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This week is the tech week for The Smoker, which is an annual play that lampoons physicians and professors at the University of Michigan. We’ve been rehearsing for about two months now, but the show is this Friday, so we are currently practicing every day from about 5:30 until 11 PM. This experience is bringing me back to my drama nerd days in high school and college. When I’ve previously acted, we called Tech Week “Hell Week.” The Smoker is much less time commitment than previous plays in which I’ve acted, but it is chaotic managing practices as a med student.

Regardless of the long hours, it has been great seeing the scenes, dances and songs that my friends have been working on all semester. The set and the music are also incredible. I’m so amazed at how many talented students are in medical school: there are fantastic singers, musicians, and dancers. But there are also a lot of people who have no previous experience and look amazing. I think I was most impressed when we were moving set pieces into the theater this week. I had not assisted with building or painting set pieces, and it was fantastic to see what the cast and crew had created. I can’t go into specific details about this year’s Smoker, because it is supposed to be a secret until the first performance. But I highly encourage anyone to come and see it, even if you don’t know many doctors yet. Potty humor is universal and there is a lot of potty humor in it.