Glorious Fall!

AH! I LOVE fall! It is the best season of them all. So full of emotion and feeling. Warmness within the cold. And today was a brilliant fall day, a little rainy, but still a brilliant fall day. I went to Abingdon today and saw The Spitfire Grill with my friends Jenna Melgar and Meghan Kennedy, both wonderful actresses themselves. The show was very fall-ish too, which added to the wonerful mystique of the day! Changing leaves and warm sweaters - two of my favorite things about fall. The show was very good overall. The only negative thing I have to say about it is that the lyrics are R-E-T-A-R-D-E-D! I don't think that they could repeat how bright the light shines through the windows anymore! I mean, every song repeated ONE line OVER AND OVER again! WE GET IT! Jesus Christ! It's like a mantra - "The light hasn't shined so bright since way back when! The light hasn't shined so bright since way back when! The light hasn't shined so bright since way back when! The light hasn't shined so bright since way back when! The light hasn't shined so bright since way back when!...." You get the point.

However, with that being said, the cast was AMAZING! AH, Seana Hollingsworth, and amazing actress and one of the nicest people you'll ever meet, continues to amaze me this season with her noteworthy performances. She's a very good actress and I think this is "her season" at Barter. Barter tends to feature certain actors and actresses throughout different seasons, and the actress this season is deffinitely Seana. After her wonderful performance in The Last Five Years, Seana continues to showcase her talent and ability to make the audience love her in The Spitfire Grill. Also to be noted in this show is the performance by Melissa Davidson. WOW. Good - as always. Melissa has proven that not only does she have a stellar, uncomparable voice, but she can act! And act VERY VERY well! Her characterization in this show was very built and thorough. I have now seen her in several different phases in the spectrum of personalities and each characterization is right on the money. From the diva in Phantom to the down to Earth French woman in Scarlet Pimpernel, Melissa always delivers, and then some! So I suspect, or at least hope, we will see much, much more of her at Barter. Other actors in the show include Rick McVey, newcomers Martin Thompson and Tricia Mathews, Karen Sabo, and John Hardy. I felt compelled to mention the rest of the cast because they were all really excellent, I just won't go into all of the performances in this post. However, they all do deserve much recognition for their work in this show. The overall design of the show is what really made me like it. Like I have said, I love fall and that's what the designers really went with in designing this show. The set is very fall-ish: skinny tree trunks rising into the rafters from stony basins. The lights constantly projected a sense of fall in their colors. A cyc in the back made for nice scene changed and beautiful tableaus of color at times, plus a very effective moon gobo. This show is definitely not one to be missed in this season at Barter.

Actually, one should not miss ANY shows at Barter this season, they're all really good! Barter has some excellent shows in their fall season, wonderful shows: The Scarlet Pimpernel, The Spitfire Grill, Mother Courage and her Children, and Beyond Gravity. So try and see them all, it's well worth it. And many kudos to the cast of The Spitfire Grill. Until next post, take care!

Sleepless Night

It's 5:30 AM and I have not been to sleep yet. I tried at midnight to go to sleep for two hours, and failed. So at 2 AM I decided just to stay awake. I have gotten into a weird sleeping pattern that is forcing me to skip history too much. So to correct this I chose to stay up all of tonight and go to bed early all weekend. I'm not really tired, a little maybe, but nothing substantial. My last class ends at 2:30 tomorrow, so I'll probably take a long nap after that before I go out, then come back and go straight to bed. I hope it works, it has to. I cannot miss anymore of my history class. If I've learned anything this semester in college it's not to take any classes at 8:15 in the future - and believe me, I WON'T! I hate mornings!

I saw the ETSU theatre dept.'s production of Forever Plaid last night. I was very disapointed. The set design was pretty good, though. I had been told that, due to an absence of a good scenic artist, the sets were kind of basic and corny: lot's of bright colors and rudimentary box shapes. It was not like this though. Sure they may not have an excellent scenic artist, but the set was very typical of any college with a good theatre department. It was neat and functional. So I was happy to see this. However, the lights didn't thrill me as much. I mean, my God, get someone in there with half of sense of lighting design. I mean, they weren't bad. Instead they were very predictable and basic. They could have been more dramatic and emphasize more. Lights are a very important part of any production, however this fact is often over looked. Contrary to popular belief you cannot just throw four white lights on a stage with a dimmer switch and call it lit, or at least not a production like Forever Plaid at ETSU. So with my choice technicals out of the way, I will now get to the meat: the acting. OH MY GOD! Who cast these people, AND WHY?! For those of you not farmiliar with the show, Forever Plaid features four guys. They are supposed to have been doo-wop singers who died in the '60's on their way to a concert, however they've been brought back to life somehow and given a second chance to perform their concert. That's the jist of the ENTIRE show. THE story line. So needless to say the script is not literary genius to begin with. It just features a bunch of wonderfully harmonized '50's and '60's songs, making the show a wimpy revue at most. Fun, but so what? In between the songs are usually corny bits that we could all do without, referring to the time period from whence they came or making parodies of the goups "plaidness." Even so, this show was hard to swallow, not because of the mediocre script, but more to the credit of lousy acting. To their credit, I will first say that all four of the guys had exceptional voices. They harmonized and blended very well on the songs (save for the druidic entrance number, but it was only their first run). I have been told that they are all music majors, not theatre majors. So thank God for that. But suffice it to say that they ALL need to take some acting classes. I cringed as I sat there and watch them indicate emotions through gestures and RECITE, obviously recite lines!!!! AH! The funny bits were laughed at by the audience, but I felt that it was out of politeness or something to that effect. It's kind of like when I was in high school and people laughed at actors in funny bits because they knew them and it was funny that the actor was doing the bit - not the character. So if you don't know them it's not funny. Such is the case with Plaid. I do not know the people in the play, and don't plan on getting to know them, but I laughed at only one part in the entire show. It was a latin music part, but I think I laughed more out of nervousness because the Plaids pounced off of the stage into the audience, shoved mics into peoples faces, and made them sing the song. Audience participation is another thing that I'm not fond of in the theatre, especially when it's FORCED! I mean MY GOD! I'm there to see a show, not do one. Unless it's The Rocky Horror Show, stay on the stage and leave me the fuck alone! But I guess that's not truly the actors fault, but rather that of the director. Speaking of the director, I don't know if he or she has ever SEEN a show in his or her life! The blocking was rather pointless in most places and I don't think the actors were really given any direction in the way of characters - and believe me, a little character direction WOULD NOT have hurt. Overall, I was unimpressed with the show, and it did nothing but further confirm my wishes to transfer. So it was good that I saw it. Hopefully Picnic will be better since it actually has theatre students in it! I don't think I could bear to run tech for every night of a show like Plaid. Yuck. In short: Music good, bravo to Mellisa and scenic people, GET A LIGHT DESIGNER, we have some soon-to-be starving actors on our hands, the director? there was one?! And on that note, I will let Plaid rest!

SO! My good friend Claudia Kiss is in town (or Abingdon) on break from James Madison University. So I will see her this weekend, and I am looking forward to it. I go to the Barter on Saturday to see The Spitfire Grill and am looking forward to that as well. I really need to see Mother Courage and Her Children at Stage II as well. But I'll take anything! I need to see some good theatre to get the nasty taste of Plaid out of my mouth! Until my next post, take care!

M-I-C, K-E-Y....

I GOT IN! I have been accepted into the college internship program for Walt Disney World. So I will fly down there in January and work in the resort as an operations manager until June. I am sooooo excited about this! I hope every thing works out! How much fun will this be? And, of course, my friends will have to come and visit. Too exciting.

I have another meeting tonight with this group I'm starting here on campus. It's a big undertaking, but if it happens it will have been well worth it. Just so much to do right now. But all will work out in time. School has been rather easy thus far. (knock on wood) The classes are fun and I don't have too much work. Just enough, I like to think.

I started reading the sequel to Wicked. It is called Son of a Witch. It's very good. Wicked was very good too. I thought that he was just getting into a rut of writing alternate viewpoints for fairy tales after the success of Wicked. I didn't fin any of his other books very good in this genre: Mirror, Mirror, Lost. However Son of a Witch is shaping up very well and is a fast read. I believe he should stick to writing Oz political books, which is what Wicked and Son of a Witch both are.

Well I must run now, and do some homework. I didn't feel very much in a posting mood, but I needed to post, I've been neglecting my blog too much. But I'll go now, have some Italian soda and raspberry chocolate cookies, and read my English homework.

Pie in the Sky

Looking at life my friends

I feel confusion

A work in progress or just a mystery

Headless chickens

Sequins dripping

It was all

All about you and me

Now who do we think we are?

Sad old clownsTwo bright shining stars

There was method in our madness

There's a rumour in the truth

There was love

But where's the proof?

I normally do not put song lyrics in my posts nor do I like posts by other people that just have song lyrics. Because it's boring. Nobody likes to read song lyrics, they are usually only effective when listened to. So go listen to that song. It's called "Pie in the Sky" by Boy George. Very good song. Very much my attitude toward life a lot of the time.

So, along the lines of what's happening in my life now...not too much to say here. School has more or less taken me whole. All the reading and so forth. I do not mind it much though. It is usually stuff that interests me. I am actually thinking now about either minoring or double majoring in Philosphy or Humanities because I love my Intro to Humanities class. I have a really good professor though - Dr. Richard Kortum. He has studied at Duke University as well as Oxford and some other places... Anyway, the reason that he is such a good teacher, or at least in my opinion, is because he has actually experienced what he teaches. He has been to the cradles of civilization (Greece, Crete, the Fertile Crescent) and can therefore teach with certainty. I really enjoy that class. It is not boring and not too hard, as long as you do not mind reading. And there is a lot of reading in humanities, believe me. Today I had to read a selection from Oedipus Rex, or re-read rather because I had read the entire play in Governors School at VHCC. So the class corresponds to what I enjoy. And I do like to study the history of our cultures habits and why they exist. Either way, it is very helpful in the theatre because, if nothing else, you can understand and recreate the ways of ancient cultures. So now if I am cast in a play written by Sophocles or Aristophanes I can better know what I am doing. And everything else is just really interesting. Very scholarly.

When I am not occupied with school I am rather bored. There is nothing to do here! It's INSANE! For a college, this place is dead. The theatre department here is a joke. They do not do anything. And the student production company, ridiculously named Patchwork Players, is a waste of time to even be involved in. They do not do anything either! I want to be in a place where I can freely (and continuously) direct, act in, and see productions whenever I want! Even late night productions that do not start until 10, 11 or midnight! There are many colleges where you can do this, but obviously not this place. ETSU is seriously lacking in serious, talented, and/or capable theatre students. And I cannot even start anything! It is so frustrating. If I could I would direct something new and quit bitching about it. But the dense headed board of Patchwork will not allow you to direct unless they know you and are best friends with you. They do not know what they are doing! If I want to actually do anything, I am going to have to go off campus somewhere and get involved. There is a community theatre here in Johnson City, maybe I'll try there...

On the upside of thing...I am really and truly hoping to be offered a job for the internship at Disney! It would be so much fun! Waking up every morning to go work at a castle and then leaving to a background of fireworks. Where else could you get that? And it would be a chance to break up the monotony of school and get out of this sespool of stagnant, uncultured mountain folk. I do not hate being born here. I think it is a blessing actually. I just hate the people, or rather people's attitudes in this area. This area is depressed because the people are depressed. The reason the North prospers is because of their optimism, something seriously lacking in Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee (and I am sure many other "Red States"). People around here do not want to do anything. They do not want to start anything, like they are afraid. Not willing to risk anything for a reward or happiness. They are sometimes so ignorant of what is out there in the world. I am so thankful that by what little travel I have done and through all the wonderfully, amazing people I have met I was able to acquire this view. I love meeting new people, trying new things. I'll take a leap outside of my "comfort zone" any day to try something I have not before. Stability is boring and always leads to the same thing. Sometimes you HAVE to walk without your closed minded safety net. You will be surprised at how much you will learn.