its alright cause i'm saved by the bell

i like celebrity gossip. i have a good memory for it and find genuine pleasure on staying up to date on the Hollywood News. so naturally in moving to NYC i was hoping that i may have some of my own brushes with fame. now whether those brushes were going to be organically or self-made isn't as important as it happened. i finally... after 2 months in the city... met some celebrities.

part of the bummer of being an Americorps*VISTA is that you have no money. but one of the cool things about being a VISTA with no money is that people know you do not have any money and they forward you a lot of emails about free happenings in the city. so when a national organization decided to organize a "free night of theater" event across the United States, we Bronx-Lebanon Hospital VISAs jumped on board.

while i was reviewing the list of free tickets i found a play entitled "The Understudy" staring Mark-Paul Gosselaar. Mark-Paul was from the 90's teen favorite, tv show "Saved By the Bell." I had grown up watching "Saved By the Bell" in reruns and have undoubtedly seen every episode 4 or 5 times. Mark-Paul (aka Zack Morris) on stage sounded like a sure bet.

on Wednesday night all 10 of us VISTAs headed downtown to the theater district to see our free play with Zack Morris. we got to the theater early and were sitting outside enjoying the unusually warm weather for October. i was chatting with my friend sarah when all of a sudden my other friend julie grabbed my arm and hissed into my ear..

"oh my gosh, oh my gosh that is Keanu Reeves. look over there."

so i looked over at a man standing by a garbage can shelling peanuts. through his indian jones style hat, long hair, and scruffy beard it was in fact Keanu Reeves.

me: "go get his autograph"
julie: "oh my gosh i can't. i can't talk to him."
me: "don't by silly. just go up to him. he looks nice."
julie: "no. i just can't. tess you go ask if it is really Keanu and get the autograph."

tess was also sitting next to julie and agreed. she went up to him with pen and paper in hand and asked him if he was in fact keanu reeves. keanu said yes and was very friendly. he signed the paper and asked if we were going to the play. he said he was too and then strolled into the theater. instantly our little group had all their phones out texting and tweeting, letting everyone know we had just seen Keanu Reeves.

i'm not going to lie though, he didn't really do it for me. i didn't get excited to see him. it was almost a let down to all those years of cramming celebrity gossip into my head. i should have been thrilled, but instead he did not bring out my inner fan.

we went into the theater, got our seats, and settled into the show. after a couple of opening lines from the narrator, it happened. Zack Morris entered from the back of the theater and walked down an aisle to the stage. my body did an involuntary jerk, i had to cover my mouth so not to scream, and i felt the inner fan in me take over my senses. oh my gosh. it was zack morris! the zack morris! he did it! he brought out my inner fan! my crazy, neurotic, shameless fan.

after the production we staked out the stage door and laid siege for Zack Morris to come out. I had my program and pen ready for an autograph. at one point while waiting i began to get nervous and began to question whether i'd be able to speak when my time came, but when he appeared through the doors there was no time to hesitate; now or never. we rushed him, bombarded him with pictures, questions, and autographs. he was extremely kind, asked us questions in return, and posed for pictures. then like a dream, he was gone into the new york night. my moment with zack was over.

while i ate my granola this morning, i flipped on the TV to a "Saved By the Bell" rerun. I couldn't help, but smile a bit. zack morris had moved something in me that keanu just could not and he will always keep a piece of my heart with him.

p.s. i heart nyc.