On Sept. 12 and 13, the RealAD cast put on the first in-person RealAD show since 2019, a show that was exhilarating, emotional and evocative in equal amounts. The Sept. 12 show, meant for upperclass students, was met with standing ovation, laughter and even some happy tears, at least by the two writers of this article.

RealAD is truly a gift to the community, and an act of vulnerability and kindness by many of the cast members who never got to watch an in-person show themselves. This year’s show included many new elements, but as always, also featured some virtual snippets and songs from older shows.

For Shahad Alsaqqaf, Class of 2025, the RealAD show serves as a way of building community. “I want our student body to embrace that it is okay to be vulnerable with one another,” she explained.

Image courtesy of Waleed Shah

In preparation for the show, the cast members spent 12 weeks in New York City working collaboratively on the script of the show, the songs, the acting and the overall performance.

Zlata Hlukhouskaya, cast member and Class of 2025, shared about this collective process: “We had these circles … bringing up some stuff we wrote, a piece of writing, a piece of music, a melody and we were sharing all this … it was a very smooth process. For the first four weeks I didn’t even realize we were making the show.”

Hlukhouskaya also shared that she really liked how communication worked with the team dynamic, despite four members of the team being non-students and in a position of relative authority: it was a respectful process that honored each person’s experiences and opinions.

Image courtesy of Waleed Shah

“The beauty of RealAD production is that you don’t necessarily have to be the best singer, dancer or performer. It just takes a willingness to learn and some magic happens and you are on the stage one day being your amazing self,” explained Anant Singh, cast member and Class of 2023.

For Alsaqqaf, part of the reason for joining the RealAD show was to be involved with other creatives. “One of my motives was that deep down I knew that being with other creative people would bring out something that I didn’t know I had in me. For example, I knew that I hadn't ever written a song before … but it was a collaborative piece of work and I learned something from every single person in the cast.”

What sets NYU Abu Dhabi’s RealAD show apart is its unique position in the region; the RealAD show is one of the first candid glimpses first year students have of navigating life in a U.S. liberal arts university in the GCC region.

Hlukhouskaya explained that the real value of the show, in terms of its depiction of student life at NYUAD, lies in how welcoming and vulnerable the show is. “I really love that it is about us, about the students, [our] wellbeing, and that it is going to be made entirely by us. Because from my previous experiences, everything I worked with, like the script, someone made the script and we followed it. But here, you never know what the show is going to be like and it’s entirely made by the students, which I think is really cool.”

The show also emphasizes self-acceptance and self-love. For Alsaqqaf, this was one of the most memorable parts. “My favorite parts of the show are some of the emotional songs, such as love your body … It speaks about insecurities and body dysmorphia and how to take care and accept your body. It meant a lot to me, the process of learning the song and singing it on stage, I felt like I was pouring my heart out,” she explained.

Image courtesy of Waleed Shah

Many of the cast members stressed the feeling of community and belongingness they felt in the making of the show, and, in turn, wanted to elicit the same feeling in their audiences.

“RealAD can be a life-altering experience in many ways with the kind of nurturing and love we get from the creative team. For me, it would be very important to take that love and apply it to my future artwork and future collaborations with other people,” Singh explained.

When asked if they faced any challenges in preparing for RealAD, many cast members shared that the process of RealAD itself, from writing the script to sharing stories and finally performing onstage, allowed them to really practice the courage, openness and care the script spoke of.

“At first I didn't believe those ‘I'm here for you’s’ 100%. But while I went through the process and interacted with supportive people who are saying the same thing with all of their heart, I actually meant what I said in the lyrics/skit. And I hope the audience experienced the same,” shared Yeonshin Kim, cast member and Class of 2022.

Image courtesy of Waleed Shah

As already said, for first-years, RealAD is the first time they see the NYUAD experience for all it is and all it can be, in one of its most honest and heartwarming representations. As seniors and audience members who have seen RealAD for the past three years, we reveled in the emotional rollercoaster the show took us on — it was a performance which connected the confused and idealistic aspirations of our first year with the slightly-less confused but still definitely idealistic ways we have come to learn of solidarity and care.

From the final live iteration of We Are Not Strangers, a shout out to a campus community that is meaningful for us beyond words, Your Silence is Killing Us, a heartwarming tribute to our insecurities and inner ramblings as students, an honest portrayal of jungle juice consumption, to a responsibly shot musical about affirmative consent, the RealAD show struck all the right chords.