Camp Shakespeare: Day 6

Today was not as wonderful as the days before. This is not to say that it wasn't informative and beneficial; but it didn't sparkle like the rest. There was a bit too much sitting in the afternoon. And it's sticky hot. Ew.
Some highlights:
We learned about cutting text - how long to aim for, prioritizing the lines, why cutting is good, etc. An interesting thought: Take out far more than you feel is necessary. That way, you can reward your actors by giving them additional lines. If, however, you discover during rehearsal;s that you need to cut, your actors will feel like they did something wrong.

We talked about the significance of language - specifically, we're trying to name our feelings (as opposed to just saying "Good" or "Interesting".) We also looked at researching every single word in a Shakespearean text with your students.

With Sandy Mack, who gave a wonderful lesson, we studied a passage from "Anthony and Cleopatra". It was a great modeling exercise for doing close textual readings with your student, and I found the passage we used to be just a glorious piece of poetry - especially the last image. (You can link to the speech here)

Tonight was quite fun, too. Yesterday, as I was doing laundry, I found a room with a locked door in the basement of our dorm. Upon peeking inside, I saw an air conditioner lodged in the window. So, after dinner tonight, Kim and Sharon and I tried to pick the lock to the door to get to the air conditioner. Alas, we failed. But we had fun hanging out down there on the stairwell. Later, a group of about 12 of us met in the parlor and played "Encore". It was a terrific game - highly competitive, with a diversity of genres of songs. And, hurrah, several people besides just me sang showtunes! Next time, we'll play one of the board games my brother was kind enough to mail to me. Everyone is excited to try out both "Apples to Apples" and "Shakespeare: The Bard Game" (and doesn't that statement alone prove our inherent geekiness as a group?). Speaking of packages, I received several today, including a bathrobe (thanks, parents!) and a very hard-to-find recording of the musical we picked for next year. And, just in case I have any eager students reading my blog, no, I won't be telling you what it is here. You'll just have to wait until the Hello Assembly! (Ha ha!) :)

Happy Talk

Here are some quotes I heard this week at NITS (National Institute on Teaching Shakespeare) that I'd like to remember: (Some may not make sense to you since the explanation is too lengthy for me to go into here, so just remember to ask me about it next time you see me if you'd like to know.)

(On Sksp's use of iambs) "It's your heartbeat. Shakespeare wrote in heartbeats. It's the first and last sound you will hear." - Kevin Coleman

"mill - v. to move around in churning confusion. In Western United States, 'to run cattle in a circle, sometimes deliberately, in order to halt a stampede.
seethe - v. to churn and foam as if boiling, to be noisy with activity." - www.dictionary.com ("Mill & Seethe" is a daily opening exercise for us)

"Let [your students] walk into Shakespeare through the door they are most comfortable with." - Kevin Coleman

"Now with 10% more Globe-i-ness" - adapted from Frank Hildy

"Check your balance" - David "Scooter-Boy" Q. (he asked us to use this phrase to remind him of the balance between talking and listening)

(on "Concept" Shakespeare) "[Those directors] didn't trust the play." "It trivialized the play." - Frank Hildy

"I can only write about what I thought!" - a critic in 1880's when theaters began turning off the house lights during performances, on his dismay over not being able to see the audience anymore.

"It's not a concept if it works." - Jenna

"The teachers led the revolution." - Tina Packer

"Shake loose your pink basket of ribs ('cage' is such an awful term)." - Bob Davis

"Touch the pain on your partner's face." - Bob Davis

"Do it for the polar bear!" - All of us who went to see "An Inconvenient Truth"

"We few. We happy few. We band of brothers." - Trisha's suggestion for our t-shirt quote (from Henry V)

"Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt." - Kim's T-Shirt suggestion (from Measure for Measure)

**Jennifer's story of the Roma children and the stairs.
**Michael's story of the "Abominabable (sic) Snowman Speech"

Carrying the Banner

The front page of today's New York Times Theatre section features the production of Hamlet we went to on Wednesday. I pretty much agree with the reviewer, except I liked their solution for the play-within-the-play, and I did not like Jason Asprey's Hamlet very much at all. Give it a read, if you like.

I stayed in last night and wound up having some interesting conversations with others in my dorm. It was nice and relaxing. Today, we had a half day of classes in the morning, mostly focused on how to adapt these "games" from the past week for the realities of our classrooms. After that, I joined a group for lunch at a Mexican place in town (we've dubbed that sort of food here "MassMex", since those of us from the West agree that Massachusetts Mexican food just can't be as good), and a bit of shopping/walking around town. We found a very cool store called "Essentials" - lots of fun, artsy/cool-type stuff. In a few minutes, I'm joining others to see Al Gore's movie and then to go out for Indian food. Mmm.

Camp Shakespeare: Day 4

Last night a group of us from the institute went to see a local production of "Glass Menagerie". I actually enjoyed it. It was an all African-American cast, which was an interesting and very appropriate choice. In fact, this was the first time I actually sympathized with and liked Amanda Wingfield, the mother character. It was funny, too, more so than I remembered from studying it in high school.

Today was still emotionally-startling, but fun at the same time. This morning we continued our daily voice work with Bob Davis, including a fun group round of a song-ish chant "Belly Mambaiay" (I'm guessing at the spelling). After that, Elizabethan
dancing! I thoroughly enjoyed myself with that, and was told by some fellow students that I was "really good at it". Yay me! Today we learned a courtly-type dance, and next week we continue with a country-style dance. And I'm going to wear a skirt that day.

In the afternoon we continued working on our monologues with our "Basics" classes. I'm keen to try this approach to workshopping with my drama students. It's a very different approach to a monologue performance, but I think it will be far more effective and bring higher rewards for my students.

After Basics, the founder of Shakespeare and Company, Tina Packer (left), came to speak to our group. She talked about the origins of the company, Shakespeare's education (and a lot about rhetoric), and about her performance as Gertrude in Hamlet. Interesting, but I was tired by then and not fully engaged. Now it's post-dinner. I'm not sure if I'll be going out tonight. I'll have to see if any of the proposed activities entice me, or if I just want to read and sleep.

We have a half-day tomorrow. It's supposed to be hot, so the activities suggested for the weekend all involve either air-conditioning or water. I'll let you know which one I choose.

Happy Bastille Day!

Camp Shakespeare: Days 2 & 3

Whew.

We just finished classes today, and I am reaching exhaustion, both physically and emotionally. Physically because of the late nights, emotionally because of the risks we all took today.

I think this is very, very good for me as a teacher to be here. When I ask my students to get up in front of a class and recite a monologue, I know it's a risk and it's scary. I acknowledge it's a risk to them, and then I force them to do it, but doing that same exercise here forces me to not only "know" it's a risk, but to feel the risk. How brave my students are! And I think I know how to be gentler and more compassionate in getting them to take that leap. Or at least, I hope to learn how to do that by the end of this institute.

I am coming to love these people, too. We're surprisingly different, more than you would think for a group of people who do the exact same thing for a living, but in just a few days I have gotten to know these 30-odd individuals and feel affection for almost all of them. This is just such a powerful thing we're doing... it's amazing.

Can you tell I'm overwhelmed right now? This is coming off a bit touchy-feely, that kind of emotional purging theater people indulge in. It's like EFY's spiritual rush, but in a non-secular setting. Kind of. I am aware of you, my reader, and wonder if you are laughing at me for this kind of rambling. If nothing else, understand that we are doing things here that will change me, so it's a little hard to articulate what's happening without sounding... odd.

I not only stood in front of a group today and did a monologue, but I let them direct me, and they got me to stop the theatrics and just be me and just let the words speak. No gestures, no foot movement, just slow and deliberate words. And if you've seen me teach, you know how unnatural that is for me. It was really hard to be vulnerable in that sort of way. Good for me, I think, but it's probably one of the most challenging things I've done in a long time. I couldn't hide, and I couldn't divert my group's attention to the ideas, or to my gestures and energy, or to themselves. It was just about me. And, oddly, that kind of delivery gave so much more power to the monologue.

Briefly, I'll also note that we saw "Hamlet" in Lenox last night. It was interesting. Overall, I wasn't too pleased with it, although there were some ideas I will steal. While there were many things I disagreed with or didn't like, in discovering those issues and in trying to figure out how to fix them, I realized a lot about the play. So even though it was a dis-satisfying performance, I learned quite a bit from it. I'll also note that I loved some characters for the first time, particularly Polonius and Horatio. They were both marvelous, and Laertes brought out some wonderful new meanings. I felt, for the first time, that Polonius, Ophelia, and Laertes were a family - a loving family. Which, of course, made their endings all the better. :)


I'm off to dinner now, then I'm joining a group to see "Glass Menagerie" in town. I can't say I'm especially excited about that play, but I feel a sense of obligation. I've never actually seen it performed, so I go out of necessity. I hope I enjoy it. As much as one can enjoy Tennessee Williams.

Drink With Me

Camp Shakespeare: Day 1

Hello my friends! It's just after 11pm here, and I thought I would debrief myself a little so I can hopefully sleep better tonight than I did last night. There was a lot of tossing, but everyone here seemed tired today, so I think we're all adjusting to the new enviroment.

This morning began at the lovely athletic facilities (see photo) with a group check in, then a class on movement. I enoyed stepping back into the role of the acting student. Something I noticed was that I was revertiing to the personality I had as a student. I was much quieter then, and more of a follower. It's interesting to go back to those qualities again.

It's odd that it's only been one day, too. We've done so much and have developed as a group so much that it seems like it's been a lot more than 24 hours since we all met. The different personalities are coming out, we're finding sub-groups and friends, and we're learning so much. This morning gave me some marvelous ideas for my acting classes, particularly in how to create those necessary baby steps between "Welcome to Drama" and "Perform your monologue". The faculty are great so far - really welcoming and quite excellent at putting us at ease while asking us to take risks. Taking risks here is good for me, I think, since I haven't done that in a class setting for a while. And if I get a little nervous with some of the things we're asked to do, I have to imagine how nervous my students probably get. You're prone to forget about those nerves when you're the one creating the situation.

After lunch, we had a group discussion about "why we are here", which mainly concerned Gardner's Multiple Intelligences. Following that, we had part 1 of a lecture from Frank Hildy, concerning the reconstruction of the Globe Theater. It was fascinating to hear from such a specialized scholar. My education in theater history has come from 1) books, and 2) a marvelous class by Marilyn Schraine. But here's a man who has dedicated his career to not just "theater history", but to ONE theater. Amazing. And interesting, too.

As professional as we all are, the group preference is to "go find alcohol" in the evenings. Last night we happened upon kareoke night at the closest bar, and participated enthusiatically. And no, it was not all showtunes. Thank goodness. Tonight we went to two different bars, mostly because the group did not like the atmosphere of the first bar. The second wasn't too much better, but we decided that we would have to be the atmosphere. I'm actually using that "we" rather liberally, since I am one of the quieter members of the group so far. They don't seem to mind, though, as we do have a nice dynamic. The others have been thankfully moderate in their drinking, and are absolutely cool with my pineapple juice (which, they pointed out, looks like a "real" drink anyway). In fact, I was deemed the "designated walker" for the group. Any of you who have driven with me will enjoy that joke, since the title apparently means I am the one in charge of leading the group back to the dorms. I warned them all that I have a talent for getting lost, but they just laughed. That was, of course, after the first bar of the night. :) But hey, I got them all back without any cretaive detours tonight, so thus far I have filled my roll well. I reassured them that if we did get lost, I would just lead them to a nice-looking house and tell them that was the dorm, so one way or another, they'd feel like they're home.

It was a comprehensive first day, really. Tomorrow we have a half-day of classes, and an evening performance of "Hamlet". TTFN!

Off to Massachusetts

I've been saving that particular song title just for the occasion (it's from "Little Women", by the way) - I am in MA!

Yes, friends, I have arrived at Smith College in Northampton, MA. Today marks the beginning of the Shakespeare & Co. Institute, which I will be attending for the next month. I have unpacked, moved furniture around, taken a walk around the area, discovered the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Library (just around the corner from me - see photo), and, of course, set up my laptop. Whoo! In about an hour, they're taking us on a tour of the campus, then there's a welcome BBQ, then some sort of meeting.

I'm quite happy to be here. As I was walking, I had to remind myself that I was in Massachusetts. It was one of those things that I knew, but I didn't realize, if that makes any sense at all.

I got a corner room, which is grand since it's a little bit bigger and has two windows. Right now, I'm sitting between the two with a fan aimed at me, and it's almost pleasant. Fortunately, most of the classrooms we'll be in have air conditioning. I can always go visit Calvin, too, since his library is likewise cool (ooh, sorry about that - unintentional bad pun).

On the planes here yesterday, I finished the required reading for the program - "Macbeth" and "Julius Caesar". I liked Macbeth better, although Caesar, I think, is better written. I am looking forward to getting academic again - playing the student and such. Already I have been going metacognitive - as I've worked on the monologue we're supposed to prepare for tomorrow, I have been reflecting on the process, since this is a task I require of all of my drama students. It's healthy for me to have this assignment, I think, since it forces me to consider what I am specifically expecting my students to do verses what I have taught them how to do in terms of "preparing" a monologue. I'm still not sure how to go about teaching this process - largely because I was never really explicitly taught the procedure myself, I suppose. Still, I'm glad to be doing it.

Well, I'm going to explore the dormitory itself a bit (see picture). I'll keep you all updated as things get interesting. For now, though, Happy Monday!

On Broadway

My travels have begun again!
After a week of boredom following the close of another school year, I began my summer trips with a terrific excursion to NYC. Janelle, Kelley, and I all went for "professional development". It really was useful for all of us, I think. We shopped, played tourists, talked shop, and, naturally, saw shows. Kelley and Janelle left on Sunday, but I stayed an extra few days to cram in a few more shows and to hang out with mon ami Jason. For the first time that I can remember, I left the city feeling theatrically satiated. I'll post pictures from the trip soon, but for now I'll give you a run down/review of the shows we saw. For brevity's sake, I'll only do a quick impression of each show, rather than explaining them all. That's what the links are for. :)

Wednesday:
While Janelle and Kelley went to "Wicked", Jason and I bought discount tickets from the "TKTS" booth for "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels". It was quite enjoyable. A little more crass than I expected (I haven't seen the movie), but the cast was fun and the songs were even better live than on the soundtrack. The set was simpler than I imagined, but I loved the style, especially the palm trees. Too bad we're done with our palm-tree laden show! Not the best show I've seen, but a fun way to start off the trip.

Thursday:
"Spelling Bee" was the only repeat show of the trip, and well worth seeing again. In fact, it held as my favorite show of the week. Jason enjoyed it when we saw it last year, but it was so much fun to see it with two other junior high school teachers. Kelley leaned over to me after the opening song to whisper "They even stand like our students!" The cast was almost all the original players, and they were dang hilarious. I highly recommend this show to anyone considering seeing it.

Friday:
We bought tickets for "The Drowsy Chaperone" a while ago, since I had a feeling it would do quite well in the Tonys. It was a load of silly nonsense, which was fine by us. Only somewhat disturbing was the realization that I very much am the Man in the Chair, a connection to which my friends responded "Of course you are!" Janelle and Kelley thought the "insider" musical theater jokes were a bit too frequent, although we all enjoyed the terrible "King and I" satirical song "What is it about Asians that fascinates Caucasians?".

Saturday:
Jason and I scored tickets to "The History Boys" thanks to my Dad. I was glad to see it. The set design was wonderfully simplistic and the acting marvelous, particularly Frances de la Tour. She was so easy to listen to and understand, in such an effortless-seeming way. There were some great scenes and very quotable parts, although some parts made me a bit uncomfortable educator-wise in a shifting-"oh, he shouldn't do that"-familiarity-kind of way.




Saturday night we attended the anti-Chaperone, as it were. I am thrilled we got to see the revival of ”Sweeney Todd”, though. Bloody, ghoulish, creepy, and the best show we saw in terms of creativeness and sheer theatricality. This is how Sweeney should be done - simple, suggestive, and with symbolism. Manoel Felciano was outstanding as Tobias, especially. Excellent, really.


Sunday:
After seeing Janelle and Kelley off to the airport, I went to a matinee of "The Light in the Piazza". Just as the reviews said, it was a lovely show. I'm a sucker for lighting, and this had some of the best I've seen. The book was weak, and the second act lost something, but the music is just beautiful. Gutsy show, too, given that they had full scenes and songs only in Italian.




Finally, Jason and I went to see "The Water's Edge", a new play that opened last week off-Broadway. It's Greek tragedy set as a modern drama. Given that, the bloodiness of the second act shouldn't have surprised me as much as it did. The acting was first-rate, although the set design bugged us both. I'd rank it lowest of the shows I saw on this trip, but I am glad I saw it all the same, if only for the power monologue deliveries.

So there you go. Seven shows in five days. Educational, inspiring, and a most delightful trip. I'll leave for my next trip (an educational conference in San Diego) on Monday. Till then!

Passeggiata

It's been raining almost all day today. As it dried up this afternoon, and blue sky appeared, I decided to go for a walk. I went east this time, and discovered this house:

They actually have a moat and a rose bower. Incredible, especially the way it was just there, within a neighborhood of usual houses.

It even had a special street sign:
"4900 - East of the Sun, West of the Moon."

My walk was pleasant at first, but shortly after finding that house, thunder began rumbling in the distance. I turned in the direction of home, but got scarcely 3 blocks before I was caught in an incredible downpour. About a mile from home, I hid under a tree at first, but the rain showed no sign of letting up. My concern wasn't my getting wet. It was that I had brought a book with me and I didn't want the book to get wet (those of your who know me will express no surprise whatsoever at either of those facts). So I tucked the book into my pants and headed towards home. When the lightening started up, then I got a little more concerned. I waited a bit under various awnings, then as the lightening moved away, got home. My nice neighbor drove past me about a block from our apartments. Gentleman that he is, he met me in the parking lot with an umbrella. I only had about 100 feet to go at that point, and I was already absolutely soaked, but it was sweet of him. He told me, "My mother would turn over in her grave if I left a lady out in the rain."



I enjoyed my walk, though. And my book came through just fine, although my neighbor gave me strange glance when I pulled it out from my waistband.

Grizabella: The Glamour Cat

At the top of my summer to-do's was this task for my cat...

Before:


O, so furry and hot!

After:

I think she's happier (and cooler!), although she doesn't look like it here.



I had her shaved at Petco this time, and last year's shave was definitely a better experience. I first had Nash shaved at a lady's solo business in Fruita last summer. That lady 1) let me stay and help, 2) only charged me $25, 3) took less than an hour, and 4) ask me if I had been saved yet. Petco 1) had me drop Nash off and said I could come get her "3-4 hours later", 2) was filled with big dogs (poor kitty!), 3) charged me $53, and 4) did not seem the least bit concerned with my personal salvation. Next year, I think I'll go back to Fruita.

Painter's Song

As an end-of-the year project, my Advanced Drama students and I set goals under the heading "Things I've always wanted to do but haven't yet (that I can do in the next three weeks)". It turned out to be a terrific success. Many of my students took risks - from going paintballing for the first time, to entering a karate tournament, to compiling a book of poems, to going 2 days without speaking. True to my philosophy, I also set a goal. I decided to paint my bathroom. Here's the photographic results:

Before:




After:


"Green Palm" is so refreshing! I love the bright color.


I took another risk and painted a quote on the wall. Someday, I want to paint quotes all around my house.

"Sing hey! for the bath at close of day
That washes the weary mud away.
A loon is he that will not sing
O! Water Hot is a noble thing!"

Can you name the source?

Children and Art

Happy Memorial Day to you all!

The end of the school year has come unbelievably fast (hence my delay in posting). We have 4 days of school left – hurrah! Then begins the crazy summer o’ travel. I just added another trip to the roster. I’ll be going to San Diego for a training conference for a class I just agreed to teach. It actually seems like an interesting program – it’s designed to encourage the students who get lost in the middle to go to college, particularly those who would be first generation college students. It’s going to make for a crazy year next year (5 preps, not counting advisory or the musical), but interesting.

In Advanced Drama, we had an exciting wrap up to the year. My friend Heidi brought one of her May Term classes of college students to conduct small-group workshops with my students. That was followed by their class joining ours for the first part of our Drama Day field trip. We went to see “The Miracle Worker”, the “Five Guys Named Moe”. In between shows, we went to the mall to get lunch. The shows were great, and even better, so were my students! The worst that happened is a group of them got bored and had me paged over the mall’s PA system. A choir teacher a few years ago took a group of students out to lunch on a field trip and two of them were arrested for possession after being search for shoplifting – I panicked about similar stupidity, but then again, I know these kids and my faith in them was rewarded. We even arrived at the second show a good hour before curtain and my kids kept themselves entertained by playing “Red Rover” on the field in front of the theater. Aw, cute.

I bid farewell to that class on Thursday, since that was really our last official session. We did the formal positive letters to each other, and I gave each of them a drama masks pin and a class photo (thanks to Shutterfly). They were very sweet. Many of them hugged me and said “I love you”. Heaven help me, I love them too. This really was a good year.

Learning to be Silent

I can't quite believe it, but we have finished our shows for the year. Last week my Advanced Drama kids performed for the school Shakespeare Festival, which marked the end. Now all that's left is 5 weeks of school, 3 concerts, 2 awards nights, and 1 assembly. It is going to go so fast!

Have I mentioned my summer plans yet? I applied for a grant from the NEH to attend a summer institute program for teachers at Smith College. Thanks to that grant, I get to spend an entire month "summering in the Berkshires"; that is, studying Macbeth and Julius Caesar through Shakespeare and Company. Hurrah!


In other news, Janelle, Kelley, and I are planning our trip to New York as well. We've got a hotel, plane tickets, and yesterday I bought tickets to "The Drowsy Chaperone". At a good price, too. Also on my list is:
Slava's Snowshow
Sweeny Todd
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Bridge and Tunnel
[title of show]
Threepenny Opera


So there should be some good blogging topics this summer. I plan on posting during the Shakespeare institute, since I figure it will be a fruitful time for ideas. In the meanwhile, I can't seem to go without working on shows, so currently I am browsing possibilities for next year's musical. I wish Janelle and Kelley were a little more obsessive, so they could join me in my madness. They are pretty compliant, which is nice for collaboration, and I understand why they are not as into it as I am. Kelley's got her husband and daughter, and Janelle's pregnant with her first. I know their home lives come first, which is fine. I figure I'll indulge my time while I am free to do so. Yesterday, a group of teachers on a committee at school went south to Happy Valley to observe a middle school there. I met the theater teacher, and we got to talk for a bit. It was really nice to have someone to talk to who is just as interested in and knowledgeable about musicals as me. It's the lot of theater teachers, I think, to be a bit isolated in their subject areas. It's a shame we don't get the chance to collaborate/visit more.

That school had a tiny theater, though. Their current production has 16 people in it. 16! So tiny!

TTFN

Me

If you can't get enough of my life....

http://beentherereadthat.googlepages.com/

(Mostly lists so far. We'll see how it developes.)

We Dance!

And another show done!

Yes, after a crazy week (year?), our production of “Once on This Island” was a smashing success. Here’s the rundown:

Monday – During classes I worked with my techies to hang the curtains from the catwalks above our cyc. The curtains are courtesy my parents/IKEA, and did a wonderfully job covering the ugly design of that part of the stage. After school - double dress rehearsal. We ran the show twice through, then dismissed the cast to go get some sleep. Most of them at this point were sick, so the sleep was critical, particularly given the early morning to come. Once the cast was gone, I stayed with a few of the faithful students to finish painting the set. We wrapped up at about 9:30pm, after Kim pried a paintbrush from my hands and refused to let me touch up the mural any more. She’s a great stage manager.

Tuesday – Remarkably, I woke up on time (4:30am). I arrived at school at about 5:30 am, and the students likewise came early. We had a terrific time with the Fox news people, who featured us on their morning show between 6:00am and 8:30am. Then followed a morning performance for elementary school kids, photo call, a break for lunch, and an afternoon elementary school show. The casts did quite well with those performances, and the kids seemed to love it. After school, we gave some notes to the casts, then Janelle insisted I go home. Home! By 5:00pm! It felt… weird.

Wednesday – Assembly for our school in the morning. It was just a teaser – so I stopped the show about 15 minutes from the ending, at a cliff-hanger moment:

Ti Moune dances for Andrea and Daniel
Andrea: (to Daniel) Well, it’s very clear/she’s in love with you./Daniel, if you care,/if you care at all,/you must tell her-
Ti Moune: What is it?
Me: (walking out on stage as the actors freeze in place) If you want to know, come see the play tonight, tomorrow ni-
Audience: BOO!

They booed me! It was outstanding. Other teachers told me they heard conversations all day debating what Andrea’s news was. Excellent.

That evening was officially opening night. 350 people, $1500 net profit, and a decent performance. I was happy. I also fell asleep literally in the middle of eating dinner.

Thursday: Last performance for Cast A. The entire cast did marvelous! They even earned a partial standing ovation. I was thrilled with them, and they were ecstatic. 500+ people, $2245.

Friday: Final performance. So good! A great turn out, and a full standing ovation afterwards. A lot of tears and hugs and flowers and cheering and such. My family came to see the show, as did some of my friends, which was wonderful. I haven’t heard the official tallies yet, but hopefully tomorrow.

I love my kids. That’s the ultimate sentiment I felt this week.
Tomorrow: cast party, techie show, and we begin strike. Whoo!

You'll See

Ahh.

I feel better. After church today, I kicked into gear and finally did some much-needed housework. Five loads of laundry, two loads of dishes, a good vacuuming, and a bit of organization later, and I am feeling much more at peace with my apartment. I am by no means done (you should see the pile I have to iron), but it sure feels good.

Last week, I worked from 7:30am to 10:00pm each day except Friday. I would have done the same on Friday, but the school won’t let me. The set is almost finished, and the dress rehearsals on Friday went pretty well. It was actually rather fun. We did loose a lead (every dang show!), but thanks to double-casting, that’s causing no real stress. No arrests – she just had a conflict with a rehearsal and had to make a really touch decision. As Janelle pointed out, we’re really acting better for her in the long run if she learns from choices like these now. So we stuck to the rules we had established from the beginning, and she lost her part to attend the other commitment.

Tomorrow is our last chance to rehearse before the news broadcast and the elementary school shows on Tuesday. Tomorrow’s also the beginning of 4th quarter at school, which seems so secondary right now. Four of my classes are changing, so I hope I get some understanding students. They will have to be patient with me this week.

I am going to have a bit of supper now, then off to bed. I’ll try to keep you updated on the show as next week progresses!

Make Them Hear You (reprise)

Yes! I am repeating a post title. I feel it's justified, though, given a) my much improved mood and b) one of the causes of that upturn.

After another hard-to-sleep night (thoughts of the show just kept running through my mind. Even once I feel asleep, I just dreamed about the play - we moved the show outside, and I was distressed about getting the sound to work over the wind, blocking on a hill, etc.), I woke up tired, naturally. Towards the begining of the day, though, the sound guy from the district came to check out our system. Dear Janelle took my class, I pulled my techie Josh out of class, and we went to the booth with Jerry. He spent about an hour with us, repairing microphones, agjusting frequencies, and teaching both of us how to actually work the soundboard beyond the basics. The results? At rehearsal today we heard everyone, and I didn't even have to be up in the booth! Ah - glorious!

Other happiness included getting the props I ordered from Oriental Trading, having a mom bring back finished scarves AND volunteer to sew even more, and in general having a good day.

I have found my optimism again, thank goodness. I just hope it sticks!

Make Them Hear You

I do this every year.

Two weeks to showtime, ten rehearsals left, and I am stressed.

On one hand, we are actually ahead of schedule. Kelley, Janelle, and I wound up delivering our "guilt-the cast" speeches yesterday ("We've put so much into this show"..."How dare you waste our time by not knowing your part"..."You will be on stage in two weeks, not us"...etc.). I realized afterwards that we delivered the speech a week before normal. That's probably a good thing.

My dear mother also fielded my usual "It's never gonna happen!" venting phone call ahead of schedule, as she pointed out today.

Basically, I am just stressed. It will come together - it always does. I just need to trust my cast to pull it together... and figure out how to add three more hours to the day. Mmm. That would be marvelous. Did any of you (besides my sister) watch that show "Out of This World"? I have always envied Evie's ability to freeze time. Oh, for that power! You can keep your mind control or ability to fly - give me more time!

I do this every year. Nope, remembering that doesn't help.

Ev'rybody's Gotta Be Somewhere

Photos!

Andy, Dad, and I at Sunset









California Cauliflower











Dad and I at the Farmer's Market










The ceiling at Cantor's Deli











Dad enjoying Cantor's Menu









Dad and I on the terrace at the Getty










Artwork to inspire my set











Andy outside his old preschool











Venice Beach Artwork

Sleep Tite

Hello again, O Faithful Readers!I apologize for my long absence. Most of you are quite aware of my schedule, so I hope you will excuse me. I thought I would post a run-down on the last month, though:

1. Went to LA with my parents and brother. Outstanding trip, especially the Getty, which has become one of my top 3 museums - great collection, excellent layout, very pleasant. This trip provided a much-needed escape from the state. I'll post pictures as soon as I upload them.

2. Hosted a benefit concert for my school in conjunction with one of the school's business
partners. It went... it went. The performers were pretty good, but mostly this was just one more task to get through for me. Definitely the lowest on my show-priority list. Speaking of...

3. The Relief Society play was this week. It's over, so hurrah. While I am looking forward to having my Tuesday nights back, and while I am already enjoying my now-free Saturdays, it was an interesting experience to work with adult actors. Given all of the last-minutes adjustments, the performance actually went rather well. Apparently, the stake president even got teary – a sign of spiritual success, I guess. Personally, I’m just glad it’s done so I can focus on “Island”.

4. “Island” is going pretty well. Our set is underway, most of the special effects are worked out, Monday we go off book, and I spent tonight knitting frog fur. Yes, frog fur. Let’s just say it’s an experiment. Oh, and our show’s going to be on the news. It’s odd, but of all of the stress of shows, the thing I’m most worried about is having to be at school by 5:30 am one morning in order to do this news broadcast. Huh. In any case, I am please to report that so far the only arrest to interrupt rehearsals actually wasn’t one of my actors. Which brings us to

5. Kelley (the dance teacher) and I got in a little scuffle with a crazy, stoned high school kid named “Curly Sue” who crashed our rehearsal on Wednesday. The short version of the story is that the guy made a break for it after shoving Kelley around and calling us both… well… use your imagination. Pretty much any swearing you can think of, he used it. As he ran across the parking lot, Kelley and I chased him until an awesome ninth-grader tackled the druggie in a Superman-esque leap. We wondered what took the detective so long to respond to our requests for help until we learned he was breaking up a fight and arresting a different kid at the time. Ah, spring.

So there’s a quick run down on the major events of the last month. I’ll try to get back in the habit of posting, especially now that I’m down to one show. In the meanwhile, happy March and watch out for curly-haired, stick-wielding strangers.

Incidentally, if any of you are aware of any teacher-education programs that include courses on self-defense, let me know. It wasn’t covered in my degree, although it has proven useful. :)

Diva's Lament

Another found picture:

When I took my job at school here, I found two giant (6' diameter) coins backstage. No one's claimed them thus far, so when we needed to build a clock for our fall play, I decided to paint over one of the coins.
My techie protested vehemently. For reasons I cannot fathom, Techie practically threw himself between the coin and my paintbrush, arguing that it was sacrilegious to paint over a president. I finally managed to talk him away from the coin by promising that I wouldn't touch the other one backstage. This did not stop him from grieving over the passing of the coin, as seen here.

Farewell, dead president coin, you served us well.