‘He said, she said’ may not sound like the best way to start a relationship, but he said she wasn’t as cute as somebody else, and she said he looked like a big, loud nerd with a fancy laptop. Is it any wonder that Rachel Bell, CCAS BA ’14, and Cameron Hopkins, CCAS BA ’14, chose to see The Odd Couple on their first date?
Perhaps it was their love of theater that brought them together.
Rachel and Cameron met during their first week as freshman at GW at auditions for Generic Theatre Company’s “Freshman Showcase.” Both would go on to stage—and act in—productions throughout their time at GW and would end but being involved in at least twenty plays together. What better way to get to know someone than through late-night rehearsals, opening night jitters, and closing night parties?
Rachel recalls spending one evening in the theater with Cameron until 2am, struggling to build a collapsible wooden cross. And then there was the first time she saw Cameron in a wedding dress…when he waltzed on stage in The Taming of the Shrew.
Now that was funny.
The duo also helped found the GW Shakespeare Co., and they both led other student theater companies as well.
The magic of The Tempest and A Midsummer’s Night Dream wasn’t the only sorcery that brought Rachel and Cameron, though—the couple were both members of GW’s Quidditch team their freshman year.
“We got interviewed by the BBC for a report on the made-up sport,” says Rachel, “so now, there’s a video on the Internet somewhere of us running around with brooms between our legs, throwing dodgeballs at the reporter.”
Since graduation, Cameron has been working at Captain Cookie, the cookie truck that frequents campus, and Rachel has gone on to graduate school. Last January, Cameron proposed to Rachel in Richmond, VA, and after five years together, they are getting married on February 29 in Rachel’s hometown of Parker, Colorado. The reception is going to be held at—where else?—a local theater.
Traditionally, the extra day in leap year was the only day women were allowed to propose to men. Additionally, if a man were proposed to, he was legally required to say yes. So what does it mean to get married on February 29? Cameron and Rachel are about to find out. And who knows? Perhaps we’ll have the chance to see their story acted out, someday, somewhere on a stage.
—Mary Follin
