Sascha: An Actress Prepares

Back in Session

2012-01-28T12:15:00.003-06:00

It's about time I get back to the roots of this blog.

Things I've learned in acting class so far:

1. Stella Adler is a boss.

2. Objectives are not just what you want out of a scene. In order to make your objective more playable, choose strong actions that are universal and easily physically embodied.

* Old Ex: I want to be loved.

* New Ex: I want her to coddle me.

It's difficult to play being loved, since that is an emotion. However, you can play it by using strong actions such as coddling, hugging, reassuring, teasing, or complimenting.

This is a differentiation I never thought about much in college, though Professor D always told us to use strong words. I'm finding this specific technique much easier to embody because it's broken down better.

3. Actions have three parts: the nature, the physicality, and the tone. You know your action is strong when you can instill the message without the words from the script, and instead saying '1,2,3,4,5.' If you can say 1,2,3,4,5 and your scene partner still understands what you want from them, then you have a strong action.

Actions should also come with a physicality. There are motions that you do when you judge people, condemn them, shake them, blame them, mock them, or apologize to them. If your actions don't require an action from your body (even if it is to be still), then you probably haven't made a very strong choice.

Katie and I have been relearning a lot of our old technique in a new way. Stella Adler is very similar to Uta Hagen. Some things are being explained in a better way and it's so nice to have my memory refreshed. Our next class assignment is to rehearse our scene with our actions, but we have to stay 4 feet a part at all times. Acting Coach thinks we get into each other's personal space too often, and I'm inclined to agree with him. We're also supposed to start a '100 Action Words' list without the outside help of movies, TV, dictionaries, or a thesaurus. I'm excited for both.

I had three rehearsals for Diss and Datt before we opened (and closed) last night at Gallery 1412. My scene partner and I were able to dig up a lot of the internal struggle in the scene on short notice, and I had a great time working with him and my director. My director was very hands off, which made it easy for my partner and I to try out a lot of our own ideas until we settled. After the show my director introduced me to his actor/director friend whose, as chance would have it, mother went to my college in the 60s. He actually attended my college's 'rival' school, and roomed with a man that directed at my college my senior year. The theatre world is so small.

I'm excited to be done with one project and moving onto the next. I feel like I'm just barely getting my feet wet. I have my General Audition pre-screen coming up in the next two weeks, so I'm working hard to prepare for that. As long as I stay under the time limit, I should be good to go. I'm really excited for the general auditions because that's where all the larger theatres that will be paying actors to work for them will get to see me audition. The larger theatres don't tend to hold individual show auditions throughout the year, so this is my chance to put myself out there and see what happens.

I've auditioned recently with Seattle Talent Agency, and they put me in touch with a good commercial photographer that's going to take some new headshots for me today. If things go well and I can get a hold of some more details, I might be getting to meet with LA agents once a month or so for exposure and experience. I'm really not looking to break into stardom, which it's been a bit difficult to convince Seattle Talent of. They think everyone wants to be a star. Now that I put myself in a position where I have to make a choice, I have to admit I'm interested in meeting people, learning new things, and seeing where my art can take me. I'm looking forward to new opportunities, but I don't want to limit myself and my career to one avenue at this point.

I'll be filming a short test shoot this weekend for an VFX production. Basically, I get to do some green screen action outside in the cold and rain, and then they're going to animate it, I think. I'm so stoked. I love the idea of running and jumping around in front of a green screen and film crew. I love my job.

I've also been hired as full time with my day job. Things are really moving in a good direction!

Reboot

2012-01-14T16:26:00.001-06:00

I had my first Seattle audition on Monday, the 9th. It was for a short film that is being shot locally. The script sounded really interesting and I was excited to finally be back in the game.

I had a great time auditioning. I automatically fell right back into the feeling of doing what I love. I got to improv some crazy scenes. One of the directions I was given was to mime playing a piano, and the closer my scene partner got to me I was supposed to react like a vampire would to sunlight. I love acting.

Tuesday I had my first theatre audition for a short play titled Diss and Datt. It's an absurdest drama that explores relationships, failure, regret, and ultimately the way we measure success. I had a great time in the audition here as well. The director asked me to read three monologues consecutively from the script, which I was given access to beforehand, and do them as many times as I liked in as many different ways as I wanted. It was so much fun to stand up on stage and feel like there was no pressure to get it right the first time. I said the monologues at least 3 or 4 different ways, and then the director and I played around with the script a little. The director complimented my college at the end of the audition, which was just amazing to hear so far from home.

I ended up getting cast that night! I'm very excited to go to work with a director that is so nurturing and knowledgeable in the realm of absurdest theatre, since that is one of my favorite genres.

Also on Tuesday, Katie and I met with an acting coach that holds classes and private lessons in the area. We did a short audition and interview and now we'll be having private classes with him weekly.

I'm feeling so happy to be back doing what I love again. I've missed it so much. I'll be jumping into rehearsal this week, and the generals are coming up soon so I'm preparing for those. I have my first acting session this week, and after I save up a little more I'm hoping to start taking some of the great classes they offer around town. I'd really like to refresh my Alexander Technique, and take a course in Biomechanics.

Here's to 2012 and all the fabulous things that are happening so far!

Groove

2011-12-22T21:49:00.000-06:00

I haven't written in so long! I needed time to adjust to life, I think. Things are so different now, and I had a lot of letting go to do.

Since I posted last I have started 4 jobs. Yes, 4. I have been stage managing at Stone Soup Theatre. I have been working holiday hours at Target. I've become a substitute teacher at the performing arts preschool, but I work full time hours. And I work in the phone center and box office at the 5th Avenue Theatre.

Life is fantastic.

I am now a freelance teacher of theatre for youth and I have 3 classes coming up in the next six months. I'll be teaching a physical comedy class, an elementary acting class with a showcase, and an acting class working with poetry and small scripts.

I have a bunch of classes that I'm looking into taking for myself in the coming months and I'm becoming more and more excited about the prospect of learning more. An actor never stops being a student. I know that I will learn so many things from the people I meet in this journey of mine, and I love knowing that college was not the last step in my education. In five years, I will still value everything my college taught me, but I will know so much more.

Honestly, what I've been doing in the last month and a half is changing my lifestyle, my thought process, and my attitude about life. There is so much to be learned from hard work and dedication. I've met a lot of people lately who lead lives based completely on their financial means. It took me a while to remember that I told myself long ago that I wouldn't be one of those people.

Obviously I need to be concerned about paying my bills and saving for my future. But working so many hours has really taught me a lesson. I didn't come to Seattle to make a lot of money. I didn't come to Seattle to work all day. I came here to start something new, to meet new people and have new experiences.

I love that I know now what it means to work 19 hours in a day. I know what it's like to not sleep on a bed for two months. I know what it feels like to be broke and worried about making rent. I watch how much I spend at the grocery store, I don't shop unless it's necessary, and I rarely sleep. Through all of this, I've adjusted what money means to me. It's great to have, fun to spend, and sometimes tiring to make. But above all--It does not control my life.

I appreciate the time I've had away from theatre. I forgot how valuable it can be to step back and do other things. I'm excited to get back to it soon, but I'm also beginning to comprehend how important it can be to not let theatre control my life either. I spent a lot of the last month and a half sad about not being more involved in theatre. Three weeks ago I took a look at my life and said, "Seriously? This is why you moved, Sascha. This is what you wanted." I wanted to struggle and get frustrated and find my way to being happy.

I'm beginning to really love this city. The people are opening my eyes everyday to so many opportunities and ways of life. I've learned about being environmentally friendly to an absurd degree. I've learned about different styles of clothes, and food, and bars. I've met people that have become friends when they were supposed to be bosses or managers or directors. I'm finding myself in a way I didn't in college, and it was really difficult at first because I thought I had already done that. And because I was holding onto a lot of things that it was time to let go of.

Life is about discovering love in the people you meet, the places you go, the jobs that you take, the chances you miss, the ones that you find, and the secrets that you stumble onto about yourself.

I came out of college ready to act 24/7, ready to carve my name into the industry indelibly. I've met some actors recently who do theatre for fun. Only every once and a while when the itch kicks in, they'll audition. They all have families, and jobs they hate, and a history of trying to make it but never getting there.

I don't know quite yet what I'm looking for in a career. But I know now that I don't want to be them. I want to always have fun in my day job if I can. I want to act more than they do. I want to go places I think they didn't.

Basically, I have dreams. We all know it. It's all I talk about in this ridiculous blog. But as the time goes by, and the months draw closer to a year out of school, I find myself becoming more focused on where I want to be in a couple years. How will I make my mark?

I'm not sure. But I want to have the grandest adventure getting there. And when I make it, I want to feel accomplished, proud, and ready to move forward.

How to Survive in the Real World #2

2011-11-06T19:30:00.002-06:00

Keep yourself motivated.

The transition from school to the real world or from one home to another can be a long and difficult process. But it doesn't have to be!

1. Find something that you look forward to everyday. This could be what you're having for dinner, a friend you get to see, a book you get to read, going to work, or any number of things. When you have a lot of time on your hands, it's helpful to find something productive to work towards.

2. Keep your goal in mind. Some people think they don't have goals, but that's impossible. Everyone has at least one thing that they want or need, and we spend our days working to get it. My long term goal is easy--I want to be an actress. This also happens to be a short term goal of mine. Now this is obviously not my only goal in life, but it's my most immediate in mind which means it's the one I'm working my hardest on. When you have a goal present it's hard to become complacent.

3. Don't make your goal into a struggle you can't win. Stay positive and make sure you feel like you're accomplishing small steps towards your goal regularly.

4. Get a hobby. This is probably going to end up on every single list I ever make in my life.

5. Treat yourself. Give yourself a pat on the back in some way every once in a while. Don't let life get the best of you.

Have I become a self help blog? It's possible. Am I writing some of this so I can go back and remind myself to suck it up? That's likely.

I should be starting my second job this week and I'm very excited to start making some real money!

I recently had an interview at a local theatre here for some part time box office work. It was probably my most professional interview so far. The two women were incredibly nice, and I think I would have a great time working at the theatre. They took me on a tour and the space is so beautiful! I can't wait to see shows there! I should hear back relatively soon.

I went to see The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged last night for the second time. I had seen the rehearsal on Halloween and they were both hilarious shows. The three men are very talented Seattle actors, and the most interesting thing is the strangely varying backgrounds they come from. You have to love that every artist has a different story. After the show, the Stone Soup Theatre where I'm working, and where the show took place, had a VIP party for their donors. I got to stick around along with some of my college friends, and I met some great people. It was a really fun night.

Here's a picture of me on Halloween!

How to Survive in the Real World #1

2011-11-01T22:35:00.001-05:00

Keep Yourself Busy.

How do you do this? It can be easy, and then it can get very very difficult. Especially when you're unemployed.

1. Have a hobby. My current hobby is cooking. I set aside two hours of my day to create a nice meal for my roommate and I.

I create a shopping list at the beginning of the week that includes a small amount of ingredients that can be used in many recipes. This way, I'm thrifty, I stay busy, and I'm full!

2. Keep a Journal. Writing things down is not only time consuming, but therapeutic. Don't have anything to write about? Sure you do. I have my blog, I have my personal journal, and I have my actors journal. It's been difficult for me lately to find something to write about for my blog since it's supposed to be about my theatre career which is almost non-existent at the moment. However, I just think of the things that I would want to read about, and Voile! Here I am writing a cliche, yet extremely truthful post about Real Life.

Other things to write about can be: something you're having difficulty expressing, or things that are jumbled in your mind. Seriously, I just started writing all my finances down in a way I hadn't tried before, and I feel so much better. I made charts and graphs and I feel very accomplished (which is something very important to feel when trying to survive in the Real World).

3. Create future goals and then--attempt to reach them. This one has been the hardest for me recently. I've had to recreate short term goals from my long term goals because it will be a really long depressing time before I'm able to accomplish THOSE. So instead, everyday I hunt for a new job I'd like. And then I apply for it. Now, it doesn't matter whether or not I receive an interview, I feel good that I tried. As it happens, I've just been hired at my third job, so that work payed off for me!

My other short term goals include saving enough money for a bed, finding my future headshot photographer so I can make a money goal I'll have to meet, tak ing at least 3 walks to the park a week with my dog for fresh air and exercise, and keeping my finances in order.

4. Exercise! I just mentioned that I walk my dog to the park a couple times a week. However, I'm a naturally athletic person and I go crazy if I don't have physical things to do. I ride my bike, I jog with my dog, and there's an exercise facility in my apartment complex at my disposal. I think it's really important to have some fresh air in your diet.

5. Do that thing you told yourself you'd do when you have more time. Mine? Read classic literature. I started Dracula and I keep putting it off. I need to finish it. I also enjoy reading my plays that I haven't gotten a chance to read yet. Maybe you'll want to organize something, decorate something, play something, or go somewhere. There are plenty of things you've always wanted to do if you just take the time to think about it. And if this has been at all a useful list, it proves you have plenty of time to think about it.

All of these are things you can do by spending little to no money, which is actually the most important thing to me at the moment. It has also been the reason I've run out of things to do lately. Still, this just forces me to be more creative everyday until the day when things pick up. I start work next week and I can wait to be a social creature again!

My Life in Seattle

2011-10-21T11:17:00.005-05:00

I have arrived and I have begun!

Life is a new and exciting array of opportunities! Katie and I arrived in Seattle on the 11th after a cross country drive. I stopped by my Alma Mater (weird to say) to spend some time with college friends before meeting up with Katie in Denver, CO. From there we went to Perry, UT, up through Laramie, WY, then Boise, ID, then SEATTLE! I left on the 6th from Texas and we made it on the 11th.

My car was packed overfull, and my dog Riley took the passenger seat to keep me company.

It was so cold when we got in that night, and we were supposed to be able to walk right into our unit to start unpacking, but somehow the wires got crossed and nobody left it unlocked for us so we were stranded! It was 10 at night, and we were two girls alone in the city. Fortunately the apartment manager answers her emails at night, so she kindly called the on-site emergency help (who had previously not responded to OUR calls) and sent a man over to let us in. He had to drive all the way from Kent, which is about 20 minutes, so we started unpacking our things outside our door. It was a hard task with my dog, but we managed to get all our essentials unpacked by the time our helper came by. Katie and I unpacked our cots for the night, flipped a coin for who got the master bedroom (I lost), and went to sleep!

The next day we woke up and got to work. We unpacked our cars, half of our boxes, and then went out for the essentials. Katie and I only packed things that could fit into our car, so not only were we foodless and jobless which is to be expected, but we were furnitureless, and I happened to be pillowless. What a dilemma.

So we spent the next couple days obtaining our food, and random bits of furniture that we needed to unpack our boxes.

We visited a local market, and ALL of the Seattle Goodwills in search of the cheapest buys. I found a beautiful lamp that reminds me of the one my grandmother had when I was a child. I also scored this amazing rolltop desk!

Now we've been here a week and a half and we're almost unpacked all the way. We're having furniture donated on Sunday and I can't wait to have a couch and dining room table! The rest of our time has been spent job hunting.

One of the things I find most frustrating about job hunting is being considered too young. I've been asked 'Are you 18?' Not only am I 18, but I happen to have a degree! However, I feel the search is going strong and I think I'll have a job to speak of soon. Currently I've stumbled into a Stage Managing gig at Stone Soup Theatre, which is terribly exciting. I was originally supposed to intern there to help with marketing, but they needed someone last minute and handed me a contract to sign after a brief interview. The show is A Child's Christmas in Wales and I hope to stay on for the duration of the rehearsal process and run. If I get a day job that will pay my rent and the hours conflict, I'll obviously have to choose to pay my rent.

I have an interview this next week at a Performing Arts Preschool to be a substitute teacher. I'm hoping to grab little jobs like these to have for extra money. As a sub, I would be on call for whenever they need me which would be great!

All in all, I've gotten to explore more than I thought I would. Yesterday I found 2 theatres in West Seattle where I live. I've found some auditions coming up, but I don't think I can afford to go on them until I have a job under my belt. The city is beautiful, and I can't wait to meet more people here. Our neighbors are friendly, and the dog parks are fun places to meet and greet. Everything's going pretty slow right now, but it will pick up soon!

It's really starting to feel like I've moved cross country. Family and friends are very far away, but it's all so exciting right now. Katie has been trying to figure out Christmas plans, and we're looking at spending our first Christmas without family. But we've made a list of our own traditions to start to make this apartment feel like home. All good things.

Serious

2011-09-15T17:41:00.003-05:00

Seriously, this has got to stop.

I've always been the kind of person to make the best of things. I know how to keep myself busy. I'm the champion of doing too many things at once.

I'm finally gaining a little perspective on this not-so-fun transition period. I'm getting out of my funk and moving towards a brighter, faster-paced, exciting future.

It's been pretty rough to be out of my element. I get bored, I get frustrated, I get angry, and then I get a little obstinate. None of these are good, but all of them have been amazing to learn well. They aren't emotions that I've danced with before in large doses, and now they're all just more tools that I can add to my growing kit. And they're certainly motivation to get out there and get going.

I literally can not wait to start acting again. I can not wait to have a job, an apartment, and a new city to learn and love. I have so many things I want to do with my life, and sitting around while everyone around me accomplishes their own list has not been the time of my life. I've had a heart to heart with my uglier side and realize now that its just as stubborn as my prettier side is. Fortunately, the ugly side has waived the white flag and is finally letting me breathe again.

Seattle is in sight. It's just around the corner. There have been a few bumps on the road, but I have confidence that Katie and I are going to have an amazing time where we choose to be. This next week is all about the apartment hunt. We have three days to find some suitable apartments, contact the realtors/landlords, see them, decide on one, and HOPEFULLY sign that coveted lease we're looking for. If not, we'll figure it out.

I'm amazed at how unconcerned I am at this point. I'm such a planner. And I used to be a bit more anal about my plans. These days I'm throwing caution to the wind and I'm setting out on a grand adventure that's sure to be full of mistakes. The best part is, I can't wait to make them. Maybe I'll have months full of being obstinate and angry, but the next time someone is auditioning for a character who fits that description, you can bet I'll be able to grab it and play it with the passion it deserves.

I learned so many wonderful things in college, and among them is the talent to let things go. I've gotten pretty good at it. I've also learned how to not control situations and to really throw myself into something I want instead of shying into it. These things might be the most useful tools I possess in my first months in Seattle.

And the ability to have fun. That one's my favorite. Why do anything you don't love?

I need a hobby, or three

2011-08-29T23:21:00.003-05:00

They always told us in school that the most important thing you can do for your acting career is to have other interests that you explore regularly.

I thought I had hobbies. I know I have interests; I have things I want to see and accomplish. But honestly, I think the most difficult thing about 'real life' so far is the feeling of purposelessness that comes from not having a set, rigorous schedule that I have to follow. It's up to me to entertain myself, motivate myself, inspire myself.

I have to admit that most days I feel like I'm floundering. I have days where I'm busy, and I know I accomplish a lot. I even have days where I feel artistically inspired (which is becoming sadly refreshing instead of normal). But most days I'm struggling to not be nostalgic or listless.

When my mind is on Seattle, I feel like I'm in forward motion. I know that once I'm there, I can move at a pace that is much more suited to my needs. And I know that in the mean time I should be enjoying this 'relaxation' time while I have it. I'm terrible at relaxing though. I'm terrible at watching and hearing about other people accomplishing things while I sit still.

Mostly I find that I have issues with not moving up some sort of inner social/professional ladder that I've conjured up to keep myself motivated. I need to be part of a group that is working towards a goal. I don't remember being such a social creature before college, but it's clear to me now that this is what I have become.

The frustration that comes from realizing all these things and still somehow being unable to change the situation seems constant. But the moments of clarity that break through occasionally and allow me to breathe and reevaluate myself are becoming more numerous. Slowly I feel like I'm grasping back my sanity and working towards the purpose that I've lost.

I really can't wait until I'm holding it down so it can't escape.

Be the crazy you see in the world

2011-08-01T19:13:00.002-05:00

Last night we had our company meeting before strike, and something was said that I hadn't thought about before. Professor B, who is the Artistic Director of the Okoboji Summer Theatre said," This is the last time this company will be gathered together, so enjoy each other." I found that sad until she also said," But that's theatre."

That is so true. Theatre is all about people coming in and out of your life, and allowing them to have a lasting affect on who you are and how you make your art. I've learned so much from meeting so many new people this summer. I've strengthened my previous relationships with students, and I've made some amazing friends. Some might even follow me out to Seattle.

What she said made me really excited to go out and start meeting more people and have more unforgettable experiences that will shape me. Seattle will be such an adventure. And when I'm ready to move on from there, maybe Chicago or New York or L.A. will hold more opportunities for me.

Of course it's sad to see these people go so soon, but it's highly possible that I will meet and work with some of them again someday. And that is the other great thing about theatre. Even though shows end, the world of theatre is so small that you're bound to end up collaborating with the people you love again and again.

I've spent entirely too many days looking up jobs on craigslist, and I've decided that it's depressing to find jobs I'd be good at when the position will be filled far before I move. I'm ready to take a break from this job hunt for a small moment and instead focus on how awesome my last weeks up here will be. I couldn't have asked for a better summer.

Head Strong

2011-07-23T10:00:00.003-05:00

It's Pig Roast at the Okoboji Summer Theatre, and currently the marauding pigs are traveling the lot and inciting pig celebrations. It's fun.

It's been a crazy couple weeks here and we're down to the final three shows starting on Tuesday. I can't believe how fast this summer has flown by. Sitting in a different seat, I've realized how far I've come since my time here last year.

All of the students here are going back to college soon, and they're worried about the first audition of the semester, and their class schedule, and their place in the hierarchy of college life. I'm looking at a whole wide world of opportunities ahead of me. I'll be going home to spend time with family before my big move, and I feel oddly free and relaxed. I'm excited about starting life after school. This week has been filled with apartment shopping, neighborhood rating, job hunting, and--of course--networking. I've had the chance to meet some fantastic people this summer, and make some great connections. As excited as I am to be moving forward, it's strange to be leaving these people behind. They're moving in a separate direction, and I hope to run into them someday in the future. Most of these students only have a year of college left, and I bet I'll be seeing them soon.

There is definitely a bittersweet note to the coming end of this Boji, but I feel like it's being steadily eclipsed by my growing excitement for what is to come. So many members of my graduating class have already started their grand adventures, and Katie, Kaitie, and I are on our way to carving out a place for ourselves in Seattle.

I have to say, this might have been the best first professional job I could have asked for, and I really hope to be able to come back someday. I don't think I could have been away from theatre all summer. It's inspiring to see a new show every week and think, "I can do that." I can't wait to do that again.

I've been spending a lot of my time this summer riding my bike, and I've discovered that if I have a destination and an objective to accomplish, that I can ride my bike anywhere! I'm going to have a blast in Seattle becoming part of the two wheel community! I'm also ridiculously excited to have my dog with me so soon. I really think he's going to like the north. I think I'm going to enjoy the trip up--mom says I can drive through 8 states!

I haven't accomplished my goal of reading one play a week this summer. I realized I needed a break from too much theatre. However, I did read The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, and I've started Atlas Shrugged. The first I loved, the second....I can't decide. However, I do want to read as much as I can now that I don't have school. I also want to learn a foreign language--shooting too high? I think not.

I'm off to look for more jobs!

This thing called life

2011-06-11T19:44:00.004-05:00

It's been so long since I've written and I have no excuse but life getting in the way.

I graduated college on May 7, 2011. My Oma, Mother, Father, and Brother made it up to celebrate. I spent my last week of college finishing up my final exams, performing my last directing scene (which went fabulous), performing my last college 'comedy' show (which went surprisingly better than expected, but not much that I'll remember too fondly), and packing up all of my un-needed things into haphazard boxes. I juggled my time between family and friends on the last few days and nights. I attended a Trustee Banquet, where I met some amazing alum of my school who inspired me to give back one day. I only hope I'm as successful and happy as they all seemed to be. I had my last senior party, and a graduation rehearsal entirely too early in the morning to be of much use.

Then there was the big day. Graduation. My friends and I carried our dresses and caps and gowns over to the rehearsal room to change before final bows. Everyone in my class decorated their caps to say WWRD, which stands for What Would Rob Do? as a tribute to our Professor who has taught us so much. Professor D gave the acronym to us as advice on our last day of class. Then we all went outside to take pictures for about a half an hour.

When we came back in, it was time for the faculty toasts. The entire performing arts faculty lined up and toasted our graduating class in the rehearsal room, saying inspiring things and quoting the greats. There were quotes from Uta Hagen and Shakespeare, and a lot of great advice. They said we've come so far, and to just believe in ourselves, basically. Honestly, I was such an emotional mess I don't remember any of the advice given by anyone, but I was touched by the thought that went into the toasts. After toasts we had final bows which included every one of the performing arts students walking onto stage with our families in the audience and taking one final bow.

The theatre award winners were requested to go last by Professor B, and I ended up going last of all. I walked across the stage and stopped in the center. I took a moment to stare at my entire class, who I've come so far with, standing on the other side of the stage. I turned to face our 'audience' and then I completely broke down. I took my final bow in tears and my classmates joined me for one final group bow on the stage. I have never felt as fulfilled as I did in that moment. I felt as if I completed a long, hard journey and prevailed.

After that, it was a race to graduation. We ran to find our spots in the processional line. I was in the staff/faculty processional. Which means we led the students into the gym for graduation after walking around the campus like a parade for the parents. I ended up standing close to one of the trustee members that had dinner with me the night before, and I was able to talk to her more. She was great. When I made it inside, I sat on the stage beside the class president and we waited our turn to speak.

I hadn't looked over my speech much since I wrote it. I'm the kind of writer that scraps an entire piece and writes it again if I get too used to it. I decided to play it safe and keep it fresh, so by the time it was my turn to get to the podium and speak, I realized that I didn't know the words I was going to say as well as my theatrical training required of me. However, I wrote my speech specifically for the amazing men and women that were sitting in front of me, and all I had to do was tell them how I really felt. I had so much fun speaking to my class, and being allowed to share my thoughts with them. They brought me so far, and I owe so much to them and the amazing theatre faculty. I cried during the speech, but it was a good cry, and for the second time in the same day I felt really great about what I'd accomplished and where I was going.

My family was asked to stand and be recognized which was really cool, and my class and I sang 3 songs mostly in tears for the ceremony. Afterwards there was such a rush to find family and faculty to take pictures with that I never had the opportunity to say goodbye to everyone. Oddly enough, I didn't feel too bad about it because I have a feeling we'll all be seeing each other again soon in our lives.

I had two graduation meals that day: one at Jimmy Johns as a send off, and the other at Outback Steakhouse, because who doesn't love Outback?

The rest is mostly a blur. I drove home with my brother. My Oma stuck around for a couple of days and then she was off.
I had my wisdom teeth removed and spent some quality time with my friends whom I love dearly. Then it was my turn to head back up to my Alma Mater. It was strange and different to be back on campus, but I had to pick some things up for my summer job in Okoboji, and my friends and I caravanned the rest of the way to Iowa.

Preseason was a great time. We spent three weeks getting the theatre ready to open, organizing tickets, looking through this history of the place and categorizing a lot of things.

I realize that it's the middle of the season now, and I have nothing to show for what I've been doing except a fourth of July tan from playing volleyball and too many mosquito bites to count. I've met some new friends, and spoken with some talented artists.

Honestly my favorite part about this place is being with a family. It's all about being a company here and everybody is constantly striving for the same thing. No one person is singled out, and it just makes me feel like a part of something really great.

I've been spending a lot of time thinking about Seattle, and working at home, and finding work in my future, and what kind of work I actually want to do. I've also been spending a lot of my time enjoying what I have in front of me. It's definitely a strange balance to strike. The students here have been working towards going back to college, and it's odd to know that the staff here won't be going back with them. Most of the staff has just graduated.

What I've learned this summer is to let things happen, and to work hard to be happy in the moment. I should probably have more to say after all the time that has lapsed since my last post, but it's so hard to think about life outside when I'm in this little world. I'm just taking it one day at a time and loving every moment.

You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one

2011-05-02T14:19:00.003-05:00

Time flies. That phrase has never seemed so applicable. I remember graduating from high school was a sad affair, but it seems so much more prominent now. I think there was the safety of knowing the people I left behind would be there when I got back. There were school breaks to be had, and summers to play in. Now, the future is so real and there's nothing holding us back. When I leave school this time, I'm really leaving. I won't be home for breaks, and soon my friends won't be either. Then there's the amazing women I've met in college that are all starting life with me. I've gone through so much with them, and now that it's time to move on I thought I would be so much more excited for the future. High School graduation was filled with excitement, and I couldn't wait to leave home. Now, I just want to spend a little longer with this inspiring family that I've grown up with instead of moving on.

I've literally not had a second to sit down and write. The seconds I did have free, I've been spending with all my friends soaking up the last moments. I've been dress shopping for a graduation dress, which I have yet to find. I've finished my graduation speech and it's been approved. I've picked up my cap and gown. I've eaten almost too many Jimmy Johns sandwiches. I've had a senior banquet and a Stevies celebration (theatre banquet). I've filmed my last student film. I've seen my last college show. I've attended my last college cast party. I've had my last college class. I've had two finals and have three more to go.

Before this week is through I'd like to write a post about all the things I never want to forget, but I don't actually have time at the moment because I have rehearsal and then performance for a directing scene I'm in. I'm very excited to perform it, and I hope people come! My performance for comedy class has been moved to Thursday so we can perfect our through line for the show, so that's one less stress for the day.

Honestly, I'm just excited to take this week one day at a time, and try not to get overwhelmed. We just had our last class with Professor D and he gave us each an individual comment about what he respects most about us, and what he hopes we keep in mind. He told me that I have a maturity beyond my years but that I can play any age I want, and that he's really enjoyed working with me. Then he told me to remember to be a young woman, and to really enjoy my 20s and 30s because that's important. Thank you Professor D.

So much crying has happened in the last week for my class. There were a lot of tears today because of his comments, and there were a lot of tears at Stevies, which was a great success. Rhea came back into town for it and we got to hear everything she's been up to for the past 4 months. She makes me excited for my future.

By the time Saturday comes, I can officially be Facebook friends with all of my teachers! What an odd thing to be excited about.

I hope you enjoyed how spastic this post was, and maybe I'll be in a better state of mind to write later. Maybe. Who knows?

Slow down life

2011-04-20T11:12:00.004-05:00

I can't keep anything straight! It's been so hectic around here, and instead of it feeling like the end is approaching, I just keep forgetting. I feel like I have years left in college instead of 2 more weeks. People have to keep reminding the seniors about deadlines because it doesn't feel as if graduation is about to happen. There's so much left to do. And feel. Ah.

So: My show opened last Wednesday. It went fantastic! Every night of the show was a strong night. I'm not sure I'd ever had this experience before, so it was really nice to have it for my last show. We received a lot of great compliments, and I had so much fun. I had forgotten that I hadn't played a crazy role in a while (probably because the rehearsal process seemed so long), so it was nice to hear my classmates say they enjoyed seeing me in something that wasn't dramatic.

All of the faculty came out to support us, and I couldn't have had a better experience. My costume was fantastic, my castmates were amazing and have great things ahead of them, and I got to work with some of my favorite people one last time. I'd say Friday was probably my strongest performance, but every night was a new show. Saturday night was strike, and honestly it was kind of a blur. I had a moment where I realized it was my last strike...then it passed and nothing seemed to hit me. I think it will hit when we're striking Thoroughly Modern Millie and the rest of my classmates are finished with me.

We had honors convocation and I won the Trustee Award which means I'm the senior speaker at graduation. I also received the Sarah Ann Fay award for theatre, which was really exciting. So many amazing and gifted women have won it before me and I felt honored and humbled to be chosen for it this year. I don't tend to think of theatre or acting as an individual experience. It's about a community, and that means I owe everything I've accompished to the amazing people around me. I think it also made me realize how far I've truly come and how hard I've worked to be where I am. I'm so lucky to have come to the place that I'm at, and I couldn't have asked for a better experience.

Along with rehearsals, performances, and tons of senior things I've also had a couple other events to check off on my to do list. I've had rehearsals for 2 off-the-walls I'm acting in. I'll be performing in Love, Loss, and What I Wore Thursday night and 27 Wagons Full of Cotton on May 3rd. There's been some rehearsals for singing at graduation as well as for the senior recital that's coming up on Saturday.

I've had no afternoon rehearsals for the past 2 days and it's been so strange. Normally, you'd think this would give me more time to think, pack, write a speech, or do something productive that prepares me for life after college. Instead all I do is spend entirely too much time with my classmates talking about how we don't want to graduate but we want to be done with school, staring at my room wishing it would pack itself, memorizing lines, stressing about singing in front of an audience, and designing various projects.

Full steam ahead.

I have so much to do! I'm so happy to be going to Boji because it's a reprieve from real life, but it's strange to see how excited the 2nd years are about their casting. That was me only a year ago--yet I feel like I've come so far. The seniors are in such a different place, and it's strange to feel things coming to an end.

We've had the last Sketchy Business show, the last improv show, and we even held a Warehouse sponsored Murder Mystery/Dance.

I've also finally made the decision to move to Seattle. That's it. That's where I'm going. If I don't like it, I'll move again. But right now, the plan is to pack my car, snatch my dog, and start from square one in the North West corner of America. I feel slightly sick typing this which is possibly a mixture of excitement and unease at the prospect of being at the bottom of the food chain and working my way up.

Which reminds me of everything I learned this weekend about auditioning. I'll have to write a stand alone post about Merri Sugarman's workshop this past Saturday, but right now I have to run to class.

Lost and Found

2011-04-09T10:02:00.003-05:00

It's been so long! I'm so sorry!

A recap is necessary for the past 2 weeks, but first: It's my 21st birthday! I feel....old? Hm. I feel legal, let's put it that way. I feel like my opportunities are endless. There are more things I can do and more places I can go. It's exciting. I had a great time last night. I went to a campus sponsored speak easy where all the proceeds went to VegFam for charity. So technically, I gambled on my 21st birthday because I played some Blackjack, but all the proceeds went to charity! Then the girls in my class took me out and we had a great time. I received a lot of birthday wishes, and I had a large group sing me happy birthday. It was fun!

But moving backwards:

Spring Break 2011--New York City

We left Saturday morning at 7 to get to the airport. The flight over was smooth and we got in at 1. We found Ashley's Brooklyn apartment with no problem. It was a really cute little place. The neighborhood was nice, and right by 5th avenue where EVERYTHING was happening. We spent a morning walking down 5th avenue and it was a lot of fun. The street was so busy, and all the shops were selling the same things, but everybody had customers. We actually ate at a $5 chinese restaurant there called Bruce Lee's Restaurant that was pretty good.

So the first day Ashley took us into the city to show us the little church basement theatre that she was directing at. It was a neat space! She had to work, so Kaitie and I walked down to Hell's Kitchen and explored and at some food. I had the best tuna wrap ever. It had taken us about an hour on the subway to get into the city from Brooklyn so it was already getting pretty late and we decided we wanted to find a show. We found The Women's Theatre Project, which is a small place that a past graduate and friend of mine interned at for a short time. We walked in to explore and they happened to be about to put on a one woman show called Room based on the writings of Virginia Woolf and directed by Ann Bogart. We got student tickets at $20 and piddled around in Times Square before it was time to see the show.

This show was amazing. It was all based on the Viewpoints technique, which is a method that Ann Bogart herself, created. We were watching a show directed by one of the greats. 20 years from now people will be talking about this method the way they talk about Stella Adler and Lee Strasberg. It is already taught (and has been for 20 years or so) in every good graduate program. Anyway, the show--fantastic. I was a little too tired from the plane ride to really take in all the dialogue, but I was so focused on her physicality that I wouldn't have paid total attention either way. 'Viewpoints is a technique of composition that provides a vocabulary for thinking about and acting upon movement and gesture.' So the entire play she did a series of extremely controlled movements in specific orders, all on specific lines. Some were simple-others were complex. I actually tried to do a couple later that night just to see if I could. I couldn't. The climax of the production happened when she did every single move she had covered so far in rapid fire succession. She didn't mess up or lose her balance once. It was amazing.

It really spoke to me about the use of an actor's body as a tool. They tell us how important our physicality is all the time in school. Of course it changes with every role: how you walk or hold yourself. It really helped me unlock the kind of movements I needed to be making with my character Dorothea in Eleemosynary right now.

Also, the set was a box. All lights were visible. And there was nothing but a chair on stage. It was a great show.

Next up--Sunday. So on Sunday we met up with Melissa in the city and we saw a bit of Shetler Studios which is a rehearsal and audition space in New York that, if I lived there, I would be seeing a lot of at some point. Then we went shopping for a while, at which I was completely unsuccessful but Kaitie and Melissa both managed to find something. That night we went to see the show Ashley was stage managing at a different theatre. She was working with the Young Company, which is the Columbia Graduate Acting program students. Some of them were past graduates, and some had yet to graduate. They were performing As You Like It in 90 minutes.

It started out a little rough, but they all settled into it and it became a really enjoyable show. It's a show they perform for a lot of schools, so there were some fun elements like a slow motion fight and live music that the actors added in. All in all, it was a solid show, but the whole time I was watching it I was thinking "My class could do that". Columbia has some great faculty members for their graduate program, but honestly it made me think that I would never go there for graduate school. I want to improve and be surrounded by people that push me harder, and I wasn't impressed by the show to that degree. But I liked the show.

Then we went out for desert in Times Square and we at at Roxy's Delicatessen, which was yummy. We ended up taking almost 3 hours to get home that night. We had to take Katie Mac back to Williamsburg where she was staying, and the subways were running slow. There wasn't a subway from Williamsburg down into Brooklyn, so we had to ride back into the city, then into Brooklyn. I decided right then and there that I don't like my life being dictated by the public transportation schedule, especially when I'm tired and I have someone waiting up to let me in their building. Strike 1 against New York.

Monday we had a chill day. We went shopping with Melissa again, and we decided not to see a show. We met up with some of our classmates for a birthday, which was fun. We called it a night early so Ashley wouldn't be waiting up for us two nights in a row. Tuesday was Kaitie's 21st birthday, and we were on the move to stay at Katie Mac's. We took our luggage into the city and ate at Lombardi's for lunch. Lombardi's is New York's first pizzeria. It's supposed to be a classic. I enjoyed it, but compared to the 99 cent pizza I had later in the week, I wouldn't say it was amazing. They were nice enough to hold our bags for us though. Then we ate desert at a small cafe called The Best Chocolate Cake in the world. I had the chocolate cake, and it was my 2nd best. My 1st is a Brazilian restaurant in Texas. But it was a close 2nd, and I would eat it again. They actually ship their cakes anywhere, but I decided not to tempt myself by taking a business card with me.

After that we headed over to Williamsburg to drop our stuff off at Katie Mac's. We ended up doing some more shopping and I found a pair of boots that I liked for $24! We put our stuff in the apartment, and then we headed into town for a birthday meal at Ellen's Stardust Diner. I have to say, it was the most unimpressive I've ever seen it. That could be because I have a lot more training now, or because I wasn't there with an adult meaning I didn't look like a child meaning I didn't deserve special attention, or it could be because they just didn't know how to work a crowd. Possibly a mixture of all three. Seriously though, they all sounded great ( I think they sounded the best out of every time I've ever been) but they just didn't interact. They all stood in the same place to sing, or they sang while they were serving. But none of them sang to anyone specific, or seemed to have anything to say with the song they chose. Kaitie wasn't impressed, and our server hardly paid attention to us, even after we told him it was her 21st birthday. Strike 2?

We went out to some bars that night. We went to the International Bar (?) in the east side, which we decided wasn't the atmosphere for us. After that we went into Williamsburg to a bar called Barcade which had a bunch of old arcade games that everyone could play for 25 cents. That was a fun time, but we called it a night early and decided to watch some Robert Downey Jr. movie at Katie Mac's place before going to bed.

Wednesday we moved our stuff up to Harlem where we would be staying with Rachael that night. Then we went into the city and saw Arcadia for a matinee and Driving Miss Daisy at night. Arcadia was something I really wanted to see. It had Billy Crudup in it and I am a huge fan. We got student rush tickets and the show was amazing. I absolutely loved it. It's a fantastically intelligent and humorous script, and the acting was supreme. The set was beautiful and simple. It's a play that goes between two different time periods, and they did it wonderfully. I loved everything about it.

Driving Miss Daisy was phenomenal as well. Vanessa Redgrave and James Earl Jones were stunning. I was originally sad that I couldn't get tickets to Warhorse, but I'm so glad I had the opportunity to see this show instead. I saw two of the greatest actors of this century on stage. My professor says everybody should see Vanessa Redgrave before she dies. I will have something to talk about for years to come. They were literally amazing to watch. Mr. Jone's characterization absolutely blew me away. And to watch the two of them age was such a great educational tool since I have to do the same in Eleemosynary. Also, the stage had a bunch of slipping set pieces on it, which was really cool to watch. They had a rotating piece of stage for the car, which was a neat idea. The play was great!

We went out that night to see everyone one last time. It was crazy because everyone from my school that went to New York for the break showed up at the bar, and we had a lot of fun speaking to all the alumni. Rachael's apartment was really cute, and I got to sleep on my second blow up mattress of the trip. I slept on a floor for 2 nights, a couch for 1, and an air mattress for 2. I loved every minute of it.

Thursday morning we were up and out of there in time to explore for some of the acting schools I wanted to research. I tried to see the School for Film and Television (Conservatory of Dramatic Arts now it's called) and the Stella Adler Studio, but both were in random buildings on some high floor and I didn't feel comfortable waltzing in. So instead, we went to the American Natural History Museum, which was one of my favorite things on the trip. I had so much fun! I've forgotten after going to theatre school for 3 years, how nice it is to be reminded of the outside world and where we came from. It's an amazing museum and I wish I could have spent more than 3 hours there, but we were on a race to get a deli sandwich (which we were told we had to do before leaving New York because it is classic cuisine) and catch a subway car to the airport.

There was a bit of a snafu which almost made us entirely too late for our airplane. Instead we were only marginally late and we somehow made it (with the help of a nice man who ushered us down 5 more ramps, after 1 football field of running through an airport, into our flight just in time and became our saving grace) into our seats. The stewardess was nice enough to provide us with bottle water to catch our breath and we were off! A five night, six day trip to New York City complete!

What did I learn? I hate the cold. I'm not the biggest fan of public transportation late at night. Carrying luggage around through a large city is tiring and just a hassle. I love theatre. I can do theatre. I could live in New York if I had to. I don't want to live in New York at this moment if I don't have to. I hate the cold.

That about sums it up.

So we got back, I did a bunch of homework, and I officially became addicted to past and present ABC Family television shows that should probably only entertain preteens. What can I say?

This week has been even crazier than the two before it. We crashed back into rehearsal, and were in much better shape than when we left because surprisingly a week off can always do more good than harm. I had a presentation and 5 page essay for Dramatic Lit on Monday. Comedy Class on Tuesday consisted of us starting to piece together our final company class show based on Lysistrata. Wednesday was Crew Watch and the beginning of Tech Week. Thursday was Warehouse Board Elections. And Friday was the Boji Meeting and my Birthday night!

I've had entirely too much homework to be happy. I've been looking into Seattle a lot and am 85% certain I'd like to possibly move there after Boji. I could expound on that, but since I haven't made final decisions I'll save it for another day.

It is obvious to me now that I'm capable of writing entirely too much information in one go, and that it's slightly odd I chose my birthday to take the time to write this down. Today I want to see a movie because it's been so long. And then I'm going to Melissa's senior recital and 33 in 66 to support my friends! Happy Birthday to me!

Here's some pictures to make this post even longer:

What's in a name?

2011-03-17T08:57:00.003-05:00

I've gotten so incredibly busy that I couldn't stop for a moment and breathe to write this. I probably should have taken the time to do so and I wouldn't have felt so crazy!

We finished blocking the show on Friday. We're on Boji time, it seems. We were able to work a lot of character things in with blocking, so it was fun. What's been taking up a lot of time is our character work. Director E has been letting us do character exercises in rehearsal to help us build these characters. Some days we have to walk around and interact with each other at our different ages in the script. We have a research assignment every day about our characters that we share. On Friday, we came into rehearsal and the middle of the floor was filled with random things. Director gave us 2 minutes to grab what we thought would be in our character's room, then we had to sit down in our 'space' and write a letter to one of the characters in the play. It was really hard, but it was incredibly useful. It took about 20 minutes, and then we read them out loud.

We get to do all of these exercises with the swing cast, which is great for interpretation. We get to understand how another person thinks of our character from a different point of view. By Monday, we were working the show. We started at scene 1, and we just started and stopped every time Director E had an idea. It was a lot of moment work, which is always great to focus on. We tried out a lot of new choices for our characters and discarded the ones that Director E didn't like. We've been working off book for scenes 1-3 since Monday, and the rest is off book by Friday. It's so nice to have the script out of my hands!

We met individually with Director E last night to talk about our characters and what directions we're thinking of going. It was nice to finally hear where she would like me to go. She'd been giving me a lot of freedom lately, and I toned my character down. It turns out she'd much rather I go bigger and crazier. I'm really excited to start on that! I got to do it a little last night. We reviewed Act II so we could have the lines in our bones again before getting off book.

Director E gave us an updated time line for our characters. The ages change so rapidly in the play, we had to map it out to be able to grab how old we were in a certain scene. It turns out Dorothea (my character) was born in 1910! Our assignment for tonight was to pick what kind of music we think our characters listen to. I've got some research to do.

I've been working all last week and this week on the poster.
It's gone through more revisions than my previous ones, I feel like. But I'm happy with the final outcome. The faculty and the board had input on this one, and it was nice to hear the opinions and be able to fix the problems.

I've been a little stressed this week because there's so much to do. There was the frustration of feeling like I wasn't doing things right in rehearsal (which I know now to be because we were going in 2 different directions), homework for classes which includes memorizing new monologues, memorizing for the show, memorizing for Acting for the Camera, working in Box Office on Boji things, and midterms for Creating Online Media and Voice. When it gets to this weekend, I'm going to RELAX.

Last weekend, I had some fun seeing a show downtown with one of the former teachers here. Addison was fantastic! It was a two man show, called Halper and Johnson. I hung out with some friends last weekend, which seems to be something I don't get to do a whole lot, so that was great too! I also watched the movie Auntie Mame for some character study, and it was very helpful.

We had an assignment for Comedy class to be a man doing a task. Last night I went down to the boys and 4 of them were nice enough to take our the trash for me so I could observe them. Then they walked me through their thought process of taking out the trash, and then they helped me make sure I looked like a man while doing it. Definitely one of my favorite assignments I think.

Today in rehearsal, we're going to get hypnotized by a certified hypno-therapist. My character is an eccentric who regularly takes her daughter to be hypnotized, so we thought it would be great to know what it's like. I'm SO excited!

The weather on Monday was horrible--it snowed 6 inches. But for the past 2 days it's been 70 degrees outside. I love it! I can only hope New York stays semi-warm for my visit. I'm very excited for Spring Break. Not only does a week off sound fantastic, but I'm getting pumped to see some amazing shows!

Class time!

How has attending a Women's College helped me?

2011-03-09T10:52:00.004-06:00

I had an interview yesterday for the Trustee Award I applied for. If I win the award, I get to speak at graduation. I was interviewed by 4 people, all of which are involved with my college, but none of which I'd met before. They were incredibly nice and easy to talk to. However, their questions were things I've thought about in my own time, but not necessarily things I'd had to formulate answers for before. And of course, in an interview situation, you have to have an answer.

I spoke a lot about how much I love this college, and how much I've learned about myself as an individual. In fact, I must have been too positive about the school, because I was asked if there was anything that bothers me about the college! That was hard to dig myself out of. Honestly, I felt like I talked in circles and repeated myself a lot. I also couldn't remember the ten ideals of my college...oh wait, that's because I never had to learn them. Honestly, I should know them anyway after all my time here, but I don't. I didn't look very intelligent on that answer. Overall, I became frustrated (not in the room of course, but afterwards). The questions they asked were things that I wanted to sit and think about before giving an answer. Subsequently, I'm still thinking about them now. And some questions I didn't think had appropriate answers, such as: How are you so involved in theatre with such an intense, accelerated curriculum, and involved around campus, and still manage to keep your sparkling GPA? My response was: I do my homework.

I wouldn't say the interview was rough, but I'm not sure it was my shining moment either. I learned a valuable lesson about interviews though: you can't always be prepared.

So: backtracking. I saw a True/False film this year called The Arbor which was very good, but incredibly depressing. The idea behind it was interesting. The director did audio interviews and then hired actors to lip sync to the voices of the real people. It was pretty amazing.

I also went to see the dance concert. Some of my friends from Freshmen year had solos, and it was amazing to finally get to see them shine. They did a fantastic job! The costumes were stunning, the dances were really cool, and I had a great time with friends!

Friday night I had auditions and callbacks for Eleemosynary, and Monday the cast list went up. I made it! My character is Dorothea. She is a 75 year old mother/grandmother who has recently had a stroke. All of her action in the play takes place in the memory of her granddaughter Echo, who imagines her much younger. So for the most part, I get to be in my 40's and 50's, but she was born in the 1920's. I'm so excited to research this role. I have so much that I can do with it. Since we found out we got cast the same day as our first rehearsal, I haven't had much time to prepare. I'm definitely going to take this upcoming weekend as a time to dive into everything. We've blocked 2 scenes so far, and my cast is amazing! We also have a swing cast that will get to perform one show. The girl playing my role in the swing cast is great! I'm so excited to get to work with her on this project.

Already I've been researching eccentricity, since my character is a notable eccentric. The play is really about a family of geniuses. All the characters are incredibly smart, so it's a lot of fun to work on such an intelligent script.

Also this week, I've been working on the directing scene I'm acting in. It gets better every time we run it, which is no surprise, but it also becomes more fun. I'm always finding something new to laugh about, and it's so easy to be natural in this role. I love knowing that I get to come have fun every time we rehearse, and I don't have to worry about being somebody else necessarily. We perform that this coming Sunday!

Yesterday in comedy class we had to perform a skit by our comedians. I was playing Molly Shannon's character Mary Katherine Gallagher.
She's an Irish Catholic schoolgirl whose grandmother thinks she can be a superstar. She has no social skills, she puts her hands in her armpits and smells them when she gets nervous, and she watches too many made for TV movies. I had a blast! I got to jump around, do a horrible monologue and song, and fling myself onto a pile of folding chairs. She always does dangerous stunts, but I made sure it was safe. Professor L loved it! She told me I was her doppelganger and that I did a great impression. You can sort of see the stack of chairs I jumped on in the background.

Here's a link to the skit I copied for class. It plays an advertisement before it lets you watch, but it's worth the wait! Just copy and paste it.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/4121/saturday-night-live-st-monicas-talent-auditions

It's been a crazy couple of days. We've been reading more plays in Dramatic Literature, and doing more on camera scenes for Acting for the Camera. Our next assignment due before spring break in that class is called Hidden Camera. Professor D has give us 6 monologues. We're supposed to choose one and then have someone film us performing it in public somewhere off campus in a creative way. If we use a stranger, they're required to know they're being filmed of course, but the hardest part is making the monologues into our own words. They're very difficult monologues, which Professor D gave us on purpose. I'm excited to try it out, though I haven't decided how I want to perform mine yet.

I'm so busy all of a sudden that I'm having trouble keeping up with things. Our next assignment in comedy class is to perform a Shakespeare monologue as our comedian. You can not possibly understand how excited I am to perform Shakespeare as Mary Katherine Gallagher. It's going to be so awkward!

Peace be unto you

2011-03-04T08:52:00.003-06:00

It hasn't necessarily been a busy week, and I couldn't decide what to write about. Classes have been going well. We watched a lot of our film footage in Acting for the Camera. I felt good about some of it, surprisingly, but I have a lot to learn.

I've spent a lot of this week catching up on real life. I've been doing some research on Seattle, and internships there. I've been thinking of pros and cons for moving certain places. Honestly, I just talk myself in circles, but at least I feel mildly productive.

But here's the real stuff: we read and discussed a play this week called Yellow Face about the practice of yellow face (think black face except for Asians) in the theatrical world, and the way that society tends not to oppose the idea of yellow face the way that black face is opposed. People are offended by the use of black face today because our country is so racially charged. But honestly, until I read this play, I hadn't even considered the struggles of Asians in America. It was definitely an eye opening play.

We discussed whether the idea of one race playing another on stage is ever appropriate. There were a lot of opposing views, but the majority thought that if the circumstance was meant to be farcical, or an artistic experience, that the idea was acceptable. But most of the time, the class agreed that the subject is offensive and inconsiderate.

This week I also watched one of the movies on the list that Professor D gave us to watch. I watched Malcolm X. I knew of Malcolm X, but because of his more radical approach to the topic of integration and race, he's not really covered in school the way Martin Luther King is. This movie was amazing to watch. It's about the journey and transformation of a young boy into a man. It's impossible to put race aside when speaking about this movie, but what really inspired me wasn't Malcolm X's ideas or methods. It was his ability to grow so much as a human being. He was constantly having his eyes opened to the injustices of the world, and learning of new faults in himself.

Most of what I'd heard of Malcolm X wasn't positive, and I'm definitely inspired to go read his autobiography (which is named one of the 100 most influential novels of the 20th century.), but I'm interested to know how much of the movie is true. I'm assuming most of it, otherwise the family wouldn't have let it be made. In the movie, the majority of the first half is Malcolm X being a hypocrite, and then espousing black supremacy which was equally supported and opposed at the time. But he continues to listen to people, and grow from his experiences (namely a trip to Mecca) and he lets them shape him and his cause. He's not afraid of change, and he's fighting for results. By the end of the movie he is working for a common cause, and is trying to fix some of his past transgressions.

It was inspiring to think that I can and will continue to grow as a person after I leave school. My time here is almost up, but I'm no where near done learning. I like the idea of traveling and learning about other ways of life, and opening my eyes to the world around me. It makes me excited about every possibility that lies before me.

This week made me proud and thankful to have grown up in the generation that I have. Race is and will always be an issue. But so much progress has been made.

There were 2 unfortunate incidents in my city this week. On a nearby college campus, there was a rape, and at our local grocery store there was a sexual assault. Though I live in a college town that can get pretty rowdy, it is not often that incidents like this occur. We've received an email about ways to handle situations like these should they occur, and the security staff has decided to offer self defense seminars in a couple weeks.

My freshmen year, we were required (as a class) to have a seminar with some members of the police force who spoke to us about how to conduct ourselves in a college town to avoid incidents like these. Because I go to a women's college, I thought these discussions were extremely relevant and important. I'm thankful that our staff take the time to help us protect ourselves by giving us important knowledge. We even received rape whistles in our mail boxes that came on lanyards so we could easily attach them to our purses.

The idea of assault is incredibly scary. But having gone to a women's college for almost 3 years now, my views are much stronger on the subject. I feel for women as a collective group now, in ways I didn't before.

I'm going to be moving to a larger city soon, and I'm inspired to not only be aware of myself and my surroundings, but to make sure that I can protect myself. I never want to feel helpless in a situation.

So, this week has been a learning experience all around. I've learned about my future, about the past, and how to stay aware of the present. And this afternoon---Eleemosynary auditions and hopefully callbacks! It's going to be a fun day!

When I Say Jump--Say How High?

2011-02-26T11:15:00.008-06:00

I've been meaning to update all week, because I feel like I learned a lot I need to share, but I just didn't know how to put it in words.

I'm still a little confused, but sooner is better than later.

Monday: My first school day being done with the show. It was weird. It was nice. I ran around getting the programs printed for the Warehouse show, and then folded them. I had a lot of time for my homework in the afternoon and evening. Kaitie and I let our first year friend Emma sleep over because her whole building's heat got turned off. We went and saw the Sketchy Business show, which is a student sketch comedy group on campus. It's made up of mostly underclassmen, but the boys stepped in for a skit this time, and it was really great! I'm really enjoying watching as much theatre on and off campus this semester as possible. I find myself wanting to be as involved as I can before my time is up here.

Tuesday: Here's where things got a little interesting. Professor L spent our 2 hours of Comedy Class talking about our futures. We started by going over some of the girls' experiences at their Midwest auditions. Then we moved into subsistence work (Young Audiences Inc.), touring shows, writing your own material, and working off royalties. Those were things we'd heard before from Professor D, but Professor L shared some of her personal experiences, and it was eye opening for me. Then we talked about regional markets vs. New York City, and we covered some common misconceptions there.

Normally, I love that our faculty tends to have completely differing opinions on most subjects, and you can find what works best for you as an individual. This week I became slightly frustrated that I didn't know who's advice applied to me better. Professor L said that New York is mainly for the singers. And the way to make it there is to go with a meal ticket in hand. The interesting, artistically challenging works start in the regions, pick up momentum, and then move to NYC. Why not get on board with those in the regions? We spoke a lot about how we have to find the markets that fit our style.

Then we talked about finding our type (the most difficult assignment for me last semester). Know who you are, Professor L said, and know what you need to do to be fulfilled. Do I want to do commercial theatre or artistically challenging theatre? Professor L spent a lot of the class time looking at me when she spoke of leading lady types and graduate school. She said that some people will hit their prime later in life and will work more then. She told us that graduate school should be done only when you are ready for it. Some people wait 8 years for graduate school. I believe Professor L waited quite a few years before graduate school, and she received two degrees (Acting and Directing) at different points in her life.

She wanted us to talk about our fears. We spoke up about wanting a paycheck to validate us when we graduate, not knowing who we are beyond this school, and not knowing how to proceed.

Honestly, it was nice to have this talk because these are the kinds of things we're desperate to hear this last semester. It shows us the faculty understands and they care. However, it was so overwhelming at the time, no one really knew what to say or ask.

After class I went up to Professor L to set up a feedback time with her about my last audition. Instead she told me right there why she didn't cast me. She gave me nothing but amazing feedback, which made my head spin a little(a lot). She'd never been so honest with me, and I felt for the first time here that I could go to her for anything, because I know now how much she believes in me. So after that 4 minute crazy interlude in my life, I asked to meet on Thursday for a talk about graduate schools.

Wednesday: I had a blast in the box office! This entire week I spent a lot of time in the box office, and I had the opportunity to do a lot of new things. I started correspondence with designers, made gift certificates and donation cards, and to trouble shoot some technical difficulties. I'm not sure why I'm so excited about this, but I am! Box Office is cathartic to me, I think. I really enjoy being around the people, and working on the business side. Sometimes I don't know how they keep it all together though, because it's so much work!

That night I saw the opening of The Young and Fair!

My mentizzle was sick, and she was the lead in the show, so her understudy had to go on! She was absolutely fantastic. What a model for all the other understudies out there. She never looked like she didn't know what she was doing or what she was about to say. Every understudy should always remember they might have to go on. It's easy in the real world when you're being paid for it, but at school sometimes people forget. I was so proud of the entire cast! Of course, I'm going back tonight to see the show, because my mentizzle is better now.

Thursday: I met with Professor L before class. She talked with me more in depth about why I was thinking so strongly of moving to New York. She expressed again that there are 50,000 unemployed actors in New York with more experience than me. Why not go when I have a sure thing? Or better connections (ie after graduate school)? She also told me that I should strongly consider film, which I told her is an interest of mine anyway. She urged me to look into markets with a strong film base such as Chicago. Chicago also does a lot of new works, she said, and that's the kind of work I should be involved in, she said. It was really nice to have such an honest talk. I told her about my interest in Seattle because my friends are moving there, and she told me that as long as it has a good film scene, I should consider it.

We talked specifically about choosing a graduate school that pays for me and has a repertory or regional theatre attached to it. She graduated with an MFA in acting from UMKC, and she told me that when she was there, they brought in world class directors and playwrights to work with. By the time she graduated people couldn't believe that she was so young and had worked with so many amazing people. She told me that's the kind of program I need to be looking for. She warned me to not think about graduate school until I knew what I wanted. Graduate school should be done when you're sure of the direction you'd like to go so you can choose the school that's the best fit for you. I take that with a grain of salt only because I think that I'm not sure I'll ever be able to choose exactly what I want. I'm not big on boxing myself in. I'll make sure I'm interesting in learning what a program has to offer.

In Comedy Class we went around in a circle and talked about the backgrounds of our comedians we're about to start 'inhabiting'. We didn't make it all the way around because our research is so in depth. Next class we're going to finish the Bio circle, and then we're going to start our sketches. We're supposed to have taken a sketch we think we can imitate of our comedian and perform it eventually. I'll be doing Molly Shannon and her Mary Katherine Gallagher sketch from SNL. I'm really excited about it. She's a total spaz.

Thursday it also started snowing again, out of no where. I went to see Bach's Lunch with some friends. I loved it! Erin (my mom from Sense) performed a duet called Secondary Characters from Title of Show. It was fantastic. I had such a great time watching new people perform too.

My Creating Online Media class was cancelled because of the snow, but I'm basically finished with the resume page we had to code. I only need to add a navigation bar and a .pdf link of my resume to download.

Friday: I had to tell a personal story about a piece of art that is meaningful to me in Acting for the Camera. It was a closeup shot and we had to make it conversational. I told the story of buying my first book of poetry, and how I used to think I'd be a writer. It made me promise myself that I will still be a writer. I've been so caught up these years here that I've forgotten one of my first passions. But soon, I'll have a lot of time on my hands.

Last night was the opening of 33 in 66 at the Berlin Theatre downtown. Basically this show was created off the idea of the Neofuturists' show Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind. A group of students here got together who were all inspired by the above troupe, and they decided they wanted to do a similar show. What happens is, there is a closeline on stage, with numbers attached to it. Each number stands for a different 'play'. The audience calls our a number, and a member of the troupe takes it down, reads the name of the play and they have to perform it right then and there. When that one is done, another random number is called. The actors never know which number correlates with which play until they read it, and the order of the plays is different every time because of the audience. The goal is to put on 33 plays in 66 minutes! Crazy right? It's so much fun to watch! The sketches range from funny to honest, and it's all student written. Tons of my friends were in it and they did such a great job. They're planning on doing a new 33 plays every month! I can't wait!

Saturday: So this weekend is all about catching up for me. I still have an essay to write for this award. I have to start watching more of Molly Shannon. The Oscars are on Sunday, and I've signed onto do a directing scene that starts rehearsal tomorrow as well. Busy Busy, but nothing like it was. Also coming up this week: my last audition at college--Eleemosynary!

The Next Big Thing

2011-02-20T01:43:00.003-06:00

Today was the end of one of the most enjoyable experiences I've had in college. I've made fantastic new friends, and built great relationships. I've learned so much about myself and my abilities.

Our show Friday night was performed to a sold out crowd, half of which were prospective theatre students. This entire run has sold incredibly well, and our resident stage manager expressed that we should all be proud of our hard work on such a well received show. We had a lot to overcome in this process with 4 snowdays, a huge cast, and not enough shop/costume workers to go around. I'm glad to say I was a part of it.

We received a standing ovation at the end of Friday night. It was an interesting show for me because I felt a little off about my performance. But I have to remind myself that I don't always need to like what I give, as long as the audience enjoys it and learns from it. And even on an off night I discovered new things. I listened in ways I hadn't before and tried things that the swing performance had inspired me to try.

Tonight's show was the most fun yet. Everyone was so excited to be there, and so ready to give it one last go. We all started the show in great spirits, and we ended the show in even better spirits. I realized when I started preparing for the show tonight that it was going to be an emotional roller coaster ride. I found out earlier in the day that I wasn't cast in Clean House. I won't be in the musical at the end of semester. So tonight was my last main stage performance. For 3 years, I've called this school home, and it's only fitting that I end with such an amazing opportunity under my belt.

I've gotten to act with 2 faculty members who have taught me so much, and a huge cast of students who live and breathe this art form every day. This process taught me again how to handle a large part and how to listen in every scene. It taught me commitment to character and emotions. I can tell that my ability to draw my emotions out quickly has improved immensely. And I've learned how to be myself again. I spent a lot of time in college being shy when I'm cast, but this show really allowed me to be myself, and I can only thank my amazing cast for that.

I wrote personal thank you cards for everyone because I feel it's important to show appreciation. I write them for every show, but it was especially difficult for this one. I had so much I wanted to say.

I received some breath-stopping, blush-inducing compliments today from people I've never met, and from people I highly esteem. If there's one thing I've taken away from this experience, it's that I want to do this again. I want to be in a large cast, and part of a company that has a common goal.

I've spent a lot of time recently thinking about where I want to end up and what I really want to do for my career. My dinner with 2 amazing alumni women really inspired me to think harder. I know now that I don't want to pursue strictly commercial theatre or strictly avante garde work. I want to be hired at places where they value a company atmosphere. Whether that's at a theatre or on a television series is neither here nor there. I'd like to do a wide range of things in this field, but I know that I don't want to end up doing this just for the money. And I don't want a main role just because it's a good one to put on a resume. I want to enjoy the experience and get to know the people. For me, it's all about the community. That's what I value. And good work comes out of working with people who value that as well. It's what makes me happy.

We striked the set after the show tonight. It was sad to see it go, but I love strike because everyone is working together and you get to be a part of something bigger than yourself. A couple of the members in my cast are in the next show, and I can't wait to see them perform! Professor L magically improves everyone she works with. It's impossible to not grow from the experience. I'll be going in for feedback early this week about my audition, which I'll post here.

So, enough about Sense and Sensibility and our fantastic closing show that made me incredibly happy and proud. More interesting are the two women I had the opportunity to spend a dinner with: Karyn Meek and Mara McEwin. Karyn is a Broadway stage manager who is currently touring the show 9 to 5. Mara co-founded and acts as artistic director for her own theatre company called Treehouse Shakers. They perform theatre/dance performance art pieces for young audiences in New York. They graduated with each other and are good friends. They talked forever about New York, Equity vs. Non-Equity, and how to decide where your niche is. It was fascinating and inspiring.

I learned that beyond not going Equity too soon because of financial considerations(which I'd learned already), it can mark you out for artistically fulfilling work. Mara's company hires Non-Equity and they can pay better than some Equity contracts. She told me that there are many Non-Equity theatres that also offer benefit plans that can be nearly as good as or better than Equity benefit plans. Karyn spoke a lot about how commercial work can be soul-killing if you want to do theatre for the art of it. It's a decision a lot of actors have to make, she says, of wanting to go down the commercially(aka monetarily) successful path or the artistically fulfilling. That's something I don't necessarily have to consider now, but it is important for my future.

They talked about how our college network (especially and specifically in NYC, though it's large in other areas of the country) is magnificent. Both of them (they graduated mid 1990's) were given their first day jobs by the alumni association. Professor L expressed her love of the alumni association as well. Apparently, these amazing women will help hook graduates up with day jobs, agent info, sublets or good apartments to rent, and anything else we could ever want or need. It was really reassuring to know that when I move, I won't be alone if I don't choose to be. Mara also offered to meet up with any of us if we should decide to go to New York for spring break. I'm very excited at this prospect.

Honestly, the last couple days have been a bit overwhelming. I've never been so thankful to have almost no homework over a weekend before. I've thought entirely too much about my future, and I fluctuate between extreme excitement and absolute dread at the thought of leaving college. I suppose I sound like every other college senior on the face of the planet. With the end of this show comes the time for me to begin making a lot of decisions that I'm not entirely ready to make. I have to remember that not everything needs to be decided now, and instead be happy at all the opportunities that are before me.

What an exciting prospect.

Bye Bye Blackbird

2011-02-17T18:13:00.003-06:00

That's the title of a song that I enjoy that I'd heard before, forgotten, and recently been reintroduced too. We used it in a scene in Acting IV last year, and it was in the ending of The History Boys movie I just finished watching.

This week:

I auditioned for Clean House! There were auditions Monday, and I performed a new monologue that I really like. Comedic monologues can be so difficult to find so I mark it as a success when I land on one I enjoy that shows personality. And isn't overdone. I also had to tell 2 jokes.

My jokes were:
1. The phrase 'sort of' is so inconsequential. It doesn't mean anything. It's just a filler. Except when it's said after things, like after I love you. Or you're going to live! Or, it's a boy!

2. My friend has six locks on her door, one after the other. Whenever she leaves, she makes sure to lock every other one. She says this way, if someone were to stand there picking her locks, they'd always be sure to lock 3 of them.

Professor/Director L really liked my jokes. I believe it might have been one of her more fun auditions for her. Who wouldn't want to sit and listen to free comedy for 3 hours.

I made callbacks, so Tuesday afternoon was fun as well. I read for the character Lane and Virginia. Director L definitely liked me more for Lane because she had me read an extra monologue. Overall it was a really fun experience. I'm not sure I'm the right fit for this play, but I would love the opportunity to be involved because it would be such a great learning experience. And I could definitely use a comedy on my resume. And I want to work with Professor L again before I graduate.

The cast list is posted Saturday afternoon. But if things don't work out, then a couple weeks from now is the auditions for Eleemosynary in the Warehouse, which is a 3 women show that looks like it's going to be a real challenge and tons of fun. I can't wait for both! Both casts might offer a swing cast as well.

Speaking of swing casts, tonight was the understudy performance of Sense and Sensibility! It went so well! I was so excited to watch these ladies get to show their stuff after such a thankless process. It can be very difficult to be an understudy and never have full rehearsal time and never receive acknowledgement for the work put in. But tonight was their night, and they performed beautifully!

It was such a different show. It had different pace, different characters, and told a different story in a lot of ways. It was a study for the full cast to watch. I think we learned a lot from each other tonight, and I loved the opportunity. My swing had so much to memorize, and I'm so proud of her! She has more experience than me in this theatre department, so I wasn't worried, but it must have been difficult without 3 weeks of rehearsal. Really, then entire show was just an admirable event, and the turn out was great. The entire audience was pumped to be there and were ready to support.

It was also extremely interesting to watch the men (who don't have swings and were required to perform with the swing cast tonight) perform with a different group of girls. There was different chemistry and different character relationships all around. It really opened up interpretation which can become stale after a rehearsal process. I have new ideas for tomorrow night that I think will help me grow.

I was so excited to watch the show, since I've never had the opportunity to see a couple parts. I loved every part of it, and I found myself laughing even when I already knew the jokes. I laughed through the entirety of my ending scene where my character is proposed to, because even though I wasn't on stage, it was as cheesy as ever. I loved it.

The underclassmen should be proud of everything they accomplished, and they have many great things to look forward to here and beyond. Job well done!

I dropped out of the Midwest auditions which opened up my Friday. Tomorrow I'm doing an audition for the Advanced Narrative Film class for the moving they've written, which should be fun. We've received some intriguing sides and I'm interested to see how they have us work them. Also in Acting for Film, we'll be speaking to an alumna. She's a dancer/choreographer/(maybe actor?) who has her own theatre company called The Treehouse Shakers, I believe. I'll be finding out more tomorrow, but I'm excited because I've been offered the opportunity to have dinner with her, the president of our college, the dean of our theatre department (Professor B), and a few other senior acting students. I might look a bit odd at a swanky restaurant with my hair in curlers tomorrow, but I have a show to put on! I can't wait to meet the guest!

This whole week has been a round of auditions it seems. We did mock audition packages in comedy class Tuesday. They went relatively well. I definitely decided that I hate my package and will not be doing it for another audition. Time to find some different pieces, or just pair things differently. We did mock auditions in Acting for Film on Wednesday. I'll be receiving feedback tomorrow afternoon. I don't think I've done amazing work, but I think that is mostly due to nerves, preparation (though I was memorized), and my inability to judge what looks good on camera. I won't learn without watching my footage though, and that's what tomorrow is for. I really just need to focus on make interesting choices. It seems so easy and natural for me on stage, but when it comes to the camera, I just draw a blank.

Box Office internship has been fun this week. I've gotten to prepare some things for Boji, and I've been learning more and more. I like administration type work, and working to help run a theatre.

So tomorrow I have a show, which I'm ecstatic to get back to. And then we're taking all the prospective theatre majors to the Warehouse to watch our combat/sketch show Women Fight Against! I'm excited to show off our student run theatre. I'm feeling a little odd about being such a potentially influential role in these prospective students' choice of institution for higher education. However, it's kind of cool, because when I came to visit, it was watching a show that made my decision for me. It's like I've come full circle. And theatre to me is all about giving back--so I can't wait to have an awesome show! I've missed the cast this week, and I'm ready to have 2 more runs at it before strike.

I've been nominated for an award called the Trustee Award, and the winning senior gets to speak at graduation. However, I have to have 2 letters of recommendation and I've run into the problem of realizing that the only faculty who know me on campus, are theatre faculty. And if I do 2 of them, I don't seem very well rounded. That, and the 2 professors I wanted to ask have been so busy this week with auditions and family emergencies that it's a really horrible time to impose upon them. I haven't figured out how to rectify this situation.

The Warehouse show opens next Wednesday! My mentizzle (we have a mentor program here, and I'm mentoring a 1st year student) is one of the main roles in it. I can't wait to see the show!

I Love

2011-02-14T21:24:00.003-06:00

I love to love. This is my Valentine's Day post! I love my amazing family that came to support me this weekend, all my friends, and my life. Gee, too much positivity is dangerous. But you'll have to deal with a little more, because I had a great weekend.

I had a fabulous (word of the week right there, I can't stop using it) opening night. The entire cast had such great energy and we finally settled into our roles. The cast party was a lot of fun, and I even got to see some old friends. There were a lot of congratulations going around. I'm really not very good at taking a compliment. I mean, I say 'thank you' or 'that's so nice, I really appreciate that' or 'I'm so glad you enjoyed it' and 'that means a lot', but then I run out of things to say. I keep thinking I'll get better at it, but I'm starting to realize that it's just not in my nature. I always see things as a group effort. I'm a team player. My performance is only as good as the cast I perform with. I do like to be appreciated, but I'm also aware that I have others to thank.

I digress. Saturday was fantastic. My parents came up for the day. I gave a tour to some prospective students with Katie Mac. Then I went out to lunch with my parents and went shopping for a while. I love when they come visit. I'm so lucky to have parents that are so supportive of my dreams. They really enjoyed the show, and they had the pleasure of being introduced to Jimmy Johns, my favorite sand which shop, which they also enjoyed. The happiness of others makes me happy.

Saturday's show was more like our previous rehearsals. People fell back into familiar rhythms, and the energy was different. I don't think we fell into the second night slump, which was good. Sunday's matinee was a good show as well.

This whole weekend was crazy because the show sold so much better than usual. The February slot is always slow. But this year there were so many things that went our way. The weather got noticeably better and people wanted to come out. The show was a well known name, and people love seeing things they're comfortable with. And it was a love story, which fit perfectly with Valentine's Day weekend.

This next weekend is Theatre Weekend, so it will be exciting to perform for all the prospective theatre students.

I have some new updates. I'm no longer attending Midwest Auditions which makes this week much less stressful. I was able to focus solely on my Clean House auditions today, and I received a callback for tomorrow. I'm excited to try some comedy on for size and to be back in auditions. They're so much fun!

Tomorrow morning in comedy class we'll be performing potential packages for Professor L so she can perfect our technique. I think we'll be focusing on introductions, opening lines, and transitioning between pieces. It should be extremely beneficial. On Wednesday I'll be auditioning for a 'film' in Acting for the Camera. It's just a mock audition, but there's much to be learned.

I need to go read some scripts for this week. More later!

Almost Opening and other collected stories

2011-02-10T23:27:00.004-06:00

I've given it some thought and decided that this week has definitely made the top 5 for most exhausting weeks of my life.

With last week's blizzard, all the classes have been playing catch up so there's a heavier coarse load to worry about. Midwest Auditions are next week, and all of the faculty is working to make sure we're prepared so I've had a lot of deadlines to worry about, along with my choice of package material ( which, by the way, is completely irrelevant because I won't be able to stay for callbacks, and very few of the theatres would ever consider hiring me because I don't sing and dance, but this doesn't matter because I have a compulsion to always do my best. So even though I shouldn't spend my time stressing about finding new pieces to work with that will make me a better fit for all the companies that won't be hiring me because I can't stay to talk to them and because I already have summer employment lined up, I've spent many hours this week stressing about it anyway. How ridiculous.) and rehearsals.

Rehearsals have been going fabulous. We have Clean House auditions Monday however. So I've been wanting to focus on that, but it's been impossible with the pressure on for Midwest, catching up in classes, and my focus has (and should be) been on the show at hand.

We finally got on stage Tuesday night, after our run through Monday. We got to run all the way to the middle of Act II. We were already playing catch up because Tuesday is usually the day that Act II is completed and then Wednesday is a full run. However, we came in Wednesday and picked up from where we left off and finished teching the show. Then they gave us half an hour to get into costume and make up before we started a run of the whole show.

The hair in this play is beautiful, but such a pain to do. I don't know how women ever had the patience for it. It takes me 30 minutes to curl my bangs completely with a small curling iron to get the correct time period appropriate look. The rest of my hair I put in sponge curlers all day, which gets me interesting looks from all the non theatre majors on campus, but such is life. Honestly, I think it's good PR and more people want to see the show when girls walk around with odd hair dos all day.

The costumes are gorgeous as well. They're also the only part of the show I'm still a little uncertain on. I don't leave stage that often, so I have people come on stage to dress me during scene changes, but we're all still trying to work out the kinks of which bonnet is paired with which scene according to season, and which gloves go with which outfit. The costume changes have been going much swifter than I thought they would though, so that is good.

I haven't gone up on lines, which is also comforting after such an odd rehearsal process. Everyone's spirits have been very high and every night is fun and has good energy. It's always a good experience to have a cast that loves to be in the theatre.

I'm a little brain dead right now from so many late nights and too much monologue searching, but I wanted to say how much fun I've had during this rehearsal process. Working with younger actors has been such a learning experience. They remind me constantly of lessons I've learned that I was starting to forget. It's been so nice to work with people I don't spend much time with on a regular basis. I have so much fun when I go to rehearsal everyday. Today we received notes about last night's run through. I was surprised that they allowed us to finish the show since it meant ending at midnight and the usual cut off is 10 pm. But I was glad to have a run of it. Director B reminded everyone today that we can't forget that every scene furthers the story, and no scene can ever seem unimportant. We must drive the show. Director B also gave me some nice compliments on some of the more emotionally invested scenes I have. She's really been enjoying them lately, which is comforting to know. Tonight's rehearsal went really well for me, as well. Everyone really picked up the pace and we discovered a lot of new tactics to try.

One of the things that I've improved on with this show, is my ability to stay with a scene, and really listen. I discovered in Rabbit Hole that I wasn't as good at staying connected as I thought. Collected Stories definitely kept me on my toes, but this show does as well. I have such odd transitions to master and every scene has it's own new vibe. I've had to work really hard to mentally prepare myself before every scene to remind myself where I should be emotionally. It's been an interesting mental exercise, and I'm finally starting to feel comfortable with emotions on stage again. Rabbit Hole had scared me off for a while, because it was so difficult for me in the time span I was given. I feel as if I've made progress, and that's really all I can ask for.

I've spent a lot of this process doing my own thing. And the coolest thing about it, was that I never questioned if I was doing something the way Director B wanted it, or wondered if I should try something. If I wanted to try something I did, and I built my character myself. It's taken me these 2 1/2 years to get to this place of confidence in my ability as an actor, and I think it's the greatest gift that college can give me. I feel like I could enter any rehearsal process and bring what is expected of me to the table the first day in. I feel prepared. And this show has really solidified that for me; it will be sad for the process to end.

BUT I CAN'T WAIT TO BREATHE. I need a second to get my priorities in line for the next 3 months before graduation, and to pick up the slack on some of my Warehouse Public Relations duties. I need to think about Spring Break, Summer, and next Fall. I need to make some plans!

Professor L has said some really inspiring things in comedy class lately, about being an actor. She's really gone back to the basics with us and we've spent a lot of class time warming up our bodies and reconnecting with the Alexander technique and opening up our diaphragmatic breathing. We learned today about 'attacking' the opening line of a monologue. You have to be focused, and drive it with energy. You have to make the auditors pay attention to you and say 'this girl's got something to say'. This, subsequently, has taught me a lot about what is a good monologue and what isn't. A monologue that has a breezy first line, might not be the best pick for an audition.

We've talked a lot about our fears, and what we think we haven't quite mastered yet. I told Professor L that I have a hard time choosing one monologue to define who I am. It's difficult for me to choose which side of me I'd like to represent because I believe I have so much to offer. The advice she gave me was to make sure that my piece fits the company I'm auditioning for. Doing an unknown piece or a lesser known work may seem creative, but it might not get the best result. People want to see you do something reliable and sellable, sometimes. She reminded me to really cater to my audience, and that should help me narrow my choices. This is the 3rd advice from a faculty member that has changed my mind about my audition pieces, which is why I'm still trying to decide 1 week before my audition what I will be performing. This lapse in judgement is not a result of my college education, but rather my lack of decision making skills.

And my lack of time. And my inability to stay for callbacks, which makes the entire audition seem pointless. But I know it's not, so I will persevere.

Anyway, I need to be asleep right now, because this crazy show I've been working on opens tomorrow, and my hair has to look slightly presentable for the paying public.

In case I forgot to mention it: I'm SO EXCITED to open tomorrow.

These are the days when I know I love theatre!

The Snowpocalypse of 2011

2011-02-07T22:48:00.003-06:00

This is the phrase coined for last week's massive blizzard that hit the Midwest and eventually traveled the South and North as well and went all the way to the East Coast. We got around 19 inches of snow in total, I believe. It started Monday.

Director B cancelled rehearsal early in the morning, which was perfect because campus ended up being closed by 4 PM. The rumor is that my school hasn't closed campus in over 10 years. Crazy! They cancelled school Tuesday, then part way through Tuesday they cancelled Wednesday. Everyone was prepared for school on Thursday (most of us were actually looking forward to it) but they cancelled school for Thursday late Wednesday afternoon. It was absolutely insane.

I had my website mockup due Tuesday, a film to finish in Dramatic Lit on Wednesday, the combat show to open on Friday, and rehearsal for Sense and Sensibility. Not to mention I was attempting to get the Warehouse Poster approved before campus was closed Monday and was subsequently stopped from getting it to the printers because of the storm.

So last week was a kind of spring break for me. I had time to sit back and watch all the movies I'd been meaning to watch. We watched Winter's Bone and The Kid's Are Alright. This week I finally saw The King's Speech and rewatched The Social Network. The only contender for Best Picture that I haven't seen this year is 127 Hours.

But back to the blizzard.

I took this time to sit back and relax. And I went a little stir crazy. I was partially glad to have the time off from rehearsal. I was feeling a little creatively blocked, and I knew the time off would mean that my performance would be fresh when we got back to it. However...it's a long show for me, so I was ready to get back to rehearsal to make sure I was where I needed to be. It put us on Boji time. We rehearsed for two weeks, and now there's this week and we open Friday. I actually prefer a shorter rehearsal process, so I'm not too upset about it.

Anyway, we had a couple movie days and we played board games. We made food with our wonderful groceries that we were lucky enough to have stocked up. Our amazing campus workers actually stayed on campus and kept our dining hall open, but I never trudged through the snow to eat.

It was absolutely beautiful to watch, and it was nice to have a break at such a hectic time of the year. By Thursday though, we were ready to get back to it. My cast actually organized a rehearsal and we met up and ran the show. School on Friday was a joke. I had a short class in Film Acting and I watched a movie in Dramatic Lit. I almost finished designing the headshot/bio board in Box Office. We ran Act 2 in rehearsal, then at night we ran the show on stage. The crew had put up the platforms, but we had nothing else to work with. It was perfect for spacing and learning our new positions, but lines are always rough when you're in the space the for the first time.

Friday after rehearsal Women Fight Against opened. We had previously rehearsed Wednesday and Thursday during our snow days. My piece came together beautifully and it reminded me of how creative I can be in other ways. I haven't choreographed in a while, and sometimes I forget that I can do things besides act. Kaitie wrote some amazing pieces for the show, and I think she had a lot of fun branching out as well.

I think it's a lesson to be learned. We should remember that we can box ourselves in as much as someone else can. But we also have the power to put ourselves out there and make art. Theatre isn't just about acting. It's a collaborative art that has so many different areas that I enjoy. Realizing this is something that has really helped in my rehearsal process for Sense these past couple days. Anyway, the show opened at 11 pm after only being in the space for about 2 hours for their tech process (which is significant because that is a short amount of time to learn the space you're performing in, so good on them!). It was fantastic! The cast had great energy. They were excited to share the work and speak their own words, and everybody loves a good fight scene. Everything was student written, choreographed, acted, and produced. Honestly, it was a really inspiring show, and just another reminder about how easy it is to create something yourself, instead of waiting to be cast in someone else's show. I have a feeling I will create many of my own shows in the future in some way.

We had a 3 hour Saturday call from 10-1 to run Sense . I was excited to get back to it and didn't mind rehearsing on a Saturday. It was our best run yet! All the time off forced us to listen again and make new choices. I really reconnected with some people and I felt really great after we were finished. Director B was so happy with us and she gave us a nice speech about how she knew we were ready to open. I love supportive atmospheres. There were 2 more shows of Women Fight Against and they both went so well that Professor B (also Director B, and Dean of the arts) suggested that the show be revived in a couple weeks for our annual theatre weekend as an after show to Sense and Sensibility !

It's late right now, and I'm rambling. What I really want to say in this post is that I've reevaluated theatre and my opinions of this life a lot this past week. I had a realization about live theatre vs. film/tv. I enjoy the idea of tv because it's a character that continues to grow, and as an actor you are afforded the opportunity to make something new every episode. The idea of a play had begun to seem so limiting. Running the same story over and over until you beat it into the ground is not my idea of fun. I really started thinking about where I wanted to move, and if I really wanted to pursue theatre still, or if I wanted to only do film.

But then I had this amazing rehearsal today. Director B took the crew and swing cast onto the stage to tech the show (that's right, it's tech week ladies and gentlemen--hold onto your hats), and she left the main cast to run the show in the rehearsal room. I had a blast. I was saying things I had said at least 10 times before, and I wasn't necessarily saying them in a new way, and it certainly wasn't the first time that I had listened to them, but something just suddenly clicked.

I am an actor. And I love to act. I love to act because it's exhilarating to explore every emotion that a human being goes through in a life time in the span of 2 hours. I love to act because when I speak a line someone in the audience is affected in an unalterable way. I love to act because I get to tell a story with a group of people that I can call friends, and every time we tell it we discover something new that brings us all a little closer. I love to act because it moves me, and it drives me, and it pushes me to places that sometimes I'm scared to go, but I'm so much more alive when I'm through. Almost everyone in the audience will never go to those places themselves, but by watching me and my fellow actors, they will understand and feel released and refreshed at the end.

I love to act because I love art. I love to write, and I love to read, and I love to move and be moved. I know that I could be happy doing a million other things with my life, and at some point I'm sure I will do at least 5 of those things. But right now, and for the immediate future, this is what inspires me and shows me that every day is worth something and that I have a purpose.

It's odd. I came here, to college, feeling this way about theatre. And I've been so driven while here, working so hard to accomplish so much. But it was all towards the goal of getting a diploma. This 3rd year has been difficult, trying to figure out what I want and why I want it. But I have to say that this year has also reminded me more of why I started doing theatre than any year since I've begun. And sometimes I lose track of why I want what I think I want. But it's all part of a process and a cycle that inevitably brings me back to the same place. Theatre.

At least for now.

Maybe 5 years from now I'll be checking off something else on my career checklist and I'll never look back or miss theatre. But that's then, and this is now.

What was so inspirational in rehearsal? I can't say for certain. There was a freedom today to try new things and make mistakes. It was about the cast first, the play second. But because of that, I was working harder to tell the story and it made me more excited to share things. I channeled all my excitement and it made it easier for me to yell and cry and laugh. I laughed a lot. John (my love interest in the play) and I had a great time with our end scene, because Director B recently changed our blocking again and we hadn't had a chance to try it out. I've never felt more like I was in an 80s movie, and I've never loved it this much. I couldn't keep it together, and it was great. It's better to laugh now than laugh during a performance! Director B would have been disappointed at our breaking character today, but I felt that I learned a lot from it. It will be the last time we get to do so, and we enjoyed it!

I've got a busy week ahead with late night rehearsals, and audition preparations. Midwest is next week Friday for me, and we'll be viewed by our faculty Wednesday to make sure we're prepared. Clean House auditions are also on Monday, and we have to have a 1 minute contemporary monologue and 2 stand up jokes prepared for that. I'm actually really excited about it, mostly because I'm feeling especially inspired today to try new things. However, I need to settle on a piece and get serious about it.

On a happier note: my parents will be here Saturday!!! I can't wait!

Be the Best Candy You Can Be

2011-01-30T13:52:00.005-06:00

Last week was one of the most exhausting weeks of my life. I had a lot of lines to memorize, and classes to worry about, a poster to tweak, meetings to attend, a fight/movement scene to choreograph, and my sanity to hold onto.

I wasn't having trouble juggling, so much as I was having trouble staying aware and excited. I had a blast in rehearsals, but come Thursday I was really ready for the weekend. Many of the girls in my class went on their first professional auditions last week, and I was feeling a little like I was running behind again. It's so easy to get into a funk when the future seems so precarious. But then something happens that makes me realize how lucky I am to be doing what I am doing, and to be surrounded by such amazing and creative people.

This week, it was simply watching the beginning of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and being helped by so many different people to get my lines down. I've had nothing but encouragement about the show, and even when I'm tired of rehearsing after a long week, I still know how lucky I am to be given such an opportunity. I love working with the talented cast, and I learn something new every night. By Friday night I almost felt like I knew what to do with my hands in at least 60% of my scenes.

Progress.

Saturday I choreographed my piece in the upcoming combat show. The writer of the piece and I decided that it wasn't necessary to include combat because the piece is about empowering women in a different way. Now, I was excited to choreograph a fight scene, and I have little experience in other areas. But somehow, I came up with a few ideas, proposed them to the writer, and I choreographed the piece with success! I'm proud of the ladies involved, because there was a lot of experimentation going on. We spent a good 20 minutes trying to figure out a safe way to do an epic trust fall line. It felt great to be a part of something bigger than myself, and be collaborating in such a free environment. I think it was the most fun part of my week!

Saturday night we had a Schindler's List viewing party. My cast mate John suggested I watch the movie since I hadn't seen it. It was one of those movies I'd been meaning to watch for quite some time. However, the library only had it on VHS, and though we happen to have a VHS player, the sound quality was slightly lower than I expected. I only made it most of the way through the first tape (yes, there are two tapes) before I ran out of time. My classmates were throwing a party we wanted to go to, so we stopped watching and went to the party. I got to see some people I hadn't seen in a while, and I had a lot of fun catching up.

I've also decided to take the advice I was given last night and I will attend some auditions in Kansas City later this semester for experience. I never thought about auditioning, since I don't want to live in KC, but there's no harm in testing my skills and gaining some experience. I'm actually really excited at the prospect.

Now, you may be wondering at the title of this post. On Friday, I had Professor D's Acting for Film class and we listened to some of the girls' experiences auditioning. They all talked about how they expected more people at their auditions, and how some of the places clearly were only casting people they knew or had previously worked with. Then Professor D made us do an experiment. He handed everyone a piece of candy or fruit or some sort of snack and then made us give it a value of 1-10, with 10 being the best. Then he told us we could trade if we wanted to. I originally received 6 boxes of raisins. I hate raisins. I rated them as 1. I traded for conversation hearts, because there was only 1 person who really wanted the raisins. Professor D went around again, and asked us the value of our new snacks. I rated mine a 2.

Then he told us that we had just practiced capitalism, but more importantly, it was a metaphor for our future. We are the snack. Our job is to market ourselves to directors, and casting directors, and producers. And all of these people will value us differently. Some will think we're the best candy ever, and some will think we're disgusting. But all of that is out of our control. Professor D wanted to remind us that there are some things in life we cannot change. We can only be the best candy we can be. We can train ourselves, we can meet people who will help us, and we can be nice to everyone we work with. Everything else is out of our control. He told us that some people may feel undervalued here, at college. But when we get out into the real world, people will see us differently. There will be different competition and different stakes, and the only thing we should worry about is being the best that we can be.

It was a really inspirational talk. Looking back at my time here, I've been cast twice a year. That's good, compared to most. But I've always known that it didn't mean I was better than anyone, necessarily, but just that I was more right for a part out of the people in my pool. I have a lot of friends here who feel constantly undervalued, and they're all incredibly talented and intelligent. It was nice to hear a professor acknowledge this situation, and tell us that our lives will not be a reflection of the experiences we've had here. I hope to be successful in the future. I know though, that success is measured in different ways, and that, even if I might be talented to some people, I could easily never make a career out of this. The only thing I can do is put my heart into working hard and bettering myself, and hope that one day I'm lucky enough to say I've made a difference.

I have homework to complete, and lines to remember. Until next time!

In the Land of Women

2011-01-27T09:09:00.003-06:00

I've been doing a horrendous job of keeping up with this blog. I really should be updating everyday because I'm in a show, and these are the times to keep a very specific acting journal. Obviously, I need to step up my game.

So, rehearsal this week has been great! I go in every day and have so much fun! I was off book for Act 1 by Monday, but we were still blocking Act 2. By Tuesday we had completed the show! We ran Act 1 off book, and Director B worked through it with us. She corrected some character choices and gave us a lot of things to think about. We did a lot of moment work, meaning that we cleaned up the action between our lines.

She's been pretty hard on the underclassmen about slowing down and having better diction. But they're strong actors, and they're doing a great job of taking her direction and making it work. I'm proud of them for not being completely overwhelmed. I remember when I was in my first show, which was ironically with Director B, and she was really hard on me. She pushes you out of your comfort zone and forces you to make bigger choices. She's specific about interpretation and she gives you the tools to match the upperclassmen. Already, this show has improved so much.

I'm still not completely off book for Act 2. It's so long. Longer than Act 1. It's a very disorienting act for me, because I hardly leave the stage, and sometimes I can't remember what scene I have next, because there are so many time lapses in the play. The scenes don't always flow well, and so it's difficult for me to keep track of where they are. I know once I get it down though, I'll be fine. And I'm working hard to get completely off book! The deadline is tomorrow, but I like to beat the deadline.

I'm having a blast working with such a large cast. I realized, belatedly, that I haven't worked with a large cast since The Laramie Project ! All my casts since then have been 5 people or less. Everyone's doing a great job, and it's been fun to build new relationships on stage and off.

Crew watch is already next Friday! I can't believe it's happening so fast. Time flies when you're in a show. And I've been put in charge of designing the headshot/biography board, so I've been thinking about that a lot too. I have my first major assignment due in Creating Online Media on Tuesday. I have to turn in a mock up design of my website. It's really hard, because there's so many things I want to try that I don't think we'll learn how to code. So I have to keep it simple.

I've also been busy with the off the wall Women Fight Against. It's a combat show that I'm helping to choreograph. I have the large end number, and it looks like it's going to be a lot of fun, but my deadline is Saturday so I hope my creative juices start flowing soon. I finished the poster for the upcoming Warehouse show. I need to get it finalized and approved before sending it off to the printers, but I'm well on my way to being stress free on the PR end of things.

Comedy class has been going well. I found a great comedic monologue that really fits my style and I performed it in class last time. I got a great response from it and I think I'll be using it at the Midwest Auditions, and maybe even the next show here. Acting for Film has been very educational as well. We learned last class about creating a relationship with your scene partner, especially when they can't be there. We were given slips of paper that had relationships on them like 'the obnoxious delivery guy' and 'the emo kid' and we had to endow a spot on a wall with those characteristics and deliver a line of dialogue to it. It was a lot of fun.

All in all, there's a lot of things I'm thinking about that I would love to blog about, but I haven't had much time to make them into cohesive ideas that I would feel comfortable sharing. Hopefully the next post will include something of the kind.

When You're Behind, You Catch Up

2011-01-21T09:36:00.004-06:00

It's been a whirlwind around here this week, yet I feel as if it's gone in slow motion.

I worked on my memorization over the weekend, and I put together a 5 joke set for comedy class that I was extremely nervous about.

Tuesday's Comedy class went very well! Everyone's material was great and most of us had worked in a through line so the set was tied together. Professor L was impressed, and she told us our next assignment would be to personalize it. We needed to come into Thursday's class with a personal funny story. It could be a memory of an embarrassing moment, or just a comedic situation.

I was even more nervous about this assignment, and I had to get my best friend to remind me of all the funny moments in my life. I couldn't seem to remember any of them. I finally settled on the slightly less politically correct story of my fear of homeless people after a run in I had in Dallas with my friend Erik. Professor L wanted us to push out of the safe zone a little, and I felt like this story did that more than if I had talked about boys. I have so many great boy stories. Those will have to wait for another time.

Professor L really seemed to enjoy our personal stories. She laughed so hard she cried at some of them, and by the end of the class everyone felt much more comfortable about the idea of stand-up comedy, I think.

I'm definitely getting more excited about this class. I feel stronger knowing that I'm out of my comfort zone and that I'm still pushing myself to do my best. These are the kind of classes that teach the most, because they can teach me about myself, and they can teach me technique. I'll definitely be looking into some sort of comedy class when I'm in the professional world. Also, it feels great to not constantly be doing dramatic things!

Creating online media is going to be a really fun class, I can tell. I've seen examples of some of the students websites from the past, and they look great! They're fresh, clean, and professional. I can't wait to learn to code! We've been going over xhtml, and we're going to set up our websites next class. I was supposed to have class Thursday (yesterday), but it snowed 10 inches the night before and my teacher couldn't make it to school.

We really thought we might have a snow day, for once. It started snowing hard during the afternoon rehearsal on Wednesday, and so Director B canceled night rehearsal. She told us that if they canceled school that we would have to make up the rehearsal on Saturday. I'm really glad we had rehearsal last night instead, because now my weekend is free!

Rehearsal has been going great! We finished blocking Act 1 on Wednesday (after 3 days, love professional time), and we've moved onto blocking Act 2. We'll be off book Act 1 by Monday, and I'm already there! I'll be spending my weekend working more on character and interpretation. We're getting some of the main cast together this weekend so we can work together on our lines and interpretation. I'm really looking forward to that. This particular cast meshes really well together, and I think it might turn out to be my favorite experience yet at college.

Director B has been in great spirits, and has been very patient with correcting our dialects. The upper years have it in their bones more than the lower years, but even we mess it up sometimes. It's been a really fostering environment, and I've had a lovely time so far. The best rehearsals are the ones where you feel free enough to make choices (or mistakes as we call them most of the time). Director B has a very specific style, too. This is my third show working with her, and it was nice to come in knowing how she ran the show. She gives blocking the first week, and when you're blocking everything has to be done specifically as she's told you. Then once the cast is off-book, she allows you to make artistic decisions regarding your character. If you want to change a movement pattern, she'll let you decide what you like best. I enjoy her method, because it starts with structure, and then it allows you to grow into it.

The best thing about my college, I think, is having the opportunity to work with so many different directors. I've gotten to experience the way that many directors choose to work, and that is my preparation for the real world.

Speaking of the real world, the title of this blog post is referring to my growing worry that I'm going to run out of time to prepare myself for life after college. All of my classmates who weren't cast have been working on their auditions and headshots for the upcoming Midwest regional auditions, as well as finding internships and auditions in their chosen future cities. I come home from rehearsal and I work on getting my lines down, then on my homework (which thankfully hasn't been too much), or on my Warehouse advertisements. I know that 3 weeks from now is not too late to start. And I'm certainly not complaining about being cast, because I wouldn't trade that at all. However, I'm definitely working hard to remember that I can't get completely caught up in this show and forget that there are preparations to be made.

Speaking of preparation, I've given my verbal agreement to work somewhere this summer. I won't put any details here until things are finalized, but I did a lot of considering this past weekend, and I finally decided that this job was the best job for me right now. I'm very excited about it, and I'm looking forward to sharing the details later!

So this weekend looks like it's going to see some more snow, as well as the beginning of next week. Maybe I'll be able to sneak out and get some groceries, and maybe I'll just order in food this weekend.

I have Box Office and my first voice lesson today, which should both be a blast! I'm really enjoying working in the Box Office, and I've been put in charge of the headshot/biography board, which is really cool! I've got Acting for Film and Dramatic Lit today, as well. Acting for Film is looking like it's going to be a very educational class, and I'm excited to learn all the things I never knew about how difficult it is to act on camera. Wish me luck!

And before I go, here's a picture!

Besides the creepy eyes, which one day when I have time I'll fix in photoshop, isn't he just the cutest darn thing you ever saw?

I'm Walking on Sunshine

2011-01-13T12:18:00.006-06:00

I'm not even sure where to begin. My break was crammed full of family and friends, and a lot of lessons. I'm a student of life, what can I say? I got to spend a lot of time with family in Florida, where I let myself unwind and relax for the first time since May. By the time I got back home I was ready to juggle my friends and my homework.

It was a really odd sensation, knowing that this was the last significant break of my college experience. It was the last time I would be visiting home and seeing all these people that I grew up with while I didn't have any real world responsibility on my plate. The next time I go back, I won't technically live there anymore (unless I happen to need to work at home for 6 months to save up those elusive funds that will help me move to a large city and jump start this crazy career plan). And one year from now, all of my friends won't technically live there either. Real life is starting now, and it's just a whirlwind trying to emotionally and mentally keep up with all the new opportunities and ideas that are coming my way.

I had a lot of fun with my friends, and I realized this break how lucky I am to have such a large group of people that support me and each other. We've been together so long, and it gives me hope that we can continue to keep our friendships strong as we go our separate ways in life.

I saved some friendships that I was losing. I gained piece of mind. And I learned a lot this break about how to deal with situations that are out of my control. There's only so much a person can do, and the rest is up to others. I also learned that some things never change. I feel like a different person every time I come home, but that doesn't mean that I should expect others to be different. And it certainly doesn't mean that relationships always change or evolve.

Anyway, break was short lived and it relaxed me just enough to prepare me for this last semester ahead of me. I spent the week before school started back up preparing my monologue, and touring Kaitie around my hometown when she came to visit. We had the opportunity to speak to the high schoolers in the beginning theatre classes. I was surprised at how interested they were in what we had to say. They asked great questions about getting over stage fright, how to pick the right college for you, and about why theatre is important. Kaitie and I performed our monologue packages for them as well. I was surprised at myself because I wasn't nervous to perform in front of them, and it didn't occur to me until later that it was the first acting my old teacher had seen me do since high school. I think he enjoyed it, which was nice. And he had nothing but beautiful things to say about me to his classes, which made me even more grateful that I came from such an amazing place. My theatre background is so different than most of my classmates, and I've truly started to appreciate that.

The theatre productions class was preparing their competition play, The Importance of Being Earnest. The teacher asked if we would mind giving advice about the dialect to her class. We went through a couple drills, and somehow I ended up performing for them as well. They also had great questions about college, and about college theatre, and theatre in the real world. I felt really influential, because I was able to tell them important things that I wish someone had told me in high school about what I was getting myself into. They have so much ahead of them, and my high school brings out so many talented individuals that understand hard work and what it's like to be part of a family. They have so many great things ahead of them, and I believe they're going to be great! I wish them all the success in the world.

I realized that that would be the last visit to the high school where I would know the students. The seniors were the freshmen when I graduated, so the next time I go back, I won't personally know anyone. Scary.

So I tripped back to college on Sunday in the crazy snowy weather. (Side Note: we have gotten so much snow! And apparently we might get more this weekend. I'm not sure I can handle this. I was pretty sure my limit was receiving an email about ways to prevent frostbite). I cleaned up my apartment Monday and made sure I had my monologue down pat. I also saw Black Swan on Monday night, and it was phenomenal. I found the movie scary as a performer, because it showcases the worst about being an artist. It delves into the pressure and competition of wanting and performing a role, as well as the need to be perfect and the constant need to be noticed or validated by your peers and superiors for your talent. I also found the idea of transforming into your role a scary concept, because it can happen so easily if you don't keep yourself under control. I've experienced slight versions of this. During Rabbit Hole when I never had a break from my character because of the work hours and the rehearsal process, I was horrible to my friends at Boji. The character of Becca was so lost and desperate to find her way back to normal, and I definitely lashed out at people in real life while I was struggling to understand her. The movie just reinforced for me how important it is to understand the concept of losing yourself in a role as an acting method.

Tuesday was the first day of classes. I was introduced to the various great comics of our time and before in my Acting for Comedy class. We spoke about what is funny to our generation, and the ways that comedy has changed over the years. Yesterday in the class, we delivered one liners and practiced landing a joke. Our assignment for next class is to come in with a 5 joke set for a stand up routine. I'm freaking out about this class because I've never thought of myself as particularly funny. However, my mindset for this semester is to have no fear. It doesn't matter if I'm not good at it, it only matters that I try to do my best work every time I get up there. I'm terrified as well, because Professor L (the teacher of the class and the director of the upcoming and last mainstage show Clean House) has told us that the auditions for her show for certain characters will including a standup routine or the telling of jokes. I better prepare myself.

The thing about comedy is that it makes you so vulnerable in a different way than drama. You have to put yourself out there and hope for an audible response. ...Words cannot express how I feel about this.

I also had Creating Online Media. The professor explained that this class will be about creating a website using Photoshop and Dreamweaver. Sound familiar? It did to me, because that's what I spent last semester teaching myself. Imagine my surprise. But I decided to keep the class and not drop it because I'm going to get to learn how to code my own site, instead of build it using a template, and that is knowledge I just can't pass up!

Monday afternoon I performed my monologue for Sense and Sensibility auditions. I felt great about it! I used the techniques I learned last semester in the monologue class. I had action all the way throughout, so there was a forward motion to the words I was saying, and I made it very conversational. Director B (also Professor B who has taught me Theatre History, Greek Acting, and Monologues for anyone who cares to put a letter with a class) told me that I would be called back and that she would be having me read for the character Elinor. I was excited because that was the character I was most interested in.

On Wednesdays I only have one class at noon--Dramatic Lit. Dramatic Literature is just going to be reading great plays and giving presentations on them. Nothing too different from last semester's Shakespeare Lit class. It's going to be fun, but not terribly exciting.

Wednesday afternoon I had callbacks. First I read with Megan, a 2nd year on the Warehouse Board who I've never had the opportunity to work with. I was so excited! We read a great Elinor/Lucy scene that Professor B said she really enjoyed. She gave me another Elinor scene to read with Erin as the mother. I love reading with Erin because we build really well off of each other. I also hadn't had the chance to work with her since Acting III and The Laramie Project. We had an even better read than my first one, and after we were done Director B took our scripts and said, "We better stop there; you can't get any better than that."

Callbacks are always my favorite part of the audition process. I came back to the room feeling like I had done the best audition I'd ever done at college. I worked so hard to fit a specific character, which honestly isn't something I'd done before. Usually I try to fit as many characters as I can so that way a director sees that I can adapt easily to roles. But this time I chose a part and I fought for it. I was proud of my night, but a little terrified because I had finally put myself out there. It's so easy to handle rejection when you tell yourself that you don't care if you get cast. I've been using that method since I got to college. This was the first time I truly told myself that I wanted a role and I knew I would be upset if I didn't get cast.

To my surprise and absolute happiness I did get cast! As Elinor! I couldn't be more excited to work with the talented cast that was also picked. There are so many people that I haven't had the pleasure to work with yet this year, especially the men because I haven't been on the mainstage yet this year. I'm especially excited to work with my 'love interest' because he's a first year boy in his first main role and we're going to have a blast! There's a swing cast that gets a Thursday performance, as well. At our read through last night, the main cast switched off reading with the swing cast so everyone had the opportunity to flesh out their characters and get a feel for the words.

A period piece is always a little slow going at first, because the language is easy to trip over. I'm excited to see this show pick up. Sometime this weekend, some of the cast is going to get together and watch the mini-series of the Masterpiece Classic as character research. I love cast bonding.

Oddly enough I have no rehearsal today, and Monday is a holiday so no rehearsal then either. I have a long four days to help me start memorizing. I also need to spend a lot of time this weekend working on my PR poster for the next Warehouse show which auditions next week: The Young and the Fair. Also this weekend are auditions for our 2 off the walls: the combat show Women Fight Against and the sketch/student written 33 in 66. A busy, busy weekend for sure. Today is my first day of Acting for the Camera, and I'm excited to be back in the classroom with Professor D.

So, all in all, I had a fabulous break with my amazing family and friends. I learned a lot of great life lessons and a lot about myself as a person. I've freaked out about my future (did I forget to mention that part). I've become excited about my future (there, that's better). And I've gotten cast. Great start to my last semester? Yes!

Home Sweet Home

2010-12-19T09:25:00.003-06:00

It's so nice to be home after being away so long--minus of course Thanksgiving break which was really so short that it doesn't even count in the grand scheme of things. I'm enjoying the warmer weather, though apparently it supposed to get warmer just as we're leaving for Florida, where, ironically, it's supposed to be cooler. Alas, I cannot escape winter this year. Lucky for me I've got awesome warm clothes, and I rarely have to go outside if I choose not to. (The previously typed comment easily defines much of modern American Society's blase attitude towards our wealth. I would like to say that I am very thankful for all my warm clothes and for having the choice to stay inside where it is warm.)

I went Christmas shopping with the family yesterday, which was fun. Mom never enjoys shopping, or Christmas, really, but secretly she enjoys the rest of us enjoying Christmas, which really means that she enjoys Christmas because it makes us happy.

I seem to be in the odd condition this morning of writing in circular logic. To continue with more oddities, I'd like to express my interest in the fact that I tend to use many exclamation points in my writing. Now, something about exclamation points really attracts me. They can be so happy and exciting and they give energy to my words. At the same time, the over-abundance of exclamation points can give a reader the impression that I'm yelling or possibly on a caffeine kick induced by too much theatre and not enough adrenaline. I'd like to take this time to assure my readers that while I do partake in too much theatre, I do not happen to enjoy many beverages that include caffeine because I have a healthy affliction for carbonation and the taste of coffee. This means that all of my exclamation marks are used with the best of intentions and only because I like to express my excitement for all things 'me-related', 'theatre-related', and 'future-related'.

In the future it is probable that I will post about my abundant use of parentheses to define my illogical and un-interpretable inner thoughts.

Have a very Happy Holidays!

The End is Near

2010-12-15T08:13:00.009-06:00

Yesterday was so packed, I realized I had to write another post to cover all the important things that happened to me.

I had my final Nuts and Bolts class in the morning. We all turned in our Created Content projects and our Notebooks full of notes. Professor D gave us a small quiz over the New York Times, which we're supposed to read every day of our lives because that's what a proper theatre professional would do to stay aware of their world. It was an extra credit quiz...and I got more right than I thought I would, so--win. Then he had some of the girls show their created content projects. One was a scrapbook (because people pay to have others scrapbook their lives (Mom--good side job.)). Another was a bag designed and built specifically for a stage manager and all their needs. Some were websites, and after I saw those I was really proud of myself for building my own, and I think I made the right decision to do it that way.

Then Professor D told us we were going to watch our TV auditions in full, but what he really pulled up were our STI auditions! My first summer at college we were required to audition with a contemporary monologue and a monologue pre-1900s. They were to be contrasting pieces done in 3 minutes. Of course no one stayed in the time limit because either we didn't know what preparation was or because for some incredibly insane reason we thought it would be great to make ourselves memorize really long new material.

Honestly, watching them I was so proud of my class. Sometimes we watch the underclassmen and we think 'Wow, I remember when I was that untrained'. But even at STI, for the most part, I thought my class showed so much natural talent and willingness to work through a challenge. I was proud to be part of such a talented and dedicated class. I've gotten to work with them on so many things, and my experience at college is only because of these amazing men and women and what they can do. We all had little ticks, and it was amazing to see how much we've grown in this short year and a half. It feels like it's been a century since we went to STI. My semesters here are so full of new techniques that I can hardly remember a time when I didn't know not to stand in neutral or how to score a script.

Yesterday I became so thankful for the education I've received. After watching our auditions, Professor D told us that he knew his class had been about how hard this industry is, but now was the time to tell us how wonderful it is. He told us that we are truly doing God's work. He said we have the ability and the opportunity to hold a mirror up to human nature every day so that people see themselves in our work and recognize something that they haven't before. We get to change people, and affect the world. We make a difference and we're an important part of this world. He told us that at any time, if we decide that we don't want to act anymore, or if this life isn't what we want any longer, that we should never feel as if we have wasted these years at college or our years in the professional world. We will have impacted people and we will have grown as people. The skills I've learned at school can be applied to almost any area in any industry. I understand community, teamwork, how to deal with people in stressful situations, time management, hardware skills, and memorization. I have intellect and the ability to adapt under stress. All these things would benefit me in any line of work (minus maybe the hardware skills).

Professor D also expressed that this line of work is hard, really hard. It's hard to take rejection on a daily basis, especially when it's out of your control. It's hard to be unemployed for long stretches of time. He told us there are only 4 things you can control: Your look, Your attitude, Your drive, and Your preparation. Everything else we shouldn't worry about, because it's out of our control. And that's hard to do.

It's hard to have a day job that you don't find as inspiring. However, he told us that what we do takes courage. Courage because it's hard. Courage because we put ourselves out there, and take ourselves to the emotional places that most people wish they could go, but never let themselves. But most of all, he said, we get to do what everyone else wants to do, but didn't have the courage to do. We get to act. Everyone loved doing plays in high school, but most people never pursue it. He told us there are 110,000 actors in a world of over 8 million people. Very few people do our job. But that also means that if we ever decide to do something different--it's OK. Those other 7,890,000 aren't wrong--and they're happy too.

Professor said that if there is one thing he hoped he taught us, it would be to never be a jerk. Life is too short and the world is too small to be a jerk. And have other hobbies. Not living outside theatre will never make you a better artist and it will kill your soul. And never hate what you do. If we ever find ourselves in a position where we don't enjoy getting up every morning and acting, then we shouldn't be doing it anymore.

There were tears after this speech. Watching how far we've come as a class and then hearing Professor D encourage us to do what we've been working so hard for was really inspiring.

Then of course, Professor B had to go and do the same thing after our Monologue Final was complete. My monologue went really well. Not to repeat myself for the umpteenth time on this blog--but I was really proud of my class period. We had split the class in halves, and my period went yesterday while the other half watched. Everyone had made their package adaptable to the space and to what a real audition would be like. We used a chair if we needed, and nothing else. Everyone had killed their little habits and gave really powerful performances. Afterwards, we talked about what was successful and the comments we wanted to make about individual pieces. There was definitely a different energy between the class periods. I thought that everyone had packages that really showcased who they are as performers right now. They all played to their strengths. We laughed because we all still tend to run a little lengthy even after all this time. We were all individuals, no one seemed like anyone else. I was really surprised by this and it made me understand how hard a casting director's job must be. However, Professor B told us that that is what she accomplished through this class. For the most part, people blend together in an audition, and she was proud to say we were all different. Professor B went around and commented on all our packages. She told me that mine was sophisticated and urbane--just like me. She told me I always seem slightly older than my years and that my package truly showed me as a performer and that it was a very strong package. She believed I'd found the perfect pieces. Of course, I would only take these pieces to a very specific audition, not a children's audition or anything, but it was very nice to hear. I performed The Provoked Wife by John Vanbrugh and Ron Bobby had too big a Heart by Rolin Jones. I think my Midwest package will have to be slightly different depending on who I want to cater to.

We also talked about how much everyone has improved. Professor B challenged us to never forget what we've learned through this class and return to our old habits. She actually made the comment that she knows it's easy to forget the things we learn in class, but that made me realize something. I think the reason I've had such a great education at this institution is that everything I've learned I've been able to apply almost immediately, whether it's in another class or in a play I'm rehearsing or performing. It all blends together so it's almost difficult to forget it. I know I'm not as polished as I was when I first learned certain techniques, but they're still living in the back of my mind if I need to pull them out. I'm very proud to say that.

The P-Tech show afterwards was really awesome. I enjoyed it very much, and all the performances were great. It was just another experience of the day where we realized how far we've come in such a short time.

By the end of this semester I have had my last classes with Professor R and Professor B. That's so weird. We said a lot of goodbyes in class to Rhea and Sarah who graduated at semester. If yesterday was anything to go by, I think they're feeling inspired and courageous enough to move forward with their lives.

Down the Rabbit Hole

2010-12-13T15:27:00.004-06:00

Finals week is the mystical time of the year when nobody sleeps and everyone says ridiculous things. Thankfully, it's almost over.

Friday I had my Shakespeare final. Everyone performed their final scenes for the class. It felt kind of like Shakespeare on tour because every scene was in a different location. My scene was in the basement of senior hall. We were proud of the final product. It turned out really creepy and slightly too realistic in the death department for some people when we strangled the Duke of Clarence. Professor R really enjoyed it and he told us that the death scene was the best we'd done it yet! Everyone's scenes went really well. They had all chosen great cuts from the plays that were really interesting to watch. The best ones were the ones where the location added to the experience, I thought.

Over the weekend I finished up my website, studied for my Global Ethics final, and prepared my Jury songs. The weekend actually seemed pretty long for once. We had an awesome Christmas party Saturday night where I dressed as a Grecian Christmas Tree with the help of my amazing friends and some significant others. Unfortunately for you, I don't happen to have any pictures of the event or my costume, so you'll just have to imagine the most creative and beautiful Christmas tree you can. And then multiply that by 10.

I also attended the Senior Dance Concert. The dancers have a 3 year program here like the Theatre Majors, so my friends from first year were the choreographers for this concert. I have to say, out of the senior dance concerts I've seen in my 3 years, this was my favorite. It was beautifully done and the lighting designs were all really creative. Last year I lighting designed for the Senior Dance concert, which in retrospect, was a lot of fun. They really did a grat job this year though, and I loved every dance.

I had an 8am final rehearsal for the directing scene I was acting in Monday morning. It went very smoothly and the director was happy with it. I went to my Voice Jury at 1:30 and sang my song. One day, I'll be much better at that song. Yesterday was not that day. Suffice to say that the voice professors were proud of my progress. Something I learned: Next time, I know that I should act my song. I wasn't sure of the protocol, but I asked afterwards and they told me I should definitely act it if I could. I should have just done it anyway but C'EST LA VIE!

Global Ethics was not nearly as difficult as midterms. I have a feeling he gave us an easy out. However, there were a couple questions that I guessed, which fits accordingly with the 'Sascha can never get full points on any assignment in Global Ethics' policy that was instated at the beginning of the semester. However, I did get full points on my final dilemma which was like the best Christmas present ever! It was like I accomplished the impossible, I wanted to wear my graded paper around school for the day but I figured that would be bragging, inappropriate, and Professor T made us give our papers back, so it would have been impossible. Instead I just took away the experience of being part of a class that made a real difference and taught me more about the meaning of education than any other class I've ever taken. Thanks Professor T.

I performed my directing scene with Katie Mac and we had a grand old time. Director was very proud of his final product and we had a great time acting in a surrealist piece. All the directing scenes last night went very well. It was interesting to watch the difference in the scenes from this year, and from my class last year. This year many people chose outside actors, or more first year actors. Last year, we chose to act in each other's scenes, and some third years joined in. I think the quality of directing is probably equally matched in most ways, and even though the acting was wanting in some areas, there were so many first years that gained so much experience. They had the opportunity to act in front of their peers, work with more experience actors, and be taught by great directors. There were a lot of stand out projects last night. I think my favorite was definitely a scene that was written by the girl who directed it. She brought in outside actors, and they were great! I was so impressed by her scene! She has a great future ahead of her.

After directing scenes the first half of our Monologue Class performed. It was great to watch all the people we hadn't seen all year do their work. I loved it, and some people have really great potential packages. I think what most of us will take away from this final though, is that we don't like our packages. And that's even better because it means you know yourself and what you want. I perform tonight with the rest of the class. After that is the P-Tech show--which I can't wait to see. It's going to be so good.

Today I have my Nuts and Bolts final, which consists of turning in our notes for the semester (which I did on Friday) and giving him our created content, which I already finished. Then tonight I have monologues, which I'm completely prepared for. What an easy day! Tomorrow is my last final--Shakespeare Lit--and then it's home for winter break!

I AM SO EXCITED.

I'm going to watch so many movies this break. Rabbit Hole is out in select theatres, and I have to see it. I'm going to bawl the whole time. The Tempest is out, and that's a must see. So many movies from the festival strip are being released over break, and those are my favorites usually. I really want to see Blue Valentine. Actually, I want to see just about every movie that's being released over break. Good thing I'll have that mystical thing called free time.

Now that I've used the word mystical twice in this incredibly long post--I'll let you go.

I straighten my hair because I'm serious

2010-12-07T09:22:00.005-06:00

That's a lovely quote from one of my favorite shows, Greek.

Wow, I've been gone for a while! But I'm back and ready to fill in the world.

So, I had a beautiful Thanksgiving vacation working on homework, spending time with family and friends, and relaxing for the first time since Boji.

I came back to school refreshed and ready to speed through the last 3 weeks. Monday I had a 10 page paper due in Shakespeare Lit about the morality of the East vs. the West in Antony and Cleopatra both in Shakespeare's time and at the time the actual events took place. It was crazy to write because it was hard to find historical evidence, but I got it done and presented it to the class on Wednesday. I received an A, which is all I could ask for.

Tuesday we worked on 'On-Camera' auditions in Nuts and Bolts. I volunteered to read a scene in class and it was a lot of fun. Thursday we did mock auditions with sides that we had 2 days to memorize and prepare. I watched my audition on Friday and Professor D said I did very well, especially in a technical sense. However, I didn't think there was anything that stood out about my audition, and that's the key to getting cast. You have to be interesting and special. So, for a first time it was a productive audition, but I'm very excited for next semester when I get to learn how to do it better.

I learned that occasionally I make my eyes too large, or move my eyebrows too much. I think my 'listening' face is bland, personally, so I'm going to work on that. I also need to learn to make bigger choices for my characters. It's difficult to know how big is too big when on camera, because I don't have enough experience yet.

Wednesday I performed my dramatic contemporary monologue for Professor B in our last monologue class. I did a good job, and she told me I could definitely add it too a package. This Wednesday we have to go in and tell her the package we'd like to perform for our final. We pick two contrasting monologues that show off our personality and ability best. I'm thinking I might do my Restoration (18th century) comedic and my contemporary dramatic. Professor B encouraged us to stick with contemporary because that's what we're most likely to be cast as for a while, because that's where most of the work is for younger actors. Good advice!

We also had a Warehouse Board meeting to decide which director would receive the 'Off-the-Wall' Slot. Once a year, we allow an outside director to perform in the Warehouse space, but we have to listen to presentations to make sure that their vision fits with our vision for the Warehouse. It was a close call, and all the presentations were great. Erin ended up winning. Her idea was 'Women Fight Against', which is a show based on combat and monologues and sketches where women will fight against different people, situations, and ideals. It's going to be really cool!

I watched my commercial audition on Wednesday, and Professor D showed me some things I need to work on. He told me that when you finish an audition you should always keep your eyes on the camera, don't look back up at the casting director. That leaves them wanting more when they watch the tape. He also told me that it's always interesting to watch someone push through mistakes. I messed up one of my takes, but I kept going, and he said that's exactly what you should always do. Personally, I didn't enjoy commercial auditions because of the improvisation, and because I didn't have a strong relationship with the product, but I know now how to do better with them in the future.

Watching myself on camera is an interesting experience. I rarely think I look good, I either appear bored or too excited, and I'm unaware of how to make my personality come across. However, I look forward to learning everything I can about film acting. Even though I have no idea what I'm doing, I'm having a great time figuring it out. I recently shot another film scene for the film acting practicum I'm taking. It was a scene written by my student director, and it all took place inside a car, which we drove around a parking garage for the entire shoot. It was interesting to be so close to the camera for the entire shoot, and to focus not only on the things in the car, but on the cars outside of my car (because I was looking for a car). Kylie drove the car, so she had to work on saying her lines and being an attentive driver. She thought it was very difficult, and we had a near collision. This is, I'm sure, why car scenes in TV and Film take place in a car that is NOT moving. Stay on the safe side--don't act and drive.

Thursday after the TV auditions, my Ethics class was cancelled. I went out to lunch with Gillian, and then spent the rest of the day working on designing my personal acting website. It's coming along quite nicely, if I do say so. I've spent a total of 15 hours in the past week watching videos and figuring out my new programs through trial and error. I got some Adobe software over the break: Dreamweaver and Photoshop. I've built and designed my own template and entrance page, and now I just need to link the rest of my pages. I'll have it up and running soon if everything goes smoothly! While I've enjoyed creating it, it's still only a first try and I can tell that I'll be redesigning it over winter break just for fun. It has to be better the second time, right?

I had Shakespeare rehearsal Friday morning. Professor R watched our Richard III scene and gave us some great pointers. We're performing it in the basement of Senior Hall, which is dark, leaky, and loud with old machinery. We're working hard to be louder than our surroundings, and we've brought in our own light and we're playing it like an interrogation scene. I'm really excited about it, and I think it's going to be great. We dressed the scene on Monday and Professor R has mostly technical things to point out. He told us to watch our dramatic pauses and helped with some interpretation issues. I've really enjoyed this class this semester and I'm sad to be nearly done with it. It's been so much fun to work on classic material, and I think I've found I have a passion for it. I would love to do more classics in my future, or possibly earn a graduate degree in classical acting.

Kaitie and I watched Macbeth (1979) with Ian Mckellen and Judi Dench last night. It was so good! The set (or lack thereof) was weird and the lighting was distracting, but I understand it was a stylistic choice. What I loved was the acting. Mckellen and Dench are some of the most renown actors in the world, and they're so respected in England for their work in the arts. I could list the credentials but they would be too long. But if you're interested you should look them up.

I also saw Meet me in St. Louis this weekend, and it was great! It must be a 'last year in college' thing, but I feel so proud at every performance I've attended this year. I've grown with my class and we've been through so much; I feel so much pride every time one of them is cast and they have the opportunity to light up the stage. I remember 1st year and STI when we were so fresh and mold-able. Everyone has come so far and learned so much. Everyone did such a great job, and the characters were so heartwarming and charming. I might go see it again, I liked it so much!

Our auditions for Sense and Sensibility were supposed to be Monday, so I prepared my monologue over the weekend. However, Professor B (the director) has moved them to January, so I have some more time to prepare, I guess. It's one less thing on the plate, that's for sure.

My directing scene is completely blocked, and now I need to memorize it. We perform Sunday. I think my last day should be Wednesday, and then I'm on the road again!

One Day To Go

2010-11-18T21:54:00.003-06:00

I thought I'd put the links to some of the coverage of my Global Ethics event if you weren't interested in seeing it!

http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2010/11/14/stephens-college-students-raise-money-hunger-project/

And here's the video that was on the news! Erin gave the interview and they cut it really short, but I suppose it got the point across.

http://www.komu.com/KOMU/d7e2017e-80ce-18b5-00fa-0004d8d229cb/4c776823-80ce-18b5-01c5-3e38607107e8.html

Now, I heard some have been having trouble getting the video to work. Beneath the video, if it won't play, there should be a link that says play video now. If you click that it will ask for your name and e-mail, which you can give because it's harmless, and then it asks you to RIGHT click the video. It might play an advertisement first, but it should eventually play! I hope it works!

In other news, this week has been one of the least stressful weeks. We had a Warehouse Board Meeting, a Warehouse Event to raise money at our local TGI Fridays, and Warehouse Elections to replace Rhea who will be graduating in December. We're on the hunt for a new Performance Liaison. It's down to a 2nd year and a 3rd year and both would be great additions to the board!

I've had very little homework, and some classes cancelled because a lot of the theatre faculty is out of town this week, apparently.

I've agreed to be in a 2nd year Directing Scene. It's a 10 minute absurdist piece, so it should be fun. I'll be playing 'Man from Hell', so I'll get to stretch myself a bit.

I have one 6-10 page paper to write over break, 1 Shakespeare scene to memorize, and one directing scene to memorize. Other than that, I'm free as a bird! I can't wait!

And as a bonus: I'm seeing the 1 am showing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows tonight with Kaitie!!!!

The Run, The Strike, and the Last Week

2010-11-15T13:56:00.006-06:00

Collected Stories went great! Opening night was the only night with major technical difficulties. Everyone settled into their roles and we had a great couple of shows!

Mom and Dad got here Thursday, but I couldn't see them until after the show. I had a movie scene to film. It was a scene from "The Princess Diaries" and I was playing the Queen (Julie Andrews) and Ashlee was Mia (Anne Hathaway). We filmed it in the style of "The Office", so it was more like a documentary. It was fun, and I didn't have to be completely off book!

Thursday's show was slow because we had a smaller audience. I felt pretty good about it though. Mom and Dad loved it! They said they enjoyed Friday's show more, but Rhea and I felt that Friday was worse. The difference between audience and actor opinion is so interesting to me. But as long as the show comes off well, it never matters how the actor feels about it. What matters is that we impacted the audience and got our message across.

Rhea and I spoke too fast in some parts and we'd stutter on a word and start it over. That's a big actor no-no in performance. You're supposed to continue with the sentence and never restart a line. It was very odd for us, but we got through those little blips with grace, I think. Friday night was talk back and we got to answer questions about what our favorite parts of the show were, and our favorite parts of the rehearsal process. A few under classmen students asked us some great questions about what the most challenging thing about being in a 2 person show was. The answer was so easy for me and I realized it's all thanks to Professor D.

Listening is the key to all great performances--that's what he taught me. And it's true. None of Collected Stories would have been successful if Rhea and I hadn't listened to each other. Because it's 2 people, it's such a reactionary show and everything depends on how you give a line and respond to a line. Professor always told us in his acting class that we have to listen and truly hear what your scene partner is saying to you, and then react accordingly. You can't brush past a line or throw it away, because the playwright wouldn't have written it if it wasn't important. Every line has meaning, and it's the actor's job to give it meaning.

I had a 2nd year come up to me after Saturday's show crying, and she told me that she finally got it. She watched the show and she finally understood everything Professor D had been telling them in their class about 'how to act'. And it was so amazing to have someone tell me that. And the only reason it felt so good is because it solidified for me that I've truly learned things here. I've gotten the education I need, and these underclassmen are getting it too. I was so proud of my cast and crew and professors in that moment. Some other 2nd years came up and confirmed what she said too, and I was blown away that not only had I helped them, but I had started using the things I learned here without realizing that I used them. It was a total 'senior year' moment.

Saturday's show was the best attended. All the theatre students that are in Meet Me in St. Louis came and they gave us great energy. Even Professor L came for some of the show! Strike was really emotional because it was Rhea's last college strike, and we were all feeling the end. This semester has just flown by, and I can imagine that next semester will go by even quicker. I can't imagine what my last college strike will be like. The set came down so fast! Director was having a hard time watching it disappear too, I think.

The understudy performance was Saturday during the day and they did an amazing job! I can't even imagine having to perform a 2 person show as a 1st year. They have so much to learn, but the little things that I could point out were all things that they will definitely learn here at this school. And it was so comforting to watch thinking "I used to do that" and knowing that by their 3rd year they will have come so far. Their performance was great! They have so much natural talent and they carried their conversations with ease. I really enjoyed it and they had a great turnout in the audience. I'm so proud of them!

Sunday we had our Global Ethics project event: A Walk in Their Shoes. It was so much fun! We got to the park at 12 and we started putting posters up around our trail. We had factoids about Africa and the starving population there, as well as optional tasks that had to be accomplished such as walking without shoes, carrying buckets of water, and blindfolding a partner so they had to depend on someone. We had an awesome turnout! We ended up raising $146.53! The best part though: We raised community awareness! There would be people who walked by our signs and stopped to read them. Somehow (and we're not sure how we accomplished this) the buzz about our event spread through the churches and the community to the newspapers! We had 3 different newspapers come interview us AND a camera crew! We were on the news! I got elected to give a personal interview, but I pushed Erin to take it instead. She's the one in our group from Columbia, and even though she wouldn't say it, she really wanted to do it. She gave a great interview! I was so proud of her. She offered perfect analogies to relate to the public the things we were hoping to accomplish and spoke eloquently about our organization: The Hunger Project. She also took our film acting training to heart and remembered to ask the camera man "Where do you have me?"(That means, where are you shooting me? Such as: from the chest up). My whole group is made up of senior theatre majors and we ate that up. Professor D would be proud.

No other group in Global Ethics had newspapers interview them, and they certainly didn't make it on TV. They aired it last night at 9 and it was a beautiful 45 seconds! We can't wait to tell Professor T about the outcome of our project. We gave away tons of great raffle prizes to some very deserving students and community members. Everyone's support was fantastic and appreciated!

Today in class we re-blocked most of our final Shakespeare scene and rehearsed it. We watched more of The Winter's Tale in Lit class. I had voice lessons today and Voice Professor T has decided to teach me how to belt! I'm so excited! We picked my final cuts for final voice juries that will take place at the end of the semester. I'm required to do 1 full song and 2 cuts. I kind of can't wait.

I also can't wait for Thanksgiving Break! My first break since Boji! I have free afternoons all week, and I'm excited to take a step back, breathe, and concentrate on my homework again. It's going to be a short week and I'll be home in no time!

Opening Night and Other Shenanigans

2010-11-11T10:52:00.004-06:00

Wowza!

The weekend just flew by! It served the purpose of being the much needed break from Collected Stories for me. I was back and ready for action on Monday.

Monday afternoon we ran Act II, and then Monday night we had 1st Dress (Rehearsal). We had to stop a couple times for line issues (though we never asked to be given a line) and for technical issues.

Tuesday afternoon we ran Act I and Act II scene 3. It went well, and by night rehearsal we were on our game. We didn't have line flubs, the tech was on track and there were only a couple of issues that arose. Gotta love live theatre. I forgot my coat in one scene, and forgot to take it off in another. The keys I'm supposed to have weren't in my pocket, and many of the lights weren't focused. All in all though, it went really well!

So, Wednesday comes. Now, Monday and Tuesday I'd been running around like a chicken with my head cut off, printing programs, getting them checked and rechecked, printing more programs, negotiating bills, picking up T-Shirts (and then going back to pick up shirts that were printed wrong), Designing program inserts (because even after all the checking, somehow some important people were left off the program--my fault!), printing program inserts, cutting program inserts, inserting program inserts, Updating( printing, cutting and inserting) bookmarks, passing out flyers for fundraising, and SOMEHOW memorizing a monologue for class.

This monologue was performed Wednesday morning for Professor B. We were supposed to be able to come into the room in character, and use whatever prop/set piece she set before us. It was improvisational and REALLY hard. It would have been more fun for me if I had memorized my monologue before the night before and if Wednesday wasn't opening night. However, that was no excuse. I didn't do the best I could have, and Professor B called me out on it. She also gave me an out, saying she knew how much I had on my plate and that I had an entire play of lines to memorize. I find it odd how everyone has made such a big deal about Rhea and I having so many lines. To me, it just seems like my job to get it all done, and I love it so it isn't a hassle. And it makes me feel horrible when people use it as an excuse for me. So I went to Professor B after class and told her that I didn't have an excuse for not doing well, and that she shouldn't give me one. Weirdly enough, she wouldn't accept that. She told me that it was OK, and that she understood. I tried to fight her on it, but she wouldn't let me. It was kind of surreal, honestly. I just wanted her to know that I would never use my PR job plus being in a show as an excuse, and she just told me that it was a good excuse.

So I lost that battle. I also presented my global ethics project with my group. We ended up having to go last and had little time to present, so we did an abbreviated version of our process so far. Professor T was impressed at the buzz in the community about our 'A Walk in Their Shoes' event. All our proceeds are going to The Hunger Project, and our interactive walk will be fun I think! It's on Sunday, so I'm sure I'll have more about it on here later. I also designed the beautiful poster you see here.

OK, so all of this happened, and then I had opening night last night. I hadn't even felt like it was opening night all day because there was so much going on. We cleaned up the Warehouse and did all our last minute things. We redid some of the lighting, lined the wood flooring, and created the Biography Board. We had a Warehouse Board Meeting at 5:30 because it was Wednesday and we rushed through everything we needed to talk about, and then we scattered to get ready for the show.

Rhea and I were pumped. Our understudies were excited, and Director couldn't have been happier that it was opening night, I think. The show went GREAT. Rhea and I were solid in our performances and we made it through every technical difficulty presented to us! And boy, was it a fun night of live theatre difficulty. There were new costumes, early light cues (that left us either entering the stage in light or exiting the stage in light), phones that didn't ring, and the best of all--a bottle of sparkling juice that wouldn't open. Rhea has a long monologue where she opens a bottle and then pours us both some juice. She couldn't open it, so I took it from her (while she was monologuing) and tried to open it, and when that didn't work, she simply went to the kitchen (lucky we had a kitchen on stage) and she poured us some tea! Something to remember: always buy twistable caps, never the kind you have to pop.

But everyone loved it, and no one could tell that anything was wrong. I felt good about it, and I'm very excited for the rest of the week! Professor R and Professor D both saw the show last night and were very complimentary.

But the best part of my night last night was getting to hang out with my Mentizzle. Mentor Mentizzle is the mentoring program we set up in the Warehouse Theatre to get the underclassmen more involved. I haven't gotten to speak to her much this year, and last night we got to spend more time with each other. It was a lot of fun!

So, Day two of the run of Collected Stories. I had a commercial audition for Nuts and Bolts today. Unlucky for me (or lucky depending on your outlook) I was called in for the Diet Coke commercial. I was asked to dress contemporary casual but edgy by my agent (who is really just my teacher, but he likes to simulate the real world in these class exercises). So of course, the Diet Coke commercial is the one that includes the most improv, and I am horrible at improv. It's a skill I've always wanted to learn, but have always been too intimidated by. Usually when you are trying to learn it, you are surrounded by people that are really good at it, and it makes it harder. So I had to walk in (and I was called before I expected to be called) and tell a charming, funny story about the best Diet Coke I ever had. I was possibly charming; not at all funny. Then he wanted me to tell a different story, but I hadn't thought of a different one, and since I'm horrible at improv I couldn't think of one on the spot. So he gave me some ideas, and I tried a couple of them. Then he told me to take it darker, and I said some more of his ideas. Then I tried one idea of my own and I was done. He told me good job, how much it would pay if I got the gig, and what they were planning on doing with it. All of this took place within the span of 2 minutes.

All commercial auditions are 2 minutes long, and all commercial auditions are improv. Therefor I predict I will probably never be very good at commercial auditions. I'm OK with that though, because I'm not incredibly interested in commercials. Apparently, many of them are moving to Non-Union which means it's harder to be paid residuals for every time they air. And if you book a national commercial then people might see you as 'the girl in that one commercial' which can ruin any TV/Movie career you might want. Professor D told us that you have to be willing to trade a successful TV career for a successful commercial career. My roomie Kaitie is really good at improv and it sounds like her commercial went way better than mine. Go her!

So, Mom and Dad get in today, but I have class, then a movie to shoot, then a Warehouse Company Meeting to attend, then a show to perform, then photo call, and THEN I can see them. Hopefully I'll have more time tomorrow since they're here until Saturday! It should be lots of fun!

Remember Remember the 5th of November

2010-11-05T12:48:00.003-05:00

So I looked up the story behind this rhyme--very gruesome.

Another crazy week and a half has come and gone. Rehearsals have been great! Rhea and I have had a blast (give or take some stress) putting this show together and breathing life into these characters. Director gives notes at the end of every scene and we write down the things we need to work on for the next time. It seems to have gone by so fast. Just last week, I was still reading from the script. Now I'm off book, we're performing in the space, and my costumes are coming together!

Monday was designer watch, which means the designers watched a run through of the show to make sure they have everything they need before we open. Wednesday was Crew Watch, which means the crew and production team watch the show, since they won't be able to see the final product because they'll be busy back stage working on it. Last night was our first night of Tech Week. We did a cue to cue, which means we only said the lines before and after any light changes or sound effects so the board operators could get the feel for where their technical elements come in. Tonight we'll be doing a full run through, with some costumes, and we might have prospective students come watch.

That's right--it's prospective student weekend! Every department at school is giving tours, and as an ambassador so am I. We're hosting an overnight for all interested students (there's over 100 I believe) and then tomorrow we'll be giving downtown tours. It looks like it's going to be a lot of fun, and it's our job to make the school look as good as possible and bump up those admission rates!

In other news, school has been crazy. We did mock performances of our Shakespeare scenes ( I may or may not have already said this in my last post), I got together with my group and planned our presentation (including a rap to keep the kids interested), I presented Othello to my Shakespeare Lit class with my group, I created the program for Collected Stories, I created and sent the advertisements for Collected Stories to the local newspapers, I got the blog mentioned in the local news blog ( http://www.columbiatribune.com/weblogs/art-axis/2010/oct/14/no-hiring-freeze-on-columbias-stages/ ) , had 2 Warehouse Board meetings, written dilemmas for Ethics class, visited with my mom, had poster run, taken headshots for the show, performed my Shakespeare soliloquy for real (and received fabulous feedback from Professor R who thinks I have a real future in the classics), and miraculously got off book for Collected Stories. I've also received my Midwest (combine regional theatre audition in February) form saying what time slot I have and who all will be attending. I've researched the theatres on the list and I'm now considering who to play my audition package to.

Most of the theatres attending are interested in musical theatre singers and dancers for their summer stock companies. If I play my cards right, I might be able to try and swing my audition to get the attention of the Shakespeare companies attending, since those are the theatres that interest me the most.

I also signed up for next semester classes. I'll be taking a total of 14 hours now (I might add more), which is the lowest amount I've ever taken. I'll be taking Advanced Acting on Camera, Advanced Acting for Comedy, Box Office Internship (where I'll learn some awesome PR skills, and gain business management experience), Dramatic Literature (all focused on plays), and Creating Online Media (which will be beneficial for a future side job in graphic design/PR).

I'm not sure why this post includes so many parentheses quotes. On the upside, we got to speak to an Equity Representative in Nuts and Bolts yesterday. He explained the different styles of contracts and the benefits of what Equity can do for us if we join. He also gave us advice about knowing when to join (only when it's right for you, never feel pressured). We also spoke more about side jobs in the acting world, and our newest project is to create our own work of some sort, whether it's performance based or a website. This is to help teach us that we're capable of making our own work when we're in a rut in real life and we're not being hired.

I'm sure there's a ton more I've done that I'm missing, but I'm not sure what all it is. Mom and Dad (!!!! Awesome) are coming up to see the show this next week. And after that it's one more week until Thanksgiving Break. That will be the first break I've had since Boji; the first break I've had since May. Whatever will I do with my time?

So much to say, so little time

2010-10-26T08:20:00.003-05:00

It seems that I have less and less time to write these days. Since Wednesday I've presented my project in Nuts and Bolts, gone to Ethics class, written a vernacular translation of my Shakespeare soliloquy and talked through it with Professor R, Watched the the Julie Taymor version of Titus (Shakespeare'sTitus Andronicus), set up and helped run a costume sale, went headshot shirt shopping (say that 5 times fast), finished a ton of homework, filmed my last movie scene, performed my soliloquy, and taken my headshots! Plus rehearsal.

So: the project went really well. We seemed to be the only cities encouraging people to not move there. Kansas City was good, and Minneapolis was interesting, but I was actually interested in Denver and Orlando. Denver is a market I would move to if I wanted to settle down and have a family, I think. They have a great, smaller scene, and it's just a great place to live. Orlando seemed cool for just starting out. I'm not especially interested in Disney, but there are other theatres around, and I do love the Florida atmosphere. Today we get to hear from Chicago, NY, LA, and Seattle. I'm extremely excited about all of these, because if I'm serious about this, I'll definitely end up in one of these places. Kyle (who took my headshots, and acted at Boji) will be a guest speaker in class today, which will be really cool too. He lives in NY as an actor/singer/photographer, and he's going to tell us all about it.

I really like the soliloquy I've received in Shakespeare. It's Queen Margaret from King Henry VI Part II. We had to present them individually yesterday, and I'm excited to work with Professor R on mine to make it better. I played one level the whole time, and he reminded me not to put emphasis on non-operative words such as: HIS head. It should be his HEAD.

My weekend flew by! The Costume sale went swimmingly! We raised more money than I think we imagined we would, and half of the proceeds are going to The Women's Shelter. I also bought some great things, for very cheap! We're very proud of that. I placed our Warehouse T-Shirt order, so hopefully those should be coming in soon next week.

Sunday was a crazy day. I thought I would film my 2 line scene for one hour, tops. Instead, I ended up at a 5 hour shoot because they had to take close-ups, different angles, and over the shoulders of me and my partner and my mother. I never knew it could take so long. I had a lot of fun while filming. It was a really emotional scene, but Garret (my 'brother' in the scene) and I had a lot of fun in between takes. It showed me that I really do love film acting as much as I always thought I would. However, I didn't like waiting around between takes or before takes. On a real set, I wouldn't have homework to be doing and I would have a trailer to stay in--so this problem was purely a student film issue. :) I received great direction, and enjoyed the experience overall.

I took my headshots yesterday! It was scary, but Kyle made it fun and easier than I thought it would be. I ended up with over 400 pictures, and Katie Mac and I got it down to just over 50. They're on Facebook mom!

Rehearsal has been going really well. We were completely blocked (all our movement was decided) by Friday afternoon. We were working scenes by Friday evening. We just finished working Act 1 yesterday! It goes so fast. We need to be off book Act 1 by Wednesday, and Act 2 by Friday. And then we'll just start running the show. I'm loving the script more every time I do it, which is good because that doesn't always happen. I'm constantly thinking of new things to try, and Director is really great about giving us ideas and letting us have freedom in the process. She keeps it real. She reminds us when we've glossed over an important moment, and to really think about what we're saying and listen to each other. It's difficult because there are only the 2 of us in this play, so we have to be careful that certain things have meaning, and we don't forget them.

Anyways, I've gotta go memorize my monologue for Wednesday's class!

The Tudors, Ethics, and Getting Cast

2010-10-20T09:34:00.007-05:00

So, over the lovely 3 day weekend I managed to finish off my project about the Houston/Austin theatre scene. It's not as in depth as I'd like, but I think it's fairly well done. Truthfully, it was difficult to answer some of the questions because the markets are so small that they don't offer up a lot of information about theatre. It's difficult to even find pictures of the theatres, because they aren't known on a national scale. I've tried to figure out how to upload it here, so you could look at it if you'd like, but I'm not sure this blog has the capabilities. I'll look into it!

Also over the weekend, I started watching the television series
The Tudors which is about the reign of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. It's mostly fictional, but all the characters are historically accurate. It's very well acted and well scripted, then again most Showtime shows are. It's made me think a lot about classical acting in my future. I really enjoy the classics and I think I'll definitely take the time to train for those somewhere. The University of San Diego has an incredible graduate program geared towards the classics, and they study abroad at the Globe Theatre. On a side note, I discovered that Austin has a replica of a Shakespearean outdoor theatre. I must go.

Speaking of classics, Shakespeare Acting has been going well. We performed our 10 line 'midterms' and I received good feedback. Now we've moved onto soliloquies. I'm performing Queen Margaret from King Henry VI Part 2. She's a very powerful woman, and I'm excited to be playing her! I did a lot of research on the play so I understand all of the historical context. That's the problem with Shakespeare's Histories: they were automatically understood in his time, because everyone knew the back stories. These days, very few Americans know about many of the English Kings aside from Henry VIII. There's a lot of names to keep track of, and lineage to check out. I wish I had the time to read every Shakespeare play we receive scenes from this semester. We're supposed to, but realistically it's impossible.

I'm taking Shakespeare Literature too, and we have a new play to read every week in there. The plays we receive in acting class are different Shakespeare plays, and there's no way I could read and digest 2 Shakes plays every week around all the other homework I have--plus rehearsal!

Because I got cast.

I'm so excited! Monday we had auditions for Collected Stories in the Warehouse. We have a new student director, Michelle, and she did auditions and callbacks in the same night to ensure that rehearsals could start on Tuesday. We're already a week behind in rehearsals because of midterms last week, so we'll have 2 weeks of rehearsal and 1 week of Tech. So I performed a new monologue that I had prepared over the weekend for auditions and received a callback. Collected Stories is a 2 women play that we fought hard to have in our season. We thought that is was an important piece of work that needed to be done, and the ladies at this school should have an opportunity to play these intelligent and mature characters.

At callbacks I read for the older character first, and then the younger character. I ended up getting to read for the younger character several more times before she released everyone except 5 of us--to stay and read for the older character. I've been wanting a younger character on my resume to even it out. It's difficult to explain to theatres that are interested in you why your resume consists of characters that aren't your age. So the more younger characters I can get on my resume, the better, because those will be the roles I actually get called back for in the real world.

All in all, the callbacks were really fun. We did separate reads with out partners for the first half, then the director brought us all in and picked pairs to perform scenes in front of everyone to move it along. It's very rare in an audition here that we get to watch each other perform, and it was very useful. It was interesting watching how the first years would get nervous to perform in front of everyone and I had to remind myself that they weren't used to it yet. It made me remember how scared of performing I was when I first came here. The 3rd years were so talented and that was daunting. I had a first year scene partner in one of my callbacks, and she did a great job being courageous. Now she's an understudy!

So callbacks lasted until 11 pm, then I woke up, went to class, and then the cast list was up! I'm playing Lisa, the younger character! I had class right up until rehearsal and then the read-through sped by. It's been a crazy couple of days, that's for sure.

I had voice midterms on Monday; that went well. I ended up singing my 16 bar cuts Acapella for memorization purposes. Then I turned my Houston/Austin project in to be graded. I received my grade for my Ethics midterm. I got an 86%, and I got a lesson about education. My Professor had created a test that was impossible to make up answers on. We were really angry at how specific he was because we had had to study so hard and then we still weren't able to answer some of the questions which made us look like we hadn't studied at all. However, he told us that education shouldn't be about the grades you make, it should be about what you learn and the knowledge you retain. We had to admit that we had learned a lot in his class and through the studying that we did for the test, so he had done his job, even if we didn't test well.

In Professor D's Nuts and Bolts class yesterday we talked about Ancillary Acting work. He gave us a list of entertainment jobs that we could do instead of performing on a stage or in film. We talked about: Theme parks, stunt work, cruise lines, industrial shows, industrial films (like the training videos at every workplace), voice overs, and being a reader in auditions.

My two favorites were being a reader and voice overs. If you're a reader it means that you're an actor's 'scene partner' in their audition. You read the other characters lines, usually while sitting down with the casting director and director, while the auditionee performs. This is a great way to watch what makes an audition work and what specific casting directors are looking for. Casting directors are your big in, in this industry and it's important to know them and know what they like.

Voice Overs can be done anywhere and everywhere. There are so many opportunities to do voice overs, and if you're lucky you can get a job that pays a ton of money! There are some people that do just this for a living. They have recording studios in their basement and they receive scripts, record them, and email them off and they're done for the day. They take special microphone training and you need to have an array of voices at your disposal for specific radio ads or television commercials. Voice Over artists are the highest paid actors in the business. This is a great supplementary job that I would love to do.

Cruise lines are also of interest to me, and Professor D promises that we'll interview some of his friends that work on cruise ships about their experiences. These jobs can be horrible if you aren't careful choosing the line you go on. Some cruise lines offer a weekly meal schedule, and it can be hard to eat the same thing every Wednesday for 6 months. You also have to be careful of who's giving you insurance. Cruise lines are all non-Equity (the stage actors' union)and so you have to make sure of who is taking care of you if you break your leg. Who flies you home, the ship, or you? Another thing to be careful of is who is paying for your visa? If your visa costs $30 to get off the ship at every country and the ship is going to 10 countries, you should probably make sure that the ship is paying for it. Or the theatre company you're working for.

The downer is that there are very few straight play cruise lines, which is what I'm interested in. And the other downer is that you're away as long as the ship is away, so if something happens at home it's really difficult to make it back.

Next time in Nuts and Bolts I'll be presenting my city research with my partner. I'm really excited about these presentations because I'll get to learn about the theatre markets in a lot of cities, so I can find a city that fits me that I could potentially move to. Top of the list right now: Seattle and Chicago.

I have a Warehouse Board Meeting today to approve the poster I've made for this show. I have afternoon and night rehearsal, and somehow in there I also have to find time to make an appointment to cut my bangs before headshots next week, and to plan my presentation for Nuts and Bolts. It's going to be a busy day! Good thing I had the morning off!

And for my sake, some notes I received at the read through yesterday:
* Think of different ways to end all your sentences with question marks
* Work on using a higher register for your voice, you sound too similar to Rhea
* Dye hair light? Highlights? We need to see a visible distinction between Rhea and me (both tall, both brunette)

Oh! P.S. I've started a guest blogging series on the Warehouse Blog, meaning I've contacted people and interviewed them about things I think the students here will be interested in! I'm really excited about it, and the first interview is up! It's not letting me add the warehouse link, so you should scroll down a couple posts to where I added it before!

Almost Midterm but Not Quite

2010-10-12T12:08:00.004-05:00

Friday sped by, and so did my weekend! However, I did get a lot accomplished in my seemingly short amount of time.

On Friday we presented out Shakespeare scenes for the class. I had a section of Hamlet. Everyone's scenes went great! The language was clear and easy to understand. Everyone understood the point of their scenes, and it was like we weren't watching Shakespeare at all! My scene went very well, too. I had a blast performing it because I took risks and committed more fully than I had been in some of our rehearsals. Professor R had told us to not hold back or be afraid to be a little melodramatic, and so I didn't. I didn't end up being melodramatic, but that direction really allowed me to stop being so small and closed off.

Here are some of the notes we received from Professor R afterwards:
* You are a master wordsmith. You carved out every line and syllable and made it your own.
* Both of you really understood the scene and committed to the story.
* I can tell you love Shakespeare

So, they were very nice notes to get. It always feels good to not receive a critical note, however that doesn't mean the scene was seamless. I think it just means that in the amount of time we had, we really showed Professor R what he wanted. Which is great!

Acting in Shakespeare is a class I'm really enjoying, and it makes me think that I'd love to study Shakespeare and Restoration more in depth. Maybe I'll do graduate school one day.

This weekend I did a mock tour for Student Ambassadors which went well. I had to check out early because I was supposed to film some of my scenes for one of the films I'm in. I didn't know where the film site was so it took me a while to find it, but when I got there they ended up not needing me for a couple hours yet. So I came back to campus and attended the understudy performance of Five Women Wearing the Same Dress, which was fabulous by the way. The understudies really did their homework, and I was very proud of them. I had to leave at intermission because I got a call saying they were ready to film me. So, I went and filmed my scene, which only took about 15 takes or so. It was a lot of fun! I actually received direction from the director about where I should put my hand and how she wanted me to stand and if she wanted more in my voice. It was nice to know she wanted me to turn out well on film. It makes me more excited to see the final product. Honestly I have about 7 lines in this film, so it won't be anything to remember, but it's a great experience. I still have one more scene to shoot yet.

Then I made a letterhead for the Warehouse, to hopefully add to an e-mail subscription list I'd like to set up. After that it was time to go to the closing show of Five Women! I had to run in early and print off 40 more programs. And 10 minutes before the start of the show, the house manager ran up and told me we needed about 30 more because there was a line of people waiting for programs! That's great! The show had great word of mouth PR, and our ad in the newspaper as well as the posters downtown really brought in a big crowd. We ended up selling higher than normal for one of our shows!

The show was hilarious and heartwarming. It was a great script and a great cast. It was amazing to watch how everything came together for this show. Being a part of it was so much fun, and all of our hard work really paid off. We had strike after the show and the set came down in no time. We were out early and I got to bed early.

Sunday was filled with massive amounts of homework and small spurts of procrastination. I finished up memorizing lines for the Shakespeare midterm, wrote a cover letter and a review of Five Women for Nuts and Bolts, wrote in the discussion board for class, and typed out my section of the proposal for our Global Ethics Senior Capstone project. I spent about 4 hours looking for a good monologue, but it took me until yesterday to find the one I'd like to use. We're supposed to being 'using the room' for our next monologue assignment, and so I had been having difficulty finding a monologue that I could accomplish that with.

The monologue I'm using is from Lanford Wilson's Ludlow Fair and hopefully it will turn out to be a good addition to my repertoire.

In Nuts and Bolts today we talked more about Living in the Big City. There was a lot of discussion on security at the apartments we live in, as well as car security, and grocery delivery. We also talked about collecting unemployment. Unemployment is given to people who are let go from their jobs or when the job they have ends. As actors, we sign contracts for 4-8 week gigs---and then our jobs end. Because of this, as long as we are actively seeking employment such as auditioning or attempting to find auditions, we can collect unemployment to help pay the bills.

Professor D suggested some good part time jobs, as well. When in a large market such as LA, NYC, or Chicago where acting is seen as a legitimate profession, auditions take place during the day and performances and showcases take place at night. This means if you have a day job you can't audition, and if you have a night job you can't perform. So how do we do it, you ask? We have to find jobs with flexible hours that allow us to audition and perform. This means: massage therapy, certified personal trainer, temping, or knowing your employer well enough. Professor D used to be a bell boy, and has friends that work as personal assistants or vet assistants who have boss' that allow them to take off for auditions.

We talked a lot about temping and its benefits in class today. It's one of the most flexible jobs, and it's easy if you know how to work computer's and type well.

Well--isn't it interesting the things I have to look forward to? Who knows what part time job I'll have? I'm not too worried about it at the moment. For now, I'd like to focus on actually acquiring a theatre related job!

Thinking About the Future

2010-10-07T20:52:00.001-05:00

Food for thought:

I graduate in 8 months exactly. May 7, 2011. I haven't been in college for very long. Still, high school seems like a life time ago. I learned so much about theatre my first and second year here. It's become so much more than a possible career. I came into college loving what I experienced in high school, but knowing there was more out there. 2 years later I realize now that what theatre is to me has changed. It's always been about family and about creativity. It's been about expressing myself and sharing an idea. Now, all of that has grown. It's become about the art and the craft itself. It's about the history of theatre and what it has always meant to the people who perform it. It's about learning something not only about myself, but something human everyday. It reminds me that everything in life changes and evolves. It has shown me that I can change and that I can help change people. It's about representing the bigger picture and bringing new ideas to a wider public. And I love the process. I love delving into situations I have or haven't experienced or making people laugh. It's a sort of psychology for the soul. And I use my body and my mind everyday. At the end of the day I know I've worked hard for something, usually with someone else. It's a community experience.

Most importantly though, I think theatre has taught me that there is so much more to life than I thought before. There are different people and places to experience. There are things that I want to do that have nothing to do with working in an office and everything to do with learning about life. I wish I could spend my life traveling and meeting new people and experiencing different cultures. But I know I can't. Not realistically--at least for a little while.

And I think that might be the saddest thing I've learned in college. American theatre has become so commercial. So much of it is based on money and public desire. The regional theatre movement is slightly better, but it's really the store-front, independent theatres that are able to perform the work that matters. But in other parts of the world, theatre is different. Theatre is not only a respected art, but a respected career. It's not seen as a claim to fame, or idealistic. The people that practice it aren't usually out to get famous. In England actors are knighted for their craft. It's considered respectable to study theatre and to perform it. It's odd to not only concieve of the notion that somewhere else people might not laugh when I say I'm an actress, but odd that somewhere else my idea of a future is a legitimate one. And that has allowed me to understand that my future is legitimate--if I so choose to make it that way.

I suppose I'm thinking about all of this because in 8 months I'll be out there, and I'll have to make decisions about what I want to do. And I don't really know what I want to do. I want to act, but only if acting is bringing me the same joy that it has brought me so far. I want to be part of a cast that loves what they do as much as I do. And I want it to be about the experience, and very rarely about the money. They always say that if you do theatre, you can never just do theatre. You have to do other things to give you the experience you need to do theatre. And I like that. I like knowing that I can do other things to be good at what I love to do. Nothing I do will ever be a waste of time.

Now--the key is to actually do this. To be successful. But I think my success will be measured by my happiness, and by the people I've met along the way.

Full Speed Ahead

2010-10-07T12:34:00.002-05:00

Wow, I'm failing miserably at keeping up this year. I'm sorry.

Next week is midterms, so this week and last week are crammed full of teachers throwing information at me. Which is ok, to an extent.

Let's pick up where we left off, shall we? I'm loving my new haircut, for one. Mom's visit was awesome and gave me a much needed mental health weekend. Also, over the weekend we had our 2 annual Warehouse Field Day! It was a great success and everybody had a great time. This week I had to get the Warehouse Programs printed. They look beautiful! My poster that I designed is on the front, and we had them printed in color, which is a step up from last year. I also created a 'Warehouse Theatre Bookmark' insert. It's bookmark with the rest of our upcoming season as well as our blog and twitter accounts, so the public can keep up with us online.

I also had to get the dress display for the lobby situated. We wanted to put student made dresses on display as a show of campus involvement in the Warehouse. It ended up that only one student submitted dresses, but we had enough for a great display!

So it was a busy week for the Warehouse. We opened the show last night and I hear it went great! The photo/bio board for the actors and designers looks amazing, the show was hilarious, and we had a group of 33 come! It's rare to get a group, so that was really cool. We played to 81% last night! We might even run out of programs--and that's great!

Now, onto my school life, because really, how did my life become only about the Warehouse?

In Shakespeare we reviewed our scenes to be performed Friday. Kylie and I did well, and I had a few notes about emphasis placement, but Professor R says we're well on our way. In Shakespeare Lit this week we studied All's Well that Ends Well. Coming up next we're studying Titus Andronicus. Each week now there is a new group presentation on the play and then we discuss it. It's become more of a process than a learning experience, but I'm working on it.

Nuts and Bolts this week was fun! We discussed Our Leading Lady which closed on the mainstage over the weekend. It was a great play, but an odd script. Not one of Charles Busch's better ones in my opinion. However the cast did a beautiful job. Then we also talked about our interviews. Professor D told us most everyone did a good job. I got to watch the video of my interview. Professor D said I was charming and comfortable, and well composed. I thought my interview went pretty well. I was wearing rings, and I continually clinked them against the table and that was annoying. I felt that the interview could have been slightly more personal, but I know what I need to work on for next time. Also this week in Professor D's class we talked about 'Living in the Big City' and leasing apartments. A very educational lesson, for sure.

Professor B signed my UPTA paperwork, which I can now send in to be registered officially. UPTAs are the Unified Professional Theatre Auditions. They're a combined regional audition where theatre companies, producers, casting directors, and touring groups come to audition new talent. It's one of the most widely attended in the country, and I'm more interested in this audition than in Midwest Auditions, which consists mostly of summer stock theatres and small touring shows. But, maybe I'll be able to attend both. I can't say for sure what will come of either of these, but it's always good to register.

I have my first filming dates this weekend. I'll be shooting a couple scenes off campus for one of the student films I'm in. That will be fun, but hopefully it won't take up all my time on the weekend before midterms. I also have a 'mock overnight' planned with Student Ambassadors, where the returning student ambassadors train the new ambassadors by hosting an overnight and giving a tour. I'll miss some of it because we have our Talkback after Friday's show and the board has to be there, but that's ok.

So, that's my last week in a nutshell. It sounds horribly uninteresting, but I don't have much energy to make it engaging. I have ethics class soon! We've moved from Hindu Dharma to Buddhism. I'm enjoying it a lot! Gotta go!

Oh, and check out the Warehouse Blog I created for our theatre company. I'm quite proud of it.

www.warehousetheatrecompany.wordpress.com

Hello World--It's a New Day!

2010-09-30T18:34:00.004-05:00

I'm in a really great mood today for many reasons.

1. I talked to the Houston/Dallas Actor's Equity Liaison yesterday for my research project. She was awesome! Let's call her L. L was not only extremely helpful, but possibly the nicest person I've ever spoken to on the phone. She gave me so many great answers to my questions, as well as a pep talk about my future. By the end of the conversation she was offering to take me to auditions and introduce me to all of her friends (who are all extremely important people in the acting world of Houston, Texas). Of course, L is the kind of person that would do this for anybody, so I'm not the special person in this situation--she is. She told me to keep in touch, and if I'm ever in Houston she would love to meet up with me and do all the things she promised.

She also e-mailed me some great resources for the area for auditions and for renting audition spaces to produce my own work in. Some facts she told me:

* 96% of actors in Houston have a full time job. This means, it's incredibly hard to live on an acting salary, and not many of the theatres pay a high enough salary to live off of.

* The main full time position actors have is teaching! What a coincidence. And, if I were to get my MFA, I could teach college level and get paid more. Guess who went to the renowned Houston Graduate Acting program? That's right, L did. And does she known the head of the program very well? You bet she does.

*Other positions to be had in the area are: running your own business, computer techinician, and working in a theatre office position.

*Since most actors work full time jobs, all rehearsals in the area except at the Alley Theatre and Theatre Under The Stars take place at night to work with everyone's schedules.

All things to think about. She also told me many more positive things about the area, and especially concerning Dallas. Dallas ended up sounding more like the place I'd like to work in. More work seems to go through the area, I think. L gave me the names of the top agencies (which all her friends work for) and told me that they hire a lot of work out of Dallas. And home is right between Dallas and Houston. How convenient.

2. I had a great Warehouse Board meeting yesterday. We're looking into some new opportunities that I can't disclose yet since they haven't been approved, but suffice to say they will be extremely beneficial for the students at school!

3. I had my 'mock' interview with Profesor D today. He was acting as Michael Kirsten from Harden-Curtis Associates. I prepared well. I looked up all the current projects and actors he's working on and with. I worked out all the answers to the regular questions and decided how I was going to present myself. It was odd because I know Professor D, so it wasn't like a real interview would be--but I was just as nervous. Of course he video taped us, so this way we can watch it and know the things we need to fix such as our physicality when walking into the room or if you say 'um' too much.

Some of the questions asked:
*Where are you from?
*What was your college experience like?
*What kind of roles can I send you out for? Right now?
*Where do you see yourself working in 5 years?
*What do you do for fun?

They seem easy, but it was really hard to think of the roles I could be sent out for. It's so easy to think that we can play anything. We've all been taught here that we're versatile actors. But out there, agents look at us and put us into types: quirky best friend, mental case, leading lady, young lover, ingenue, witty side kick. We walk into a room and they know what they want to send us out for--the interview is just a test to see if your personality fits your image.

So I had to really think about how people percieve me and the kind of roles I could feasibly be playing once I graduate. I settled for young strong female lead such as Raina in Arms and the Man and the odd girl such as Prudence in Beyond Therapy. I told 'Michael' that I was interested in abstract pieces by Pinter, Albee, and Durang. He asked me why I hadn't been in more comedies, and I expressed an interest in those as well. I also talked about how I hope to have started my television career in 5 years, and we spoke on that some.

It was a good interview, and I got some positive feedback on it. Professor D told me I can watch the tape when I get some free time.

4. I cut my hair. I wanted a new look. It's just shorter. And I have bangs! Exciting, but it needs to grow out some.

5. Mom's coming tomorrow!!! And I only have 1 class tomorrow!

So--Good Day.

Don't be Afraid to be Theatrical

2010-09-27T10:30:00.003-05:00

Professor R said it best to me, but the above title is a common note I get. Professor B says I'm honest and Professor L thinks I can deliver a truthful line with the best of them. They all mean the same thing. Professor R reminded me of it again today when my partner and I were performing our Hamlet scene, in which I (Hamlet) tend to rant in soliloquy. It was a very true note, but I must say Professor R makes it seem much easier than when I attempt it. Such is the life of a BFA candidate.

Well, I had a full last week. My dinner with Joy Haynes was great! I invited my roommate, and we went to a snazzy restaurant downtown to eat with Joy, the President of our college, the dean of my theatre department, my costume designer from Rabbit Hole, and one of Joy's old friends that works at the Okoboji Summer Theatre. We talked about Joy's documentary that is in the works, which is being filmed at a mental ward, and I got to hear a lot about Washington D.C. where Joy is currently working. I had heard most of it at the lunch I had with her, but it was fun to see where all the theatre alum were from the class of '93. Many of them have children, and many of them are highly successful in theatre. One is on Broadway, one is on TV, some come back to Boji to direct, and Joy works professionally in her field as well. Very interesting. You can see all about her at her personal website: www.joyhaynes.com

The castlist for All my Sons went up, and I was not cast. Some of my best friends got great rolls, and I'm very excited to see the show. I think it's going to be a challenge and a great experience for all of them, especially those First Year understudies.

I also had a film audition last week. It was awesome!!! It was the most professional one I've been to yet, mostly because it wasn't a student film. I got my sides early by e-mail, so I could look over the part. Then I prepared a monologue for the audition as well. All of the crew were really welcoming. I got to meet the writer and she and the director told me what they were expecting. The audition area was actually lit with lights and reflectors. I was surrounded to the point where it was hard to see the director when he was talking to me. It was great! They all knew what they wanted and it felt great to be surrounded by people like that. I did my monologue first, and then they had me sit and read a long monologue for the character I was auditioning for. After I read it, they gave me an adjustment--and here's the irony--it was to be LESS emotional! Which means I was being too big for the camera. Ah, the perfect balance needs to be found. However, they seemed to enjoy my second reading and they asked my availability and if I would be able to commit to the principle photography dates. They explained that callbacks would be this week from Wednesday to Friday if I got a callback. Maybe I will, maybe I won't. However, that was the funnest audition I've been to all year and I had a great time!

This weekend I started a list of the Top Ten Paid Internships I should look into. This is a really hard list to make, because each theatre is so different and so is the experience I would have there. So far I only have 3 internships. Professor D talked about Grad School in our last Nuts and Bolts lesson. He said you need to have a really good reason to attend Grad School, and they're going to ask you why you think Grad School is right for you when you audition. Wanting to go to GS because you're afraid of the real world or because you enjoy the classroom setting is not a good enough reason to attend. Professor D said he went because he didn't know his 'type', or the kinds of characters he could be cast in. One day I'll go to GS because I have more to learn, and I want to further my knowledge, and because those connections will take me to amazing places. However, I think at this point in my life I need to experience the real world.

Just some food for thought.

I got a new laptop this weekend. My last one died unexpectedly; the motherboard crashed. But now I'm up and running again, with a lot more work to finish before MOMMY GETS HERE on FRIDAY!

It's Like Christmas!

2010-09-20T16:47:00.003-05:00

That's what Professor R proclaimed when handing out our Shakespeare scenes which, admittedly, I was excited to get. I'm playing Hamlet, and I have some lines to memorize tonight! It looks like it will be a really fun scene.

So, I meant to update before today, but there was so much going on. Last week went by in a flash. I had my first monologue to perform in our monologue class. Professor B told us all that we need to remember that saying a monologue 'honestly' will not set us apart from the 300 people auditioning for the same role. Anyone can do an honest line reading. We need to be unique. We need to tag (end with an action) it. She told us the only rules in an audition are the ones we make for ourselves. I thought that was great advice. Who really says you can't use a prop or a chair? Don't start in neutral, stand in a way that makes someone pay attention to you, and that gives you the option to move. If you stand straight on with your hands at your sides, the only place you can go is to step forward or wander aimlessly to the side, or to bring your hands up in a physically unappealing gesture.

We need to learn to engage our bodies, and the first step is giving yourself the opportunity to move. We need to pick pieces that showcase our abilities and set us apart from the crowd.

All of this is easier said than done. Nonetheless, it will be my goal of the year to come up with audition pieces that do all these things for me.

We had meetings with Professor D pertaining to our resumes. I only had minor critiques, such as including the names of my directors on my resume, because I never know when someone will know someone I've worked with, and that makes all the difference.

This weekend we had auditions for All my Sons. Saturday went great and I received a callback. Sunday's callback was a lot of fun. I thought, for once, that I might have been called back for the ingenue Ann. However, I was called back for Sue, which is the next door neighbor who has a really interesting part. I had a great time at the callback. Director L told us exactly what she was looking for and we tried our best to give her what she wanted. I didn't get any corrections, and we only ran the scene once. My friends all had great callbacks too, and the competition was especially fierce for only 4 female roles. We should be finding out Wednesday or Thursday, so we'll see how it goes!

I have another film audition this week, for an off-campus film this time. I'll be doing that on Thursday, and if nothing else it's great experience. It was an interesting weekend in the film department of my life. The trailer for some of my friends' movie has come out:

http://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/movies/joe-williams/youtube_1e5b35f4-be21-11df-b689-0017a4a78c22.html

It's called A Horrible Way to Die . This movie is making it's debut at a couple different high end film festivals, and it's an amazing accomplishment for all the students involved. This is one I auditioned for but was not lucky enough to be cast in.

Along with this, my friend Melissa was cast in a film last year called A Face Fixed. It had it's premiere at The Ragtag Cinema this weekend, and I went with Melissa. Not only was it amazing to watch her on screen in a legitimate film (not a student film) in an actual theatre, but she was asked afterwards by someone involved in the movie if they could represent her as her agent! Talk about an awesome opportunity. She's got a bright future ahead of her.

So beyond all the amazing film related things that have been happening in my life as of late, I was asked by Professor R to meet an alumnae: Joy Haynes for lunch today. She graduated from here in 1993 (with an amazing group of girls, might I add) and has since gone on to get her law degree as well. So she's a part time practicing lawyer, and the other part of her time is spent acting and producing films in Washington D.C. She was incredibly easy to talk to and told me a lot of great stories about her time at my college as well as what it's like to do what she does.

She says D.C. is the best kept film secret. All of the voice overs in election campaigns, and airport recordings are done in D.C., along with many other opportunities that look great when building a resume. She also said that there is more film in D.C. than in Chicago. However, it is cheaper to live in L.A. (even with the driving) than it is to live in D.C., but she worked more acting gigs in 1 year in D.C. than she did in 4 years in L.A. Crazy right?

She was great to talk to, and I'll be going out to dinner with her tonight along with the Dean of the Theatre Department and the President of our college. What a fun evening I have ahead of me. I can't wait to talk to her more!

On the downside, I still have a ton of homework to accomplish. But I did finish printing the Warehouse Posters for distribution! Whoot!

Moving Forward

2010-09-13T19:52:00.003-05:00

Last week went by so fast, and yet so much happened. Spirit Week really helped raise awareness of the Warehouse, at least in the theatre community on campus. We had a great Open Mic night, and our Speed Friending event was packed full of eager first years and upper classmen who were willing to be their mentors. We've all officially been paired up, and I'm excited to get to know my mentizzle.

Our Dance on Saturday was a big hit, and I had a great time after cleaning up all day. We had a nice turn out for the clean up and we were done and set up for the dance in no time. Everyone showed up Saturday night with great 90s costumes. I went as Sporty Spice from the Spice Girls and danced the night away.

Today was extra packed, and I'm still feeling a little behind.

We performed our sonnets in Shakespeare today. Professor R told me I was confident, clear, precise, and really handled the language well. He reminded me to emphasize 2 of my consonants on 'dooM' and 'erroR' so all the syllable could be understood. We performed once in the rehearsal room (where we have all our theatre classes this year) and once on stage. It's always fun adapting your piece to fit a larger space after being in a smaller one. I thought everyone did a great job with it, and with interpretation. I can't wait to move onto scenes!

Shakespeare Lit was just a discussion of Richard II, which we will be continuing to talk about on Wednesday.

I had my second voice lesson today, though, and I had a blast. Voice Professor T warmed me up and we covered some Alexander exercises. Alexander technique is something we covered our first semester in college. It's a technique that properly aligns your body to get a healthy, natural sound that vibrates and carries. Many exericese are similar to yoga positions. It's a very useful technique and it carries into voice lessons well (imagine that).

We picked two ballads and one (AWESOME) up-beat song that I can't wait to start on.

I've written my response to the moral dilemma assigned in my Ethics class. Here's the dilemma, if you're interested:

You are a journalist for an American newspaper on assignment in a remote African country. Your job is to objectively gather information about rumors that the country’s government is planning genocide by stockpiling weapons and closing roads out of the country. You have been given clear instructions to report but never to intervene, and you have sworn that you will comply with this request. While doing your research you find a massive list of people that appear to be targeted for murder the next night. What do you do? In answering, make use of Kant’s ethical theories and specific terminology.

I've completed my personal inventory assignment for acting which will help me discover what type of characters I should be looking at for acting. I started the Warehouse Blog too! I'll post the link as soon as I'm more confident about it's appearance. I've also finished my Resume and had a meeting about the Costume Sale we're putting together as a Warehouse Fundraiser. Half the proceeds will be going to a women's shelter in town, so that's exciting.

Anyway, it's been a full day, and I haven't even begun to pick my monologue for All My Sons auditions which are happening on Saturday. It's on the top of my THINGS TO FINISH, HURRY UP list.

The most informative part of my day (in a day so full of learning, how could I possible choose you ask?) was the helpful discussion I had with Professor B about grad school. I asked her professional opinion about putting together an audition package for URTAs (the regional, combined auditions for graduate schools). She explained that sometimes you can go to the URTAs and never even see a college representative. They put you in front of a screening board first, and decide whether or not they like you enough to put you through. She thinks that if you have a place in mind, it's much smarter to visit the university and audition on campus. Smart advice! Especially since I'm undecided on what I'd like to do after graduation.

She suggested trying the nearby programs, such as UMKC and seeing if my package works for me. I could learn that I've picked the wrong monologues, and then I would know what to fix.

She reminded me that we shouldn't be so worried about being behind. We all think we have so much to do before we graduate, but we're graduating a year earlier than most people, and we can use that year to do whatever we'd like. She suggested studying abroad while I still have only myself to think about. She referenced some great internship programs (which, ironically enough, are the ones I've been most interested in throughout my research) and reminded me that both of these things could help me grow as an artist and a person.

Professor B made a point that I hadn't thought of, as well. She said that if I do go to graduate school, I need to be prepared to stay in the area a while. If I went to UMKC, after I graduate, the smart option would be to work in that area, where all of my fellow graduates, guest directors, and professors have connections. If I really want to work in NY or LA, I need to find a school in that area to meet those people. She said she knew amazing people that graduated from her program at UMKC and went to LA and never worked because they didn't have the contacts. Interesting point.

So, as of now, I will be looking into making two separate packages. One for the possibility of grad school which will include a classical, a shakespeare, and a modern realism monologue. And one for internships, which will include 2 modern pieces (because Professor B knows that's my strength) one comedic and one dramatic.

SO MUCH TO THINK ABOUT!!!!!

Resume Building and Headshot Hunting

2010-09-08T21:59:00.004-05:00

Resumes and Headshots--the two most important tools in an actor's kit. The Nuts and Bolts Advanced Acting class I'm taking this semester with Professor D is teaching me all about the real world and how's it done. Here's some of what I've learned:

Our assignment this week is to update/make our resume presentable to hand in and to research good headshot photographers that we'd like to shoot with. The proof is in the picture.

Professor D tells us our picture has to be eye catching. Our eyes need to hold secrets that make a casting director say "Let's call her in!" But of course, you have to be yourself because if you walk in the room and you don't look like your picture they won't want to talk to you. So this means that you need to market yourself in the way you want to be perceived to obtain the parts you'd like to act. If I want to be the girl next door then my picture shouldn't make me look too provocative, otherwise I wouldn't be called in for the part.

There is a balance. I wouldn't want to look like a crazy woman in my headshot just so I could play a psychotic role.

I found it all very interesting to hear about. We learn a lot in the class that seems like common sense, but I've realized I feel like I know what I'm talking about more because I learned it in class and not through my own research.

My Shakespeare acting class is in full swing now. We've performed our Romeo and Juliet scenes for the class. They all went well. It was an exercise in language, and now that we've gotten hold of that we're moving onto Sonnets. I'm performing Sonnet 116 in class on Friday for Professor R, and we'll perform them for everyone next week. Personally, I really enjoy sonnets because they're so personal. Here's my sonnet, if you'd like to read it:

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.
Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
With his bending sickle’s compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error, and upon me prov’d,
I never writ, nor no man ever lov’d.

The Warehouse has been busy this week, as well. It's spirit week! We had Superhero Day, Lady GaGa Day, today is Disney Princess Day, and tomorrow is Twin Day. Last night was our first Open Mic night, where all the students gather and perform original works and hang out. Tonight is Speed Friending where we're going to pair upperclassmen (Mentors) with compatible lowerclassmen (Mentizzles) through a series of conversations in a rotating circle. In otherwords, it's like speed dating...but not! This has been the week for the underclassmen to put up declarations for class representative to join the Warehouse Board. Only one from each class can be chosen and we'll be having elections on Saturday after our Cleanup. We have a cleanup every year where the Warehouse members clean our performance spaces in time to kick off our first Dance! This year our theme is 90s music video! It's going to be a fun weekend for sure!

I'm also planning on seeing Equus this weekend in St. Louis with some friends. We have some recent graduates in the show and we're excited to see them at work. My friend Nancy is also doing a show in Kansas City and I hope to drag the old Rabbit Hole cast out to see her for lunch and then watch her show!

Gotta run to class!

Still Alive and Working Towards that Degree

2010-09-01T16:43:00.008-05:00

I'm here! I'm breathing!

And apparently I'm a horrible blogger, but I will definitely whip myself back into shape. I left off so long ago, but I'll try to recall things as best as I can.

So I left off with the run of Unnecessary Farce and the rehearsal of Rabbit Hole. Rabbit Hole was truly the most challenging piece of literature I've ever worked on in my life. Which is the point, I do believe. Farce ended with a bang. We had a great run, the audience loved it every night, and the biggest technical difficulty we had was one night when the lights decided not to go out at intermission, so we had to hold the intermission for an extra 10 minutes or so, and finally we had to turn the lights off manually instead of fixing the problem with the board. It was great immediacy for the actors, who had to walk on stage with the lights up to get into position, instead of in a blackout. They stayed in character and had a blast doing it. We finally had the lights fixed half way through Act II in time to make them come up for curtain call from the light board.

Talk-back for the show was nice, and the cast did a beautiful job of showing their support of our director by singing his praises about his work on the show. He really did a fabulous job, and we sent him a video copy of the performance so he could see it.

The last night my parents were able to come up and see the show, and they enjoyed it a lot. They stayed long enough to watch The Chalk Garden and the opening night of Rabbit Hole, which I couldn't have appreciated more.

I spent the next week rehearsing Rabbit Hole full time before opening, and I ushered in the evening. The second week was much more difficult than the first. The strain of being inside Becca's head was beginning to grow. I've realized that had I been in a place where I could have gone 'home' after rehearsal, or taken the time to compartmentalize my feelings and Becca's before moving onto the next job, or if I had had a longer rehearsal process to sift through the emotions--then the process wouldn't have been as difficult and emotionally taxing. But that was the beauty of Boji. It taught me that I had the strength to fight through all that, and give a performance to the best of my ability.

Director L was constantly reminding me of the psychology behind Becca's decisions, and Howie's (my husband in the play) choices. I learned a lot by listening, and I worked hard to take everything she said and employ it the next time we repeated a scene. I stressed a lot over a breakdown scene I had, where I had to cry without the help of being able to speak or move. I was able to produce the necessary emotion in the beginning, but by the middle of the rehearsal process I was straining to reach tears every time. The emotional upheaval was so constant that, as a human being, I was having a hard time bringing myself to the same climax every time.

That is the hardest lesson I learned at Boji. The perseverance and endurance it takes to play these amazing roles is indescribable. And what's more, I could only do what I was capable of at that point in my life. When I'm truly 36 years old, if I ever have the opportunity to play this role again, my life experience would lend itself so differently, and probably with more desirable results.

However, that was the magic of this show. I was given the opportunity to stretch myself so much farther than I'd ever been allowed before. And what's more, I was allowed to do it with this amazing cast that did have the life experience. D couldn't have helped me more. It was so amazing to watch his process every night. What I learned from most, I can say now, was his physicality. I felt confined, playing this emotionally introverted character, and it was so easy to let my body stay stiff all the time. But watching D (my husband) move so naturally in the space really helped me move more fluidly. Though, generally speaking, my physicality is something I still have a lot of work to do on.

ANYWAY, that was a long way around saying that Rabbit Hole was easily the hardest but best part of my summer. I still haven't been able to think about everything completely, but I know I will look back on it for a long time to come.

Opening night was a great show, with great energy. It was technically our first full run as well. By Saturday we were doing runs, but I still had to call 'line'. Monday's tech process went until 4 AM, and we didn't actually dress the show. By 3 we were doing a cue to cue (which means you only say the lines right before a light or sound cue, and don't actually perform the full scenes). It was a blast for me, and, surprisingly, I was awake and ready to work the whole time. Working with the slip stage was AWESOME. The change-over from The Chalk Garden took us until 4 AM, AKA Sunday Night (and then Monday night was until 4 AM, and then Tuesday we opened. Thanks Boji for introducing me to the real world!), and getting the slip set up was long, but putting up the incredible set for Rabbit Hole took even longer. We couldn't even start our tech on Monday until after dinner, because the set was still being built. I'll have pictures up soon. A slip stage means that the stage moves left to right, so we had 3 separate sets that moved on and off by moving the actual stage instead of moving set pieces individually.

So, Tuesday was our first full run, and, considering, it went great! We got an instant standing ovation, which really surprised me. I felt really awesome about the show. I felt like I had accomplished something bigger than myself, and I had grasped the character in a way I hadn't previously. It was progress, and I was proud of that.

The next couple nights I felt like I was fighting to achieve something that I didn't necessarily reach, but each night I discovered something I hadn't before. I found new ways to win an argument, and we played different emotions in a couple scenes. If there's one thing that Boji did for me it was to show me a study of character. At school, sometimes, the performance just seems like a culmination of work, and it becomes this piece of show art that you put on to impress faculty or to show peers. But Boji was such a process and I never stopped learning. Every night was something new. And you never had the time to step back and evaluate anything. Which was great because, as many of the faculty tell us, we're a generation of thinkers and rule followers, and those are habits you have to break sometimes to reach truth.

By Saturday we were in a swing of sorts. I never felt the same as Gamma Rays. I didn't feel like I could do this performance every night with consistency. This role was so human that it constantly changed, and the script lent itself more to different choices. I was incredibly sad when the run ended, and it was incredible how fast the set came down.

Talk-back was great. There were many interested patrons, and we got more positive feedback than I had expected. We were praised on handling the difficult subject matter, on projecting louder than the other shows of the season, and on remaining real. I've realized how odd it is to try and explain your process or character to other people when it goes so deep. I had difficulty trying to tell the patrons that, while it was hard and emotionally draining, it was also one of the best experiences I'd ever been through.

The rest of Boji went by in a blur. Beauty and the Beast went up, and I got to House Manage. I spoke to many of the patrons and it was so heartening to hear how much they appreciated theatre, and our hard work. Our society has come to expect that anybody can be an actor, and so we teach ourselves to be under appreciated. These patrons were probably the nicest I will ever meet. The show was great! I got to spend the week in the costume shop, learning new skills. I made Lumiere's boots, and sewed skirts for all the napkins. It was a blast. We also spent the week cleaning up the lot, and I earned myself a shop tool belt (which is awesome)!

Somehow I got everything packed up, finished my last clean-up crew, and made it to the last strike. I injured my back slightly, so I wasn't allowed to do heavy lifting for the night, but I spent the night with great friends, finishing up what we love to do. All the spaces were cleaned out, the awning was taken down, the signs were unscrewed, and the truck was loaded!

We ended strike with some great speeches that left me thinking about everything I had learned and the things I'd come to respect. We got paid, which was an added and unexpected bonus, and then we said our goodbyes. Strike ended at 3:30 AM, and I was on the road by 7:30! I made it to Columbia with Gillian in time to unpack and race over to our departmental dinner so I could be present for the Warehouse Board Member speech.

And ever since then, it's been just as crazy as Boji. It only ended a week ago, and it feels like forever ago. I'm taking Global Ethics, Shakespearean Literature, Shakespeare Acting, Nuts and Bolts Acting Seminar (where we learn about the world), Monologue Class, and Private Voice. I love every class I'm taking, and the course load is already crazy. We had auditions for Our Leading Lady which I received a callback for, but wasn't cast in. I had a really great time auditioning though. And we recently auditioned our Warehouse show 5 Women Wearing the Same Dress, which I didn't audition for. I've spent my afternoons running around attempting to find sponsors for our season, and it's been a great experience so far. I've met some great people.

We've been assigned our Major City research assignment, where we have to research major markets that we'd like to move to to start our careers. I'm doing Houston and Austin, and I'm excited to get started. We had our First Warehouse Meeting today, as well, and all the first years are really interested in being involved. Already we have 61 members, and 97 showed up to the meeting--that's a record, I'm sure of it!

Anyway, it looks like it's going to be an amazing year, and hopefully I'll be able to keep up with this so it's not just an info junk heap. Onto homework!

Where Did My Oxygen Go?

2010-07-25T00:36:00.003-05:00

7/24/10

Breathe? Who needs to breathe? Certainly not me.

So we left off at Tech of Gamma Rays. Tech was long, but no where near the length of a musical. So we got out around midnight. The set looked amazing, filled with all sorts of junk from the family's years of abuse. We spent the tech respacing our blocking (movement patterns) since there weren't a lot of sound or light cues.

So Tuesday night came and it was a great opening night! Many association members come on Tuesdays, and they're some of our biggest supporters. And mom was there. The energy was high, the lines were correct, and we got a standing ovation! It's difficult to get a standing O for a drama in Boji.

Wednesday and Thursday were our learning nights. We found great moment to moment work, which means that we found new interpretations of scenes and characters to play with, but the audiences were lower energy and we had to learn to not let it affect us. Thursday we also had 'the laugher' come. He's usually the person that laughs at really inappropriate moments, which we prepared ourselves for. What we didn't prepare ourselves for was his outrageous yawning! He was bored to death the whole show, and made sure his neighbors knew it. That was an interesting challenge to face.

Saturday and Sunday were our best performances. It was an amazing run of a show. I finally understood what it would be like to run a show consistently. By Sunday I could tell that I would be able to wake up and give the same performance the next day. There wasn't anymore blaming energy on the audience or saying we had an off day. I really didn't feel like a student giving a limited run anymore. I felt like I could have kept going. It's comforting to discover that I think I could sustain a professional theatre job.

I had so much fun with this play. I thought maybe doing a drama in such a short amount of time would be a downer since it was total immersion. But I just focused on character, and on the story we were trying to tell, and I felt like I was doing something right. I was so excited to open the show. I was excited to have a seizure every night just to bring a reality to the stage.

I wish I had more time to dwell on the performance I gave and the experience I had and really decide what it means to me, but time moves so fast here I've barely even thought about it. Maybe I shouldn't think about it.

Right after the show was done I went into rehearsals for Unnecessary Farce which I'm assistant stage managing. I was so excited to be ASM because I wanted to work with a guest director, which isn't something I've gotten to do this summer. And I would be working with actors that aren't in my other shows. First off Director B is phenomenal. He's the most amazing man I've ever worked with. He's a master of farce and he knows how to communicate exactly what he wants. He's one of the most unassuming, good natured people I've ever met and I truly hope I get another chance to work with him.

That being said--the play will be amazing. We actually open on Tuesday, and we tech tomorrow night, so I have a busy week ahead of me. I start Rebbit Hole rehearsals this week so it will be rehearsal morning and afternoon, and performance at night. Much the same as this past week has been. I've been the Light Board Operator for Company, so it was the same schedule. Company has been a blast as well. I've gotten to work with a very talented lighting designer and a great crew. I love learning about lights. I've taken a lighting design class in college and done a couple light crews, so I know some about the subject. Designers are always interesting people to talk to. They have such vision. And we had an interesting conversation about the pros and cons of New York vs. LA. Thanks JH.

I wrote this in two parts of my non-existent spare time. Here's the second:

Unnecessary Farce has opened now, and the run has gotten great audience feedback. We haven't had too much maintenance on the set yet, so that's nice. We've only broken 4 doors and the molding a couple times, which is better than we expected I think. With the energy and pace of the script, I honestly expected there to be even more upkeep. The cast is having a fun time being loved, and the audience energy is really making great things happen for them. We're planning on sending a copy of the show and photos of the show to our director as a present. I hope they find him well.

Rabbit Hole rehearsal has been a blast so far. As intimidated as I was by the depth of this script, I'm having so much fun jumping in and wading through the different emotions of this character. I've never been so challenged before, but I couldn't be surrounded by a more talented group of people. We're all striving to give this story the justice it deserves, so people can walk away from this play changed. The strength of these characters is uplifting and the way that they deal with their problems is so true to life. Everybody should see this play sometime in the life. Of course, it's being made into a movie this year, so at least they'll see it in some capacity.

So, as a wrap up: I've been involved in 4 plays in the last 4 weeks, most of them at the same time, and they've all been great. I'll reflect on that later though. After I breathe.

Tech Day, Then Opening

2010-07-12T09:38:00.002-05:00

This has been one crazy rehearsal process. We blocked the show in two days. We were off book by Tuesday. We were working Act 1 by Wednesday and Act II by Thursday (which is 1 week of rehearsal). Then by Friday we were running the show! We ran the show twice on Saturday. The first time we performed it for our designers so they could get a last minute look at things they needed to consider, and for some of our production staff.

Instead of doing a full run the second time through, we did a line-through. Director B is really great about trying not to wear down the cast since it's such a heavy show.

I'm happy that I was able to get off book on schedule. Working in the Box Office for the week helped since I could study lines in my down time. I had a ton of costume fittings this week as well. My character wears really tight clothes and so our Costume Designer C, the same designer I had for Playhouse Creatures, decided that she wanted to build all my pieces. So she spent the week measuring me and making my costumes by hand.

They're amazing. She had a lot of help from our guest designer for Company that has been watching my process--she's a great teacher. So I had two skirts and a dress constructed for my character, and then distressed to look older on stage. It was really cool to be a part of the process, since at school they usually pull from stock whatever they want you to wear. I'd never had someone take the time with me to build my costume. That's real dedication there.

Last night was Strike and Change Over, and it went pretty fast. We were out at 1:30 again. The set looks great, and today we get to dress it. The house is full of junk, so it's going to be a fun job for props to throw things around and make it look messy. Today is Tech Rehearsal as well. So starting in the afternoon we'll do that, and by late tonight, probably around 9 or 10, we'll start our Dress Rehearsal. It's going to be a long fun night. This is the one night we have to see if we need to change blocking now that we're on the set, or costumes now that we're moving in the real space. We'll see how it goes!

And Mom gets here tomorrow!!!!!!

50 Posts, 7 shows, and 6 more days of Rehearsal Left

2010-07-05T09:36:00.004-05:00

This will be my 51st blog post; can you believe it? I can't believe I've managed to keep up with it so far. Though I suppose the term 'keep up with' can be used loosely since I've arrived at Boji.

I had a really great week of rehearsal and by Saturday we had finished blocking the whole show, which is great progress. This next week we'll be working scenes and running the show. Tuesday opens the run of See How They Run, a British Farce, which will be hilarious. And then next Tuesday my show will open! Just one more crazy week.

Saturday we had two shows and then we kicked off our 4th of July celebration with a bonfire and fireworks show. It was a lot of fun, and it made up for me not being able to watch fireworks on the real 4th of July.

Then Sunday we had a parade in the morning. The company all dressed up in festive American gear and we grabbed some flags and drums and marched our way around the lot. When we got to the end the staff had set up a kiddy pool with a sign that said 'Boston Harbor' and we all threw tea bags into the water...and then dunked people. After that there was a volleyball tournament. It was students versus students and then staff versus the winning team. My team lost before the staff round, but we had a lot of fun getting the line officials to give us points.

I went off the lot for a bit with Katie Mac to find a flea market that one of the staff had told me about. It was HUGE and I found some really cool things there.

Of course, last night was also strike/change over night, so we had a long night. I was assigned to the scene shop to dismantle the in-going set and then the out-coming set. The only bad thing about the night is that the mosquitoes were horrendous! I literally have about 15 bites, and that's after spraying my clothes and myself 5 times throughout the night. It was ridiculous. I hope the next strike isn't so bad as that.

Today I did box office for the first time. I really enjoyed it, and I'm excited to spend the rest of the week in box office as well. I like that I get to rotate and be around different people every week.

Tornadoes, Change-Over, Opening, and Rehearsal

2010-06-30T18:17:00.002-05:00

Friday and Saturday nights of The Fantasticks we had really bad weather. Friday Professor B had to come on stage and tell the audience in the middle of the show that the weather was getting bad and they were free to leave if they wanted to. Then when they restarted the show the power went out and they had to wait before picking back up again. The Bantam show for the company got cancelled because of the weather and it was rescheduled for Saturday night.

Of course, Saturday we ended up having a tornado warning, and the sirens went off. We stopped the show, asked the audience to stay in their seats and then we headed down to our storm shelter to wait things out. We finally restarted the show, and I the rush at the concession stand at intermission was crazy!

I received a very nice compliment from a couple who had seen East of the Sun and the guy tipped me! It's so interesting to be in a place where people appreciate theatre so much, since in most of the USA it's over looked and not seen as a profession.

Saturday night we did our Bantam show extra late and the company really loved it. It was great to finally have a good sized audience in the space that liked the material. We'd been playing to audiences of 12 and it was a little rough.

Sunday night we had strike and change-over, meaning we take down the whole set of The Fantasticks and install the set for Girls of the Garden Club. We were out until 1:30, which was really fast. It was a huge set, and I was on deck crew, meaning I was helping put up the set instead of working lights or something else. It was a lot of fun having a hand in putting up the show. I need to get a picture of the set, it's huge and beautiful. The Scenic Designer did a fantastic job, and he was really fun to work with.

Most of the plays this season are box sets, meaning they have 3 walls, boxing in the stage. So a lot of our change-overs are going to be intense. But the set designs look really cool, I think.

I got put on Props Run crew for Girls of the Garden Club which is slow going since most everything is brought on by the actors themselves. We have few hand offs, but 2 big set changes that we have plenty of time for. It's a very relaxing crew and I'm finding a lot of time to work on my lines for The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-In-The-Moon Marigolds, which is great because I had my first rehearsal today and I was very familiar with the script. I'm nearly memorized.

Rehearsal was fun, and we had some great talks with the director about our characters and relationships and I'm very excited to get to work. The set design looks amazing, and we get to have a real rabbit!!

Some Things to Think About

2010-06-25T08:39:00.002-05:00

Watching The Fantasticks last night really made me realize some things. Melissa was doing her thing up on stage, surrounded by 4 guest artists and holding her own. That's what this summer is here to show us. Can we do this with the professionals? Will I hold my own? Can I see myself in a year acting for money?

You bet I can.

Boji didn't really start for me, until I saw that show and realized that this is really something I can do. Those actors up there made me remember why I love this all so much. We all worked so hard to put everything together to give them a good run, and they worked hard to ensure that this theatre stays open. They were all so talented. And those guest actors graduated from my school years ago, and they'll always have a place at Boji.

This is a bit convoluted, but what I think I'm trying to say is that for the first time yesterday, I felt like a professional. And I was so proud of Melissa up on stage, acting like a professional. And I use professional as a term of describing that she's not only incredibly talented but she also knows what she's doing. Boji isn't school. We've learned enough by now to truly apply it and make our own success.

I've also been doing a lot of reading this summer to get a grasp on what I'd like to do after graduation. There's so many amazing theatres that offer paid acting internships, and there are quite a few repertory theatres out there to audition for before attempting to go big. I'm still interested in film, and I've been thinking a lot about moving to Dallas and working small time to build a resume first. Of course, I can't really know what I'll be doing because I'm going to have so many auditions this next year and I'll learn so many things about the business that I never knew before that will change my perspective. One of our recent grads talked to us a little last week and told us the percentage of people who make it in this business working only as actors without another side job. It's not a lot. But I think I'll have to figure that out when the time comes, and right now--I'm going to focus on Boji and work my hardest to be a professional too.

Crazy Week 1 Down--2nd Week Almost Over!

2010-06-24T22:38:00.006-05:00

The above picture is from the previously mentioned Boji Olympics. This was my team: The Assorted Meats!

It's been so crazy I haven't found the time to update. We've been working hard in the Bantam Theatre to get the show up and running. I finished up carving, painting, shading, snowifying, and hanging the icicles finally!

Laura, our Production Stage Manager of the Boji Bantam Children's Theatre is pictured above, doing a marvelous job of painting the stage--for the 2nd time. The second picture of icicles is on the 'castle arch' used for the Ice Witch scenes. We quickly discovered that, while the adhesive used to put 'snow' on the icicles is incredibly strong, it will continue to snow on stage. So I did some touch ups, to re-snowify things before we opened on Wednesday.

Our rehearsals went really well. We spent a lot of time going over the first and last scenes. The first scene is hard for me because I have to dress one of my castmates, and we'd been practicing so long without the costumes that by the time we had them it started tripping up our lines. The last scene is so long and so many of the lines are similar that the cast was having a hard time memorizing it. I hardly have any lines in that scene, so it was easy enough for me.

Director A decided the Bantam theatre would be referred to as 'Her Majesty's Secret Service' and we have to complete missions to get 00 status. Meanwhile, she's also created the hat of shame to be worn if someone does/says something she doesn't like or that's incredibly stupid. Such as me, forgetting my first line of the show in our first run-through:

We definitely changed some things in the last couple days of rehearsal. I worked on finding a new 'hag dance', which has become a mixture of gestalts and performance art that I do when chanting a song in the show. We also created tunes for the song I have to sing: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. I know, we're incredibly creative.

We worked on speaking Trollese, picking up the pace to get the time down, and we even spent a couple nights installing lights. Of course, we didn't actually get to use them until opening night.

We had one last rehearsal Tuesday morning and then we were required to go to shop to help set up everything for the opening night of the mainstage show The Fantasticks. I went to shop and built a flat to be used at the Press Party held every year on opening night after the show. After building everything, we majorly cleaned up the show, and then decorated it, because that's where we have the party. We built a stage for the band that comes and we put up stage lighting, a bar, and put some color in the room. Then we had company clean up where everyone helped clean up the inside and outside of the main theatre for the show that night. Then we had a little time to eat and then play musical showers to get ready to crew the show.

Everyone not in the show is required to work a crew. Each actor will get one week off the whole summer, so most of us were working this week's show. I worked concessions, as I will for the duration of this show. I can eventually work as an usher, box office person, House Manager, Concessions Manager, or as a run crew person doing lights, sound, or backstage work. We all dressed accordingly and put on our awesome new name tags and marched out to the awning to greet the patrons.

I had a great first night at concessions. It took a little long to clean up after intermission because it was the first night. Then we raced back in to really dress up for the press party. By the time I made it to the shop everything was in full swing. The patrons sat in chairs and at tables and watched us dance. The band was really great and we were having tons of fun. Unfortunately the weather got so bad that Professor B had to come tell the band and the patrons that they had to pack it up for their safety. It was about 4 hours earlier than it normally would have ended, I think. But they had a great last song in honor of Professor L, who directed The Fantasticks. It was obviously an age old tradition, because all of the guys came out and danced with her, which was hilarious.

It started pouring after we cleaned everything up so we all ran to hang out under the awning. I danced in the rain a bit and then went inside to change. Tyler, our resident lawn mower, ran into a clothes line (yes, we're old fashioned here) and ended up giving himself a really bad cut on his forehead and a black eye that ended up keeping us busy for a couple hours to round off the excitement of the night.

I woke up Wednesday morning ready to perform. Of course, I had to watch as much of the US World Cup game as I could. The show went well, all things considering. We covered up any mishaps, not that there were many. We had a good sized audience of about 50 kids. The lights were the only major flaw. There were some random dark spots, and scenes where there were only back lights. Those were definitely fixed by today, and we had a great show! We had 12 people show up, so it was a slow day, but it was interesting to play to such a different audience. Definitely a challenge.

I've been in prop shop in the afternoons building things, finding things, and tearing things apart. It's been fun and really relaxing. We work the show at night.

I watched the show tonight and it was absolutely phenomenal.

Friday is No Longer the End of the Week

2010-06-18T13:27:00.002-05:00

3 rehearsals today and 3 tomorrow as well. I think I'm finally getting the hang of it. By now I can't even imagine having 4 weeks to complete a show. We were supposed to have 2 weeks to rehearse East of the Sun and now I can't even imagine having more than the week that we have.

Rehearsals have been going well. We'll be off book by tomorrow but we're basically off book anyway. We'll be starting our straight run throughs today. Yesterday we tried a run through with costumes, but the Bantam theatre was so unbelievably hot that plus the layers of costume that we had, we were sweating buckets. Director A let us go. David Bowie is almost complete, the icicles are almost ready to be hung. All set pieces have snow on them now, which was fun, and the hag stands are currently the best looking stands ever made! Seriously, they're everyone's favorite pieces. I'll get pictures soon!

I even got to do some sewing today for David Bowie's clothes. I taped out the section of the bleachers (The Bantam theatre used to be an outdoors theatre, and the original seating is still in place, so yes--we have bleachers) the some of the actors need to use so our audience doesn't sit there. I also swept underneath the bleachers. It was gross.

I've been putting the theatre company's YMCA membership to good use and have been excercising with Kaitie every morning...for 2 days now. They have a very nice facility, and it's only 2 minutes away. Occasionally I even get time to watch some World Cup these days! Whenever we have rehearsal breaks, a couple of us usually run for the TV to see what game is on and we try to catch up on the highlights. I saw some of the US game today, it was looking really grim when I left, but I was excited to discover they evened out the score with Slovenia to 2-2!! I'll definitely have to find and watch the rest of that game.

I've got rehearsal to get to!

David Bowie

2010-06-16T17:08:00.002-05:00

David Bowie is our troll puppet for East of the Sun. He's a great looking troll, very similar to a Hun from Mulan. I made his beard today, and it's pretty cool. I'll take a picture and post it sometime.

Rehearsals have been going really well. We worked shop yesterday morning and this morning, and we're almost finished with everything! We just have to hang our icicles because the play takes place in the arctic. Yesterday we started blocking and got half way through Act II. It was a little rough because I hadn't completely decided on my character voices and physicality yet, but it was coming along. Today we finished up the play and I'm pretty set on my characters. We're going to start our 'intense work-throughs' as our Stage manager Laura calls them. We ended rehearsal today by working the first part of scene 1 multiple times, and it still isn't done. We have so much time, I think we'll be incredibly prepared for Wednesday. It's hard to believe that people can take so much time to put up shows when you don't really need that much time.

Then again, at school we have rehearsal from 3:30-5:30 and then 7-10. Here we have rehearsal from 10-1, 2-6, and then 7-9 or 10. So...I suppose it's just more in one day. And it's incredibly exhausting. We get one ten minute break in the morning and evening shift and sometimes 2 in the afternoon shift, usually just 1. It's fun, but it's also eye opening. Theatre isn't a hobby or a degree here, it's a job and it's pretty fun to finally get to treat it like a career choice. Everyone here is really serious about there work. We're all almost off book already (memorized).

We got out a little early last night, at 9 and so Katie Mac and I went out exploring Boji/Spirit Lake. We road our bikes to the YMCA, and then we came back and took a drive around town. There really isn't much around except antique malls. But Katie found a quilt shop she wants to visit. I think we're going to have to go back towards Spencer to find anything to do, which they told us we would. So that's our next adventure coming up! We also went out to Betsy (a nearby firepit that we have free reign over because the next door art center 'accidently' built it and their parking lot on our property) last night with the whole class. It was fun to finally have some time to breathe. It's been so non-stop. It's easier to get stressed out here than I thought it would be if you don't make time for yourself.

Tonight is Sausage and Hotdog night, and we had meatloaf for lunch. Things are going pretty well. I'll feel even better when I sleep!

1st Day of Rehearsal

2010-06-14T22:50:00.003-05:00

I blogged earlier today, but I felt the need to write about my first real day at Boji.

Breakfast was at 8:30 like always, and then rehearsal started at 10 am. We spent our morning rehearsal building our set, since we don't have a shop crew assigned to the Bantam theatre we're responsible for getting everything done in time to open on Tuesday. Since it's also the first Bantam show of the season, we had a couple extra jobs to get done, such as making a new sign to put out front.

I spent the morning using the jigsaw to make small, medium, and large icecicles that will hang from the ceiling and frame the stage. Alex did most of the dirty work, putting our set pieces on casters, so we can wheel them on and off stage easily. Afternoon rehearsal was a read through, character discussion, and then we put it on its feet, but we gave the play our own blocking. Director A really wanted to see our physicality and the way we thought we might move. She also gave us characters from movies that she wants us to base our characters off of. Bartok from Anastasia was my main one, though I'm also supposed to watch the movie Labrynth.

Night rehearsal was semi-cancelled because the designers for the mainstage show aren't all here, so the shops were having a hard time being productive. So all night shops were cancelled and we were encouraged to not rehearse. However, we decided to have fun and watch some of the movies that Director A referred us too. We watched Anastasia for me and The Princess and the Frog for Nicole. We talked over some of the character expectations for us. I'm going to work on taking Bartok's vocal awkwardness and unassuming nature plus his hunched stature. Director A really wants him to be the most likeable character. We have to be careful not to get low energy ever becuase the pace of the show is like banter, and if we slow down we'll lose the audience. The next week should be a lot of fun developing the show!

Okoboji Begins

2010-06-14T07:52:00.009-05:00

After a 13 hour drive to school and then a 9 hour drive to Boji on Friday with Gillian and Lauren, we unpacked our bags and settled in to the dorm. It's beautiful here. We have a small lot housing cabins, trailers,houses, our dorm and two theatres. There's a volley ball pit in the back and I played with the pre-season and staff on Friday night. We had a meeting with the company Friday night welcoming us to Boji and explaining some things about the lot, the dorms, and the ground rules.

There are 3 meals a day at specific times: 8:30, 1:00, and 6:00. The entire company and staff line up in the green room and you have 20 minutes to pick your food and eat it from the small table in the kitchen. It's some of the best food I've ever eaten. It all tastes amazing! Our chef is extremely talented and I can tell already I'll miss the food when I leave. After 20 minutes all of the food is taken away and you're expected to move onto your next job. They do it this way because one of the crews we're all assigned to is clean-up crew. So we have to have time to clean up the kitchen and wash the dishes and put away all the food before rehearsals and shop starts at 10 every morning. It took a little getting used to, but it's kind of nice. We aren't allowed to waste any food, because the budget is so tight (lets face it, it's summer theatre, there isn't one with a good budget out there)so you get smaller portions to make sure you don't waste anything and you don't usually go back for more because there isn't much time.

All of the staff have their own housing (some of them have their own houses on the lot). And the young staff also has their own separate housing. The next renovation for the lot (they redid the theatre a couple years ago) is redoing the student dorms. It will be nice, but I have to say it will be sad. These have been around since the beginning and it's kind of cool to be a part of the history, even if that includes splitting two showers between 20 girls.

Saturday morning everyone cast in a children's show (Bantam, as I'll refer to it) had auditions to be placed as specific characters. My Bantam show is East of the Sun and I auditioned for Poppa, Hob, and Snowdrop. I got cast as Hob(the non-human assistant of the Ice Witch), Brill (an old hag), and a sister who gets to use puppets. Our Bantam director A is getting her MFA in Directing Youth Theatre and she has a thing for making puppets. I'm extremely excited about getting to use puppets in her show. All of the shows have puppets and it's looking like Fantastic Mr. Fox will be the coolest with full size puppets that stand on the actors legs! I actually start rehearsal today for East of the Sun, all day. Everyone else (not in the mainstage Fantasticks) has shop to hurry and build the set for the mainstage show by Tuesday when it opens. Gotta love doing 13 shows in 10 weeks!

After auditions we had orientation all day. We got a tour of the lot including staff housing, lights/sound, theatre, hog house(secondary rehearsal space, was a hog house at one point but that building was torn down, and this replaced it), costume shop, prop barn, box office, Public Relations, and scene shop. There was a history lesson about the Okoboji Theatre (we're now in our 53rd season, performing in what used to be an airplane hangar) and about many of the buildings. The theatre had a recent remodel a couple of years ago which gave us a new rehearsal hall, and a nice tunnel to store things in.

From what we were told this theatre used to be an airplane hangar, surrounded by a lot of farm land. A college in Des Moines (Grinell) decided to purchase the hangar in 1953 when the regional airport moved to a new location. The theatre company used it for a year or 2 but without much success. However, the city of Okoboji loved the idea of having a summer theatre so much that when Grinell wanted to give up the building, they looked for a new buyer who wanted to continue the theatre. Bill West heard about it from a friend and decided it would be the perfect thing to help expand my college's theatre department. So in 1957 the Okoboji Summer Theatre Association, after repeatedly trying to sell the theatre to my college (who didn't want all the acres that came along with it and refused to purchase it even when the association lowered the acreage), raised the money to buy the theatre themsevles and then gave it to my school as a gift. So Since 1957, the Okoboji Summer Theatre has been up and running, producing 13 shows in 10 weeks every summer.

They say after just one show the people of the town will recognize us and give us their opinions on our performances. The box office opens today and there is already a line of senior citizens in their patio chairs lined up under the awning! This summer will be one amazing experience.

We had a large bonfire (something that will happen a lot while I'm here, and they say sometimes the community thinks it's ok to join us...) on Saturday night. They brought out some great lighting and sound equipment to the slab (our make shift concrete dance floor in the middle of a grassy field that is actually used to paint the flats and floors for every show) and we danced for a couple of hours and mingled with the staff.

Sunday we still had a little bit of orientation to finish up and then we had lunch and an hour before the Tech Olympics. This is a Boji tradition to kick off the season. The staff runs a torch around the lot (or in Prof L's case, they get to ride on the back of a truck :) ) and then the games begin. I was on overload from everything we had learned in orientation, and they had handed out study sheets but not much more could fit inside my head. While perusing a Chinese menu my team decided that we would be called the Assorted Meats! So I was Duck, and the we had Polar Bear, Pork, Beef, and Tofu. We split up to compete against the members of other teams by running around the lot. We had to do a timed test in each area: scene shop (we had to build a screw box, I wasn't very good at it), costume shop (we took a quiz and sewed on a label), prop barn (we solved riddles and found props to match them), lights and sound (we hung a light, striked a light, and put together a headset), box office (we filled out a long card to reserve a seat, I did it wrong), and then a break. We next went to the Bantam theatre and played Public Relations Jeopardy, which I thought my team did amazing on, but we still didn't win. I also broke both of my buzzing noise makers before the game was through. It was a lot of fun, but a little stressful.

Then we played team volley ball! Unfortunately my team was not so well versed in the technique of hitting a ball over a net so we were soon watching from the side lines as another team won.

All in all it was a fun day, but a little bit too much of a competition. I was ready to move onto rehearsal. Orientation has been so full of information that I was having a hard time enjoying myself yet. But the Tony party we had was really fun, and now I'm ready to move onto rehearsal! I have rehearsal morning, afternoon and evening. The next mainstage show starts rehearsal Wednesday and they still have night shop, so I suppose that's more like what my schedule will be like once I'm done with this children's show. Actually, I'll be in shop all day for a week or two first before my next show starts. But I'm opening on next Wednesday and there's a lot of fun to be had before then! I'm off to rehearsal!

Successes of the Semester

2010-05-12T15:28:00.003-05:00

1. I finished the semester!!!
2. I have been cast in 3 amazing Okoboji shows, 1 being my dream role for the summer.
3. I feel as if I've improved more in this semester than I had perhaps in the entirety of last year.
4. I made it home safely after a 13 hour drive.
5. I completed all of my finals in time to make it back for my brother's college graduation.
6. I SUCCESSFULLY KEPT UP WITH MY BLOG. I can officially look back and use this as a learning tool. And of course, it helped my family keep up with me.

I took 4 finals Monday. I went first for my Voice Jury. I sang well, had horrible posture, and never made it quite on time with my accompanist. Many things can be learned from that sentence.

I wrote a reasonably coherent Global Village final answering the question: Do you think that the international community will be able to meet with the major challenges that confront humanity today successfully? Why or why not? Discuss three of the following: global pandemics; poverty; climate change; peak oil and genocide. Hopefully that went as well as I imagined, but oftentimes the opposite is the case. You think you do bad and you do well, you think you do well and you do badly.

My Acting IV final consisted of watching the movie Wilde about Oscar Wilde's life. It was a really great movie. But an extremely sad story. Ah well, so it the story of most artists. Especially in that period.

My Personal Family Finance final was a bit harder than expected, but I think I scraped by. Hopefully.

I'm happy it's done! I think I also forgot to mention attending the performance of HMS Pinafore last Friday night. It was a great show, with amazing energy. It was slapstick comedy, and circling blocking. The set was awesome, as you can see.

I really enjoyed watching all the seniors in their last performance. I also attended the P-Tech final, where many other seniors (and 2nd years) performed. It was a really great show, as well. There are people with beautiful voices that I had no idea could sing that well.

Anyway, I'm going to take a small break from this blog until I get to Boji. I have a summer break to enjoy, after all!

Farewell, and thanks for being interested. I'll be back Mid June with more of my theatre experiences!

One More Day

2010-05-09T19:48:00.002-05:00

It's been a pretty hectic couple of days and I didn't have time to update. But here's the scoop:

Thursday:
Acting IV: My final went really well. Everyone did a great job and we got individual notes from Professor R. He told me and Chrisena that our dialect was spot on and he could understand all our consonants. He loved the dynamic between our characters and he said the pace was where it needed to be. He told me to be careful about throwing lines away. He said even if lines are meant to be thrown away an actor can't say them in that manner, they have to have meaning and the audience needs to experience them. He's very right! I had a couple lines that I was saying more to myself, and they needed more emphasis.

Friday:
Theatre History II: The final was comparing and contrasting the family relationships in ALL the scripts we read this side of mid-terms. It was kind of cool. We had to name all the authors and character names in our descriptions or they didn't count. I named about six, but I couldn't tie anymore in with where I was heading so I finished my paper there. It was an interesting test to say the least.

GV: We talked over the different issues we've been covering in class and prepared for the final. The question is so wide spread that it's going to take a while to answer it. That's coming up tomorrow, and I'll be ready.

We didn't get to hunt for sponsors much near the end of the week because of bad weather and timing issues. Since this weekend was Mother's Day that was a bad bet too. So we need to finish up in the beginning of this week so we have people to contact while we're at Boji.

Saturday:
Warehouse Cleanup! Some of the new and old board got together to clean and organize the Warehouse and Arena for the first year Summer Theatre Institute. Last year at my STI we had to clean it ourselves, so they're getting out easy. But that just gives them more time to work on the things that really matter. They have their first show cast for their summer session and they're going to have a blast! I'm so excited to come back next year and work with them. Our summer sessions here really change your outlook on theatre and acting, and you grow so much as an artist. Plus these are the times when the whole class really bonds together. They're going to learn so much and so is my class!

Some of the New Board members got together after the clean up and we went out to eat and then to a place called Bonkers! It's just a grown-up version of Chuck E. Cheese, so anyone about 19 gets in for 1 dollar. We spent the afternoon climbing and crawling and sliding around in the play area. Then we played arcade games. We got matching rings for all the board members. I can tell this next year is going to be great!

We were supposed to have a lock-in afterwards, but Kaitie locked her keys in her car. So she and I made an impromptu trip to her house and back again. I got back really late but I went over anyway. It was a blast!

Sunday:
Today I packed up my room! It's basically finished. I need to take my things over to the storage unit and then I can pack up my car with all the things that are coming home with me. I have a really busy day tomorrow.

Voice Jury (Which is where I sing all the songs I learned this semester in my Voice class for the music faculty and they give helpful notes towards my improvement) at 10:06. Global Village at 12:30-2:30. Acting IV (we're watching a movie about Oscar Wilde since we already performed) from 2:45-4:45. And then Personal Family Finance from 4-6, so I'll show up late. P-Tech Final (which I'm watching because my friends are performing) is at 7:30-9ish and then Midnight Breakfast starts at 10:45, which I need to attend to obtain leadership points so I can get my scholarship for the semester. Whew!

Tomorrow is Ian's birthday, so I got everything in order so that I can leave Tuesday morning to get home. He graduates Friday and I'm missing the Boji Truck Load to go see it! So Hopefully after tomorrow I will be a lot less stressed, ready to head home, and no doubt excited to come back and be at BOJI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Almost There

2010-05-06T10:11:00.003-05:00

What a week. It was going by so slow and now it's going by so fast!

We went out looking for sponsors this week, and we're done with the downtown area minus restaurants. That's great progress. We have a lot of interested people, and some places are thinking of loaning costumes! So we took the morning off today, because we needed a morning to sleep in.

We had a paper for Keely and Du and a quiz in Theatre History II on Monday. And Wednesday we had a quiz over The Clean House. I was excited to read that because it's in our main stage season for next year. It's a really good play and I'm excited to see how they put it together in the Warehouse space, since it's so much smaller. One main stage show a year is put on in the Warehouse, and next year The Clean House is that show. We're having our exam on Friday, covering all the plays we've read this side of Mid-Terms.

Tuesday I had Acting IV, and we did a dress rehearsal for our A Taste of Honey scene. It went really well. Chrisena and I received some small notes about keeping up the pace and our dialect. This is a lower class dialect, but not quite cockney, so we haven't covered it in class. Apparently, we were doing it too naturally. So we need to pull it back, and make it more stage appropriate. We reblocked some of the scene to give the characters a closer relationship. I'm really excited to perform today; I think it's going to go great. Every one's scenes sound really interesting and I can't wait to watch them.

We had the last Warehouse Company meeting last night. The Old Board handed out some awards for accomplishments during the season. Kaitie and I received the Dynamic Duo award, for attending every event together. It's so true! We were beginning to wonder if anyone else noticed how attached at the hip we are. Our schedules are the same, and we're room mates so there's really no escaping it. Betsy (the Chairwoman) made a joke saying we even had them change the time of the Field Day so we could show up together. We feel very honored.

The rest of the awards were for senior board members. All in all, the accomplishments that the board has made this year are amazing. They've come so far from last year and done so much more. I can only hope that our board stays that active next year. I think we're off to a really great start.

Last night was also the last Open Mic Night of the year. This means people can sign up to perform something of their own choosing. So a lot of seniors signed up and it was really fun to watch. Three seniors did Zac Efron's dance in High School Musical 2 "Bet on it"--hilarious. Then a bunch of the senior girls did a song acapella. We had a reading of poetry, a couple amazing spoken words, 3 songs, and a couple speeches. It turned into another sort of going away party, and I had a lot of fun. Everyone did a great job. I love Open Mic Nights because that's when so many of the students get to showcase their true talents. It's not about an audition or class work, it's about what people feel and what they want to share. And that's what I think art is.

I started packing up my room last night. I'm onto about 5 boxes...and nowhere near done. How do I have so much stuff?! I really need to leave some of it at home. And a lot of it is going to stay in my storage unit all summer and I won't have to worry about a thing! Great!

Ashes to Ashes

2010-05-02T16:38:00.004-05:00

My directing scene is complete!!!

I had an early morning rehearsal for it on Saturday, then I went straight into rehearsal for the directing scene I was performing in. By the time they both were done it was time to perform. So I watch the first scene, then I went out to run lines with my scene partners, and then we performed. Sealed for Freshness went really well. Everyone laughed and Professor R seemed to like it. Then I helped my actors set up my scene and they went. It was the BEST they'd ever done it. It was different and new, and they were making new choices. I loved it. Everything came together great and I was so proud of my actors. We even had an amazing Pinter moment. At the end when Katie Mac was saying, "That was the last time I saw my baby" the picture of the baby that was put up earlier in the scene fell down! So, she lost her baby, and then the baby picture went away. It was creepy, and awesome. Professor R really liked that part. :)

Honestly, all the directing scenes went really well on Saturday. However, the camera we were videotaping mine with died about 5 minutes in. So I don't get to put up the video of it here for you to see. I'm kinda really upset about that. But theatre isn't meant to live forever like film, so I'll just have to deal with it!

Directly after the scenes we had a Stevies meeting and walked through the show for the night. We had a small break and I came back in time to help put up streamers for the show. Stevies is the party for the 3rd years. So we made it into a Master Class. We played all of the 3rd years and the faculty. We came out and said one liners for our assigned people, then we did monologues and then we did scenes. Between those we did sections of toasts and then the 3rd years could stand up and toast each other. It was really fun to do something so great for the 3rd years who have taught us so much. They enjoyed the night and they said some beautiful things about their class and their futures. I hope all their dreams come true!

Sunday I woke up entirely too early and did homework off and on all day. I have an acting scene to memorize and I wrote my paper for Theatre History II on Keely and Du, which is a play about abortion. It wasn't a difficult one at all--and better yet, it's the last one!

I'll have a Theatre History II exam on Friday, and that's the last big thing (besides performing Acting Scenes) that I have to do before finals! Hopefully I'll be out of here by next Tuesday!

This week I'll also be working with the Warehouse Board to find sponsors for out next season. Hopefully we meet all our goals.

Magic Bedrooms, Veet, and Beehives

2010-04-30T00:44:00.003-05:00

Just a couple random things from the week so far. Magic bedrooms pertains to a comment made by one of the little boys at my children's school who told me you can make your bedroom magical by putting all your magic in an air tank and squeezing it out. The Veet is just a recent point of interest for my friends. And the Beehive is a reference to the directing scene I'm performing in that takes place in the 60s, so our hairstyles are crazy!

I've been having some intense rehearsals this week, not only for the scene I'm directing myself, but the one I'm acting in. Both are going extremely well and I'm becoming excited for Saturday. Of course, I'm nervous about the outcome of my scene in Professor R's eyes, but I, personally, like what I've accomplished and what my actors have accomplished. I just need to finish up my director's journal, and I'll be good to go. I just got back from a rescheduled late night rehearsal and it was my first with full dress, lights, pictures, and sound! It went off really well, and I like the composition.

The directing presentations for the upcoming Warehouse season were on Wednesday. Kaitie presented for Collected Stories, so we're waiting to see the outcome. I just realized, that I never wrote down the official Warehouse season after it was picked. Here it is:

5 Women Wearing the Same Dress
Collected Stories (a 2 woman play!)
The Young and the Fair (a 15 woman play!)
Eleemosynary

This is a really fun season, and we're excited about it! The directors won't be picked for a while, and all the girls that presented are very deserving candidates. Anyone that doesn't get a Warehouse spot still has the option to take the Directing 3 class and direct an Off-The-Wall production, meaning on their own time, in their own space. I might do it, if I feel a desire to direct second semester. Personally, I'm just more of an actor, but I do like the difference in artistic creativity between acting and directing.

Acting IV today was awesome! Chrisena and I got our blocking from Acting Professor R, and it was so much fun. Our scene is from A Taste of Honey which was written by a 17 year old girl. It's a British comedy/drama about the relationship between a mother and daughter who are really more like sisters. The dialect is much lower class and the pace is faster and funnier than anything else I've done in class so I'm having a blast. Everything rolls right off the tongue, and the characters are endearing. I'm really excited for the dress rehearsal during Tuesday's class but Chrisena and I have a lot to memorize and rehearse before we're ready.

I officially finished my Personal Family Finance research paper earlier tonight. We're taking a quiz tomorrow on Christopher Durang's Beyond Therapy, which I'm enjoying reading. It's hilarious, but so is everything Durang writes.

We had a really awesome discussion in our Global Village class the other day. Our college president came to talk to us. She has a degree on the subject of Digital Natives, which are the children who grew up using technology. Which is...the generation after mine. Technically I count myself as a digital native because my mom always had technology around, being a computer teacher. But, I didn't grow up with cell phones. Anyway, the point is, it was a really interesting discussion about how fast the world is changing and the statistics for how fast technology is evolving is astounding. We watched an interesting video showing some of these statistics if you'd like to watch it, it's fascinating and short:

It's unbelievable.

I can't even believe that this school year is almost finished. I have two more week of school then one week of finals. I'll have 3 weeks of free time and then I'll be at Boji, performing summer stock! Everything is going by so fast! But it's still fun and crazy and new everyday, so what more could I want?

Is it Really Only Tuesday?

2010-04-27T10:06:00.002-05:00

The weekend was so packed that I feel like it's Friday! But, of course, it's not. I hardly have any time left in this school year. My last big paper (for Personal Family Finance) is due Friday, and then after that it's a straight shot to studying for finals!

Saturday's Directing Scenes went really well! Both groups did a great job. One of the scenes only had a week of rehearsal and they pulled it together very well. I had my afternoon rehearsal cancelled on Saturday, so I went to Evan's Senior Voice Recital after the scenes. She's so talented, and I really enjoyed it. It's usually at one of these recitals or at the final show that I really realize that it's the end of the year and the 3rd years won't be here anymore. It's crazy to even think about. I can't believe that next year I'll be at the top and people will be sad to see our class go (I hope :)).

I finished my Global Village paper with little hassle. It ended up being 12 pages, which was just inside the maximum limit. I'm still unclear exactly what they were looking for in this paper, but since my rough draft was proofed, I'm pretty confident I won't be failing, which is what matters. That's a lie. Of course I hope I get an A. Duh.

Anyway, yesterday we talked about Cultural Globalization in GV, which is highly ironic because that was the topic of my paper. Many peoples topics have been covered in class, in time to help them write their papers. So it would only make sense that my topic gets covered the day our paper was due. Then again, after the lesson I realized I didn't learn anything I didn't already know, so I suppose it wouldn't have helped much after all.

In Theatre History II we talked about True West which is an awesome show for males. The two brothers in the show are often played by two actors that switch the roles constantly. So they might do a matinee as one brother, and then perform the night show as the other. It must be a truly fun and challenging show!

I had 2 rehearsals. One was for Chrisena's directing scene. We finished blocking and now I just need to finish memorizing. It's going to be a hilarious play for sure. Then I rehearsed my scene. Katie Mac's parents were in town so they came to watch the rehearsal. I sure hope they enjoyed it! They got to watch their daughter act, which they haven't gotten to do a lot because she's been so busy doing tech things. And Dru had all of his lines down except for one monologue! I'm so excited to work with them both off book this week. We definitely could have been good on Saturday, but this extra week will solidify the work they've put into the scene, and it's going to be good, I think. I'll find out at least.

After rehearsal I had a meeting with some of the old Warehouse board about sponsorship. The new Artistic Director and Chairwoman and I sat down with them so they could give us pointers on the best way to approach things. It was a really useful discussion and I'm excited about being productive! We're going to start looking for sponsors this week so it's all figured out before we head out to Boji for the summer. That way, when we get back, most of the work will be done!

I don't have Acting IV today, because I'm scheduled for Thursday, so I'll be taking Katie Mac to the hospital to get her foot looked at and see what's up with it. The swelling and bruising hasn't gone down at all, and so it's not looking to good at the moment. Hopefully the prognosis won't be too bad!

A Long Week

2010-04-24T10:38:00.003-05:00

Goodness, it's been a long week. There was so much to do, and so little time to do it in. That's how I feel about this weekend too. I'm so glad the end of the year is coming so fast!

Katie Mac's foot was hurt too bad for me to consider performing my directing scene today. So I changed my performance date to May 1, which means that I'll be performing in a directing scene, and showing my finished scene. And Stevies (our 3rd year party) is that day as well--so it's going to be a busy day!

Let's see:
Actinv IV: we had a free day, so Acting Professor R brought out a camera and gave us some scenes and monologues to memorize in ten minutes and then we came and did an acting on camera workshop. It was difficult to curb all of our (now) natural stage habits, but it was really fun! I'm really interested in film, and I can't wait for the actual film acting class next year. We might get to watch our performances at the end of the year, but I don't think I'll be very impressed with mine. I'm failry certain my eyes were downcast the whole time.

Global Village: I turned in my rough draft and went over it with my TA. She was extremely helpful curbing my use of passive voice. She gave me a lot of great suggestions and cleared up some organizational issues, so now I juts have to rewrite some things and I'll have a nice paper to turn in on Monday.

Theatre History II: We read The Rimers of Eldritch for Friday. It's very reminiscent of Our Town and To Kill a Mockingbird. I really enjoyed it, and I would love to see it on stage. It was obvious in the script that the technical elements made the show.

Rehearsals this week were a little different. After Katie hurt her foot, we tried one walk through rehearsal, but she was in too much pain. The dynamic was really off too (but incredibly funny, oddly enough) so I knew I couldn't perform Saturday. We had our first rehearsal in the performance space, but we just worked with the lights and the set, because I didn't want Katie moving around if she didn't have to. I got my ending figured out, and I know where I want to place my pictures. I think it's going to look great! Then my Friday rehearsal was cancelled because my male actor had some errands he needed to run, and since we have an extra week to work on it, I gave them both the weekend off to solidify their lines.

I also had rehearsal for the new scene I'm in, and that's going well. I attended 2 of Gillian's rehearsals too, to help her make sure there were no sightline or blocking issues before today.

I havnen't managed to see the dance show yet. And it's looking like I won't have the chance. I was supposed to go on a bike ride today, but I didn't wake up feeling well. There's 2 senior voice recitals that I'd really like to attend today, but I'm supposed to be at the directing scenes (since I'm turning the lights on in Gillian's scene), and then I have rehearsal for Chrisena's scene afterwards. So I'm not sure what all I'll get to do today, but I definitely need to finish my paper!

There's Something to be Said for Tennis Shoes

2010-04-20T22:49:00.004-05:00

In the past 2 days I've had a least 3 conversations with different faculty members and friends about tennis shoes and the reason we should wear them. I heard a pleasant story from Acting Professor L about a girl at our summer theatre one year who was wearing flip flops while coming off the stage, stepped incorrectly on the stairs, and broke both her ankles at once.

I also spoke with my friend Katie Mac about wearing tennis shoes, because her foot (which was hurt last summer, so she had to wear a boot for a few weeks) has been hurting. Of course, today was the day that we were performing in Acting class. So we're all expected to dress up and look the part. Tennis shoes don't go with dresses. So Katie Mac wore flats...and stepped wrong on the stairs...smacked her bad foot...and promptly went to the hospital because it rapidly swelled. Luckily, it's looking like it's not broken. However, she will be wearing a boot and trying to keep the pressure off it. She has crutches for now. Of course, she would be the busiest girl every: stage managing the main stage musical right now, and also the main actress in my directing scene. Hopefully her foot gets better within the next couple of weeks, because she's doing pre-season for the summer theatre!

I'm going to have to see how she fairs this week in rehearsal, and if it's no good then I'll be rescheduling my directing scene. They're in a really good place right now, so I'm completely comfortable doing so. I just hope she starts to feel better!

So, aside from Katie Mac and her scene partner who did not perform today, we all performed in Acting IV. We did a small rehearsal with notes from Acting Professor R. I was told to up the panic, and take out the 'logic'. When Erin and I performed, we did everything he asked. He gave us great notes at the end and was pleased. It was a fun scene to do. It was from Lady Windemere's Fan, and I was accusing my mother (who I think is my husband's new girl on the side) of stealing my husband from me and causing a scandal.

We also recieved our new scenes today. I'll be workig with Chrisena, who I worked with in Katie Mac's directing scene, on A Taste of Honey. I haven't had a chance to read the play yet, but I'm supposed to have it read by next Tuesday. I'm excited; it looks like it will be a very interesting scene.

The tentative season for next year went up today as well! Here it is, in order of appearance but subject to change:

Our Leading Lady by Charles Busch
Dividing the Estate by Horton Foote (This takes place in Texas!)
Meet Me in St. Louis
The Madwoman of Chaillot by Jean Giraudoux
The Clean House by Sarah Ruhl
Thouroughly Modern Millie

There's some great comedies in here, and some awesome dramas. I admit, I hadn't heard of many of these, and I had to look them up. But it looks like a really interesting season and I'm pretty excited about it!

I had my first rehearsal for Chrisena's directing scene Sealed for Freshness today. It was a read through and it looks like it's going to be really funny. We'll be performing that May 1st!

I spent the rest of my day writing and researching for my Global Village paper. I'm more than half way done, and I went ahead and wrote my conclusion since I'll be meeting with my TA tomorrow to go over it. It's looking pretty strong, but I'm sure there will be lots to fix before Monday when I turn it in. After I'm done with this paper I only have one more for my math class and then I'll be done with my major assignments for the semester! I can't wait! I'm so ready for it to be summer already.

Partly Productive

2010-04-18T22:12:00.002-05:00

I finished most of my work this weekend. I didn't get much of a start on my Global Village paper, but I have a couple more days before my first draft is due.

I spent some quality time sleeping. We were having side walk construction this whole past week, and the schedule consisted of jack hammering beginning at 7 every morning. Luckily, I think I caught myself up.

I had a tour Saturday morning, so I didn't get to sleep in too much. I had 3 families and they were all very interested and asked great questions. I have so much fun meeting prospective students and answering their questions. I remember coming up here from Texas and wishing someone would answer all of my questions, and now I have the opportunity to do it for other people.

We had a meeting Saturday afternoon to talk about Stevies, which is the annual going away party for the 3rd years. The 2nd year class always puts together a tribute to the 3rd year class. I would write down the things we talked about, but it's a secret until after the show, in case any 3rd years are reading this!

I talked to Megan, my artist for my directing scene, today. We went over my picture ideas for my show, and I'm really excited. It's going to be a great show, I think. I also spent some time going over the script with my actor, Katie Mac. We discussed some of the more absurd aspects and came up with some ideas for how to approach them. I picked her costume out, so now I just have to talk to Dru and we'll be set.

The Warehouse Theatre had a field day today! It was a lot of fun. It was to celebrate the end of our season, since Some Girls closed last night. We played kickball and Frisbee. There was some food and music and it was fun to chill out and relax with friends. There was a play swap as well, to trade in plays that we didn't want for ones we did...but I forgot it was happening and I did not swap plays. Too bad.

I found out last minute that 3 of my classmates were performing their directing scenes today, so I attended those as well. They all did a really great job! The scripts (I can't remember all of them) were all really interesting.

I finished reading An American Daughter tonight. It's a very smart script with really interesting characters. I liked it a lot. Well,that concludes my homework. I'm off to sleep, and I hope I don't wake up to jackhammering.

A Long Weekend Ahead

2010-04-16T23:08:00.003-05:00

I registered for my classes today and officially received all the ones I picked out for myself! That's good news.

We had a great discussion in Theatre History today over Oleanna and sexual harassment in today's society. There were so many differing opinions and it ended up taking the whole class up (usually we have a small history lesson on the playwright). There were many people who wanted to blame only Carol for the problems in the scripts. And then there were many of us that thought John held just as much blame. It's such an uncomfortable play to read simply because Mamet doesn't let you, as a reader, feel badly for Carol. But, as females and students, we feel uncomfortable not being able to sympathize with her character and the way she acts out. If you ever get the chance to read the play, it's an interesting study on relationships and power conflicts.

I had rehearsal for my directing scene today and we did our first run through. It's coming together so well. I really love the choices my actors are making and the fact that they're so willing to try new things. The characters are becoming increasingly dimensional and I can tell I'll be so proud of them next week when they perform.

I had an awesome time in my Global Village tutorial today. We split into groups and proposed policies to bring an end to the peak oil crisis. There was one group in favor of supporting the economy of the US above all else. Then there was another group that supported sustainable development, but not at the expense of the environment. My group was in support of going green and providing tax credits to corporations willing to go green and use alternative energy sources, all while researching new technologies and alternative sources of fuels. It was fun to debate because everyone has such great ideas for how to accomplish things. We compromised on some issues but we ran out of time before we could pass any policies.

I went to talk-back for Some Girls tonight and listened to the company talk about their process. It was interesting, knowing that their male actor changed a week before the show. My favorite anecdote was when the director admitted to creating a scheme to integrate into the show. The play is about a man who revisits his old girlfriends to clear his conscience. So the director had the actor take out each of the girls on a date to get to know them (because he didn't go to our school and didn't know the girls at all) but she told him to create a secret handshake with each of them, and they would put it into the show. So, unbeknownst to the girls, he used the same handshake with each of them. And when they all came together for the first run through and witnessed that he had 'played' them, much the way that the character in the show played each of the individual girls, it really became realistic! I thought it was very clever, and a great story.

I have a lot of homework to do this weekend. But I'm really planning on focusing on figuring out the background action of my directing scene. I talked Megan into drawing all of my pictures that I'd like to use as references in my show, I just need to figure out what exactly I'd like to accomplish with them. I'll be giving a tour tomorrow morning as well, and that's always fun to talk to prospectives. It's going to be a weekend of no free time, but hopefully it will be productive!

Cast

2010-04-15T09:20:00.003-05:00

The cast list went up yesterday for our summer stock theatre.

I will be playing Ruth in The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-In-The-Moon Marigolds which is the part I desperately wanted but didn't read for. And Becca in Rabbit Hole which was a part I never thought I'd get but I couldn't be happier to receive. These are two amazing characters that will be a real challenge to portray and I'm so excited that I get the opportunity to do so. I'll be working with some really amazing actors, actresses, guest artists, and directors this summer. It's going to be absolutely amazing.

I'm also cast in a children's show at the professional children's theatre. It's called East of the Sun but I have absolutely no idea what it's about or what role I'll be playing. However, it gives me the chance to work with a guest director and some really cool people. I adore working with children and this will be a really awesome opportunity. I never planned it, but it seems that my resume for working in children's theatre has been building steadily for the last 4 years or so. With any luck, I'll have some more opportunities in this field in the future.

I realize that I classify a lot of my college experiences as 'awesome opportunities'. In reality, yes they are great opportunities, but they're also just a ton of fun. I couldn't love what I'm doing here anymore than I do. I have so much fun acting, and I have no doubt that I chose the right major for me and the right career to start off in. Acting makes me feel so alive and free. And the people here have such a passion for what they do that it makes everyday an amazing day. I'm so lucky to be in a place that is giving me the education that I need, making me prepared for what I love, and helping me to love it more everyday I'm here. So when I say 'opportunity' I mean couldn't-be-happier-to-try-this-new-experience-because-I-love-what-I-do.

The cast list for the summer is really great. Everyone received multiple roles and everyone fits the parts they received. I'm so excited to work with everyone and watch all of the productions. 13 shows in 10 weeks, and they look like they're going to be some of the best shows I've seen yet! Everyone seems really happy with the outcome of their auditions and I'm glad because everyone really did a great job last Saturday. It's going to be a great experience!

I signed up to usher for Some Girls tonight. I saw the show last night on opening night and it was really great. The set, designed by a first year, is phenomenal. It looks really amazing and I can't believe it's her first design. The first year class has a lot of really talented technicians in their class and it's going to make their years at school really great.

The acting in the show was so much fun to watch. All the characters are so different. It was definitely a lot funnier to see in person than it was to read the script, and I really enjoyed it! Great job to the director, cast, and crew!

I have Acting IV today, but our performance space is being taken over by another group. So today, we'll be watching Being Julia, and we'll perform our scenes on Tuesday instead.

It seems like the season for next year's mainstage shows should be going up soon. I'm interested to see what I can expect in my last year of college. It's going to be a fantastic year with my classes and I'm really excited about it. I'm sure I won't ever be as busy as I will be next semester, but I'm looking forward to it!

Advising Day

2010-04-13T21:51:00.002-05:00

My official schedule for the fall of 2010 is:

Performance Technique (a musical theatre course)
Senior Acting Seminar
Advanced Acting 1
Advanced Acting 2
Shakespeare
Private Voice
Global Ethics

GE will be my last core class of college. Everything besides that course is a theatre related course, so it's going to be a fun-filled, most likely incredibly hectic semester. However, I can't even contemplate that when I have such a busy summer ahead of me.

I had another rehearsal for my directing scene today. We blocked about 1/3 of the show, so it's well on it's way to looking great. I'm very proud of my actors; I can tell it's going to be an awesome show with them on board.

GLEE was on tonight! I had forgotten how refreshing it is to watch a show that makes fun of itself so much. I love it! But really I'm hooked on it because of the actors. So many of them are from Broadway.

Anyway, I just wanted to post my schedule. I'm off to finish some homework.

An Excess of Condiments

2010-04-12T21:32:00.003-05:00

So this week is a week where there's a lot of important things happening. Some little and some not so little.

The new Warehouse Board and the current Warehouse Board got together last night and officially picked the season for next year. Our Chair Woman took it to the Dean to have it approved. All of our selections were officially approved, but they asked us to reconsider one of the plays because of some issues they think might arise with it. So that means, until the decisions are final (we had a re vote and I don't know the outcome) I can't actually say anything in my blog. However, I'm incredibly excited about our season, and the replacement play--if it goes through-- is just as cool as the one we chose. So either way, it's going to be a fun season and I'm proud to be a part of it!

I also got to hang out with the current Public Relations person last night and that was super cool! She showed me how she goes about the making of programs for the shows. I didn't realize it, but it will actually be my job (unless I choose to elect someone else to do it) to make the posters for the shows as well! Very cool...and difficult, so we'll see what happens there. We talked a lot about obtaining sponsorships and what all her job entails and I'm even more excited to get my turn next year! It's going to be a lot of fun and a really great experience to be able to use in the future. I can't wait!

We had to read Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf this weekend for a quiz and discussion in Theatre History. It's a very interesting production, and I would understand it a lot better (it's an absurdist piece) if I actually saw it. Apparently, the acting in the movie is amazing, so I might check that out sometime when I have free time. I just finished reading Oleanna for Friday's class, and I can honestly say it made me sick. It's a play about a professor and a student and she accuses him of sexual harassment. It's sickening because you can't tell who is right and who is wrong and you want to hate both characters for hurting the other so much...except they both present great arguments. It reminds me of how relationships go bad because of miscommunication. You can both be right and both be wrong and the anger because of it, and the unwillingness to forgive or compromise ruins it all. So..it was brilliant writing but it wasn't pleasant at all.

I had my first rehearsal for my directing scene Ashes to Ashes today. Both of my actors have really great ideas about their characters, and it's going to be a really fun collaboration. The play is going to end up being a crazy/creepy/absurd piece and I'm excited about doing something so new and outrageous. It looks like it's going to be a great learning process!

Tomorrow is advising day so I'll be picking my official schedule of classes for my final year of college! AH! That's so crazy to even say. I'm not entirely happy with the way it turned out, but I'll deal with it. I might be able to work some things out tomorrow, but I'll definitely post my finalized schedule here.

For some non-theatre related subjects (crazy I know): I'll hopefully be finishing a rough draft of both my Global Village research paper and my Personal Family Finance research paper so I can get them both critiqued in time to make a good final draft. We actually started a new section in Global Village pertaining to economic globalization and it seems like it's going to be very interesting. Aside from this research paper, I have definitely enjoyed this class this semester.

The Warehouse (back to theatre, I can't help myself) is actually co-hosting an event that is supporting the Trama Textiles group that I talked about previously. There's going to be a dance and I think the proceeds are going to help the Guatemalan women. So that's really awesome as well.

And of course, the summer season should be decided by Wednesday. I almost don't want to know. But I think I've finally come out of the theatre student mindset of 'what I'm cast as is a reflection of my talent and future ability to be gainfully employed' and moved onto the more mature, and healthy, mindset of 'my abilities as an actress are not decided by the casting of a college show, and I will continue to grow beyond this campus and can only be helped by the opportunities I am given here'. I know, it's sickeningly good of me, but what can I say--my glass is half full.

Boji Audition Day Complete

2010-04-11T09:17:00.004-05:00

I went back and put pictures up in the posts about Chicago and my Birthday, if you're interested in going back and looking at them!

I had a blast yesterday auditioning for 13 shows!

Technically, there's 9 mainstage shows, and then 4 children's shows that they don't let you read from. They just cast the children's shows based on the other auditions.

So the day started out with headshots and then moved onto warm-up with Acting Professor L. We did some Alexander Technique (body alignment technique that straightens your spine and allows your head to float freely off the top of your neck without tension) and some tremors (where you hold any part of you body in the same position until it starts to tremor--thereby opening up your diaphramatic (or deep) breathing, which builds an open channel for better sound to come out). I learned both of these my first year here, and it's a standard warm-up before every audition, but we're expected to do them on our own. This time we did them as a group. We also warmed up our voices with Voice Professor C, who would be our accompanist for our musical auditions.

We moved straight into the musical auditions after that. I was nervous about them, but I walked in, remembered the names of both songs like a good girl, and then I performed them. It went well! I was proud that I went in there and did what I meant to do without forgetting any lyrics! I did not make callbacks, but they were only calling back for some of the major characters, and I did not expect to be one of those. Gillian did make a callback and she said it went great! I'm proud of her too!

We came back from lunch and started our cold readings. I was sent to Acting Professor D's readings first. He was holding the farce cold readings and I picked the character I liked the most and grabbed my scene partner and we did our rendition. He gave some critiques and then we performed it again. After that I moved right onto Acting Professor B's cold readings. I read for Beatrice, Rhoda, and Madrigal. I had a fun time doing each of the different characters.

The awesome thing was: everyone stepped up their game for these auditions. My whole second year class did an amazing job! We were all reading the same sides and everyone understood the characters and gave great auditions. It's certainly going to be a hard season to cast. I felt comfortable with the performances I gave, but so many other people did such a great job that it's impossible to walk away saying,"yeah I really nailed that one, it'll be me."

After those three auditions, it was time for my Rabbit Hole audition. I was the last group to go in, so we didn't get to work on as much as the other groups. I read for Becca and it was ok. I didn't walk out feeling I had done amazing, but I did walk out thinking it had been a great day.

I really expected the auditions to be more in depth. I realize now, I shouldn't have expected that because there were so many people, and such a limited amount of time to see us all. It makes perfect sense that they would try and see us all multiple times instead of focusing on certain characters and certain shows. There were a couple characters I was really hoping to read for that I didn't get the chance to read for, and I was slightly dissapointed, but today it makes more sense. The outcome is really going to depend on who they want in the musicals because they cast those first.

I'll find out the results on Wednesday. All in all, it was a crazy, but awesome day and I had a blast!

Afterwards, my friends and I went out for sushi to celebrate! We tried the new place downtown called Geisha, and it was very tasty. Then we went to grab some icecream and came back home to watch a movie.

Birthday!

2010-04-09T22:58:00.004-05:00

I had a great Birthday! I'm officially 20 years old.

Global Village tutorial was an interesting discussion about how to solve the problem of AIDs in Africa.

Theatre History: We took a quiz on Fences, which was easy. Everyone in the class sang me Happy Birthday, which was very sweet. We had a great discussion about Fences and August Wilson. He really is an important voice in theatre. I really enjoyed the play and found all the characters dynamic and sympathetic (though not everyone did).

I didn't have work today because the children's school had the day off. Awesome! But sad too; the kids always brighten my day.

I had a quick rehearsal of my auditions songs with Voice Professor C. I'm singing Somebody from Celebration, and Stop and See Me from Weird Romance.

We had a meeting tonight about our auditions tomorrow and our summer theatre in general. We were given a bunch of information pertaining to what's expected of us as a professional company and how the summer is going to work logistically. They talked us through tomorrow. We have headshots at 9:15, warm up at 9:45, musical auditions start at 10 AM. They go until 1. Starting at 1:30 we'll have the cold reads for all the shows. That should probably take a couple hours and whenever we all finish (we'll just be going in and out of rooms, not waiting to be called necessarily as I understand it) we're free to go. They promised us the cast list would be up by Wednesday, which is a lot earlier than I expected it.

I just spent the night with Kaitie, Katie Mac, and Gillian going over the plays and reading excerpts out loud just to make sure we had some semblance of characters and relationships. I always find it so interesting how different it is to read with different people because different people give you different emotions to work off of. It was a useful night, for sure. We also practiced our songs several times, which is mostly what everyone is worried about. By now, cold readings (which is what our auditions for the straight plays are tomorrow) are our favorite things to do. They're easier than monologues, and you get to dive right into the script. The musical auditions I've definitely had to prepare myself for mentally. I'm a beginning singer and I find it daunting, but I know when I'm done with the day that I'll be proud I sang instead of backing out.

It was one crazy Birthday, and one crazy day in general. I'm really stoked for tomorrow, and a little nervous. But if I wasn't nervous, there would be no excitement in this job!

Last Hour of Being a Teenager

2010-04-08T23:10:00.002-05:00

I can't believe that in an hour I'll be 20 years old! I feel extremely old, even though I'm young. It's like saying goodbye to childhood. Too bad I'll always be a kid.

Truly though, it's crazy! This will be one of those Birthdays where I actually feel older instead of feeling no change. I'll actually remember to say, "Oh, I'm 20," when somebody asks me how old I am. High school seems like a thing of the past. And in one year, I'll be graduating from college. Boy, does time sure fly!

I'm not sure how much will actually sink in tomorrow because I'll be focusing on the upcoming auditions. There's still some rereading that I can do before 10 AM on Saturday morning. I've got my pretty Chicago dress ready, and I've talked to the 3rd years (I know, it's like I'm in a Harry Potter novel) about the process. We're going to have a meeting tomorrow evening about the auditions themselves, so after that everything should be crystal clear.

My rescheduled voice lesson had to be rescheduled for tomorrow because my professor was sick again. I'm hoping she starts to feel better soon! But I'll be going over it, and then I should be ready to sing on Saturday!

I finished reading Fences today, and it's definitely an awesome piece of writing. I loved the fact that there were so few stage directions written in. It leaves it up to the director and the actors to decide exactly how a scene should play out. The dialogue was witty and true to the time. It was one of those plays that was hard to put down, and I love coming across those! I'm excited to have a discussion about it in class tomorrow.

We got the sad news today that one of our male classmates is leaving us. We only have 2 in my class because we had another leave at the beginning of the year. He's a very talented young man and I wish him all the best in his future. I'm disappointed that I never got to work with him personally in class, though I have been in a play with him on stage here. He has a bright future ahead of him and I hope he doesn't let anything hold him back!

All in all it's been a crazy, hectic week getting back into school. But I'm ready for auditions, I finished all of my homework, and I even had some time this week to ride my bike and enjoy the beautiful weather.

Theatre Management

2010-04-07T22:36:00.001-05:00

It seems these days I really have to focus on managing my tasks more. I have so much to do, it's crazy trying to keep it all in order. Of course, that's the best thing about school I think--otherwise I would be bored.

So Global Village: We talked about the AIDs/HIV epidemic in Africa, which is just horrible. It was interesting to talk about statistics and compare with the rest of the world. South Africa has the highest rate of infection, followed by the countries in the Carribean. So sad. The US isn't too far behind, and neither is Asia really.

We discussed the conspiracy that the people who invent medicines and research cures dedicate their time to things that will bring them money, instead of things that need to be done. Of course...I think if someone had the cure to AIDs it would bring in a lot of money.

Theatre History: We had our first lecture in a long time! It was awesome. We talked about Contemporary Theatre, the Regional Theatre movement, and Post Modern theatre.

Contemporary theatre involved the beginings of Off-Broadway (because Broadway was only in it to make a buck) and Off-Off-Broadway (when Off-Broadway began to make a buck). I've never attended either of these in New York, but I would love the opportunity to really watch some artsy, avante garde shows!

Regional Theatre is most likely where I will be working for the better part of my life, so it was cool to talk about it. The Alley Theatre in Houston was mentioned, which is cool because I'm from Texas, so that's near home. I'd love to come back home to perform one day, but to start off with it doesn't seem like the best option. Regional Theatres hardly do Repertory style anymore (like doing 3 shows in one weekend), the modern approach is to do one long running show before switching to the next in the season. But if I had the chance to do Rep. Theatre, I'd like to give it a shot. It sounds challenging.

It was also interesting to hear the differences in the amount of African-American and Feminist theatres now and in the 40s-70s. The numbers are so much lower. I think it's sad that so many specific groups don't have voices in the artistic community anymore. But I suppose that means they've flowed into other groups and are being heard in different ways.

We also touched on Post Modern theatre, which is mostly taught in Grad Schools and professionally it seems. I can talk more on that later when I understand it better.

I finished my second to last summer play, and I'm ready for another day of reading!

Another Day Closer to Summer

2010-04-06T21:03:00.003-05:00

That's my motto at the moment.

I had my voice lesson cancelled this morning because my instructor is sick! That's really bad, because she's the musical director of the musical at the moment, so she definitely needs to be in shape to be at rehearsal, because they're learning music this week! I really need to rehearse my 2 songs for my audition this Saturday too, so I'll be rescheduling with her for later this week to get my time in.

I had Acting IV today, and my scene partner and I met early to go over our lines and blocking before class. We knew Acting Professor R would want to work the scenes and run through them with each pair, so we made sure we were as prepared as we could be after a week off.

We both knew our lines and we really just needed a refresher on our blocking. So we moved through the scene a couple times and got our spacing down. When it was our turn to work the scene with Acting Professor he let us get about half way before back tracking and giving us some pointers. He told me to be more in style, bye being more melodramatic when I'm near the window. I also had to practice using the shawl a couple times. I was having a little trouble getting it on and off, but we slowed it down and made a 'moment' out of it, so I can take my time and not rush through it. I have to make sure to set it down in an accessible way because there are two actors who continue our scene (it's split in half) and they need to be able to use it for their part.

It was a lot of fun to get back into the swing of things. Acting Professor told us our acting and our dialect was great today and he didn't have to work with us very long. All in all, it was a quick day in class because he split the class up to work half the scenes today and half the scenes Thursday. This means Thursday, I won't have class because my partner and I have already worked our scene! We have advising day coming up next Tuesday, so we won't be performing these scenes until next Thursday, but we're definitely in good shape for then.

I'm extremely excited for our upcoming summer auditions. We have a really great season planned out that I realize I haven't talked about. So here it is, in the order it's being performed in:

1. The Fantasticks
2. Girls of the Garden Club
3. See How They Run
4. The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-In-The-Moon Marigolds
5. Company
6. Unnecessary Farce
7. The Chalk Garden
8. Rabbit Hole
9. Beauty and the Beast

So we take 2 weeks to put up each show, and they all run consecutively for one week. So if you're in one, you can't be in the one directly following it, because you would miss the rehearsal period. It's crazy, and it sounds deliciously fun. I can't wait. We get to crew, tech, and house manage shows. We only have one free day per week, which is Sunday; so it will be non-stop theatre for 3 straight months.

After our auditions I hypothesize that it will be 1-2 weeks before the cast list goes up. When that happens we'll all collect our scripts and start memorizing!

There are also 3 ( I think 3) children shows that are put on. They cast those before telling us what they are, so that's going to be interesting as well.

Anyway, the rest of this week I'll be reading summer plays and Warehouse plays because we're picking our season this Sunday. That means I'll be posting that soon as well!

First Day Back

2010-04-05T18:37:00.003-05:00

Well, I spent a very relaxing weekend at Katie's house in the country for the duration of my Spring Break. It's about 4 hours away from our college, so we had a nice drive on Friday.

We checked out her Grandmother's awesome quilt shop, where I picked out some cool pirate fabric that I'm going to make a wallet out of. Then Saturday we took a day trip over to Springfield where we went ice skating and purchased me some 1st edition plays (The Iceman Cometh and a collection of JM Barrie's work). We also ate at a restaurant called Nonna's that had the best mushroom ravioli I've ever eaten. Then we went over to the airport and picked up Katie's sister Hero (named after the character in Much Ado About Nothing).

The next day we had an incredible homemade breakfast prepared by Katie's parents and her grandparents. French toast and Huevos Rancheros. Yum. We packed everything up and went to go fix up Katie's van with some transmission fluid before starting the trip back. We only made it 2 hours before the van (Sally) died. We got a tow truck, called Kaitie and Gillian, and had a ride back to school! We didn't end up heading back until around 7 because we stopped and had dinner.

ANYWAY: Now that I'm done chronicling my journey over Spring Break I can get back to school!

I finished reading Girls of the Garden Club,Rabbit Hole, Hold Please, A Raisin in the Sun, and most of Chalk Garden. I only have a play and a half left to read to be prepared for this weekend's auditions for the summer season!!

We had to read A Raisin in the Sun for Theatre History and it's definitely now on my list of favorite plays. I loved it. The characters were so clear, and the story so real and accessible. We had a really great discussion about that and about our breaks in Theatre History today.

Many people went to New York and saw some awesome shows, and a lot of the students went home and saw community theatre. It was great to listen to everyone's experiences and to share ours!

I got my directing scene scripts copied for my actors and I checked out some more plays for the Warehouse season to read, because we're deciding the season next week! All in all, a good first day back.

Chicago Day 5

2010-04-04T10:47:00.005-05:00

Thursday, the last day of the Chicago trip!

We woke up early, packed our things (well, I packed, everyone else packed the night before like responsible young adults) and took the sheets off our beds, then we left!

We took a bus down to Union Station and found a big locker to put all of our bags in until we could come back for our train. Then we called K's cousin (a Chicago native who lives in Wicker Park) so she could come pick us up and give us a tour of her neighborhood (a possible place for college grad's to live).

She drove us around and showed us the different kinds of apartments and told us about where the crime is (on one side of the traffic light, not on the other), and where the dog parks are, and where the best artsy places to check out were. Wicker Park is definitely a nice, pleasant neighborhood. Everyone has a dog, and they're allowed everywhere, even in the shops. The apartments are nice, and she said they aren't too expensive. However, my best friend has informed me that Wicker Park and Lakeview (which is the other neighborhood we all loved) are the most expensive places to live. So I have some research to do.

We ate outside at a nice diner, and then Katie Mac's cousin dropped us off to shop and take the El back to the Amtrak station. We checked out some vintage shops, still looking for my dress for summer auditions. We were stopped by a camera crew after our 1st shop. They were looking for some extra actors to stand in line at a restaurant they were filming for a Best of Chicago segment. We did a couple takes before they finally thought they had it. There were 3 guys, and they were all extremely nice and we got a card so we could be notified when it airs. So we continued to shop, but it was only about 5 minutes before one of the men came in and told us they had technical difficulties and needed us to do it again! So we got to go back out and do a couple more takes, which was fun! It made me love Chicago that much more.

We eventually found a vintage shop that had my perfect dress, a nice blue one, which I purchased. Then we ran to an old bookshop we had wanted to see. We spent 10 minutes (in which I purchased 2 plays) and then ran to the El to make it to our train station.

Of course, it was Easter Weekend so everybody was waiting for their train and we were delayed an hour. Then we were delayed more on the track because a freight train was delayed in our way. And then we were so behind that all the trains that were on time had the right of way, so we had to wait on them. I didn't mind the longer train ride because it gave me more time to sleep before I had to drive everyone back home!

Our 5 hour train ride turned into about 7 hours. We made it back home around 2:30 AM and I fell asleep right away. I woke up in the morning just in time to spend the weekend at K's house in the country!

I thought Chicago was absolutely amazing. I honestly didn't expect to like the city that much, and I thought it would be very similar to New York. But the people were polite, helpful, and nice. It was easy to navigate, and the art scene was so exciting. I loved the neighborhoods and could honestly see myself living there eventually. I could also see myself on a stage in that city someday. So many of the actors were so young! The neighborhoods also seemed friendly and there was always a lot to do in the surrounding areas. All in all, it's a very possible choice for an after graduation situation.

Chicago Day 4

2010-04-04T09:38:00.007-05:00

Wednesday! Day 4!

Today was the day we booked 2 plays to see. So we woke up early to make the train to Lincoln Park and De Paul University. Sean was supposed to come show us where our first theatre was. However, when we arrived we realized we could find it ourselves, so we went exploring instead. We found a nice Thai restaurant by the campus that served cheap meals to students and we had lunch.

After lunch we went to find our theatre, The Greenhouse Theatre. It's a theatre with the same layout as our Warehouse Theatre at school, but with a smaller stage and larger seating area. It has seating on 3 sides. Basically, this theatre houses 3 theatre companies that perform all of their shows in the space, instead of one company owning the space. I think that's pretty awesome, because the audience that comes to this theatre has the chance to see a diverse range of performances.

We got our tickets early and then hung out in a coffee shop to wait until the show started. The stage our show was on was on the second floor. So at show time we went to go take our seats. We were in the center section to the stage left side. Awesome seats. We were seeing Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Dangerous Liaisons). Melissa and I had performed a scene from the play in Acting III, so we picked the show to watch because we loved the script so much. It's Georgian Period, right after the Restoration, during the 1780's. We took a Restoration class last semester, and we had to learn the language of the fan(because all ladies carried a fan, but never to actually fan themselves with), and the proper way to move in the dress of the period, as well as how to sit and stand properly. It's all very intricate and it was so exciting to watch professional actors do it right!

The man playing Valmont (the main male) was especially adept at sitting, standing, and flirting properly. They didn't use fans, unfortunately, except in one scene and it was slightly distracting because they didn't practice it time period.

Overall, the play was just incredible. The space was intimate, but the actors were spot on. They did Standard American dialects (taking out all regional accents and implementing the vowel changes of the British dialects (been=bean, after=AHfter)). The characters were interesting and engaging, and the sword fight at the end was just the most amazing fight I've ever seen, especially on stage. I took stage combat this past summer, and watching a professional fight was exciting. It was fast paced, very intricate, and the sound effects by the actors were really good. I don't know how they did this fight so well in such a small space, but it was just amazing. I left the theatre wanting to learn that fight.

The actors also did a great job ignoring interruptions. There happened to be a wasp in the 2nd act that found its way onto the main actress' arm, and she didn't miss a beat (it was an important scene) as it crawled up her arm and flew into her wig. It also flew onto Valmont's jacket and he didn't break either. I cringed through the whole scene hoping it didn't sting someone!

We took the El down to the Magnificent Mile right after Dangerous Liaisons. We wanted to find a sushi place to eat at before we headed over to the Looking Glass Theatre to see Trust by David Schwimmer. We ate at a place called Friends Sushi, which was really good. Then we got our tickets and headed over to the Ghirardelli Chocolate Shop to have awesome ice cream. Then we went back to the Looking Glass to find our seats.

It was the same staging with a thrust stage (3 sides for the audience). The set for this piece was really cool. The show itself is about how technology tears a family apart when a 14 year old girl meets an older man in a chat room and starts a 'relationship' with him. So there was a huge 'screen' upstage that was made of white blocks (actually 3-D). There was one block missing, and it was on the floor stage left being used as the girl's bed.

There weren't many props, most actions were pantomimed such as eating, packing bags, driving cars. However, if the family was eating dinner, their dinner would show up on the screen upstage so the audience knew they were eating. Or if the scene changed to a different location (a bedroom, school, dining room, outside, a party) the location would be showed on the screen too! Whenever Anna (the 14 year old) was chatting on IM or taking pictures on her laptop or cellphone, the conversations were on the screen so the audience could read it.

It was a really interesting idea to have technology run the show the way it ran this girl's life. And the acting (once again, in such an intimate space) was just phenomenal. Especially Anna, who happened to be 19 like me! We got to talk to 2 ensemble members after the show, after the talk-back about the issues the show raises, and they were very nice. Raymond (who played the older man from the chat room) actually knew where our college was (which is rare) because his mom attended our school when it was a 2 year institution!! Talk about ironic.

We also had the opportunity to talk to Anna, whose real name is Allison, because she was leaving the theatre the same time as us. She asked about our school, and her mom asked us about what we thought of some of the issues of the show. It was one of the best things on the trip, to get to talk to actual cast members of an awesome company. I would love to work at Looking Glass after I graduate from school. They have such a different outlook on theatre, and I'm really interested in it. So many of the members in the Trust cast were extremely young too, which is promising.

After the show we took the El back to the hostel and slept!