Win Tickets to Così fan tutte - June 30th, 2009 at 8pm

[Wolf Trap Opera]

We were excited to announce, way back on May 19th, that our new production of Così fan tutte had sold out! Just a few days ago, however, a very generous contributor returned a pair of seats for the final performance, on Tuesday, June 30th with the instruction that we "put them to good use". So - between now and 12 noon on the 26th of June we'll be accepting entries to win the seats.

Rules:
1. Entrants must log into Hotspot and become a free member using a valid email address.
2. Open this discussion forum and answer the following question, "What is the craziest thing you've ever done in the name of love?.
3. You may change the names of the guilty to protect their anonymity.

Prize:
1. Staff of Wolf Trap Opera Company will collectively choose the best story at noon on the 26th of June. Decision of the staff judging panel is final.
2. Winner will be notified via Hotspot between 1pm and 5pm and will have 24 hours to reply to the winning notification before the second place winner is contacted. This process will repeat until a winner is confirmed.

So tell us... "What is the craziest thing you've ever done in the name of love?" See you at Così!

[Roberta Canaday]

Prior to meeting and marrying the man of my dreams, I attended a nine-hour bass fishing tournament. I watched the then-love-of-my-life weigh in four small-mouthed bass. He won a total of maybe $30. Mercifully, my husband has never had the need to enter such a ridiculous contest - feigning interest at this stage in my life would be a much different scenario!

[Alicia Marie Gianni]

I told my boss that I was taking 2 weeks off of work to go do some "auditions" in Europe with barely any notice, maxed out my credit card and bought a ticket to Italy (Florence) where my Albanian lover lived. Yes, he was Albanian (ironic that I'm in Cosi again!). Needless to say, my boss wasn't happy and I definitely didn't do any auditions, but I was able to escape America for a while to speak only Italian, eat gelato, and be in love. I didn't care that I didn't have any money left, I would do anything for love.

[Jack Longanacre]

I’m a specialist in the National Guard. I was on a tour of Iraq from July 07-July 08, stationed at Camp Liberty. During my time over, I fell in love with an Iraqi girl named Amira. She was absolutely gorgeous. I’ve been in contact with Amira since I returned. My unit couldn’t go back, so I joined Army Audit just so I could go back to Iraq.

[aaron Halevy]

I wanted to come up with a grandiose story, of a majestic battle for love in the face of terrible circumstances, but my true love told me that the truth is always better, so here goes my story (sorry if it ended up too long, I have not mastered the twitter compositional style):)

After several years of dating, and even living with my girlfriend, the question of weather we should get married made its final appearance. Through weeks of identity crises and internal torture over the profundity and importance of the question, I decided to propose to her, and to do it on a day and in a way which would be romantic and beautiful, one worthy of the fundamental change we would be making.
We went to the big city to see a double header Shakespeare play, Julius Caesar, then Antony and Cleopatra, (the latter was perfect to scare all the demons of faulty love far away from my mind). All the while, I stressed over the proposal, and how I would do it. She had no idea what I was about to do, and she, by now, had frankly given up on my asking.
The plan was, to take her to the Lincoln Memorial, a favorite place for us both, and there, in the middle of the night, within those wonderful acoustics, serenade her with the tenor aria from Rossini's Barber of Seville' -Se il mio nome.
The last play ended and we came outside, and something totally unplanned for happened -it was raining harder than I ever saw in my life. A tempest to rival that of Shakespeare and Beethoven. As we got to the memorial, we were completely soaked, even from the small run across the lawn and up the memorial's steps. Once inside, it was perfect, no one was there, just the two guards. So we looked at the memorial, and I nervously took out my words for her to read, and hopefully guess what I was about to ask her. But as I hit my tuning fork, and began to sing --the security guard stopped me and said that there was no singing. "But, no ones here," I said, "It doesn't matter. NO SINGING!" he sternly said, as he pointed to a sign that said QUIET PLEASE. I retorted, "But, but Marion Anderson sang here?!" "Yeah," he said, as he pointed out to the ocean of water coming out of the sky, "out there, on the steps." I tried to indiscreetly signal to him that I was trying to propose, and that he should just be cool and let me sing, but he would have none of it. So we had to walk ourselves back outside.
Now, I would've sung in most rain storms, but this one, this one was coming down so hard, that if I opened my mouth, I would have been drowned by the incoming pour. I took her, still unknowing of my full plans and therefore only mildly disappointed, to other potential spots. We drove all over DC, with me in a frantic panic, parking garages and overhangs, all with no luck of achievement, we even found a church which looked promising from afar, but once we got out of the car, we found a few homeless people sleeping on the ground, in the shelter of the churches overhang, needless to say, that wasn't going to be the right spot either. Frustrated and almost hopeless now, I began to drive us back, in the rain, to the small North Virginia town where we lived.
On the way back, I thought of a place which was covered and out of a distance from houses enough not to disturb the neighbors at what was now reaching 2:00am. She was not too impressed at this point, but I was determined to sing it to her then and there, I would delay this proposal no longer! So there we pulled up the car, got out, and in the dim street light under the overhang at the local elementary school, I sang my serenade to her, then read her my proposal.
We we're married 4 months later. True love is the best love.