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!
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