated, started with a trip to New York on two buses. We had some members of the English department faculty with us (for their photos and comments on the show follow brynmawrenglishhouse on instagram) and some members of Student Activities and a lot of really excited Mawrtyrs.

Tickets were passed out on the bus, and after some trading and switching, my friends and I secured 4 seats next to each other in the theatre.

We arrived in New York around 2 hours before the show, and spent the first half hour looking for a restaurant and standing in line for brunch. Welcome to New York on a Saturday. Finally, my friends and I got into a restaurant and had what was, for most of us, the first meal of the day.

take me back, dining hall food just won’t cut it anymore

After a great lunch and after feeling very spoiled, we walked back to the Gershwin Theatre and met up with the rest of the Bryn Mawr students and everyone else who was there.

Funny story, someone saw MN’17 sweatshirt which read “Mawrtyr” and came up to tell us that they were Bryn Mawr alums from the class of ’89, if my memory serves me well, and one of the alums was the red class as well. Bryn Mawr is everywhere, especially when Alison Bechdel is involved, I guess!

the famed red sweater

The women spoke to us as we were in line for the bathroom which was an experience in and of itself.

NP ’18, yours truly, AA’16, MN’17

And finally, we were there, being handed our programs…

lead to our seats…

and looking at the 360-view stage.

The stage was my favorite part of the whole show, and part of the reason that I want to come back to see Fun Home again. I want to be on the other side of the audience and see what my experience of the show is. The other technical aspects of the show, like the lights the example, which blew my mind, the music, the clothing, everything was done so well.

Fun Home is amazing and was, for me, an extremely emotional experience. I feel like watching it came as a good time. As a show about identity and finding yourself, and revealing your family history – I don’t know. All I know is that I was watching this show as a Kuwaiti Muslim girl and I just felt so connected to the story and I saw myself and my family in it. It was a nostalgic experience, and it made me want to call home, just to be around family. It made me realize that my relationship with my parents as adult is very different than my relationship with them as a child, but that both mean that I am still their daughter.

After the show, we got to be a part of a short Q&A the actors and stage manager held for us. It was really cool being able to speak to the actors and to hear their own experiences performing the show, and the parts that they think are funny.

I asked them a question about what I had throughout the show, and if, while performing they realize some things about their own family and home life. Emily Skeggs, the actress who plays Medium Allison, answered my question by saying that, having a father who is a graphic designer, she wonders when she’s drawing how her father would react to her art and how Alison’s father reacted to her art.

Overall, it was a great show and I am so happy I got to see it, especially with a group of Bryn Mawr students who were with me that day. And I especially loved the Anass and the very confused looks all the actors had 😀 There is video on the English House instagram page.

Anassa Kata, Fun Home!