A group of high school students from New Jersey spent the last six months trying to bring the legendary 1979 science fiction movie Alien to the stage. When it finally came time to perform the show, the students got the surprise of their lives when a very special guest showed up.
Though the students at North Bergen High School only had a budget of $3,500 to bring the Ridley Scott movie to the stage, they were determined to make it happen. Even with their small budget, the production crew of 20 students and a cast of 9 were able to bring the show to life in an incredibly realistic way!
When audience members started uploading some clips of the show to social media, they quickly went viral, and local residents begged the students to give an encore performance. When they admitted that they could not afford to put on the show again, Scott himself sent them a check for $5,000!
“My hat comes off to all of your creativity, imagination and determination to produce such an ambitious show,” Scott wrote to them. “Limitations often produce the best results because imagination and determination can surpass any shortfalls and determine the way forward — ALWAYS.”
When the students put on the show again last week to mark the 40th anniversary of the movie’s release, they were stunned when actress Sigourney Weaver showed up! Weaver had starred in the movie as Ellen Ripley, and she could not resist checking out the stage version of it.
Sigourney Weaver visiting the NBHS cast and crew at their encore performance of Alien after national media recognition was unbelievable!! #alien #Alien40th pic.twitter.com/2UXL0v1H3X
— Nicholas J. Sacco (@NicholasJSacco) April 27, 2019
And the surprises did not stop there! Later on, the New York Conservatory of Dramatic arts offered a $10,000 scholarship and a $1,000 summer program scholarship to each cast and crew member. This really has changed their lives forever!
I would like to take a moment to send my sincere thanks and gratitude to the The New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts. They presented each student of the cast and crew with a $1k scholarship to their summer program as well as each Senior with a $10k scholarship to the college pic.twitter.com/Vu2gRuqT45
— Nicholas J. Sacco (@NicholasJSacco) April 27, 2019
Find out more about this in the video below!
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