Still Alive and Working Towards that Degree

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!