On the 11th of February, 2026, I went to watch a play called Hekaya Bel Maqloub in the Gerhart Theatre at AUC. I arrived at 6:45, parked my car next to PVA, and walked to the entrance. When I reached the entrance, there was a massive waiting line for the play with people in pairs and groups while I stood on my own. While I was waiting in line, I noticed an organizer asking the people to move away from the entrance as the play will start from outside the theatre which was kind of confusing at first because I did not know what that meant.

As people stood away from the entrance, I noticed three girls talking as loud as they can over the loud chatter. They kept on talking, moving, and stood at different places outside the entrance, which made me think that this was actually part of the play. After some dialogue between the three, they left the place and a bunch of ushers stood in front of the entrance telling people that the play was about to start.

As people were entering the hall, the ushers were checking for entrance tickets. This was a surprise to me as I did not have any tickets nor had anyone announced that tickets were needed for entrance. I tried to talk to the ushers at the entrance telling them the that the flyer they announced the play in did not state any tickets were needed to enter. As I realized that this was just a waste of time, I headed back home.

As much as this was a letdown, I did not let poor organization ruin my day. I walked away with a better understanding of how not to run an event, and honestly, that lesson is probably more useful than the play itself would have been.