The Princess Bride has managed to set a fun, lighthearted tone to an otherwise difficult year for many in 2020. We’ve seen memes encouraging the comfort of mask-wearing, a star-studded remake, and of course the original cast virtual read. Fans of the film have certainly had our spirits lifted this year with the familiarity of an old classic.
Here at Paper Truly, it is our family tradition to go completely overboard with an exciting fall party theme! This year we enjoyed challenging ourselves with a multi-faceted creative endeavor that included graphic design, printing, baking, amateur theater direction, costuming, digital sets, and live streaming.
We originally had the idea to use Zoom as a stage after the remake came out, but we were encouraged to put more creativity into it all, after the original cast performance was released. I personally had a ton of fun playing director. We asked friends to audition and post a video for their favorite roles to our event page, or to simply join as audience.
Guests received a package containing the invitation in the style of a script, a sheet of themed recipes they could prepare for the day of the performance, and a secret envelope marked “Inhale But Do Not Touch” – to be opened during the performance.
The secret envelope contained ten coloring sheets from Rachel Curtis’s Memorable Quotes to Color book, a delicious treat: Miracle Max’s Miracle Pills!, and a recipe which I personally fine-tuned after several iterations for the best Miracle Pill you’ll ever try to swallow, ha. They’re basically no bake energy balls, and the chocolate coating *does* make them go down easier.) We used one as a prop when Westley takes the pill to bring him back from being mostly dead all day.
I’m particularly proud how the treat tray turned out. I wanted it to feel magical, but also still a tad medieval, perhaps how Miracle Max might have designed his own packaging if he decided to monetize his miracle pills.. and if printers existed in the dark ages.
You guys, the performance was genuinely the most fun I have EVER had at a birthday party in my life (and I have now been alive for 38 years). I was fully aware when I started planning this, that everyone is probably sick and tired of Zoom calls and not being together physically, especially those at high risk. My secret hope was to change that perception.
This might be the most fun a group of fans can possibly have on a Zoom call. Everyone loves to quote this film, and everyone played their parts so beautifully, so hilariously! Many with high attention to costumes, props, and using virtual backgrounds (which were stills from the film with characters removed via Photoshop).
Zoom has its limitations so it wasn’t perfect, but it *was* perfect. I think everyone really enjoyed being someone else for an evening. That’s what’s so exciting about cosplay. I loved every minute of it and I would certainly do another performance like this again, pandemic or not!
By now you may be curious about how our performance went. Well ~ we recorded and edited the whole thing for your enjoyment! Sit back and brace yourself for 1:30 of our hilarious rendition of “The Princess Bride: A Virtual Table Read”:
(In case you don’t know us: I, Melissa (Owner/Designer of Paper Truly) play Westley, Jon (Co-Owner/Business Manager of Paper Truly) plays the disembodied Narrator and an R.O.U.S. and our daughter, Olivia, plays Act 1 Buttercup.) 🙂
