My So-Called Riposte

I need to write again

2009-03-24T10:01:00.000-07:00

As you can tell by the date of the last post, it has been a long time since I last wrote on my blog. Lots of things have happened since then. Life has continued and I feel like I've groggily passed through it. But today I feel like I should write. So I will do just that. Perhaps it's this glorious sunny weather outside? Who knows? But I will write.

I begin rehearsals soon for a new production of Strega Nona at Adventure Theatre in Glen Echo park. I'm looking forward to working on a musical with some really cool people. School is going...but I feel like I'm sluggishly lagging in it. It's as if something in blocking my ch'i. Hopefully I can do some spring cleaning and sort that out. I just feel like I have so much going on and I am getting lazier all the time. So much work to be done and so little time to do it. I cannot wait until I am out of school so I won't have to do so much unnecessary stuff. Don't get me wrong, I love college. But I just feel like it constantly drains me while I wish to do other things. I don't know, I'm so conflicted about it right now.

I think it may just be the after effect of spring break. Who knows? Off to lighting design now...

Beware the Ides of March!

2008-04-16T21:31:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know we're in April now, and my negelction of this blog is way too evident. BUT many, many exciting things have been happening in my life, along with some recent sad things. But for now we'll focus on the positives.

As I have been gloating about all over the place: I've been hired on by the Shakespeare Theatre Co. in Washington, D.C. as an understudy for Julius Caesar!!!! This is possibly the most exciting job I've recieved in my career so far! While seeing Tamburlaine in their Marlowe Rep in October, I decided that this was a company I wanted to work for - to see if I have the stamina to even do one of their epic productions. And now I am! Only five months later too! And my friends who have worked with them say that understudying with Shakes is a great way to connect for future jobs! So I'm very pleased and thankful for their offering and cannot wait to start working with them. I've already recieved my script and have been working on my understudy role. I begin working with them on the 27th now, which is their first preview. The show runs into July, so be sure to come and see it! Lots of fun betrayal and performed by one of the nations best theatre companies!

The Helen Hayes Awards, D.C.'s annual theatre awards and incarnation of the Tony's, are quickly approaching. And guess who's attending this year? ME! Not only am I attending, but I'm IN it! I'm on the trophy crew and will be assisting with awards, winners, and anything else. So I've ordered my tuxedo and am crazy excited about going! I will be nextworking my butt off at the Ovation Gala that takes place after the ceremony. Dan Wagner, the department chair for Theatre at UMD, is producing the awards this year. Mr. Wagner is a great guy, I worked for him as a spot operator on Roundhouse Theatre's Summer of '42 last summer. And on top of the Jerry Whiddon is directing (who I worked with on Filthy Rich) and Shari Moxley is the stage manager (who I also worked with on Summer of '42). So it's a whole gang of great people that I really respect and look forward to working with! There really are only eight people in this industry...

So, MORE really exciting news. Lebensraum, the play that I was in last semester at UMD, will be transferring to the 2008 Capital Fringe Festival this summer!!!!!!!! So immediately after my commitment with Julius Caesar ends, I will begin this project again! It was such a great experience last semester working with the cast and director, Cory Ryan Frank. I'm elated to be able to take more time and go deeper with this piece in an even freer setting. The cast will retain two of the same actors, David Olson and myself, but replacing the female due to scheduling conflicts. Betsy Rosen will now be playing Actor #3. No venue or dates have been set - yet. I believe Fringe announces those in a few weeks. But you'll get that info as soon as it is legal for me to post right here on my blog! Be sure to come and see it!

Finally, in the last bit of news to catch you up on where I am, I was just cast in Scot Reese's prodction of To Be Young, Gifted and Black which will be at the University of Maryland next semester (in October I believe). It will be a great production with an amazing cast and terriffic director. Besides having him as a teacher, I worked with Scot on Urinetown last semester which he directed. I like his style and the way he treats his actors and cannot wait to start a new project with him. So be sure to come and see that too! Again, I'll post details as they become available!

So that rounds out the major performance commitments in my life right now. I'm fully booked through November now with shows. I'm working! And it feels good to have constant work! I hope it lasts. Constancy is something so fleeting for an actor. Oh! By-the-way, I'm performing in a couple of cabarets soon too: one at UMD and one at the Kennedy Center. I'll post more info on that soon as well. But for now, I need to sleep so I can stay awake in class tomorrow. Til next time!

Major Barbara

2008-02-25T21:51:00.000-08:00

This past Sunday, I saw the final preview performance of George Bernard Shaw's Major Barbara at the new Sidney Harman Hall by the Shakespeare Theatre Company. What a treat! This company does classical works so well, Shakespeare or other authors. I always love going to shows by the Shakespeare Theatre, they're consistently well executed. World class performers performing intense works in world class facilities. And the scenic elements of Major Barbara! I'm sure that they spared no expense on the scenic design, no doubt in order to illustrate the beauty of their new center. This show was performed in the traditional proscenium setting, very different from their recent Marlowe repertory usage of the space, which was very open and utilised the spaces' inherent design. The acting, for the most part, was wonderful. The lovely actress who played Barbara and the amazing actor who played her father, Undershaft, both did incredible jobs. So go see it while it runs!

Passivity and What It Means To Me

2008-02-21T10:19:00.000-08:00

I struggled with the idea of posting this blog because of some people who will probably read it and impose their own biases on it. But this is something I need to write about. Something that's been bugging me for a while now. Possibly the root of a lot of my frustration for this semester.

I am a very calm and collective person. Those who are confused or frightened by my ability to be so refer to it as passive. Today, someone I respect said that passivity will be death in this industry. This person was of course being indirect about to whom he was referring, but I'm pretty sure it was me. This frustrates me to no end. For someone to have the audacity to say that I, or anyone, can not make it in theatre while being passive is completely incredulous! I have, in the last three years of my life, accomplished more than the vast majority of my peers can even begin to imagine. I came from podunkville Virginia, the middle of nowhere, from a family who has had roots there for years. I am now a Creative and Performing Arts Scholar at the University of Maryland, living and working in the Washington, D.C. theatre community, one of the most competitive markets in the nation. It may not seem like much, but I have accomplished an immeasurable amount in a very short amount of time. ONE SEMESTER out of high school and I took off for Orlando, Florida where I took part in a prestigious internship with the Disney Corporation (and maybe continuing with this summer). I have moved to two HUGE citites twice now, where I knew no one and nothing and have gotten along swimmingly. On the acting career front I have constantly accomplished goals that I am setting for myself: I've acted in D.C. theatre, worked for professional D.C. companies, been in numerous productions at UMD, and will be performing at the Kennedy Center this summer. Not to mention the extra work that I am constantly accruing. I've worked on MAJOR MOTION PICTURES people. Sure, it's been background work, but this was stuff I could only dream about doing three years ago. And now here I am! And I'm not close to stopping.

I say all this not to be bragging, but to prove that I have accomplished plenty with my "passive" self. More than most people can even begin to say. I choose what to exert of myself and what to retain. I'm am always collected and together. I promote myself better than anyone I know, and that is what gets me work. And I work damn hard at whatever I set in front of myself. It is only when I get "stuck" that I become stagnant. So for anyone to say that passivity will keep me from success in this business, they are simply kidding themselves. I have succeded and I will succeed. If this makes people uncomfortable, I don't really care.

And the Run Continues

2008-02-20T08:58:00.000-08:00

Now in its second week of shows, Filthy Rich is chugging along just fine! Aside from mostly positive response from audience members, the show has also garnered a very warm reviews from The Diamondback, our campus newspaper. Unfortunately, I doubt that we'll garner any more media attention, so it seems a legit review will not happen. Not that we need it anyway. The cast of this show, lead by the great Mitchell Hebert, has done such a good job that a review or confirmation of thus would be rather superfluous. I cannot begin to express how greatful I am to have been a part of this process. I couldn't have asked for a better group of people to work with. Everyone gets along well, drama does not happen. People are there to do their job and explore this show continuously, ensuring it is never dull or dead. And the opportunity to work with masters like Jerry Whiddon and Mitchell Hebert is an opportunity rarely afforded to young professionals such as myself. So I am very pleased with this process and regret seeing it end on Saturday.

On the future front, things seem so up in the air - as they always do in this field. I went to an open call for Spring Awakening again this past Saturday. They came to UMD for a D.C. open call. And of course I couldn't pass up this opportunity, especially when it's being spoon fed to me in my own backyard! So I went, auditioned for Carrie Gardner of Roundabout Theatre Casting and had a good audition. I didn't get an immediate callback or anything - not sure I'm at all what they're looking for even - but I feel that it was one of the better auditions I've had in a long time. This call was definitely much more chill than the NYC open call! No typing out here and we all went in to the same person one after the other. In NYC you could be typed out AND you were going in 6 at a time to 6 different agents. Very fast and very stressed. Here it was so calm and the Ms. Gardner was especially sweet and kind to those auditioning. A great experience all around and I'm glad I went.

I've got a couple of extra work calls this weekend. One is for a movie called State of Play which will be filmed here in the district starring Ben Affleck and Russell Crowe. The call is through Rich King Casting, some agency from L.A. that I haven't worked for. So I hope I get it! The money would be nice, and I really rather enjoy extra work. But I would really like a featured role... ah well. Maybe I'll get lucky? Who knows?

Memory Scents

2008-02-10T11:18:00.001-08:00

It's so funny how strong the memory of certain scents can be. Walking around day to day different scents bring up different feelings and sensations to me. It's incredible. A couple of days ago, it was really, really nice here. The weather was sort of tropical - even the sun seemed to hang in the air longer into the evening. It all reminded me of Orlando - the smell of the breeze, the warmth. I'm constantly reminded of how much I miss the place. Then, yesterday, I went downtown to meet a friend, Claudia Kiss, who had come into town for the day. The smells and sounds totally brought me back to the first few weeks I moved here - the sense of exploration and freedom I felt, that sensation that comes with immersing yourself into a totally new and unknown place. I enjoy that sense of discovery - the challenge it brings and the reward it eventually gives. I graduate in a year, so that sense will soon come again. And I applied for NYU summer housing, so hopefully I'll get that experience again soon. I love it!

Currently I'm in tech rehearsals for Filthy Rich at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. A great group of people are working on it and are in the cast, so it's been a fun experience so far. I look forward to opening on the 14th. Come see it if you can!

Back In Session

2008-01-31T09:46:00.000-08:00

Now into the fourth day of the first week of school, I have to say I'm more pleased at being back than I though I would be. Right now I'm sitting in CSPAC, having just eaten at Applause - something I promised myself I would not do this semester and thought I would be able to avoid. However, my Thursday schedule allows generous time and opportunity for this to occur, so I'm sure it will happen very often. I just have to bring stuff to work on. I hate doing this because of the negativity and stagnant energy that arises out of it. The more I sit here in CSPAC the more I hate working with some of these people with their cliquey attitudes and ridiculous ideas. It just gets to me and makes me hate this business a little. So, for my sake, I MUST stay out of here any chance I get. And I have so far. I've also been making friends elsewhere on campus. Anything to keep me grounded in the real world and out of this superficial theatre enclave that can consume so many people so quickly. I will do my own thing and I will be successful on my own. I always have an will continue to do so. It's when I fall in the crevass of the latter - relying on others for growth in the career, etc - do I become stale. And to me staleness is death. And in an industry where so much is inherently dependant on what others think, it's immensley difficult not to fall into that trap. But I think I'm so far succeeding and am a much happier person because of it. Let's see how long I can stay that way...

NFL Training Video

2008-01-23T12:24:00.000-08:00

So I had a shoot with Will Interactive yesterday for an industrial. I had no idea what exactly I'd be working on, but had researched the company and found it to be an easy way to make some money - nothing of any great value, but it paid. I got up early and headed out to Old Town Alexandria, which is my favorite place in the DC Metro Area - on the Virginia side and absolutely beautiful. I like it better than Georgetown even! The shoot was taking place at Bugsy's, a sportsbar at the end of King Street by the waterfront. When I got there I signed in and found out that we were shooting a training video for the NFL, so that was pretty exciting. We spent the day filming scenes based around scenarios where players can make good or bad decisions. Players, once hired by the NFL, will watch this video and interact by choosing an outcome to the given scenarios. So it was kind of interesting to film the same scenes over and over with slightly different endings. All in all, I had a good time, met some nice people, had a free lunch and made some money. Not bad.

After the shoot I was exhausted. But, being stupid, I agreed to work at GAP when my manager had called and asked the previous day. I should have declined, but they're always nice about my schedule and facilitating it there, so I agreed. I mean, what was another 5 hours on my feet, right? Ugh, so much standing. Anyway, I got through the night and slept in til 1:30 today. Luckily I didn't have to be at Filthy Rich rehearsal and was able to relax today. Tonight I'm seeing Glory Days at Signature Theatre. I was supposed to go last week for the pay-what-you-can, but some of my friends decided not to go and I did other things instead. However, I got free tickets for tonight's show, which is always better than pay-what-you-can, so there's no way I could refuse. Anyway, I need to get ready for the night now. I'll post about the show later.

JMU and El Orfanata

2008-01-20T22:14:00.000-08:00

What a weekend! I spent the past 3 and 1/2 days at James Madison University visitng friends. It was a nice break from the bustle that's beginning to consume my life again. I saw so many high school friends (Ryan Cury, Claudia Kiss and Kelly Abott) and made lots of new ones. So many cool, nice people go to JMU. And what a different air exists there than that of Maryland! So much more relaxed, less pressure and more open. I really like going there to visit and play, but do prefer where I am at now. However, I must say that if it would not wreck my career, I would transfer to JMU in a heartbeat. In a paralell world, perhaps I am something other than a theatre major and attend that school. But the slowness of a small town does not appeal to me in the least, so I'll stay content with my D.C. abode.

Tonight I saw Guillermo Del Toro's presentation of The Orphanage. What an amazing movie. Anyone who has the opportunity must see this brilliant piece. There's something about Spanish film currently - they are capturing a beauty and fantasy in life that completely evades American movies. This movie was so beautifully haunting! I can't even begin to describe it, but the director - Juan Antonio Bayona - took so many risks when making this film that his sheer valor deserves commendation! His direction was fearless - with staging and filmography that American producers would never touch for fear of it looking stupid. And, yes, in the wrong edit it would look ridiculous. But this movie doesn't fail in the least, it soars! I cannot express how well mad it was. So I say bravo to this enslaught of Spanish filmmaking, we can learn alot from their daring.

This week is going to be pretty busy for me, and I am dreading it. Tomorrow I have rehearsal for Filthy Rich from noon to five. A run thru, I believe. So I should go rest for that now. I'll post again soon.

Beautiful Snow

2008-01-17T09:13:00.000-08:00

One of the things that I absolutely love about living high in a highrise is the view when it begins to snow. Peering out onto the whitening plaza below and watching the flakes make their hourney. It creates somekind of calm energy in the world. Some people fear snow, others love it. I am the latter. However, I do hesitate because I am to make a trek down to JMU today to visit friends for the weekend. Pray for my safe travels!

Last night I had the privellege of seeing Argonautika at the Shakespeare Theatre, directed by my hero Mary Zimmerman. And let me just say that it was indescribably beautiful at times. Zimmerman's ability to take simple staging with only a few suggestive props and make something huge and monumental from it is one that I envy. A great evening spent! I won't review it on here because it is only in previews, but I would bet that after opening reviews will be mixed to positive about the piece. However, I highly reccomend it to everyone. GO!

Other than that, not much new is happening. I'm working on getting a reading of a play set up with some friends. That should be interesting and fun. But since class was cancelled today, I've sort of been jettisoned into a new direction. Whereas before my morning was to be crammed and hurried, it is now much more relaxed and easy. I now don't have anything to look forward to but my trip to Harrisonburg today. Interesting. Well I must go get ready, I have delivery coming soon. I'll be sure to post from JMU!

No More January Lulls

2008-01-14T21:18:00.000-08:00

I remember, during my high school days, loathing the month of January. During this time Barter was dark, Theatre Bristol was dark and there was ultimately nothing going on except for class. Very boring and much dreaded. My how the times have changed! Now living in an actual theatre market I see that January is not at all boring and that business is rather brisk. True, I've been occupied with my winter course as well, but I have been seeing quite a few shows as well as rehearsing Filthy Rich. Scheduling issues - which are not my fault - are even arising! Oy vey!
Today I booked a film gig for the 22nd in Alexandria! Very exciting stuff. It's some small film company based in Potomac, MD. I submitted to their project through Carlyn Davis Casting about three weeks ago and was very glad to hear back. Just a day shoot, but the pay is good and it's only 8 hours. At my point ANY work is good welcome. Unfortunately, I was previously attending a workshop with Mary Zimmerman at Maryland, but will no longer be able to do that. I LOVE Mary Zimmerman's work and would have loved to work with her. But I need the money and experience right now more than I could use a four hour intensive with a genius, so the work won out. It was seriously a hard decision, though.
I will be seeing Mary Zimmerman's new play Argonautika at the Shakespeare Theatre this week sometime though - during previews so I can get cheap tickets. I would be seeing it tomorrow on its first preview, but I'm seeing James Gardiner's new work Glory Days at Signature Theatre. James graduated from Maryland a year ago and was in The Distance From Here which I worked on as well. He's so talented I want to smack him! So I'm very excited about seeing his writing. And at a theatre like Signature, impressive!
So that's where I am right now, plus dealing with crazy amounts of logistics and such. The semester is coming upon me so quickly! Winter term is almost gone. I'm auditioning for Olney Theatre on the first day of classes as well, an opportunity that's part of a class I'm taking. I hear they're auditioning for Big River. Even though it looks like I'll be in NYC for the summer and unable to accept any role there, I'm still going to audition for the exposure. Gotta get those new headshots out there somehow! Also, my website, www.chasehelton.com , will be launching sometime tonight at a very basic level. VISIT IT and tell me what you think!

A Very Busy January

2008-01-11T09:50:00.000-08:00

It has been ages since my last post! Maybe not ages, more like a semester. A semester in which I never felt like sharing. It was definitely my "off" semester. Overly crammed with commitments and negative people. But that is past and I'm looking forward to a much better, more eventful year. And so far it's definitely shaping up to be much more fulfilling. So, I won't write about what has passed but rather what is to come.

We're technically still in winter break here at Maryland, but I'm taking a winter course, so I've been in classes since January 2nd. I'm taking a business of acting course with the wonderful Karalee Dawn, a woman who has had immeasureable experience in the NYC industry. I'm learning some new things and getting great reinforcement on others. It's definitely inspiring me to stay busy with my career and not become lazy. Ruthless, tireless self promotion is what it's all about. And on that front, I had my headshots taken last Sunday! I went to Bryan Bowden who is part of Peter Hurley Studios in NYC. It was such a great experience, I could really write a blog entry on that by itself. But, suffice it to say that I had a lot of fun and came out with a couple of great pictures. I was very pleased and totally reccomend Bryan to anyone looking for a photog. It's worth the (inexpensive) price.

Besides getting my headshots taken, prints and business cards ordered, I've also secured my domain name and am in the process of joining AFTRA! It's kind of crazy at the moment! But I'm enjoying it. So I will soon be launching www.chasehelton.com instead of the free www.chasehelton.bravehost.com . My new website will be much classier, more modern and clean, and a signature domain! And with AFTRA! Woah! I had kind of been mulling the idea over since I worked on National Treasure 2 last January. It's a roundabout way to be able to join SAG and/or Equity after one year of membership and work. This way, by the time I graduate, I'll be able to go Equity if I so choose. This will make getting an agent easier and work (when I get it) more lucrative. Just looking at the paths some of my non union friends have taken, I'm pretty sure that I want to do this. It will keep me from doing some work, but would I really want to do that work to begin with? I'm not sure at this point. Anyway, I have another year as AFTRA and being non-equity to see what fate brings my way.

Other than these career moves, I've really just been enjoying DC and doing stuff with friends. I saw Blood, Sweat and Fears last night at the 1409 Playbill Cafe. It was a Grand Guignol-esque show that I had auditioned for last summer. They did a great job with it, some really great talent and a very brave small company to be forming. I'll have to audition for them again in the future... They do have tow shows coming up the spring...

I have to run to a costume fitting now though. I forgot to mention! I'm playing a bit part in UMD's Filthy Rich this spring! Come and see! It's going to be great - directed by the famous Jerry Whiddon - with lots of fim noire-ey stuff. So much fun with a great script and cast. Anyway, til next time! And I promise to keep this blog updated on a more regular basis now!

First Day Back

2007-08-29T20:31:00.000-07:00

So today was the first day of classes at Maryland for the 2007-2008 school year, and what a year lies ahead! Sp much going on, so much to anticipate, and so much growing to occur. I can't wait! First of all, it's so nice that people are back in College Park. I love seeing all of my friends and peers in the theatre department. It's great to just jump right back in and start working with everyone - which is what we've done with Urinetown. However, I luckily only had one class today: Voice for the Actor with Leigh Smiley, possibly the nicest, smartest professor in the department. Class was very interesting today - and it was just the introduction. I highly look forward to becoming more body aware and sufficient, which is what that class teaches. It is in this class that I will be working with actress Tovah Feldshuh next week!!!! After Voice today I spoke with Leigh and she asked if I would be interested in being one of the six who get to sing and work with Tovah during her master class on September 10th. Apparently Scot Reese had mentioned me along with a list of possible candidates for the group. So of course I jumped on the opportunity! I am so thrilled that I will be working with such a talented, inspiring woman as Ms. Feldshuh. But I'm equally thrilled that the faculty is finally knowing my name! And not just that, I'm being reccomended for something!! Oh, how far I have traveled from this time last year when I was a wide-eyed, overwhelmed transfer student to now being a chair in UTAS and working in the D.C. film and theatre scene. This business moves quick, but I love it. Now to set my goals even higher. For without them I have no place to grow. But first I need to pick out my songs to work on with Tovah and e-mail a list to Leigh...

Tonight was also out first official Urinetown rehearsal. First I will say that the show will be amazing. The creative and design teams are phenomenal. PHEN-OM-ENAL! Scot Reese, Maryland's resident musical theatre efficianado is at the helm in the role of director. Such a nice, inspired man. I have so much to learn from him. He's also teaching my Black Theatre class as well. The choreographer, who's name escapes me at the moment, has a great idea on organic choreography. However, I am not a dancer. And playing around tonight proved to test my limits. I will give it my all however, no matter how foolish I look. Who knows, it might work for my character? We also ran through almost the entire show music-wise with our music director Dr. Sparks. When the entire cast began on the opening song it was very exciting. I love that rich, full sound of a musical theatre chorus. Everyone belting and acting. So much energy coming forth. Very thrilling. Everything coming together for the first time. A birth, a ceremonious emergence of work and thought spewing forth for the sake of our passions. We love it and that's why we do it. And that's why this show will be successful and wonderful. As much fun to watch as it is to be in. SO COME AND SEE IT. We start performances on October 11th, 2007. Exact dates and time are on the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center website: http://claricesmithcenter.umd.edu/2007/ You can purchase tickets there as well...

Well, that about wraps up my day so far. So many things accomplished, so many things to accomplish. I love my life and my career. Dreams do come true to those who stick it out, so I'm workng hard! Tomorrow I have three classes, one of which is movement with the infamous Leslie Felbain. But first a CORE class at 8 a.m. which I'll need to be up at 6 a.m. to get ready for. So now, to bed!

Step Up 2

2007-08-19T15:30:00.000-07:00

A film schedule can be slightly greuling - and I'm only doing background work!!! Last week on Monday and Tuesday I did some extra work for "Step Up 2" which is now filming in Baltimore. I'll be doing it more for them this coming Monday, Tuesday Wednesday and Friday. So, for the next week I'll be getting up at 4 to catch the mark train by 5:50 and begin work in Baltimore. I can't complain though, so far it's been a lot of fun, just tiring. I'm pretty excited about tomorrow though because there are just ten of us as opposed to the hundred last week - even though I was in a featured group. So chances are I'll be getting noticable screen time in this movie! That's very exciting. I like doing extra work and would really like to get my SAG card by doing this. I submitted for another movie on Saturday that will be filming in town in September. It's called Body of Lies and is slated to star Leonardo DiCaprio and Russel Crowe. That would be fun, but we'll see if anything fruitful comes of that. But for now, we'll work on Step Up 2 and be satisfied.

I spent today searching for images for my Urinetown collage and ordering my textbooks from Amazon...and watching t.v. and cleaning. I still have a lot of work to do on my Urinetown preparation, but that will be finished in the next week during my time in holding on set. I have so much to finish before classes begin. Some shopping to get done and booking to accomplish. I need to give some focus to UTAS activities too. So all of that within the coming week. It will be a load that I've taken on this year, but I need it. Anything to expand my resume I will gladly tackle. But I also get the feeling I need a hobby. I mean, I don't know if I'll really have time for one, but I need something to expand myself spiritually as well. Maybe I'll delve deeper into Eastern culture. It is something I've been interested in for a while. We'll see?

Catching Up

2007-08-01T06:13:00.000-07:00

So it's been a long time since my last post and quite a bit has gone on since that I've wanted to blog about! But for some reason I never fleshed out my urges into actions and my blog has thus fallen into disrepair and become outdated. But no need to worry, as I know you all are, because this post shall clarify everything and get you up to speed on the life of Chase.

So the summer is winding down and I feel a sense of unaccomplishment yet achievement with what I've done. This summer I've worked with Roundhouse Theatre, acted in a new play at the Fringe festival, and am now doing background work for "Step Up 2 the Streets." I've traveled to NYC twice, saw some great theatre, and got to see some good friends. But is that enough? What have I done with all of my other time besides sit around and watch daytime t.v. I guess I've been preparing for Urinetown a little, but other than that, not much. So I've accomplished one of my goals: do a show (any show) in D.C. But I've been very lazy otherwise. This needs to stop. Maybe school will knock me out of this weird cycle I've slumped into. who knows?

Speaking of the Fringe... our shows went well for what we had. The audiences seemed pleased enough. It was overall adequate for the Fringe, which I don't know if that's something to be proud of or not. It's another addition to the resume at least. Besides acting I was privelleged to see two really great shows: Cautionary Tales for Adults and Hamlet? That Is The Question. Both were a lot of fun. I knew people in both, so that's why I went, but it turned out to be a truly great experience both times. Great casts, great scripts, and great productions. Why couldn't I have been involved in something more like these two? Maybe I will be in the future. Who knows? The future is a murky water. I'm not even sure what I want out of my career anymore. Satisfaction and happiness of course. But what else?

This weekend I'm going to Abingdon for a week. Visit my family and see some more friends. The Virginia Highlands Festival is going on. It will be nice to go to that for a day or so. When I get back to D.C. I will be doing background work for "Step Up 2" and preparing for my return to school. I can't wait.

Second Summer

2007-07-03T11:27:00.000-07:00

That's what is feels like. A second summer. Since Summer of '42 closed at Roundhouse weekend before last, I've had nothing to do but take a break. I've gotten myself on a slightly lazy schedule, going to bed in the wee hours of the morning and sleeping well beyond noon. I've explored D.C. a little, but the tourists are beginning to annoy me and I'm trying to reserve funds for my time in New York City. So without money in this town it's kind of pointless to go out. Instead I stay in and around my tower apartment and read and watch tv and contemplate my theatrical career, the next moves I need and want to take. It's very exciting but very scary at the same time.

I did get out to see Pangs of the Messiah at Theatre J near Dupont Circle. My wonderful friend Denise Castro hooked me up with some comps to the opening. Such a nice friend I have in her. The show was very interesting and I did enjoy. However, the dialogue in the second half became tedious, the unfortunate tennis game effect - bouncing back and forth without resolve. I high dislike that, but I suppose in some ways it is unavoidable. The actors were very good though, and it was very intriguing to see an Israeli-American collaboration like this taking life onstage. So for that fact I would reccomend it to anyone.

In other news, I have signed on for a role in a play to be part of the Capital Fringe Festival. It's an interesting script and I can't wait to begin rehearsals - this Saturday! Very exciting and very fast, so more on that soon once things have settled. And you will all have to buy tickets to see it!

My friend Ryan Cury is coming up for a few days visit beginning tomorrow. Hopefully the Independance Day traffic won't be too bad. And up to NYC we go on Thursday to meet with people and do fun things. Finally stuff to do after this ridiculous waste I've recently been! But I suppose rest is necessary. But now to work on this role...

Summer of '42

2007-06-01T15:25:00.000-07:00

For the past couple of weeks I've been working away in my spot-op position here at the Roundhouse Theatre in Bethesda, MD for their show Summer of '42. I'm really enjoying my employment here and all of the amazingly gifted and nice people I've met. It's very nice to work in the professional world and get away from the scholastic side of things. Even though college is way better than community or high school theatre, there is still an innate sense of drama and malice that runs through it. I guess it comes with the business and the cut-throat nature of the industry, therefore it will always be there to some degree. But in the professional world - and definitely on the technical side - people are much kinder and enjoyable. It is our job, we should be kind to each other. So I really enjoy my co-workers here, nice people - all of them. For instance, today is my birthday and the crew surprised me with cake after rehearsal. I was totally surprised since I hadn't told anyone (I blame facebook), but I really enjoyed it. It reminded me of the time I was in Mame at Theatre Bristol and we had rehearsal on my birthday. The director and cast all got cake, etc. then too. Great time with great people, and great memories. I love theatre professionals. The actors seem nice enough too, but I don't work that closely with them since I'm running spot. A friend of mine of Maryland is in the show, Kate Wolfe. She does a very nice job with her role and really is a sweetheart. She'll go far. The crew here at Roundhouse has a lot of Maryland people on staff too. In fact, the lighting designer for this show, Dan Wagner, is the chair of the Department of Theatre at Maryland. Talk about intimidating. It's really great to have watched him build this lighting design though. He's really great, and has won quite a few Helen Hayes awards for his designs. How am I so blessed to work under and with such talented people all the time?! It's crazy where life takes me. But I enjoy watching the future unfold. We're still in previews for this show - rehearsing during the day and performing at night. Press Opening is this coming Monday. That should be exciting. My friends Zach Fernebok and Rhea Smirlock are going to use my opening comps and come see the show, so that will be a lot of fun.
This show will end on June 24th and then I have the whole rest of the summer to do whatever with. Very scary but exciting too. I want to do many things, so I need to narrow down to what I can do financially and feasibly. I will be heading back to Abingdon for a week or so at the end of June to work on an independant student film with David Gwaltney entitled Fashion Police. It seems like a fun piece, and David's an extremely talented guy, so it will be a great use of my time. After that I would like to get up to NYC and see a few new shows or maybe I'll go out to L.A. and visit a few friends. I would like to go to L.A. and see what it's like. I'm sure I'd fall in love. I miss Orlando. L.A. is probably like Orlando, so that's why I think I would like it. In any case, school will be starting again too quickly and another semester will be upon me. I need to start working on my role in Urinetown....

And Another Semester Ends

2007-05-14T09:45:00.000-07:00

Such a bittersweet event. I'm so relieved to be temporarily finished with work, but I hate to see all of my friends leave for a while. I also hate the work leaving me too. I feel empty now, without purpose. But they'll be back soon enough as summer will be over all too soon. It will be nice to concentrate only on working for a little instead of writing papers, etc. I start my job at Roundhouse Theatre on May 25th as a spot operator for Summer of '42. So that will bring about some much needed occupation. Today I have a job interview with Banana Republic, hopefully I'll get it. It would be a nice day job. Plus the discount on clothes is very much needed since nothing in my current wardrobe fits. So we'll hope for that.

This coming week I have only two exams: Theatre History and Theatre Design. They should be relatively easy, so I'm not worried. However, for Theatre History, I have to finish a manifesto and write a paper on Waiting for Godot. I will finish those up tonight. Research papers aren't my favorite things. On Friday morning I will board a bus for Bristol, TN to go home for a few days. It will be nice to see family and friends. I will also head over to Barter to see Tradin' Paint by Catherine Bush. I'm very much anticipating seeing this premiere because I want to submit this play for Off-Center next spring semester. They need more Appalachain theatre here. I will introduce it to the Maryland audience. But now I must run to the post office before metro-ing to my interview. Wish me luck!

Spring Awakening Open Call

2007-05-01T14:33:00.000-07:00

I did it! My first legit NYC cattle call and Broadway audition! This past Sunday I auditioned for the new musical Spring Awakening in NYC. It was so much fun, a great experience. I went up with my friend Lauren Ciandella on Saturday evening at around 5. After printing our headshots at Kinkos and getting dinner from Noodles, we began our roadtrip up the interstate. After about two hours driving, we reached Hamilton station in New Jersey where we parked the car and took the train into Manhattan. Another hour into our adventure we arrived at Penn Station and took the subway down to Washington Sq. Park where we would split up to meet our friends who were housing us for the night. I stayed with my dear friend Meghan Kennedy who is as beautiful and kind as ever. I always love to see her and hear of her NYU adventure. What a life! And she's such a talented actress. I'm so blessed to know such wonderful people. After I met her, around 11 that evening, we went to McDougal Street and stopped in a lovely cafe where we chatted over drinks, catching up and reliving the past. The two of us from little Southwest Virginia now studying at prestigious universities in theatre and working in the industry! Where are we from again? I love to think of that, how far I really have come but how much further I have yet to go. It's the thrill of the chase. That's why I love this industry. So after we had our fill of the downtown nightlife (which I never really get my fill and end up craving it more) we headed to her dorm room making a quick stop in CVS for preparation for the next day. Did I say her dorm room? I should instead say apartment! It was gorgeous! University House is her dorm and it is anything but traditional. She has a suite which she shares with three other wonderful girls. They have a private bath, small kitchen and a living room. With a/c! AND THE VIEW! An amazing view! Several stories up looking straight down an avenue at the Chrysler Building, which was beautifully lit up in the gre Gotham sky! I LOVE THIS CITY! After notebooking my music and crashing on her couch, I got to "sleep" at around 2 a.m. But it really wasn't sleep. The anticipation and worry about the oncoming audition kept me quite awake until my alarm sounded at 3 a.m. I then proceeded to get ready for the day, suiting up in my dress clothes and tie, ready to face the toughest casting agent. Once I had myself together, I hugged Meghan goodbye, thanking her for her hospitality, and heading out the door. I met Lauren in Washington Square Park and we walked up to the metro, taking the A line to Penn Station and walking up four blocks to the audition locale. We then arrived at the New Dance Group on 38th and 8th at just around 4:30 a.m., having caught the metro right on time. By this time, there were already about 20-some people in line, a few having been there since 2 a.m.! It seemed a bit ridiculous, but who am I to judge since we arrived at 4:30. But I'm glad we did! As we played the waiting game, the line grew to 1000 by the time auditions started. And Lauren and I were number 23 and 24, respectively. Of course, that was at 9:45 a.m. During the meantime between arriving and auditioning we passed time by walking to Starbucks for tea or chatting with some new friends we met from Tulsa, OK. They had flown in just for the audition. Intense. At 9:45 the C.A.'s handed out fliers to all in line explaining the breakdown of the day and what to expect. We were told that there would be two parts to the audition. The first would be a "type-out" session. They would bring us into a room 10 at a time and line us up. Then, based on our headshot, resume, and physical appearance, they would allow us to continue on to round two or tell us "no" and we would be done for the day. Lauren and I got placed in the 10 am time slot, which actually ended up being a 9:50ish time slot. When this was found out, the first thirty people began frantically changing out of their pajamas, into what they wished to be seen ing. Sneakers became dress shoes, plastic curlers became full locks of hair. Then the line started moving! Panic! Everyone grabbed their stuff and rant to catch up with the line, walking up three flights of steps into the core of the New Dance Group. We then had a couple of minutes outside of the type casting room to turn in out headshots and resumes and do any final touches to our appearance. Then we went in. The guy, a young recent college grad looked us over and decided our fate. Lauren and I passed! One we went to round two, the round where we actually sang our piece for consideration! We hurried up another flight of steps into another line. Once our turn had come we were ushered to a door (A,B,C, etc.) where we waited "on deck" for the person in front of us to finish. When it was my turn I went in, did my "moo" and left. Nothing abnormal about it. Just like every other musical audition I've ever been to at that point, but much more stressful leading up to it. I sang Teddy Geiger's "These Walls," in case you were curious. Afterwards, Lauren and I met the Tulsa kids outside the studio and we all headed out to lunch, eventually parting ways and Lauren and I leaving for College Park, MD. The overall experience was amazing. I loved it. This is part of the reason I do theatre. The adrenline pumping, ther nervousness of being "typed-out," and the thrill and triumph when you go on through. It's all wonderful and I need to do it more. Long live auditions! Good or bad! For they are all learning experiences.

Audition Preparation

2007-04-27T17:28:00.000-07:00

The equivalent of a job interview, the audition is the most nerve-wracking but important event an actor does. And an actor does it many, many times. Submitting headshots and resumes, getting the perfect cut of music, and dressign to impress. It's a never ending, always repeating cycle that we only get better at with age and experience. It seems like audition preparation has presently consumed my life. I'm preparing for three major auditions: Spring Awakening in NYC and auditions for next season's productions of Urinetown and The Physicists here at UMD. So over the past month I've selected, cut and prepared two music audition pieces and one contemporary monologue. I've also been working with Karalee Dawn here at Maryland to best prepare me for my Spring Awakening call. Karalee has immense knowledge on the business, having worked for agencies such as Richard Frankel Productions and William Morris Agency for numerous years before coming back for her graduates degree. She has even produced a play on Broadway starring Kevin Bacon. So, naturally, when she offered to help me prepare and train me in what to expect this Sunday, I jumped on it. She also said that I could list her as my manager, which I'm thankfully doing! But wish me luck! I've heard this call will be a madhouse. It's a very rare thing for a Broadway show to do an open call like this anymore. But Spring Awakening is a rare show. And that's why I'm excited about auditioning for it!

The 288 project, Can Can, which I'm directing, is well underway. We go into tech next week for it and I anticipate a beautiful performance. Everyone has worked so hard on it and I've come to understand a lot about the collaborative process. I'm directing the piece with Zachary Fernebok. I've also come to understand the importance of having designers adhere to the directors' concept. But in the end it will be a job well done on everyone's part. Tomorrow I'll print off a transposed copy of my sheet music, my resumes and get a couple more copies of my headshot made. Then I'll attend Maryland Day on campus. Yay free food and the best ice cream EVER!

National Treasure 2: The Book of Secrets

2007-04-11T16:48:00.000-07:00

So this past Saturday I did my first job as an extra in a major motion picture. Through Carlyn Davis Casting, here in D.C., I was signed on for background work for Disney's National Treasure 2: The Book of Secrets. It's a sequel to the original and will star the same people: Nicholas Cage, Justin Bartha, John Voight, etc. So I thought I would use this post to tell of my adventure and my thoughts on what happened.

It started off at 3:30 a.m. when I woke up to get ready to head to the set, the UMD mall. I had a 5:30 a.m. call, and since no shuttle runs that early, I had to walk the 45 minute walk from my apartment to campus. So by 4:30 I was readied and out the door. It was snowing and I began to worry about the possibility of shooting this massive outdoor scene, but trekked on in my coat and scarf down the now abandoned road. When I arrived at the NT2 Basecamp, I was loaded onto a van which took me to holding. Basecamp was in lot AA and holding was in the Alumni Center. It made me laugh that they rented vans to take us the length of ten feet, but they did. Once at holding, I got my union vouched and proceeded to the tables and chairs to await my call. I had breakfast, which was unexpectedly catered to us. Nothing amazing, but free food at 6 a.m. is very nice. Hot coffee to rid the cold outside. I met with a couple of other friends that I knew who were doing the shoot too: Michelle Kaplan and Stacey Musselman. We ended up hanging out all day. The powers that be decided to postpone the outdoor shoot until later that day, allowing time for the accumulated snow to melt. Meanwhile, they filmed another scene in McKeldin Library, an interior White House scene where they have to frantically reschedule a presidential party. My friend Stacey was pulled in to be a standby since the standby's weren't there so early. Team 2, they're called. They fill in for the stars first for camera placement and cinemaphotography stuff. So Stacey got a nice pay raise and some schmoozing time by doing this. Such a sweet girl. I'm glad it happened to her.
While this was happening, we were still hanging out in holding, waiting for the snow to melt. By 11 a.m. they broke for lunch, so we all got to eat nice, free food again! Getting paid for eating two meals, pretty amazing. But by 1 p.m. we were ready to go and were loaded onto large charter buses to be taken to the shoot location, which was only a 5 minute walk. Once there we were escorted onto set where the crew had already set up all the cameras and everything. They had caution taped-off the area in front of Holzapfel Hall where the four main characters were to exit. I got placed on a bench right in the camera's path with Stacey, so if the scene doesn't get cut, I should be on screen. We spent the first few minutes with Team 2 (the stand-ins) marking Team 1's movements. Then the main actors began to emerge and assumed their respective stand-in's places. Wardrobe was called in for final adjustments, where I was told to sit on my jacket since it's a spring scene and I'm predominately seen. It was freezing! And the cold weather made the work difficult. Acting is hard work! Stressful and cold, haha. As soon as cut was called I was immediately back in my jacket, then as soon as rolling was called I was sitting on it again. We filmed until 6:00 pm, which meant we went into overtime and got a nice pay increase! Six hours of filming. In freezing cold weather. Being very quiet and mouthing words without sound. Background! It's not glamorous, but I met some really cool people and got a very interesting view of the industry. Nicholas Cage started out the shoot by calling the director an "arrogant a-hole." John Voight was a very sweet old man who tended to wander a lot, but I think that was mainly character preparation. It was so interesting to see these people work and become part of their world. To be on the other side of the public. As the students gathered on the outside of the caution tape to get a glance at Nicholas Cage, I was on the inside working as he acted right in front of me.

So my overall experience was good. I enjoyed it at least. It's not for everyone. ACTING IS WORK, IT IS HARD WORK. We don't do this cause it's easy, we have a passion for it, and the money is relatively good. I got paid for relatively easy work (may even get paid for a meal penalty), got fed twice, and will be in a Nicholas Cage movie. My Hollywood moment wasn't glamorous, but I liked it and want to do it more. I've renewed my contract with Carlyn Davis Casting for another year and hope to do more extra work this summer, maybe even become union. We'll see!

Good Times with the Grand Guignol

2007-04-01T14:27:00.000-07:00

Last night we opened out production of The Lab: An Experiment in Grand Guignol here at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. The audience reaction was great, they bought into the psychological aspects and reacted just as they should. Such a reward for all the hard work that has been put into this show! It is not easy to produce as show in three and a half weeks, but Lindsay Snyder and Kris Messer have done it, successfully. We have such a great team working on this show, a great cast, great crew, great designers. How could Lindsay and Kris have gone wrong, anyway? They're such smart, artistically talented people. And I'm very thankful for this opportunity to explore such an obscure artform, one that is seldom done anymore. Grand Guignol is such a melodramatic, overly-exaggerated way of theatre. It definitely goes for shock value, using realistic scenes of violence which result in puddles of blood all over the stage every show. Why would people like to see this onstage? I don't really know. It has been said that people enjoy watching this artform to live out their secret fantasies/nightmares vicariously. They can see onstage the unspeakable, bloody horrors they'd never imagine in real life. This can be backed up by the actual existence of the Grand Guignol Theatre itself, which began its decline after the atrocities of WW2 were witnessed by Europe. Nobody had need to retreat to the theatre to see these things, they were now part of real life. But at any rate, the reason for our audiences at the collegiate level is moreso because of the technicalities of the show. People are curious about how we make it real, and marvel at all the blood we do manage to use within a show. We could put The Lieutenant of Inishmore to shame. I am having a lot of fun with this show, something that this particular character allows for. I am really able to get into the show each night, focusing on listening and using my body. If I could just get rid of this tension...

We had class auditions on Friday and I have an audition for Grad Student Directing scenes tomorrow, which I'm currently slapping a monologue together for. I may fall back on a stick monologue if I can't get a new one to presentation level tonight. I will be filming for National Treasure 2: the book of secrets on Saturday April 7. I'm very excited! I get paid, plus it look nice to have Jerry Bruckheimer on ones resume. Then on Sunday, April 29 I have an audition for Spring Awakening in NYC! I'm so looking forward to this! I don't expect anything from the audition, but I promised myself if an audition for the show ever came up, that I would go. So I have to go. And I'll have fun with it.

Missing Florida

2007-03-27T11:04:00.000-07:00

It is really hard for me not to miss Florida when we are having such nice, tropical weather here at Maryland. Going back to Disney over break has made me realize how much I miss the place and how connected I am to it. I wouldn't mind working for the Disney Company through life, living in Orlando and being able to travel elsewhere. Central Orlando has such a positive, healthy buzz to it - no doubt connected to the nice weather that exists there. But my time in the college program there was such a pivotal point in my life - whenever I left SW Va and began living in the world- it's no wonder that I love it so much there. I am a happier person when I'm there, cares and stresses literally melt away. The friends I made on the program there and the wonderful experiences are dearly missed by me. I long to sit in my thrid floor condo at Chatham Square again, on my computer with my window open and looking out upon palm trees blowing in the evening breeze. Then there was the entrie Disney experience. They make everything "magical" and treat employees very good. So that multiplied the experience. I lived at Disney World! What could I do in my down time? Go ride the Rockin' Roller Coaster - and get back doored at that! I could eat numerous nationalities of food, meet people from dozens of different countries, and spend my nights on Pleasure Island. And if I ever got sick of Disney or theme parks, there's always the vibrancy of Orlando with so much to do that I didn't even scratch the surface on my first program there! Plus there's a beach only an hour away in either direction! I miss it so much. That's why I've decided on working there again. This summer for July and August I will do Casual Temporary at Disney-MGM then, in the Spring semester of '08, I will repeat the program again. And I will get credit this time - through another institution if Maryland won't let me. I anticipate being back there! And there's so much more I want to do this time. It will be nice to take a break from the hustle and bustle of my theatre life here in the North and enjoy Disney for another 5 months.

So we're back in school now, Spring break was way too short. I'm busy with EVERYTHING. The Lab opens this weekend, so we're teching for that all week. Then there's Can Can, the 288 project which I'm directing with Zach Fernebok. Plus there's The 70, and I'm not exactly sure where I stand on that. Then, on April 7th, I have a shoot for "National Treasure 2." I'm very excited about that! But things are going, I'm getting exposure and, above all, experience. It's better to be busy than not. I guess all actors feel this way - have an innate need to work. Sloth is a sin, especially for people who work in theatre. Sloth = death. No work means you're not good, not wanted - or at least one feels that way. So for now, I'll work and be happy about my non-existant free time. It will return when I'm dead!

Sidestreets and Energy

2007-03-14T09:10:00.000-07:00

It is so exciting to see the outside turning into spring! How gorgeous things are right now. Soon the cherry trees will be blossoming around the tidal basin and I will have to make a trip to the festival. Gorgeous blossoms on a bright, breezy bank. D.C really is a lovely town.

Yesterday I went with my puppetry group to see the new Amazing Grace movie, which tells the story of Wilbur Force and his campaign to wnd slavery in Britain. We thought it would be appropriate since we're basing our performance piece on John Newton - the man who wrote the song "Amazing Grace" and was only a side story in this film. The movie was, unfortunately, not the best. But on the positive side the neighborhood the theatre was in was absolutely gorgeous. Very nice, reminded me of the town that Gilmore Girls is set in. The theatre was The Avalon Theatre. They only have two small screens and show old and independant movies. It was such a nice day to do that and a good time was had by all. I will have to revisit that neighborhood again.

I'm still working on finding an internship in NYC for the summer. One of my professors, Karalee Dawn, is helping me with this process. Her immense knowledge of the NYC business - from her many years at William Morris and other top notch companies - is such a great resource to have. And she's so nice and willing to help her students, like me. I will be applying with Richard Frankel Productions and any other agencies I can find. I would like to just do some kind of assistant position to get a feel for everything, then experience NYC in my free time. It would be wonderful. I hope that everything else works out!

I submitted to be an extra for National Treasure 2 a couple of days ago through Carlyn Davis Casting. They're filming a large scene here on our mall - a scene that is supposed to be UVa's quad. I found that very amusing. But I don't know who they're trying to fool. Any educated person will be able to differentiate this campus from UVa: the absence of the crackerbox suites, the missing rotunda, and the presence of turtles and red! Ah well, we'll see. I hope I'm selected. In a movie with Nicholas Cage. Fun.

Anyway, a MUCH needed spring break and trip to Florida is right around the corner! I cannot wait to board the plane and forget about things for a few days. Should be much fun.

Breezy Days and Busy Nights

2007-03-11T12:40:00.000-07:00

With midterms happening and spring break ever-so-near, my life is going haywire. My days are loaded with work, classes and homework and my evenings are spent rehearsing multiple things, namely The Lab which opens in only a few weeks! So things are busy busy busy. But that's a good thing for an aspiring actor - we crave work, need it. And when we don't have it we feel lacadasical and worthless.

But even with this never ending schedule it's nice to sit back and enjoy the time here, which is exactly what I got to do yesterday. My friend Meghan Kennedy from NYU cam to visit me for her spring break for a day. I met her in Chinatown where the bus dropped her off and we spent the day enjoying D.C. It was so gorgeous and the town was actually very active - something I'd not seen since the cold and snow had been here. There was an electric air about town, something in the air that made me want to just sit a a cafe somehwhere drinking lemonade and watching all of the pedestrians passing by. It would have been nice to go to old town Alexandria, but we did not have the time. We walked around the federal triangle, visited a Smithsonian for a bit, and had lunch at a great Asian restaurant in Dupont Circle. It made for a lovely day. I'm so fortunate to have friends like Meghan. Later that night we attended The Green Bird here on UMD's campus and went to the party afterwards at Kristina Freidgen's apartment (she was nice to invite me, even thought I didn't work on Green Bird). Fun times with great people.

But Meghan left back for NYC early this morning, having to run lights for an off-off Broadway show that some friends of hers are doing. Very exciting. My good friend Erin Fisher is coming in from NYC next weekend to take part in some sort of rally on the Pentagon lawn. I'm excited to see her, such a fabulous actress as well. She recently booked an episode of Law & Order!! I'm so excited for her! It will be nice to see her - even if we may only get to do lunch.

Anyway, now I'm off to rehearse The Lab for a few hours. We're running the show today and will have our design run-thru tomorrow. Exciting stuff! How fortunate am I to be able to participate in such exciting projects with such great people! I have been afforded so many opportunities and am very thankful for them. I cannot wait to see what the future holds!

***COME SEE THE LAB IN CSPAC AT THE END OF THIS MONTH!!***

Rehearsal Here, Rehearsal There

2007-03-04T20:52:00.000-08:00

The past few weeks have flown by! The Distance from Here officially closed last night, Saturday, March 3. We finished striking everything today by 8 p.m. and I can say I'm glad it's finished. It was a great show and I met lots of cool new people by working on it. I gained newfound respect for techies and know that I am meant to be an actor. Tech people are way cooler than I am! Even people I had hesitation about at first I have grown to like. It's nice when that happens. But I did enjoy myself while it ran and learned many new things. Job well done (besides the lights freaking out on me - NOT MY FAULT!!).

We've began rehearsals for The Lab: An Experiment in Grand Guignol. Lindsey Snyder and Kris Messer are possibly the two coolest people on earth! Their ideas and concepts for this show are going to make it kick-ass. It will be the best Off-Center so far! I can say with certainty that it will be the best Off-Center of the 2006-2007 school year, having been in them all so far. I'm very glad to be a part of this amazing effort and know the audience will love it! Lindsey and Kris have produced a wonderful script in which they've mixed the original Grand Guignol The Lab script with Sci-Fi type alien interludes. They're staging it in a very over-the-top, non-realism way. Realism is the enemy! as they say. So there won't be too much mental work with the script, but loads of physical work - something I NEED to work on. So this project will be great for me. Possibly the best thing about this show - and definitely the money maker - will be the effects! Grand Guignol prides itself on its life-like horrific, shock effects. The blood will be spurting! And better yet: the audience will get a taste! The audience will surroung the playing area on three sides and, due to the proximity, will be hit with the gorey mess!!! Just like Evil Dead: The Musical except better. So if you're in the D.C. metro area: COME AND SEE THIS SHOW! It will be great! I'm very glad to be a part of it.

I also have rehearsal for The 70 tomorrow: the paying show I'm involved with downtown. My role is relatively easy and the show seems like it's going to be rather big. So that's a great combination. I should get some nice exposure with this piece. The producers sent out an e-mail today saying that Playbill may be doing our programs! Me in a Playbill! That would be amazing! Let's hope that works out. Meanwhile we'll be rehearsing for our world premier in May. I'm not sure which theatre we perform at first, but I do know it will play at the Lincoln Theatre, Atlas Performing Arts Center, GWU's campus, and as part of the Hip Hop Theatre Festival. This will be a fun ride! I'll keep you posted about this.

Now I have to go do some monologue work for Acting 220 and get started on reading The Rover for THET113. I'm living the life now.

The 70

2007-02-22T10:55:00.000-08:00

One of the goals which I set for myself was to do a show in D.C. I have now accomplished it - or am on the road to doing so. I have been cast in a new play entitled The 70, which is based around a notorious bus route here in Washington. It's being produced by Dream City Theatre Group, a group of upper class college students mainly from George Washington University who have formed a theatre company. I'll be playing an overly anxious mormon, who's name escapes me at the moment. The piece will be performed at a few venues throughout the area including the Atlas Performing Arts Center and The Lincoln Theatre. It's also part of the Hip Hop Theatre Festival which will happen in Juneish. And better yet: this role PAYS! My first paying gig in D.C. I love it. It's nice to be branching out and anticipate working on this piece.

It's becoming spring outside! The sidewalks that cover this campus look like rivers as the melting snow water finds its way to the drains. Spring Break is quickly approaching. I'm trying to organize a trip to Orlando to use my entrance passes. I hope it all works out. I long to be back at Disney way too often. Perhaps that's where I will work professionally, I am most happy there it seems. We'll see though.

Being An Actor

2007-02-17T19:57:00.000-08:00

That's the title of Simon Callow's book: Being An Actor. It was reccomended by an instructor for my Theatre Capstone class, so I bought it and began reading it while I was running the light board for The Distance from Here tonight. It's an interesting book in which Mr. Callow shares his comments on the world of theatre through his own journey. He holds nothing back and is completely honest - even with the most intimate details. This book is very provacative but yet completely agreeable. I - as well as any performer - can connect with this book: the akward situations between director and actor, the great joys and triumphs through job offers, etc. I'm only partially in and am very much enjoying it. I love getting the back story on British and Irish theatre in the 80's as well. It's very interesting to read about the deplorable state of Belfast when Simon Callow toured through there. It's very comforting, in a way, to know that people need theatre - that they will cling to it and feed from it even in times of great pain and suffering. So to anyone that reads this blog - actors and non-actors alike: go and read this book!

So anyway, in my last post I said that I would remark on the run through of The Distance from Here the following day. Obviously that didn't happen. I have been so busy with everything the past few days that we're now two performances deep into the run. But I will comment now, none-the-less. It's a very well done show. I like the script, not because it's happy or feel-good, but because it's very deep. I learn something new about the characters every night upon seeing the show. The way lines are worded and the actions that they juxtapose. It all makes for a very deep script - like a Hemmingway novel: good writing is only like the tip of the iceberg. And that's definitley true for Neil LaBute's character's in Distance. The cast does a good job. There are three Equity cast members in this show as it's the production in conjunction with Wooly Mammoth Theatre for the year. They do a brilliant job. James Garder as Darrell does an excellent job bringing the gritty wit and narcissism of his character to the stage. I totally get wrapped up in his performance when I watch him. He's so intense in this role, so wildly thoughtful. I can almost see the thoughts racing through his head. I met Tim Getman, the man who plays Rich, the step-dad, tonight on the Metro after the show. He's a really nice guy, reminded me a lot of Mike Ostroski from Barter. It's such an extreme shift in character seeing him in real life. He does such a great preformance being the asshole husband that I almost felt guilty at how nice he was. So kudos to him. Kudos to the entire cast. They've all worked really hard and it shows through. I'm very privelleged to be working on this show.

The Bitter Cold

2007-02-06T14:23:00.000-08:00

It is way too cold outside! It's not just that it is cold, but rather it is a biting cold when mixed with the treacherous winds that consume Washington, D.C. I'm glad that I do not live in Chicago and am very thankful that I don't have to be outside for very long periods of time. With that being said, I don't mind cold weather a whole lot. I would prefer a fall day though.

I was cast in The Lab: An Experiment in Grand Guignol. I will be playing the part of Mitchinn, Dr. Gorlitz's deformed and estranged assisstant. It should be loads of fun and I expect to grow very much as an actor. Lindsey Snyder and Kris Messer, who will be directing the project, will be appearing in it as well. It will be a great experience to work with such talented, intelligent actors on such a great performance genre. I look forward to sharing this process with you through my blog. So stay tuned!

We have picked the show for our Fundamentals Capstone Project: a one act called Can Can, written by Romulus Linney, Laura Linney's father. It should be a great project and I look forward to being assigned a role and getting to work on the piece. The play is very remeniscent of show's like The Baltimore Waltz and Our Town. Very expressionistic through its disconnect. I'm not sure which position I would like to be given, but I believe I would be most happy in either the directorial or actor role. In any case, I will still be very happy and enjoy the work I put into the piece with, hopefully, fruitful results. We're doing here at UMD through the Capstone what I was able to accomplish at Abingdon High School: a group of students coming together and producing a show completely free from any instructor's aid. We did, at AHS, have more freedom's because there are rule involved with the Capstone project. But the rules are more like challenges that will test our ideas and inspire further creative involvment to overcome them, because, as actors, we have an innate sense of rebellion against the mainstream. So I will definitely keep you posted on the progress of this project as well.

The puppetry studio with Blair Thomas is coming along as well. We've studied (over the last few classes) bunraku puppets, watched an amazing performance by Phillipe Gentry, and explored how motion can tell a story. We begin every class with yoga, which I am moreso beginning to appreciate, and the class takes off from there to an unspecified location. Not having a syllabus really makes for an interesting class, I have no idea what to expect upon walking through the door but anticipate finding out. Our main theme for the semester is to create some type of puppetry performance based on John Newton and his life transformation, however concrete or abstract we wish it to be. So we have read a series of correspondance by John Newton and have begun to explore the themes of them, what we're drawn to and what we find interesting about them. We are now beginning the dramaturgical aspect of bringing John Newton's world to life by researching various "things" from his time. I am to research houses. I will soon make a trip to the arts library to find some images that I can share and search for some books remarking on the living quarters of people from this time. How they lived, the structures which housed these amazing events, and how the structures influenced and remarked on their society. It will be an interesting time, none-the-less. I truly do enjoy this class. Blair Thomas is an extremely intelligent person and I admire his vast knowledge and honest love of puppetry. This studio is definitely opening my eyes to what this artform truly is and the infinite possibilities which lie within it. Getting past Avenue Q and Sesame Street to an artform of complete honesty and beauty. I am becoming more enamoured and respectful of it. And that is good.

I'm seeing a run-through of The Distance from Here tonight since I'm the light board operator (LBO) for it. Yay theatre practicums! I still need to finish my training for the board though... But tonight will be fun to see the show together. Before the public! It's the professional production for the semester, produced in league with the Wooly Mammoth Theatre Company and directed by Mitch Hebert. There are three or four professional actors in the cast, the other three are students. I like Neil LaBute's script for Distance, and look forward to seeing it staged. It's such an angry, raw play. A downer for sure, but enjoyable if done right. Hopefully it will be done right, they spend enough money on the shows here! If it isn't good, it's such a waste. I'll be sure to post on my thought's tomorrow evening. I feel like I've been so unproductive recently, or more like I've been getting behind on things while I submit myself to doing even more! It's crazy. I get up at seven a.m. and get home at eight p.m. or later and manage to accomplish nothing, or seemingly nothing, in the intermittent time! Maybe this feeling will subside eventually, I hope so. But I have to run and get ready for the Distance run through. Thought's tomorrow!

Off-Center Auditions

2007-02-02T08:44:00.000-08:00

As usual, my life has been as busy as ever. It's honestly amazing how busy things get with the commencement of the semester. Classes, work, auditions and now the addition of a 479! I've sold my sould to the devil. Well, maybe not the devil, because this is my career and I willingly give my time to it for good reason. But it's sometimes quite tiring, even with the love and gratification that comes from it.

I've had two off-center auditions for this semester on Wednesday and Thursday, both of which I have successfully, and fortunately, recieved call backs for. On is for La Dispute, directed by Brad Wilkins, and the other is for The Lab: An Experiment in Grand Guignol, directed by Kris Messer and Lindsey Snyder. I really, really want a role in The Lab because I love Grand Guingol and would love the oppurtunity to work uner Lindsey and Kris. They're such amazing people and I feel that I could learn a lot from them. If not this project, I'd love to work on something with them. I had Play Analysis class with Kris last semester and Lindsey guest lectured in a couple of my classes as well as worked with Laren and I in Stonewater Rapture.

Well I have to run. 288

Back to the Grind

2007-01-26T03:13:00.000-08:00

The 2007 Spring Semester is now full underway, and my work load will be ridiculous. It's not just the classwork, but mainly the time required outside of class that will get me. But anyway, it's good to be back and working on theatre again. It's nice coming back to all these familiar faces that you worked so closely with a month ago and getting ready to do so again. New projects, new ideas and lots of theatre to be made. An exciting premise.

The first class I had, on Wednesday, was Acting Foundations. In this class we will be working from Uta Hagen's An Actor Prepares, which I'm very glad about since I had read this last semester. I will be re-reading it though, so as to better understand it as we implement the practices in class. But the first class was nice. It's a small studio, I have quite a few friends in there, and I hope the work I do will be condusive to my growth - I anticipate that it will.

Second, I went to Theatre Design which is taught by two UMD design grad students. This class will help me in closing out my "Fundamentals Series," so that's nice. I hope I can have fun with this one. I've heard lots of bad things, but the workload doesn't seem too daunting when compared to my other commitments and I do enjoy learning how to design since I don't normally get that opportunity. So it will hopefully be much fun and very rewarding come May.

I picked up classes yesterday, only having two on Wednesday. My first class on Thursday was the dreaded English 101. Thanks to my credit from ETSU not transferring, I must take this class here at UMD. The teacher seems very interesting. He's a grad student, but not what I would expect from an English teacher. He'll either be lots of fun or very egotistical and annoying. I have yet to decide as I've only had one of his classes. But judging from the first meeting, I think he likes to hear himself talk.

My next class is Theatre History, taught by the oh-so-witty Casey Kaleba. Yet another grad student, Casey completed his undergrad at JMU and came here for his graduates degree. Theatre History will be a lot of work and I feel that he'll grade too harsly because he told us exactly that. But I hope I can find some fun within it and will be glad when I'm finished, clearing this requirment from my transcript.

My final Tuesday/Thursday class is Puppetry Studio. This class will be a lot of fun - and something I will write more on in a future blog. We are designing a theatre peice from the ground up with puppetry based on the existence of John Newton (composer of "Amazing Grace"). I've never done this sort of free-form project before - no syllabus, just exploration and creation. So I'm extremely happy about this class. It's being led by Blair Thomas who is this year's Jim Henson Artist in Residence. He's a puppeteer at his own puppet theatre in Chicago, but he's here for the remainder of this year now. More to come on this project.

Today I will go to my final class, rounding out my schedule - The Capstone Project. Here, all of the students, haveing completed the "Fundamentals Series," will design and produce a shor production, showcasing what they've learned. I am looking forward to this project as well, and shall write more on it later too. Though not as free formed as the puppetry studio (we'll have a syllabus I'm sure), it is what I like to do. And it will be fun. Go team!

But now I must run. Work starts too soon and I must get ready, but am instead blogging. I miss NYC. Maybe I'll return there this summer for an extended amount of time? I'm working on it...

D.C. Snow

2007-01-21T16:00:00.000-08:00

It snowed today! For the first time in two years I got to see snow, which I so dearly love to see and be in. I was visiting a friend who'd come into town for the day, Elizabeth Oliver, when it started coming down. Just as I was showing her the White House, too. It was such a beautiful sight: The White House with the Washington Monument in the background, snow lightly falling from the slate grey sky. I love the energy in the air, the briskness about it when it snows.

I've been a bit ill recently, my sinuses of course. So I had to call in to work today. There was no way I could have dealt with the public for nine hours with the way I was feeling. I hate to take off though, I feel like I'm deserting them. But I'll work on Tuesday, which I previously had off, and hopefully make up for it. And hopefully by then I'll feel much better. I do feel somewhat better tonight, so maybe it's run its course, or getting near there. We'll see.

School begins again on Wedesday, so this week will be filled with book and supply buying, getting ready for the ensuing semester. I'm anticipating getting back to it all, I do admit, however I dread the regularity of it all. I don't like things to be set and repeat, I like to mix things up and experience new things. So the "setness" of a school schedule and job goes against what I like. But being a theatre major does releive this to some extent, always working on some new project or other, auditions to attend, performances to see, etc. So that will be nice. And in my resolution to assert myself more in theatre I look forward to auditions and acting classes this semester. Hopefully I'll be cast in a mainstage for next semester. There are rumors flying about a Brecht musical being staged. If so, I want to be a part of it. But who knows? This uncertainty is frustratin yet exciting at the same time.

It's evening now and the snow has somewhat calmed from earlier. I'm going to the Galleries downtown with my friend Lauren tomorrow. Hopefully I'll feel better. So tonight I'll drink my Robitussin and orange juice and get lots of rest. I'm currently reading The Poor of New York and I'll hopefully finish it tonight. Interesting bit about the burgoise of 1800's NYC.

NYC '07

2007-01-18T20:28:00.000-08:00

As usual, NYC was a blast. I really couldn't love that city more. So alive, real, and exciting. DC pales in comparison, but that's expected I guess. I wonder if I would love it as much if I lived there. I really think that I would, but I don't know. I think I would. And someday I guess I will see...

So I went up mainly for a meeting with a casting director, but spent my time on leisure activities. On Tuesday I arrived on 42nd street at 10 a.m. and had an odd breakfast at Applebees. Don't ever do that. It was just weird.
Around eleven or so I met my friend Erin Fisher, who I stayed with, at Jamba Juice. Erin is such a great person, a very talented actress starting out in NYC who I have high hopes for. I love her. But she was gracious enough to let me stay with her in her swanky NYC apartment, which I loved! A cute two bedroom - what I want to live in one day soon....
That day I spent my time in Rockefeller Center. I did the NBC tour, which I hadn't done before and sat through a taping of the Dr. Keith Abelowe Show, who is a forensic psychologist. I went through the amazing fifth ave shops and picked out an outfit at H&M for the theatre that night. I don't know why, but the NYC H&M is so much better than the DC H&M.
On this evening I saw Disney's new Mary Poppins at the New Amsterdam Theatre. It was an enjoyable show, but it was very much a Disney musical. The sets and effects were spectacular, from Burt dancing up the proscenium to Mary Poppins flying over the audience, but it consisted of flagrant over-acting and Broadway belters. I don't care much for that aspect. But this Disney musical had a deeper plot than most - sticking moreso to the Mary Poppins book rather than the old movie - and allowed Mary Poppins to be a darker character than previously imagined. The new songs were OK, but the original ones were the best. I expect this show to run for a good, long time as it is a Disney musical - and much better than Tarzan. I'm glad I saw it and did enjoy it.

Wednesday was spen mainly in the village. Erin showed me around to some great NYC institutions such as The Strand bookstore and Gray's Papaya with the great, cheap hot dogs. I met with my amazing friend and mentor Evalyn Baron as well today as she had a break from her teaching at Steinhardt. Such a great and sweet lady. I'm very fortunate to know her. Speaking with her always seems to resolve any fears hesitations that I have towards going into this industry. She instills much more confidence and certainty into me, which is so inspiring coming from such a great artist as she.
After this Erin and I walked around the village a bit more before I had to go meet with another friend - Meghan Kennedy - at Soy for coffee. Meghan's doing great and seems to love NYU. Who wouldn't? We had a great conversation and I learned that I'm allergic to soy. So that part wasn't great. But otherwise I was glad I got to see her on this visit. I wish her the best and I'm sure of her imminent success.
I spent the rest of the afternoon in Times Square where I bought books for my theatre history class at the drama book shop and had dinner at the Polish Tea Room. I saw the new smash Spring Awakening this evening. It was AWESOME with an energetic, young and talented cast. Such a fun, new show! Why wouldn't it be a smash? The premise is genius to begin with - 1800's and rock music make great compliments to one another. But it was such a sexually charged show with groundbreaking direction that truly pushes the boudary. But I expect it to win big at the Tony's, and David Gallagher Jr. will definitely win the Tony for best supporting actor. I'm very lucky to have seen this show with the OBC in its new and fresh stage!

But now I'm back in D.C. As I left NYC early this morning, I felt kind of sad. I need to be there and I need to start working in this industry. If I did accomplish one thing on this trip, it was to realize that I need to go now and start working. I'm at the right age for prime roles and opportunities. I'll start submitting and shamelessly self promoting. But first I must get new headshots and work on some fresh monologues. School starts on Wednesday and I anticipate working in the theatre department again. A month is too much time off for me. I love this job and I love New York. I really, really do.

A Gorgeous Spring Day...

2007-01-06T14:50:00.000-08:00

...in the dead of winter! Today's weather was so strange! It was the most beautiful, sunny, breezy day out. Terrific day for a picnic or to puruse the city. But it's the middle of January! We should have 3 inches of snow on the ground and temperatures in the twenties. Instead, people walk around in shorts sans coats! It's so bizzarre, yet kind of nice. Next year we must be prepared for an insane winter. Damn you El Nino!

But anyway, life has been going on. Yesterday was a rushed day as I spent most of it downtown running miscellaneous errands and so on. The Business District is a very hip place. I've been there several times before, but yesterday it seemed uber-alive. And I notices quite a few shops that I'd overlooked there before. People walking around in their business couture from one high-rise to another. Cars, busses, and cabs all trying to squeeze down the streets at once. I love the city. Later on in the evening I ventured down to the Arena Stage to see Noises Off. I hadn't been to Southwest D.C. so far, and needless to say I was surprised by it. It's not that nice of an area, and I was depressed to see the outside of the Arena Stage blend in to the bland urban landscape so non-challantly. I mean, Arena is a world famous, Broadway-show-making theatre. Actors such as James Earl Jones started off shows there. And today it continues the legacy. Just a month ago Three Parts of Desire landed there after it's hit off b'way run. So a landmark such as this deserves more pomp and circumstance than the crummy neighborhood and boring, ugly building in which it currently resides. With that being said, I do beleive that Arena is currently working on building a new theatre (as is every other theatre company in D.C.). This makes me more glad. The show, Noises Off, was extremely funny. A talented ensmble of actors with many, many Broadway, tv, and movie credits to their names, made this show enjoyable to watch. They must be very trained and focused to pull of this show night after night, and the coreography that went into some of those scenes! I could only imagine how tedious rehearsals must have been. One thing did irk me about the play though. It was a script issue, in a good way though. Throughout the pre-show bits and rehearsals during the play I couldn't help but to feel very stressed as if I were a part of the show myself. Perhaps because of my career in the theatre. But anyway it worked and the show was good.

Now I'm off to return a movie to Blockbuster, get something for dinner and enjoy a long night of TV and my two consectuive days off! I love D.C.

Happy 2007

2007-01-02T16:54:00.000-08:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

So we've made it one more year. It's now 2007. And what was so great about 2006 for me? Working for the Disney company in Orlando, Floridia, saying good riddance to ETSU, starting at Maryland, and seeing Cirque du Soleil's Corteo all top my list. It was a fun year, very eventful but ver lackidasical all at once. I didn't see 2006 as much of a big deal, but looking back I was able to accomplish a lot. So here's to new friends and a new place and hopes for another prosperous year!

So I'm back in D.C. now. I got here on Saturday evening. It wasn't until I was driving through downtown to drop Rachel Lewis off that I realized how much I missed the place. It was nice to be home for a while, but I was more than ready to get back up here! My friend Kathryn Shebleski and I spent that evening watching Little Miss Sunshine and chatting. So it was nice. I spent New Years Eve at my friend Zach Fernebok's house. He had a party and it was a lot of fun. Great people and great times. It was in the Gunther theme, which entailed great music and lots of sex, wine, and respect. Well, not so much sex and wine, but those were represented in spirit I suppose. So the ball dropped, we had apple cider, and toasted to a new year! Everyone spent the night there and I didn't get home until 4 in the afternoon the following day. Fun, fun, fun. Zach and his friends are a cool group of kids. Today I went downtown and saw Dreamgirls at the Regal Theatres in Chinatown. I would have seen it when it came out, but not a single theatre in the entire Tri-Cities region was showing it! Pathetic excuses for movie theatres.... Anyway, it was an awesome movie! After the recent slump in movie musicals: Rent, Phantom of the Opera, it was nice to see it get back to the goodness that they can be. It was just as good as Chicago, which I loved. The performers were all surprisingly strong, as was the cast for Chicago. So my advice to anyone is to go and see it, that is unless you live in Abingdon, VA or Bristol, Johnson City, ot Kingsport, TN because it isn't showing anywhere there! But if you're lucky and it's showing at a theatre newar you: Go Now! The story is great, it's well performed, and the music is terriffic.

Home for the Holidays

2006-12-26T21:00:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all! I've been back in Abingdon since Friday night. I started home on the Greyhound bus at 10 a.m. that day and didn't get in until 10 p.m. that night! The bus system was so awfully slow and frustrating. But thanks to a friend, I got a ride from Roanoke to Abingdon and got home three hours earlier than it would have been! But it was still such a long and tiring ride...

But anyway, Christmas was great and I have seen many of my old friends so far. So much catching up and rekindling! I had a late night Perkins run with my friends Karen Hartshorn and Ryan Cury on Friday night once I got in. It was so great to see them both! Then today I saw my friends Meghan Kennedy and Olivia Gibbian. I had coffee with Meghan earlier today at Java J's downtown where we sat and discussed our college experiences thus far. She goes to NYU where she's in the Playwright's Horizon studio studying theatre. She's such a gorgeous actress and a wonderful person. I'm so fortunate to know her. Later on I went to see It's A Wonderful Life at the Barter Theatre with Olivia. It was a good show and it was nice to see the Barter again. Such a feeling of homecoming when I step into that lobby with the sweetened money-esque scent. the production value on the whole was very good - as they always are at Barter. A lot of talented people in that company, so it's always a joy to see them perform. The show was also very connectable, not the usual holiday fluff that theatre's resort to during the Christmas season. So, as you can tell, the friends and show made for a very enjoyable and well needed evening.

Other than this I've been spending time with family and eating food. LOTS AND LOTS OF FOOD. I think I will have to fast upon my return to D.C. because of the weight I've gained while being at home. But when your grandmother is as good as a cook as mine it, how can one say no? Pumpkin pie, sugar cured ham, fudge, all the wonderful, festive holiday foods! Not to mention the fact that food is soooooooo much better when someone else cooks! But this has to stop or I'll die of cardiac arrest! Southern cooking is so good, but so unhealthy. So when I head back this Saturday morning, it will be nice. I will have spent a good amount of time in Appalachia, but it isn't where I belong anymore. My need lies in other places further North where I still have things to discover and accomplish. But until my car pulls out, MORE FOOD!

Finals are over...

2006-12-20T22:33:00.000-08:00

...and the fall 2006 semester has come to an end. I, myself finished with my exams on Monday, but the university's examination period ended today and all of the on campus residents must vacate the dormitories by tomorrow for our month long winter break. I'm still in D.C. trying to work as much at my new clerking job with Bookholders.com as I can. I do leave for Abingdon on Friday though. I take a 10 a.m. Greyhound bus from D.C. to Bristol, TN. I anticipate going home and eating good food with family and seeing old friends again. It should be a great time. I don't plan on staying very long there though, because returning to Abingdon seems to depress me. After I returned to Abingdon from my stint in Orlando I was pretty depressed for a good amount of time. The total nothingness of that place could sadden anyone though, anyone who is lucky enough to escape and experience life outside of the Mountains. So going home will be bittersweet: the happiness and love with friends and family and old memories mixed with the sadness and longing to leave once again. It's interesting how some people get "stuck" in Appalachain Virginia, by choice of course, and a few others happily fly the coup. I suppose we all have that place where we're supposed to be and Southwest Virginia is not it for me.

So in other news: finals went well. Our class summations were all very interesting - especially the theatre class projects I did. I've worked with some very talented people up here, mixed in with the defacto theatre queens, so it's been a very beneficial and exciting experiece thus far. I recieved my script yesterday afternoon for a screenplay reading I'm doing in downtown D.C. in early January with Herald Square Productions. I can't say much about it yet, but I'm very excited about it. I'll be working with some prominent actors on it as well as be seen by a couple of casting directors. A great way to get my name out there and a wonderful addition to my resume! To work on a new, original movie will be a great experience, but more on that later...

I've also recenlty been studying le Theatre du Grand Guignol and the Grand Guignol genre. Next semester a couple of grad students whom I adore, Lindsey Snyder and Kris Messer, will be doing an off center entitled: The Lab: An Experiment in Grand Guignol. I sooooooooooo want to be a part of this off center production!!!! I am prepared to do whatever it takes too. So starting now and continuing over break I will be studying everything I can about this art form. I've been reading Mel Gordon's "The Grand Guignol: Theatre of Fear and Terror" as well as anything I can find online about the subject and I am slowly but surely falling in love with this avant garde, macabre art form. For those of you out there who aren't farmiliar with Grand Guignol I'll explain. Grand Guignol is a genre that originated in turn-of-the-century France around the naturalism wave of theatre. It highlights life through extremely gory and frightening situations. And I mean EXTREMELY gory. So after having read about all of their plotlines and devices and making mental productions of the shows, I was hardly phased when I saw Mel Gibson's Apocalypto tonight with my friend Kathryn Shebleski.(I felt Apocalypto was very good, by the way) I mean, in movies you never really see the gore, it's almost always implied. For instance: you'll see an axe being raised to chop off someone's head, the camera follows it up, you see the axe fall, but the camera stays on a slightly higher plane and the scene quickly cuts to another shot. On stage one is forces to look at the greusome acts being committed and that can be a very disturbing thing. VERY disturbing. Especially with the plots that the Guignol has to offer. So anyway, I highly anticipate the upcoming experiment with Lindsey and Kris. Such great people and such a great peice. A lot of potential lies there.
But for now: sleep, to re-energize before work tomorrow!

Within Sight

2006-11-21T12:23:00.000-08:00

I'm finally done with classes for the Thanksgiving holiday! Such a small and insignificant end, since we'll be resuming on Monday, but it feels so releiving. The air is so crisp and cold outside and there's something festive about the remaining students on campus. It's as if everyone has let out a huge sigh of relief and are all buzzing with excitment about going home. I will be staying in D.C. over break, or the surrounding area at least. My family will be coming up tomorrow morning to spend the holiday with me and some relatives in Fredericksburg, VA. I'll use the time to catch up on lost sleep and get back to a normal life having just finished my second off-center. I'll be seeing Corteo again on Thanksgiving Thursday with my mom at four. What a great thing to do on Thanksgiving. It's such a festive show anyway, it will mix well with the attitudes in D.C. at the time, I'm sure. It will be my mom's first experience with the Cirque on any significant level and I'm looking forward to sharing that. We'll also go shopping while they're up here and I look forward to eating a lot of good food!

Tomorrow I have to wake up early and come to campus to turn in some reports then I'll begin cleaning my apartment and making it look nice. During the run of a show things get all out of whack and I made such a mess of my place. So tomorrow I'll rid my room of the bad ch'i buildup and be productive. I also have to come back to campus for my advising appointment at 2, but that should only last 30 minutes or so. Hopefully no longer since I pretty much have my schedule laid out for next semester - or at least an idea of it... Today I'm seeing a reading of Reckless at 4 and then I'll head home. I think I'll make green curry chicken again and do some writing for my Theatre Performance class. Who knows? I'm just glad to not have homework to worry about for a few days.

Closing Stonewater Rapture

2006-11-20T13:12:00.000-08:00

This evening's performance of Stonewater will be its last. I meant to post on it while it was running, but I've been so busy this past week that I simply haven't had time until now. With Thanksgiving break ensuing, all of my professors seem to be getting in that last exam or paper due. So it's been hectic anyway, on top of that with the run of Stonewater Rapture. But after tonight my time will be once again more open and I can concentrate on school more as we near finals periods. Thanksgiving break cannot come soon enough. I look forward to luxuriously sleeping in many days....

So about Stonewater...
It's been an interesting run thus far with audiences of around 15-20 people per performance - nothing like the house sizes we had for The Weir, which was often full to capacity. I'm not sure why that is, maybe John LaBombard's name had something to do with it (he's well known and well respected in the department), or maybe The Weir was more attractive to many audieces than Stonewater Rapture, which is a lesser known title. Who knows? But they were both totally different experiences and processes, both from which I learned from - both positive and negative things. Drama in the theatre is ridiculous, and something I'm avoiding so far no matter how much people try to drag me into it. I now, thankfully, know which people to avoid to be successful in this effort. It's sad really, but I've grown from this experience and that's ultimately why I do thatre - to grow. So I've accomplished something through Stonewater and I'm happy for that. And I've recieved relatively positive feedback from the audiences on the piece, or at least from the people who's opinions I value enough to ask, and that's been nice. I'm curious to see how the house is tonight, it should be relatively full because the faculty prefers to come on a weekday performance and tonight will be the only one we have. It will be good to be seen by faculty for a second time. Getting my name out there!

As for now, I think I'll go revise one of the two papers that I have due tomorrow before I have to leave for call. One...more...day.....

Borat and Rapture

2006-11-15T07:09:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was an interesting day. Due to my recent exaustion from so much work to do and a show in tech week, I decided to refrain from classes and stay in my apartment. I was actually much more productive in doing so; I got ahead in homework for the week and made a good start on a major paper that's due on Friday. So I made the right choice. Around 1:30 or so I decided that I needed to go downtown and do something, and that something ended up being Borat. I took the metro to Chinatown, on which there were two people having a rap battle (go figure), and went to the cinema there at the Verizon Center. Chinatown was oddly very active to be the middle of a business day, but that made it all the more interesting. The cinemas there are very nice, and the movie was not crowded at all. It made for a pleasant and enjoyable time. Borat itself was hilarious. The things Sacha Cohen did for that character are insane. Very daring. I read somewhere that the police were actually called on him 91 times during filming. But in the end it made for a very humorous movie - not for the squeemish though.

Later on yesterday afternoon I had rehearsal for Stonewater, which opens on Saturday!!! Lindsey Snyder, a doctoral candidate here at UMD worked with us on some tension moments and it really helped me. She's very talented and I'd like to work on a project with her sometime in teh future. I hear she AD's a lot of mainstage shows here....
But anyway, after our full run through, and finishing at 11:30, I left with a sense of accomplishment. Sure, the show still needs work - and we have three more days to cement things - but I haven't felt accomplishment with this show at all until this past Sunday afternoon. So that's a good sign for me that things are finally falling into place. Physicallity is a huge problem that I have and is something I'm trying so hard to overcome. I'm simply observing my actions as a person more closely and deciding why I do certain things. Is it tension? Usually. So to alieviate myself of these habits I simply need to convince myslef of their unneccessary tensions. AND IT WORKS, I think. Positive results thus far, but still so much further to go. Challenges to overcome and new ones to seek out. And that's what keeps theatre fresh for me. Claudia Kiss and Ryan Cury may be coming up to see it from JMU as well. I hope things do work out for them to get up here, it would be nice to see them both and show them around D.C. But we'll see how things arrange themselves with time.

Now I'm in Applause Cafe waiting pour ma classe de la fancaise. Mon Dieu! I really don't want to go, but I missed yesterday and can't afford missing another participation grade. I just wish I could have more interest in it. Although, it is hard to concentrate on anything when you have such a demanding show opening in only days and two major papers due! C'est la vie. Now to continue with my papers...

Corteo

2006-11-09T19:27:00.000-08:00

Can the Cirque du Soleil ever go wrong on a show? Not yet, at least! Their latest show Corteo is evidence of their continuing success and beauty. Today I had the privelege of attending a performance of Corteo during it's one month stay here in D.C. and it filled me with such inspiration and motivation for the art of theatre. I want to go out and do great art like the Cirque now. Such great artistry and beauty from this troupe, and they always accomplish it!!!

So today I went to the four o'clock showing of Corteo. Cirque has set up their fortress in the convention center parking lot on H street. It's really an amazing complex that they set up and to think that they travel all around the world with it seems like such a huge accomplishment in itself. Entering in by the Billetarie, or Box Office in English, the audience is then ushered into a large merchandising tent where they sell there coupious amounts of merchandise and refreshments. Once outside again, the audience enters le Grand Chapiteau which is the main show tent. It's a huge circus tent on the outside but the inside rivals Broadway theatres. The technicality of le Chapiteau is so incredible that I can't even begin to describe it. One has to just see a Cirque show to understand its possibility.

The show itself is based on the premise that the audience is attending the funeral of Corteo, a recently deceased clown. The show is then the funeral procession by a group of Corteo's close friends - all clowns or angels of course. The overall feel of the show was semi gothic mixed with classical clown techniques. The acts within the show were, of course, amazing in their physical feats. However, many rip off shows include the same things. The thing that makes Cirque different is its artistry in telling the story and interweaving everything within it. It was perfect. But that's all I can truly say on it, that it was amazing and reinviggorated an artistic sense within me that's been lacking recently. Everyone should see this show! GO NOW!

Crestfall

2006-11-01T20:45:00.000-08:00

Tonight I went with my friend Matt Reckeweg to the Studio Theatre downtown to see Mark O'Rowe's Crestfall. I have been thinking recently that I need to take more advantage of and see more D.C. theatre, so whenever I received the e-mail that I could get free tickets to this show I jumped on it! It was my first visit to the Studio Theatre, which is in the Dupont Circle neighborhood, and I loved it! A gorgeous space with 3 or 4 separate theatres, all different types of theatre spaces. The design is very modern chic: brick, glass, and cement with very clean lines and modern furniture tucked away. Crestfall was in Theatre 4 on the top level, a very experimental type of blackbox space that can vary in size for the different shows. This show utilized about half of the given space, had audience facing each other on two, opposing sides, and only one chair served as a semi-setting/prop for one character. The show instead mainly focused on the stories.

Crestfall is an Irish play by O'Rowe who is an Irish playwright. The piece centers on three different women who live in a bad district in an Irish city and how they're grotesquely connected through their tramas and problems. Just finishing McPhereson's The Weir and having seen Irish theatre performed elsewhere, such as McDonaugh's The Pillowman on Broadway, I'm beginning to understand and fully appreciate the basis of Irish theatre. That basis is to tell a story. The Wier was a piece in which the characters all related through haunting stories of their past, Pillowman was a story about a storyteller and his stories, and Crestfall is about the stories of three different but deeply connected women. All very wordy: the use of language to accentuate the story allowing beauty to emerge from the pages. These plays are all connected by a strong sense of storytelling, an oral tradition that runs deep in Ireland and was brought to America by its Irish settlers, many of whom ended up in SW Va and NE Tn. So now the stoytelling tradition lives and thrives in the foothills of Appalachia and provides me with something I can totally relate to these Irish works. So I am almost emotionally connected to these pieces in a cultural sense as well. I have some Irish ancestry but, even though these plays are based on people thousands of miles away in a country I've never visited, I know these people. They're people I grew up with and am related to. Their mannerisms and patterns of speech are parallel to my upbringing. So needless to say, I truly enjoyed this experience and will definitely be attending a show here again, soon! But Nine Parts of Desire is to be seen next at Arena Stage!

One to the Other

2006-10-23T13:34:00.000-07:00

Sorry about not posting for a while, I've been so busy since returning from New York. The Weir ends its run tonight in the Lab Theatre at CSPAC. It's been a lot of fun and a very good experience for me personally. I'm sad to see this show end but am anticipating what comes next. The audiences have been very large for The Weir so far. I was told that Off-Center productions normally don't do that well. But on Friday night we were so full they had to turn about 20 people away because we were already over capacity. It's nice to see big crowds coming out for the show. I hope tonight lends a nice group of people coming in from the cold. The weather today sets the mood to tell this story even better.

So as soon as Weir ends I begin rehearsals for Stonewater Rapture! Stonewater Rapture is the next Off-Center, in which I will be playing the role of Whitney and we start rehearsals literally tomorrow. An adventure to be had, an interesting script which I plan to pour over when I get back to my apartment this evening. I'm excited about this next project. Off-Center's are a great way to be seen by faculty here at UMD and faculty cast the mainstage productions so that's exciting.

I'm seeing the mainstage production of Machinal next Saturday, Nov 4. I'm looking forward to that. The mainstage of Piano Lesson was very well done and very professional in presentation and I look forward to seeing what Machinal will be like. It's in the Kogod Theatre, the medium blackbox in CSPAC and I have yet to see a show in there. I'm very happy to be a part of this department and look forward to what possibilities lie ahead. Now off to call...

The End of One Hellacious Week

2006-10-06T16:14:00.000-07:00

This past week has been nothing but stress, worry and a multitude of study time! To begin with, I had both very improtant math and American government exams, on the same day none the less. The Weir was also very demanding with deadlines and benchmarks needing to be met (it will be an awesome show). I've had numerous responses, a couple of papers and a thesis due this week. And on top of this, plus my normal courseload, there's the added responsibility of living off campus. Waking up at 7 a.m. gets old really quick when you're a theatre major.

But things have really slowed down now. Yesterday, Thursday, was the big "push" day, the day on which I had both of my exams. I did very well on my math but I'm still waiting to find out about my am gov course. I also submitted my Orientation Advisor application today (which was due by 4). So I really hope that job pans out. It will be a nice way to stay in D.C. this summer and be productive while making a nice sum of money.

Tomorrow, or rather late tonight, at 3 a.m. I'm catching a bus to spend tomorrow in NYC. I'll be visiting my friends Adrian, Meghan, and Erin!!! I am sooooooooo excited!!! Tomorrow night I'll be seeing Erin's off-off b'way show Glass Highways at the Jan Hus Presbyterian Church. Should be an interesting bit of theatre. I'm so happy for Erin to be doing this, such an exciting and important step for her I'm sure. And I'm so glad I get to see it. In its third night as well! Lovely. Other than the show, nothing else is planned, I am however seriously comtemplating attending a performance of Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living In Paris at the Zipper Theatre with Robert Cuccioli (Jekyll & Hyde fame). But who knows?

Now I need to run off to an evening of rehearsal for The Weir. You should all come and see it!

More Studious and Committed

2006-09-28T08:24:00.000-07:00

This week is the beginning of extreme stress and being busy for me. I start out every morning at 7 and won't be getting home until 11 p.m. or later! We started rehearsals for The Weir on Tuesday, and that's consuming huge amounts of my time and effort, which I gladly give though. But then on top of that I have my class schedule and work load that seems to be getting more and more demanding by the day. Lots of reading which I'm trying to keep up with and am being slightly successful in doing so. In addition to this, the Walt Disney College Program recruiting season is getting into full swing, so a lot of my spare time is being taken up by that going to meetings and doing miscellaneous businessy stuff. So needless to say I'm extremely busy trying to keep on top of everything. I am happy with this though, it's better than being bored or lazy. Being completely consumed keeps that feeling of unproductiveness at bay, and I'm happy for that. So I'll willingly devote myself, full steam, to these commitments through the month of October, after which The Weir will have closed and things will slow for the winter break. But there are sure to be some late nights and early mornings to come, as there have been already. Bring it on! I'm living the life now!

Like I said, The Weir is now id deep rehearsal. We started on Tuesday where we had a read through, John discussed his visions for the play, and the designers presented their inspirations and concepts. This made me really excited about the show, as it always does, and reignited my enthusiasm for doing a show in the cold of October at a glorious place with some amazingly talented people! AH! This is why I do what I do and why I give so much for it. It's so inspiring to be in a collaborative effort with people who know what they're doing and have strong, interesting ideas to fuel them. We've had one blocking rehearsal so far, yesterday, Wedndnesday. We just basically did some table work but then truly put the thing on its feet for the first couple of pages. It was interesting to see what came, but I think I could bring more to the process. It was the first night though, so maybe tonight will be a new feeling. Who knows? But that comes later, after my classes today, which I need to run off to. Hoorah for Math!

Le Weekend Passe

2006-09-25T11:18:00.000-07:00

I've been so busy but so lazy recently. This past weekend my friend Ryan came up to visit from JMU. He came by bus on Friday and stayed until four yesterday, Sunday. It was a fun and eventful time. We walked around D.C. and visited some monuments and museums then I showed him campus and the Pentagon City mall. Good times. It was nice to see an old friend. I will have to get to Harrisonburg as soon as I am able. After October maybe? Who knows.

On Friday night Ryan and I attended a presentation at CSPAC by the Blair Thomas Theatre Company who is here on the Jim Henson Artist in Residence program. They did a rendition of a series of paintings called The Ox Herders Tale, which basically is an Asian fable on how one must be at piece with oneself for tranquility in life. But is was so AWFUL! I have never seen a worser staged and executed performance piece. They got the message across but failed in delivering a true experience and to transport the audience. First of all, there were numerous technical mistakes and unprofessional mess ups! People paid for this and yet the actors, stage hands, and technicians delivered a pathetic, poorly executed slop. It made me sad that people would be satisfied with such an ill-thought out and presented piece. I mean, basic rehearsals and techs would have allowed for this errors to be corrected. And when I say basic I mean BASIC! People bumped into one another while wildly twirling set pieces, drops got stuck on rafters (which, funnily enough, they knew would happen and had prepared for), backstage noises could be heard during a needily quiet scene, a wheel on a rolling platform was in bad need of oil and was very distracting, and actors got way out of control in their non structured and sloppy performances JUST TO NAME A FEW THINGS!!! If you're going to charge people, or even if you aren't, you should at least try to deliver a decent, professional performance. This mess was laughable and I regret the $7 I spent on it. The idea and story line and general idea behind the performance was ok. There was an extended, too long magician montage at the beginning that should have been way shortened if not cut. But overall I would not suggest that anyone go and see this show. It's a waste of money and time. The hour and fourty-five minutes would better be spent observing and reading about the original Ox Herder art pieces.

Today I have my CAPA auditions. I do hope that they go well. I'm extremely nervous about them, but come what may I will ferverently try. It is a rather improtant scholarship that I'm trying for and I'm not sure how they judge who will be given the award. It's always so terrifying walking into a new place for auditions. You don't know what they want or expect or look for. You go in naked and hope that you have what they need. I hope I have what they need because they have something that I need: the scholarship money! So I guess the best we can do is to be honest and truthful to ourselves and hope that they can see the fearlessness and effort we exert through that. Only time will tell what comes out of todays efforts, but hope for the best!

To Learn

2006-09-19T10:15:00.000-07:00

In souther dialect there's a popular phrase "to learn you something." Your teacher will learn you music, your mother will learn you to cook, your pastor will learn you the way to heaven and so on. But today, after being inspired to think on the subject, I have come to the conclusion that this statement is not only grammatically incorrect, but incorrect in meaning as well. One can never learn another anything. One can teach something to another, but one can never learn it for them. To learn is an elusive and not fully understood act of human nature still widely argued by scholars today. How do we learn? How is it that we absorb the information that bombards us everyday, both in normal life and through instruction? The brain is so miraculous in transforming meaningless, hollow scratches on material into a system of understanding that can be shared by all. We do not, or should not, learn problems but rather concepts and applications of them.

Today it was suggested that when we are able to teach something, we have mastered it; we then own the concept at hand. When you read something you learn 15% of it, when you teach something you learn 95% of it. I agree completely. Case in point, my current math class: math 01x. Upon entering UMd, one is required to take a math placement exam to then be placed in the level of math best suited for them as well as to fulfill a state mandate regarding University level math. Not to my surprise, I did not do very well on the placement exam and opted for the review course to fulfill my mathe requirement. This course meets five days a week, spends the first half of the semester reviewing all previous math on th placement test, the retests the students who are then placed in a certain high math to be taken for the last half of the semester, five days a week, thus fulfilling the math requirement in half the time okus strong review. In high school, and middle school perhaps, my math teachers were horrible, seriously horrible. And I say this meaning nothing to their character as people, but rather against their abilities to express concepts in math and allow the students to own it. A normal math class at Abingdon HIgh School consisted of a poorly qualified teacher, an overhead projector, and a dry erase marker. Fomulas, equations, and numbers spewed from the teachers mouth and onto the paper of the note taking students BUT NEVER THE CONCEPTS BEHIND IT. I suppose that the teachers assumed these concepts would be learned through rigorous study at home, but not everyone works that way. And very seldom was the time the students were able to apply this math themselves or even attepmt at learning the concept. That was for home, not school!. A ridiculous and sad ideaology that still exists in the schools of Washington County, VA today and may never change. I doubt they have one singular well qualified teacher there that can truly attest to appling these concepts of teaching to learn rather than teaching to teach.

Before I continue, I must admit that I am not the best math student, math is my least favorite subject. I actually hate math, mainly because I (usually) don't do well in it and am afraid of failure. However, I accell in my math 01x class, beyond high standards even, and I've been outside of a math class for well over a year now. I don't want to sound pretentious or arrogant about my work in this class, but it just goes to show that I am not truly bad at math, but rather have been set up, due to predetermined variables, to fail in maths were they to continue to be taught in the manner at Abingdon High School. Upon enetering this college level math and being taught to comprehend the basic structure of mathematic principles and the reasoning behind it, I am able to fully comprehend all those things that were taught AT me rather than TO me; I focus on concepts rather than answers. Now I am able to own what I know and easily build upon it. A very simple thing to do, but so blindly ignored by so many practitioners of any subject, not just mathematics. I simply used this subject because it it my most recent and relevant case upon entering UMd to my thesis. Last, while at ETSU, I would have used my success in English to point this out in comparison to my final English classes with Melanie Arrington and Tim Necessary at Abingdon High.

So here are the basic rules, as thought by me, to a successful student understanding of concepts rather than answers:

1) You must be positive. Go into a class with a positive outlook and an understanding of predetermined success.

2) Be truthful. Your "self talk" should always be truthful about your abilities and desires. Sure you may be tired or you may not want to be there. But simply say, I am here and I can do this, I can do other things too.

3) Study in small groups. By allowing this to happen, you encourage the opportunity for students to teach one another, and once they teach something, they own it. Alone time on work is necessary, but group work is sometimes more important. This should definitely be stressed in class and integrated as a major component of how the class is taught.

4) Teach concepts, not answers. By showing students how structures are derived or why something exists give the concepts behind actions and results. This is the best way to get a point across and allow for right answers. By simply teaching answers, the student misses the objective. They should be able to recognize concepts out of context. You cannot apply answers, only concepts.

Sure, some of those things can only be applied to onesself, in fact all of them can and should be applied personally. However, they should be intiated, expressed and sustained by the teachers. That's why teachers exist and this methond can only make their job more effective and meaningful. But in any respect, I have now began to see a way in which I can effectively learn, and one that others can profit from as well. Not everyone learns the same way, but these basic principles and ideas can sure help and never hurt. Only you can "learn yourself" something after being properly taught.

Incidentally...

2006-09-16T18:45:00.001-07:00

Today was a day of fun and suprises. After luxuriously sleeping in until around 10 a.m. and then laying around and watching t.v. until around two, I got myself together and headed to downtown D.C. Today I mest my friend Alexandra DeArmon. We're both in the THET 112 performance class and had to write a paper on observing a performance in public, one that we weren't to attend but simply observe. So we decided to meet and scope out a performance downtown. I met her at the Friendship Arch in Chinatown, a section that I hadn't been to yet, and I LOVED IT! Such a great little section of D.C., one that I want to go back to in the future. She had just got out of a performance of An Enemy of the People at the Shakespeare Theatre. So we walked around and headed over to the Smithsonian mall. Such a glorious evening. It had rained earlier, but was very clear out by then. The air was just cool enough to be comfortable and there were just enough people walking around on the streets for it to feel festive. Joggers jogged around the mall and tourists were going from museum to museum. A very lovely fall day.

Alexandra and I then stumbled upon an anti-Bush protest which we decided to use as our public performance exhibit. So we strolled over and watched the demonstrators and how they performed for the audience and then how the audience reacted to the performance. A very interesting, but somewhat pointless and ridiculous, protest. Yet it was something to see and fulfilled my paper assignement, so I was happy. After this, we decided to go get dinner and stroll around in the gorgeous afternoon. AND THEN, lo and behold, I ran into Emily Brewer on the sidewalk in front of the Ronald Regean building!!!! Who would have guessed? I had never imagined running into anyone from my past here and then all of the sudden I bump into Emily in the most random place at the most random time! A New York moment in D.C. I guess. The things that happed in life...

So we talked for a few minutes, she was with a group of her friends and they were searching for a restaurant too. Emily's going to King College now and she was here with the annual King freshman class trip. Every year the new freshmen go to either NYC or D.C. on alternating years, this year it was D.C. and she just happened to be right in our path at the right time. It was interesting seeing her, made me retrospective for the rest of the evening. So anyway, after a few minutes of chatting we said goodbye and parted ways, Alexandra and I headed to dinner.

We then descended into the Old Post office which has an international food court on the bottom floor. I settled on a Gyro, which I love. You can never beat a gyro. Yay grecian food. But after dinner we headed back to the Chinatown metro stop and went to my apartment. We just kind of walked around the grounds for a while before heading over to Target and the mall next door. Fun times, and such a nice night to stroll around. I'm glad to final be making good friends here with good people.

So Alexandra headed back to her apartment a couple of hours ago and I've been kind of relaxing from the copious amounts of walking I did today. Fun times. Tomorrow UTAS (Undergrad Theatre Arts Society) is hosting Kicknic and a movie night which I'm considering going to. It would be a nice social event to attend and a good way to get to konw more fellow theatre students. Who knows though? I do have an awful lot of reading and homework to do, so it may be wiser to stay in and do that. But the movie isn't until eight...so who knows? Well I'm off, today has been long and the night is short!

A Post

2006-09-14T08:15:00.001-07:00

It's raining outside. I have to go to my math class in a little less than an hour and I dread trudging through the wetness. I had my play analysis class this morning with the ever lovely Kris Messer. I wish I had half of the energy she does in the mornings. But that class ended about twenty minutes or so ago and I decided to get a danish from the Applause Cafe and post on my blog. Nothing very eventful has happened though, so the name and existence of this post is very generic. Forgive me for that, but maybe something worth reading will be posted within the weekend. I think I'll go downtown this weekend because I have to write a paper for my performance class which requires me to be an observer of some performance of sorts. So an art galler maybe? Or possibly simply the national mall? Who knows, I'm not even sure yet. I feel so lacadasical and uninspired right now. Last night I basically ignored reading that I could have done because I simply did not feel like doing it. However, I think it is necessary to sometimes put your work aside and just do nothing, but was I justified in doing this? Sure, the reading last night wasn't that important and not anything that I can't catch up on. I could probably get everything read in between classes today actually. I just need to stay focused and not get bored or fall into a routine. It is when this happens that I tend to slack off. So I simply need to mix things up, although I'm not sure how. I feel so limited, both financially and timewise, and unable to do random things here. Maybe that will change with time, I do hope so.

Today I still have two classes to attend, both with large gaps in between. Tonight I'll do some ironing and read a lot. I also should work on my part i nThe Weir as well this evening. That will be something motivating once rehearsals start. Until then I'll just become one with the flow.

A Post

2006-09-14T08:15:00.000-07:00

August?

2006-09-12T10:23:00.000-07:00

This morning was an unusually (for me at least) chilly morning. Not that it's bad or anything, but fall seems to be creeping rather rapidly upon us. I'm excited about it though, fall is my favorite season. I like the cold weather more than the hot, sticky days of summer and the colored foliage just adds an amibience to the world that I find sometimes necessary. I always feel so nostalgic in the fall. It's nice.

The cast list went up yesterday for The Weir and my name was on it! I will be playing the role of Jimmy in this production which will be mounted sometime in October (if any of you want to come and see it). The show will be very fun, very challenging. I look forward to actually delve into this character and put forth a lot of effort into making him real. I need to pick up the script today and drop an application off at CSPAC, so I'll probably head over that way before I leave campus. My temp company just called and they want me to go to an assignment in Arlington Ridge tonight. I really don't want to go and I worry about being able to get back to my apartment because the metro here closes at midnight on weekdays. I told them yes, but I might have to renig. Or maybe I'll get a cab home, because that is sixty bucks and I do need some money... Ah well, who knows. I have to run to American Gov now. I'm sure it will be a blast...

Things In Between

2006-09-11T07:07:00.000-07:00

So, it's been over a week since my last post and I felt that I should leave an update. Last week was just so hectic with school and other things that I feel as though I haven't had time to do much of anything! So much reading, etc. for classes, then the time I put in for commute. And on top of this I had a semi-important audition last week which I had callbacks for last night! So life's been pretty busy, busy and productive. And that is good. But then there are those times that I'm sure I could be doing something but I'm just simply not, i.e. when I get back to my apartment after a long school day I simply want to turn on the television, eat, and lay around for a few hours before beginning the homework for the next day. So sure I could do something in that time, and possible I'll start. It's just so hard to be motivated after coming in from a long, hot day lugging heavy books around. Not to mention, my commute and class schedule requires me to wake at seven a.m.! I hate mornings...

But on the flip side...the audition I had last week on Tuesday was for The Weir. It's what they call at UMd and Off-Center production. Off-Center's are completely student produced productions, but under the blessing of the faculty. They do two a semester, I think. One fully staged and one reading. The Weir is the fully staged production this semester and is being directed by John LaBombard, who is a "super senior," a senior who's here for an extra semester or year (something I'll probably have to do...), and he seems to have great ideas and strategy for the show. It would be very beneficial for me to work under him on a show like this, not to mention just to do a show here! Doing a show like an off-center production is a great way to gain experience while letting faculty, who direct the "mainstage" productions, see you and become farmiliar with you. So I have high hopes for the possibilities here, but it's a bit premature to get carried away with them yet. Like I said, we had callbacks last night and they went ok. I felt so-so about them, a bit more aprehensive today. But the serious competition was in the females auditioning for the one female role. They were all very good but each very different, and I could see any of them in the part myself, so kudos to that. It will be interesting to see who John picks to go in what direction. Exciting stuff. The final cast list goes up today. I'm about to die waiting for it.

This evening I have an audition for a mainstage production that goes up next semester: The Distance from Here. I like the piece, I just don't think there is a part in it for me at all. But I will audition all the same for the experience and to get my name and face out there with the faculty. I'll hope for the best, but won't expect a callback on this one. In any case, it will be fun to see the production next semester and a great experience all around. There's also a study abroad fair today, I might go check into that. Who knows? But as I write this post the "unproductive" feeling is creeping back upon me. I'm not sure why, but it's here lingering. Maybe I should go study something? I think I will...

An Enemy of the People

2006-09-02T16:21:00.000-07:00

Today was a perfectly wonderful day and my first experience with D.C. theatre. I called the Shakespeare Theatre early this morning, after getting a much needed twelve hours of sleep, to inquire about the student rush tickets for performances this weekend. The box office person was really nice and allowed me to go ahead and make a phone reservation at the rush price of only twelve bucks! So I made the reservation for today at noon and proceeded to get ready and rush out the door.

I took the metro to the Gallery/Chinatown stop and walked a block the the theatre. Getting there early I had time to explore the neighborhood for a bit. After picking up my ticket from will call, I went into a bookshop and coffee shop next door. I found and bought a copy of Neil LaBuute's The Distance from Here, which I have an audition for in a couple of weeks, and had a scone and milkshake for lunch. I then headed back over to the theatre, which had opened the house by then, to see Henrik Ibsen's An Enemy of the People. It was fantastic! Much better than I'd presumed it would be. The caliber of acting, overall, was very high in the cast. Something I think is de facto with The Shakespeare Theatre. They have performers such as Kevin Spacey and Patrick Stewart in shows there every so often. But no one extremely famous in this cast, just very well trained and executed. There was one performer in particular, Caitlin O'Connell, who played Dr. Stockmann's wife, who I thought was exceptionally good. She had such realism and true existence in her character throughout. Never, with her, did I feel as if she was "projecting" a performance; orating. But she was so true. Her progression from the happy mother of a rising family to a worried woman, almost maniacal from the surrounding events was flawless. I believed her. This is not to say that the rest of the cast wasn't good, because they all were and deserve commendation, but Ms. O'Connelly just stood out to me. Her performance, I think, followed the method that Uta Hagen implements in her book Respect for Acting. She found the character in herself and went with it. BUT ANYWAY, in other aspects of the production... The set was very interesting and worked very well. There are four settings in this play: the Stockmann home, the printing office of The People's Herald, the meeting hall, and the Stockmann home in ruins. The proscenium was outlined in pipework, the misplaced pipes of the posionous baths. Onstage a center revolve acted as a way to transition locations. One one side was the Stockmann's home, very cold and lower middle class; slowly rising in prosperity. On the other side was the busy printing office of The People's Herald. It worked very well in flow, the transition. During intermission, a flat was lowered at the anteproscenium which mimicked, exactly, the decor and design of the auditorium. This was the setting for the meeting hall, and an ingeneous way to tie the audience in as the "people" of the town! I loved this and the way it worked. Usually audience participatory shows make me agitated and I dislike them, however with Enemy it wasn't as much audience participatory as audience inclusive. The director obviously wanted the people to feel what the audience in the meeting hall would feel. To have the same emotions resulting from the actions onstage. It was ingenous and really did elicit such tension and anticipation from the audience. Palpable. THEN the flat rose to reveal the Stockmann house once more, after the barrage of stones from the townspeople. And it worked perfectly. To go from such an emotionally high point to this crash result of a seemingly smoldering ruin. Very nice. So, in summation, the show was great, an emotional rollercoaster, that I suggest to everyone who has the chance to take a ride on.

Now I'm back home and have been for several hours. I think I'll read The Distance from Here tonight so I can get a feel for the audition and not seem like an unready twit during it. A toute a l'heure!

And The Rain Poureth

2006-09-01T07:28:00.000-07:00

Wow. I thought only Florida had random weather, but apparently College Park is capable of it too. As soon as I stepped out of my apartment building this morning I regretted not bringing my coat or having purchased an ubrella previously. The winds blew fairly strong as I waited for the shuttle under the building, watching the rain splatter down. It wasn't a hard rain but enough to annoy and depress. Not having time to run back and get a jacket, I waited in the cold. My luck. Once I arrived on campus I trekked the way (in the drizzle) to CSPAC for my first class of the day: Fundamentals of Performance.

The class was enlightening enough today I suppose. We're starting out thinking on the most basic levels of human performance. Rather a study of performance behaviour. What is considered performance and what is considered behaviour? How do they differ? What purposes do they serve? When does behaviour become performance? When do we become aware that we are "performing" for an audience? Theatre and performers ere obviously a concerns for Plato, he outlawed them in his book The Republic because of the quandry of performance. When do you know when you're watching something real or watching a performance, he asked? That is for us to decide as we begin our journey into the art of theatre! Yay for deep questions and ambiguous answers!

Now it's raining harder outside and I have to leave for French class in a moment. I know I'll get wet, maybe very wet. I hope it doesn't get harder. Damn you Ernesto!

Day 2

2006-08-31T07:41:00.000-07:00

So yesterday, my first day of classes at the University of Maryland, went off fairly well. I didn't have any problems finding my classes and ultimately accomplished all that I needed to. My teachers from my French, Performance and Math classes (the classes I had yesterday) all seem very good, so I'm excited about that. I think I will enjoy my courses, although I'm sure I'll be very consumed with work from now until the end of semester. Campus is so alive now. Visiting here during the summer and even for the meetings and such before classes began, campus was very empty. Big and empty. But now there are people everywhere, rushing from this class to that, meeting in the Stamp Union Center, strolling the quad. Cars flood the few streets through campus as well. Walking across Campus Drive yesterday reminded me of a busy weekday afternoon on 18th street in NYC. Cars honking, pedestrians crossing in between them, and university busses toting passengers in the mix. They really should close off car access on campus during the day. It would make it safer and less stressful for everyone.

Last night I only had to worry about my Math homework because that's the only class that I have everyday of the week. But tonight I'll have to worry about all of the classes from yesteraday that I have tomorrow plus government and math. But it won't be a problem yet because we've basically just had class introductions and the like. Nothing very serious - yet. But I will apply myself liberally, as always, and do look forward to doing so. In addition to my workload which I know will be heinous, I have already signed up for three auditions: one for The Weir, one for The Distance from Here, and one for my CAPA scholarship. I'm also considering signing up for the UTAS reading series auditions as well. But I'm not sure. I definitely don't want to overload myself - living off campus, being a new student, and taking a very intense math. So I think I'll wait and see on that one. I don't know if anything will come from the three auditions that I've lined up so far, but even if nothing does it's always good to audition and audition often. So I will.

I'm sitting in the plaza right now in front of the Hornbake Library. My next class isn't until noon in the Armory and my play analyisis professor let us out of that class EXTREMELY early, so I really don't have anything to do for a while, so I'm blogging! They're calling for possible flooding and hurricaine weather up here in The District, and from being outside I can attest to the pre-rain aura that looms about the campus. The sun is strating to peek through though. Hopefully I won't be caught in any rain today as I don't have an umbrella, something I really should invest in. But what will happen will happen and I only have two more classes today, something I'm very thankful of. Maybe I'll be able to get home before the monsoon cometh. Who knows? Well that's it for now, I'm going to go study something. Because I'm back in university and that's what people in university do.

And We're Off...

2006-08-29T14:02:00.000-07:00

...to the start of a brand new semester! A new school, a new city and a new semester. So much to digest, analyze and execute that a person could go crazy! But I'm just trying to flow with it all and enjoy it while it lasts. Today I went to campus for a couple of theatre meetings and the theatre picnic. People were nice for the majority and it seems to be a great program. I'm still in awe of the amazing facilities that UMd has to offer! But the meetings went well and the administrators talked at us about tons of information, some of which I already knew, some I didn't. They went over everything from study habits to the Undergraduate Theatre Arts Society (UTAS). I really want to get involved with this theatre community and judging from what I've seen so far, that won't be a problem. There are so many opportunities and organizations here. So much theatre around! On and off campus. This weekend I'll be seeing Ibsen's An Enemy of the People at the Shakespeare Theatre downtown. Some reps from Squonk Opera will be coming in a week or so to do a workshop for UMd students and audition for extra roles in their new production of College Park: the opera. Squonk seems like such a fun and crazy theatre company from the research I've done on them and I'm crazy excited about seeing them. A mixture of Cirque du Soleil and Blue Man Group it seems. But before that happens I'm going to audition for the Off Center production of The Wier. I'm going to try to audition and see as much theatre as possible here, those were original goals I'd set for myself before coming here and now I must see them through. I want to start working hard on my theatre career, hard and serious. And I know I'm ready. So bring it on!

In other news, I've been reading and studying more of Respect for Acting by Ms. Hagen. As I delve further into it I'm not sure how much this method of theatre is for me. It seems to be a method of acting that I feel relies too much on props and costumes and focuses more so on acting as yourself instead of acting the part (which I may think is the way to act, I'm just not sure yet). But in any case, I plan on continuing my private study of Hagen's teachings and applying them to scene and monologue work that I'm doing myself. I still have the CAPA audition growing nearer by the day, and I'll use the methods from this book towards this audition and see what comes of it, if anything, and if I like the way it feels. If I don't like the results, or even if I do, I'll continue my research on acting methods, next studying the Meisner approach. But it will probably be a few months or even December before I'm able to take on and apply another method, because my classes and extra cirriculars will be taking up a lot of my time.

Respect for Acting

2006-08-24T17:26:00.000-07:00

Currently I am reading the book Respect for Acting byUta Hagen. It's just what I needed! A comprehensive guide on how to be a presentational actor rather than a representational actor. A view and school I've always believed in, just never had it layed out in front of me before. And then this book takes it and multiplies it time one thousand! It's great and I feel that I'm learning so much from it, so many questions arising and answer to be found. Like Hagen says, theatre is a spiritual experience where we (the actors) strip our souls and nourish the public through our labors of love. We must always strive to identify to a character instead of just portraying them as a "stereotype." We must observe ourselves rather than observing others. Such a genius concept and one that I look forward to understanding more as I apply it to my studies. BE PRESENTATIONAL.

So lately my thoughts have been consumed by that philosophy, but in the real world of life I continue to get ready for my first day of classes. I trekked over to campus again today to pick up the lacking text I needed for my math. I can't wait until the direct shuttle goes into effect on the thirtieth. Using the University of Maryland University College bus is so inconvienient right now, it stops at the Marriott and it's quiet a walk from there. But that will change and my commute will become more efficient and easy. Tomorrow I will call TSI to see if they have any open positions for me this weekend. I hope they do so I can make some much needed money. There's a lot of theatre coming up that I want to see. Ibsen's An Enemy of the People is the season opener at The Shakespeare Theatre, and I've found out that the student rush is only $10 there!! That's better than Barter, even. Charles Aznavour is coming to the Warner Theatre and I would love to see him, but the ticket prices are a little ridiculous and I don't know if I want to pay that much, so I'll wait on that. But the countdown for classes keeps ticking and I know that I need to enjoy my remaining time in the city. So tomorrow, if nothing else comes up and I am able to take care of all of my business early enough, I think I'll head back downtown and explore some more. But for now I'm off to read more of Respect for Acting.

Temp

2006-08-23T15:47:00.000-07:00

I have been hired! By Temporary Solutions in downtown D.C. I'll basically be doing various receptionist/concierege work on the weekends at various locations that hire from TSI. I'm excited about the job, not to mention the money that I'll be making through it. I took a trip downtown today around noon for my interview and to officially be hired. The TSI headquarters are located on Connecticuit Ave between K and L streets. I got off at the North Farragut metro station and I must say that I love that neighborhood. Very business district-y. Every time that I go to a new neighborhood in D.C. I'm surprised and delighted at how different it is from the last. Each neighborhood up here has a very distict flair, yet they all blend together so well. From the hip clubs of Adams-Morgan to the quaint, historic homes of Georgetown. It's all been great so far and I have so much more to explore and discovery in this town. I anticipate and relish it everyday!

Yesterday I finally registered for all of my classes at UMd and it's just what I needed. I love that campus, the school, even the atmosphere there: wonderful! I can't wait for classes to start and to see the campus get into "full swing." The residents move in sometime next week and classes actually begin on the 30th, so it's all coming together quickly. Before I left I stopped by the bookstore to get all of my books. The price of a text for college is so ridiculous, but college is mainly a money scam anyway. A necessary evil. But anyway, I got everything I need but for one book (it wasn't in stock yet). Then I headed back to the bus, then the metro, then my apartment all the while lugging my large bag of text books. Whew, that was a trip. But I got home and finished the day with business and needed to finish and an early bedtime.

Tomorrow I think I'll head back to campus and see if they have the book I need in yet or not. Then I'll have all day to mess around! Fun fun!

Interviews...again

2006-08-21T14:58:00.000-07:00

So today has been a very nice day in the sense that I was very productive and have the feeling of getting something accomplished. This is good because I often feel like there is something that I should be doing and that I'm not doing it. I guess that's natural, or maybe it's guilt for being so lazy recently. But in either case I have learned that everything works out perfectly in time. So therefore I will not worry, I'll sit back, accomplish things, and go with the flow.

But for today I worked, quite a bit. The morning started off extremely early: 5:50 a.m. I woke up so that I could get ready and take the metro up one stop to campus where I would see how reliable campus transportation is. I have some business on campus early in the morning and since I don't have a car I'm relying on public transportation to get there. However, I wasn't sure how reliable, if at all, the UMd transits would be or even how long it would take me to get to where I need to go. So I decided to have a trial morning where I would test out my times, etc. And to my shock, the bus system is really simple, just one transfer from rail to road and I'm let off within fifteen minutes practicallin in front of the building I need. Nice. I've always had a fear of relying on busses to get to where I need to go. In NYC I never take them. I much prefer the reliable rails and subways. Same applies for me here in D.C. too; I always take the metro rail and have yet to test the metro bus. But come August 30th I'll be relying on the bus system a lot! I'll be taking a direct bus from the front of my complex, Prince Georges Plaza, directly to where I need to be on campus. But now that I see how easy and reliable the system is, I won't worry as much. I did, afterall, often rely on the busses at Disney...

But back to the rest of my day! After my excursion to campus, which, by-the-way, was as lovely as ever, I got back home at around eightish. A little later on I recieved a phone call from the company TSI, which I had applied to about a receptionist position in downtown D.C. TSI is sort of like a temp agency, they contract out employees to various agencies according to the agencies wants and the employees want as well. They e-mail me a link to an online test that I took. It recorded my "secretarial ability," I suppose, or at least my WPM and how well I knew Microsoft Office. So after I finished that, which I didn't think I did that well on, I sent it off to the man at the office. He shortly contacted me again and we set up an interview for Wednesday. So I'm hoping that all works out and I'm able to get a nice weekend job that pays well. God know's I need a good paying job while I'm up here! So I hope something well comes out of this.

For the rest of today I spent my time filling out appropriate applications and forms downloaded from the internet as well as printing off resumes and all sorts of other businessy things I needed to take care of. Tonight I think I'll spend working on, or trying to find, a monologue for a future audition I have. I have acquired a copy of the script Tradin' Paint from Nick Piper at the Barter back in Abingdon, VA. I saw the reading of it at the AFPP and I thought it would be a great piece for me to get a monologue from. So I'll probably read it tonight and break down what I think could work and go on that. But I have to go and get started on it because I've limited myself to a strict bedtime of 9 p.m. tonight, cause tomorrow is the real 5:30 morning!

Adams-Morgan and Pentagon City

2006-08-19T11:27:00.000-07:00

So yesterday was a busy, fun day full of exploration and adventure in this new home of mine. I started the morning off semi-early, leaving around eleven or so after sleeping in a bit and getting ready. I took the metro to Chinatown where I transferred to the redline and got off at the Zoo/Adam's Morgan stop. One I got off of the metro and exited the terminal I proceeded onto THE LONGEST escalator I've ever seen in my life! I thought it had no end. I imagine if the pyramids of Giza had an escalator to the top, it would look like this. So after finally reaching the street level, I headed down Connecticuit Avenue to the Adams-Morgan neighborhood. Adams-Morgan is the more trendy, clubby, nightlife part of town. It reminded me of 18th street in New York, around NYU. I went there in the day to visit the Design Within Reach studio and get a bedside saddle, since I don't have a nightstand. The studio was just perfect! As you enter through the large, golden facade, a group of various chairs sit amongst the door. Modern furnishings were stocked everywhere: rugs, lamps, beds, couches. And it was all terriffic! I am a huge fan of the modern furniture/asian design school, so it was like heaven for me there. After getting my handy bedside saddle from the nice lady there, I headed out to 18th street where all the trendy restaurants and bars live. Most of them aren't open for lunch, since it is a nightlife area, but a few were. I stopped in and had lunch at an Indian restaurant called the Chefs Kitchen. Very good and authentic. Next I hiked back to the metro stop, which was a bit of a walk, and descended the pyramid escalator into the tube. Since I hadn't been out much yet, and not really having anything to do for the rest of the day, I decided to head down to Pentagon City where the metro lets you directly out into a great mall. Once there I got a pomegranate frappacino from the Starbucks stand and began my walk around and up the mall. That's right, up. There were five seperate levels to this mall all circling around an open atrium where, at the bottom, there wan an awesome food court. Once I had armanied, banana republiced, and ivy crewed out, I decided it was time to go before I started spending lots of money that I didn't have, so I hopped the metro back to Prince Georges Plaza. Still needing a few sundries I stopped by Target and spent about twenty minutes or so there. Why is it that when one goes in Target they suddenly need everything there? It's such an amazing store, not just because the stuff is great but because it just seems to suck in your money! But after much restraint, I ended up getting a great cookware set! Stainless steel, no non-stick crap on it so my guests or I won't be getting cancer. So after regrettably checking out I came back to my oasis of an apartment: so neat, clean, and fresh. I've tried to make my room some place that I can retreat to and truly relax, and I believe that I've accomplished that. To end the night I made a great dinner of Thai curry chicken on black rice with my new cookware. So I ate and enjoyed. Nice times in a great place.

So today has been pretty much a day full of nothing, which is important every now and then. And since I've spent my last three days or so running around the city and going to and fro I think I deserve it, especially with classes starting soon. Earlier this morning I made myself a great cup of freshly ground and brewed coffee with two peanut butter stuffed muffins. Terriffic. Since then I've just layed around, chatted with some friends, and watched "The Workout" on Bravo. Lazy me. I still have to send off my resume to a few places, so I'll probably do that in a few, but other than that I'll probably stay put doing a whole lot of nothing....

The Smithsonian

2006-08-17T17:43:00.000-07:00

So this morning I finally got myself up early enough to go out and explore D.C. So I did. I took the metro to the Smithsonian stop and decided to explore them. I went into the Smithsonian Castle first, entering from the garden side in the back. I purused the West Hall, which contains mainly information on the progression of the Smithsonian foundation itself as well as some of its most interesting gift artifacts. After buying a good map of D.C. from the gift shop so I could find my way around, I headed across the large, open mall to the Museum of Natural History. I must admit that I quickly brushed through this museum and must go back in the future. I did, though, spend sufficient time in an interesting exhibit that they had on the Sihks and their religion. Lots of great music and art in that exhibit, such a great, interesting culture. After rushing through the NHM, I went next door to the Americn History Museum. I spent the most of my time in here where I saw exhibits ranging from american science to Jim Henson muppets. It is also this museum that houses both the Star Spangled Banner flag and the flag that was draped over the Pentagon after 9/11. So those were both neat to see. After seeing what I wanted to see for this day, I headed to Subway for lunch and then off to more sight seeing. The day was mainly spent acquainting myself with the town, and it's a very quick learn. Knowing my way around NYC and its subways does help a lot, I must admit. So I walked up to F street and basically just went from block to block looking at the stores and governmental buildings. Very governmental, very. All the buildings are clean and institution looking. But I stopped by some of the theatres such as The Warner and The Ford's to get literature on shows coming this year. I can't wait to start seeing shows up here!
At the end of the day, around 2 p.m., I headed back and just lounged around ever since, working on a couple of monologues for my audition. I'll post pictures as soon as I learn how to on Blogspot! But for now I must run and get some chores done. I think I'll go shopping tomorrow because my final check posts tonight and there are some things I need. Pentagon City Mall, here I come!!!

I Have Arrived

2006-08-15T20:02:00.000-07:00

Arrived in Washington, D.C. that is. Yesterday (Monday) I moved, with the help of my mother and aunt, to my new apartment in the recently constructed Towers at University Town Center. So yesterday was spent mainly hauling boxes up to my 11th floor flat and in the evening uncrating everything and then arranging it all. It's been fun and I must say that my room and all is coming together very nicely. I went shopping for groceries and sundries at the Target next door in the Prince Georges Mall. It's so nice to have that convinience there, and to be shopping in a Target for groceries again. The Target in Johnson City doesn't have a grocery section and I missed that from Orlando. But after a looooong day of travel, lifting, unpacking, shopping and arranging I was exhausted. So I dove into my bed for a luxurious long night of sleep on my brand new bed in my brand new home. Home. This is now my home and I like it a lot. I will make DC my home. My hometown will always be Abingdon, Virginia but my home will be in D.C. And I think I'm going to like it here a lot.

So today I decided to start exploring my new home and see what there is out there. I spent most of the morning doing more unpacking and arranging. I made fresh ground coffee on my french press and had whole grain muffins with peanut butter as well. Very nice and comforting. Around 5:30 ish I headed over to Old Town Alexandria to meet my friend Katy. I had met Katy during my Juilliard audition, she was living in Caimbridge, England at the time and we kept in touch. She had since moved back to the states and lives in Alexandria. So I took the metro over to meet her, which is extremely easy to use by-the-way (the metro that is). I transferred lines once, going from the green to the yellow and had absolutely no trouble at all. It's also very convinient living across the street from the Prince George Plaza metro stop. But once I reached Alexandria I met up with Katy and we began exploring Old Town. AND IT WAS GORGEOUS. Old Town is like what Abingdon tries to be: an old town with colonial era buildings, many shops, restaurants, and arts galleries along red bricked sidewalks. Except in Alexandria the shops, restaurants and art galleries are very nice and there are actually people walking on the streets. We ate in the most awesome sushi bar called The Flying Fish, and I must say that they have THE BEST calamari EVER! The whole atmosphere of the restaurant was very '20's barish, not really Japanese influenced at all. But the sushi was amazing! The best I've had since leaving Orlando. So we ate and talked and enjoyed the Old Town. After dinner we walked around some more, passing the old now renovated buildings. Buildings that once housed George Washington and colonial era folks now serve as a Starbucks or a Restoration Hardware and it truly makes for an awesome experience. The cafes were buzzing with dinner crowds as we passed, people purusing the ecclectic shops that Old Town has to offer. Very beautiful. At the end of King Street we came to the waterfront where a cellist (I think that's what you call someone who plays the cello) had set up and began playing for the afternoon people strolling by. It was an amazing view and the music made for a nice evening ambience. She also showed me an interesting art gallery called the Torpedo Factory Art Center, it is an old converted torpedo factory, in case you didn't get that from the name. We then headed back to the opposite end of King Street passing more of the old buildings and their wonderful wares. Before I left we went into a grocery, Whole Food or something like that, where I looked for Guarana to no avail. But I will find that elusive, Brazilian soda somewhere. At the end of the evening, around nine or so, we walked back to the King Street metro stop where we parted and I began my journey back home. Once I arrived at the Prince George Plaza stop, it was already very dark out. I have reservations about being out in the dark in this area because I've heard it's not too safe. But I only love about half a block away, and there wasn't anyone else on the street so it was safe of course. But I got up to my apartment and have just been laying around since. Tomorrow I plan on exploring more, going into downtown and stopping by a Design Within Reach store. I might stop in a Smithsonian or two and have lunch somewhere nice. So much to do, so much I want to do in the two weeks before school starts! And a lot of fun to be had along the way too. I'll try and post daily about my new adventures and discoveries in the government town. For now, more TV and lying around...

Tradin' Paint

2006-08-11T14:51:00.000-07:00

Is it even possible for Catherine Bush to write a bad play? I'm beginning to think not. Today was the last day of the AFPP at Barter's Stage 2 and ended with a reading of Catherine Bush's Tradin' Paint. A story about racing stock cars and self esteem issues. The play centers on Darla, a shy girl whos father left her and her alcoholic mother at a young age and she has since blamed it on herself, throwing herself into a bad relationship with her not-so-bright boyfriend and ultimately holding her back. This is until Darla has a flat tire when she meets Lucky Tibbs, a female pit chief for Skeeter Jett, who shows her how to fix the flat tire and inspires her to overcome her self esteem issues and gain more confidence. So on goes Darla as she signs up for classes to get her GED at the adult education center where she meets her teacher Mr. Smoot (or something like that), a gay black man who loves NASCAR. All of this goes on unbeknownst to her boyfriend Coty, who, we find out, is only after her for her fried chicken. Needless to say Coty thinks that women shouldn't be in the pit crews, that the government has a conspiracy and is out to get him with medication, AAA and cell phones, and belives that Col. Sanders is a "fag" who tries to poison him with his "secret" KFC recipie. By the end of act one, all is revealed by Darla to Coty and act one ends with Darla being hit on the head by an Everlast car battery from a disentegrating stock car, which she believes is her destiny.
SO, with that teaser, I won't go any further because I wouldn't want to spoil it for any readers out there. It's just a great, hilarious show with great character and an ingenous structure that weaves in and out of realities. The play was filled with great monologues too, some of which I would like to read and possibly use. Now if I could only get my hands on a copy of that script...

Today I spent with my friends Elizabeth Oliver and Lindsey Fisher, Lindsey is in from Ohio for a visit and I just love her. A fellow theatre major, she's doing very well at her school: Ohio University. She had to audition for and was accepted into the theatre department there and also got a role in one of their season's shows. I'm very excited for her, she's such a lovely actress and so sweet. Very deserving. We started the morning off by seeing The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe at Stage 2. A player production, childrens theatre. And I have come to the conclusion that I'm not a fan of childrens theatre. There was something about someone or group the a friend of mine in NYC once said to me, and if that person happens to read this: I TOTALLY AGREE NOW, AND THINGS DO HAPPEN FOR A REASON. So after seeing that show we had a nice lunch at the Baja Cafe then Lindsey and I said goodbye to Elizabeth who had to leave for some business. So Lindsey and I purused the Arts and Crafts portion of the festival, looking at all of the junk that will soon be someone's clutter and having to remind myself no to buy anything because in feng shui one cannot have clutter or risk bad ch'i, which I don't want. So I saved and was able to not buy. Around one thirty-ish we headed to Stage 2 again where we watched the reading of Tradin' Paint with our friend Megan Kennedy, who by-the-way, is a player and lovely actress as well. A nice day spent with friends and my two lovely actresses. Now I'm in Java J's Downtown Bristol and waiting for call time for my show tonight. Which is only in fifteen minutes! Gotta run!

Appalachain Festival of Plays and Playwrights, Continued

2006-08-08T12:31:00.000-07:00

Here I am again in the Barter Cafe in between readings for day number two of the AFPP. Yesterdays second reading of The Dillsboro Pickle Queen of 1955 was one that I had to more or less convince myself to sit through for the sake of watching a reading. The format was set up so that the entire play "read" like a book. Scenes were separated by "chapters" and the lead male acted as a narrator and would go off on wild, imaginative tangents as writers often do to embellish their hum drum lives. Or at least this writer had a hum drum life as he was forced to stay and take care of his mother because of a promise that he had made with his now passed father ten years before. So he and his mother, forced out of Connecticuit by a hurricaine, moved back to his mothers native town of Dillsboro, North Carolina where she reopened the Smokey Dokey Lodge which she inherited from her father. Anyway, to make a long story short, The writer, Paul was his name, falls in love with a local hard ass beauty queen who has ambitions to be an actress. Secrets are revealed when a talent agent passing through screws over the beauty queen and Paul ends up having a revalation and comes to peaceful terms with his father and the fact that he's been missing all of his life. The script was lacking in what I feel was basic character development. The audience has no reason to feel anything for any of the actors and nothing to sympathize since the action of the play was small and virtually no tension mounted. But overall I liked the way the actin of the play went. The innovative layout made for a new style that I feel we'll see more of in future theatre and the absence of blackouts made for little to no lagtime and a fluid movement from place to place.

SO, with that being said I just got out of the first reading for today and it was GREAT! The play was Catherine Bush's Comin' Up A Storm, the third in the trilogy she has made beginning with The Other Side of the Mountain and the middle being Quiltmakers, which is being used as a mini production for the AFPP. I had the privilledge of seeing The Other Side of the Mountain last year as part of Barter's normal rep season, so seein today's Comin' Up A Storm was a treat. It was, by far, the best of the AFPP reading's I've seen. Fully developed, reasoned, thought out and you can easily love and identify with the characters! Bravo to Catherine Bush and her wonderful works! I hope to see much more of them and possibly either direct or be in one of her productions in the future...Maybe that will be my "calling" at UMD: to introduce Appalachain works to a big city crowd. Who knows? But I do know that all three of Ms. Bush's trilogy plays are terrific and I feel that any of them would read well to an audience anywhere.

So with that being said I'm off into the theatre again where I'll view Black Pearl Sings byFrank T. Higgins. I don't know anything about it, but that makes it fun, right? So I'll post either later today or tomorrow about it! I'm off...

The Appalachain Festival of Plays and Playwrights

2006-08-07T12:34:00.000-07:00

I am now sitting in the Barter Cafe at Barter Stage 2 in between readings for the Appalachain Festival of Plays and Playwrights. I have already seen one reading at one and another starts in a few minutes at four. The one that I saw earlier was entitled Pow'r in the Blood. An interesting piece about a daughter who's estranged mother is dying and she has to leave her city life to visit her mother on the deathbed and the tensions in the relationship that arise and need to be resolved. The work was written by T. Cat Ford, who was of course present during the reading and the Q.A. session afterwards. That's one thing that I like about the AFPP, the audience along with a panel of three auditors who are proficient in theatre get to express their thoughts on the work that they just saw; critique what works and what could be more developed for a future "real" staging. It went well and I agreed mostly agreed with the auditors and what they thought. That audience input was sort of beneficial I guess, some people knew what they were talking about, but it's always good to know what an audience feels from your production even when they aren't trained or knowledgable about it. It's feeling that one tries to invoke through theatre afterall by use of language and emotions. So I beleive that Ms. Ford will go away with a few great suggestions and ideas which she'll use to further develop her piece and it will eventually be an even better story, one I hope to see again.

So I'm sitting in the cafe trying to blog on their wireless internet using my NEW LAPTOP, but I'm running into difficulty because Ryan Cury continues to talk to me. So I think I'll go and be sociable for the next fifteen minutes before the start of the next reading. The Dillsboro Pickle Queen of 1955 is up next and I'm looking forward to it. I don't know much about it, but judging from the title I would take it for a comedy. I'll post somtime tomorrow with my thoughts on it along with my thoughts on tomorrow's one o'clock reading. Now off to intriguing listening and discussion...

Some notes on things thus far...

2006-08-04T13:07:00.000-07:00

Starting tonight we begin the run for Bye Bye Birdie at the Paramount Center in Bristol, TN. After an interesting run of dress rehearsals, I'm leary as to how the show will go. But either way, I will have accomplished what I set out to do with it: get back on stage and do a show. It had been a long time since I'd last done anything onstage, so the expersience has paid off. I believe a couple of my friends are coming tonight, I just hope that they don't come with high expectations or hopes, afterall it's just Theatre Bristol. The show has been getting a lot of unexpected publicity due to a cast member and his recent story. Bleu Copas, who was kicked out of the army for being gay, is in the forefront of a lot of newspapers and along with his story there is a tag about him being in Bye Bye Birdie at Theatre Bristol. He's recently been on USA Today, numerous talk shows, and will be on The Daily Show with John Stewart very soon. The Daily Show is actually planning on filming snipits of Bye Bye Birdie to use in its story on Bleu. So that should be interesting. If you'd like to find out more on Bleu Copas just google his name and read any one of the listings that pop up.

Anyway, right after this show ends I move to my perfect apartment in Washington, D.C.! I cannot wait! Loads of good theatre, city life, always something to do! It will be like heaven for me! And I have a good amount of time before classes start, so I will really be able to explore the city and get slightly used to my new home. But I still have plenty of things to do to be ready for my move around here. And I will use the next few weeks to accomplish it all along with seeing some new readings for the Appalachain Festival of Plays and Playwrights, which is happening now at Barter Theatre as part of the Va. Highlands Festival. I've already seen one of their mini productions for it: Kentucky Wings. A very interesting piece about a girl who's uncle has been falsely accused of murder and the deteriorating effects it has on her immediate family and the tension of hidden secrets amongst them all. I liked it because it reminded me of a McDonaugh play, and he's one of my favorite authors. But at any rate, I look forward to seeing the readings and the other mini production. I like to see new works and believe it is important that I do so.

Well that's about al for now, I have to go get ready for my gala opening, haha.

Consistency

2006-07-17T14:30:00.000-07:00

They key to success is consistency. It's a prinicipal that the Disney company harps on and emphasizes, and one of the first things I learned there in that lovely "Traditions" class. Consistency can accomplish so many things: rapport with customers, a loyal base, and a good ending product. Which brings me to the reason that I am preaching on this: Bye Bye Birdie. Those poor, poor dears at Theatre Bristol do not get this principal in the least! A coreographer cannot change movements, timing, or rythms everytime that one runs a dance! Directors cannot change blocking or even switch character parts on a whim! And music directors cannot ever, EVER chang the music! Especially when they do it soley because they don't think the group can "get it." Things are written a certain way because they sound better that way and are meant to be done so. Changing notes and beats OR THE SOUNDS OF WORDS annoys people and will irritate an audience who has come to see a show they love and know but ends up seeing something totally different in a bad way, not to mention the legal ramifications with the publishing companies and authors! It's a bit insulting to the creators as well to change something that has had substantial success because you simply don't see it fit.
And when coreographers, music directors, and directors are changing crap right and left it confuses and frustrates everyone involved and makes the ENTIRE process muddled and messy and the end product will not be of quality and no one will be happy. I understand small changes are nessecary, as the work is a living and evolving thing, but small changes are completely acceptable. SO NOTE TO THE CREATIVE TEAM OF ANY PRODUCTION: Please, for everyones sake, go into a production with a clear focus and idea of what you want; not just a frame work, but a clear, well thought out idea. Execute this cleanly and efficiently, don't waste people's time (especially if they're there voluntarily). By simply doing this you will have a result better than you would imagine! You will have an eager, ready to work cast who knows what they're supposed to do! Imagine that! And it's simple too, I've done it before.

So that's that and all I have to say about it, although I'm sure that will be the pitfall of the current Bye Bye Birdie that I'm in. But I perservere on! I am beginning to miss Disneyworld a little, the freedom I had living down there and the insane amounts of fun getting into the parks for free! Today in the mail I recieved a few free tickets for friends or whoever to get into the parks. So I think I may pay a visit back down there in January, when it's not crowded. I can take an overnight Amtrak from DC to Orlando and it's not too expensive then I get 50% off hotels and free admission for me and my guests, so it should be nice. I hope so! I'd like to get back down there in the near future though. But for now I'm off to this wonderful rehearsal again! Hooray. Until next post!

We Love You Conrad!

2006-07-16T11:09:00.000-07:00

Oh yes, we do. And so goes my life! In addition to my job with Fairfield resorts I have taken on a role in Theatre Bristol's production of Bye Bye Birdie to be at the Paramount in early August. Rehearsals have been going well and I've been excrutiatingly sore from dance rehearsals in the past days, but that seems to have slightly faded. But me being sore from the dances must mean that they'll look good, right? I hope so. Even though I don't have a major role in this show I accepted just to be back on stage. It's been about a year, a little less maybe, since I've actually been in a show, and I need to be again. Especially going up to Maryland this fall where I hope to be very active in stagings, readings, auditions, etc. with positive results.

And speaking of Maryland! I go to orientation on the 26th of this month and I am so looking forward to that! A chance to see my future home: The University of Maryland! And register for classes, talk to students, meet faculty, and whatever else they have us do. It will be great I'm sure. I think that Ryan Cury will be going up with me for the ride (and so I don't have to go alone) but that isn't for sure yet. And it's not too long before I move to College Park, August 14th, to my wonderful apartment in The Towers at University Town Center. A gorgeous new student residential development at University Town Center. It should be fun and exciting, but I have so much preparation to do before I go. Shopping, making sure all of my finances are taken care of, registering, getting to know the area, and anything else that may come up. I'm just happy to be moving to a city and out of this area. Since classes don't start until the 30th of August, I think I'm going to take a quick trip to NYC and stay with my friend Erin Fisher at her lovely Brooklyn Apt. I really want to see Jaques Brel... and Slava's Snowshow, but this trip is still "in-the-works," so I hope it happens.

Anywho, I have to run to dance and scene rehearsal for Bye Bye Birdie now, so I'm off!

Interviews, Interviews, Interviews

2006-05-18T14:00:00.000-07:00

And how I despise them. Sometimes nerve-racking, sometimes huge wastes of time. Never-the-less, that's just what I've been doing lately. Going to endless interview after interview with banks, telemarketing companies, etc. And putting my application in everywhere in between.

Today, finally, I was offered and accepted a job with Fairfield Resorts as a sort of telemarketer, selling vacation packages over the phone. The money is pretty good and the hours are very feasible, so I'm excited about the whole deal and the fact that I can finally quit looking for a job. That's nice. It's so weird coming from a full-time job to doing nothing all day again. But that won't be as bad come Monday when I officially start my training. And it will be nice to have money to actually spend. I expect my last check of around eleven dollars to be coming in from Disney any day now. That will buy, maybe, a quarter tank of gas! Yay!

Other than that, my life is busy with getting ready for my transfer to Maryland this fall: financial aid crap, finding a place to live, etc. So exciting and something to look forward to. I'm hoping to have a really nice, new appartment up there. That is, if it all works out. And I'm really hoping that it does. So here's to hoping.

Back in Appalachia

2006-05-16T21:34:00.000-07:00

So I officially left Orlando and arrived back in the Blue Ridge Mountains this past May 12th. And having had a few days to unpack and re-farmiliarize myself to the area, I realize why this area is considered "depressed." The depression in this area isn't just a descriptive term for the economic and industrial progress (which is non-existant), but a state of mind for the citizens as well. People close shops at six, nobody goes out and does anything because there's nothing to do. No wonder nothing grows: no one under the age of 50 would want to mover here! It's so boring and I miss Orlando so very much. Now I'm in the depressed faction and I fear I will be for the rest of the summer because a little piece of me still longs to be at DisneyWorld in the sun and amidst the "magic." Even though I hated working and I don't care for hot weather, I had a nice apartment, constant money, good friends and always something to do! That's probably the main thing I miss: having something to do and people to do things with. Fortunately though, my friends from previous years are now getting out of schools and colleges for the summer and returning home. This should give me some hope of doing something fun and rekindling some old relationships. And soon, though not soon enough, I will be leaving for college in COLLEGE PARK, MARYLAND at the UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND!!! Very exciting, I cannot wait! Finally out of the depression once more and saying GOOD-BYE to the south. I haev finally found a way out and am very thankful for that!
In my previous post I said that I would blog about my trip to NYC once I got back. I'm sorry I haven't done that yet, my busy life in Orlando rarely allowed time for blogging. But now, since I'm back in Nowheresville I can begin blogging again, so please keep up and continue to read. As for my NYC excursion, here's a quick run down of what I did:

So I got to NYC earlier than expected because the airline I took, AirTran, had an earlier opening which I'm very glad for. AirTran was a very good airline by-the-way, good customer service (something American Airlines could learn from!). Once I got there I had my black cab drop me off at Peter and Evalyns lovely West End apartment. After chatting with Peter for a while, and Evalyn returned from their house upstate, I headed out to visit with Meghan Groves, a lovely friend of mine who attends NYU. I took the subway down to 18th St. where we had a lovely evening at an eclectic restaurant and a hooka bar! So much fun, only in NYC. The next day I met with another friend, Erin Fisher, in Times Square where I began my theatre viewing. I saw a matinee of The Drowsy Chaperone and an evening performance of The Threepenny Opera, both of which were very well done and I'm very glad I saw. Between shows, Erin and I perused the MoMA shop and Drama Book Shop. So much fun! On my third day in the city, I left the apartment late and headed down to the Lincoln Center Area where I had lunch at a trendy sushi place then sat on Lincoln Center Plaza reading Well before seeing The Light in the Piazza later that night. I'm very glad I saw this show and regret waiting so long to do so. It's truly a remarkable piece, and I would almost say the best one I saw on this trip. Thanks to Evalyn once again for suggesting that I see it! On my fourth, and final day, in NYC I met once again with Meghan around 18th St. where we had an impromptu breakfast at a farmers market (the best muffin ever!) and just hung out around that area. Later that day we went back up to Times Square where we split for the last time and I continued on to see Evalyn's show A Fine and Private Place, which was my main reason for the trip to begin with. Going to the York Theatre, where A Fine... is currently residing, gave me a chance to see that side of the city for the first time, and it was really a gorgeous area. Somewhere I'll have to further explore on my next visit. The show was beautiful in every facet with a wonderful cast and I'm very glad I was able to see the production. Evalyn was as lovely as ever and I praise her highly on this show, as she was obviously the best in the cast. But the show ended and the cast bowed and it recieved a warm thank you from the grateful audience. I took a cab back to the apartment with Evalyn where I watcher with her and Peter, and Cyrano and Sally (the daschunds), Walk the Line. A good movie. The next morning I woke up and left again for Orlando to finish my College Program and return (for the moment) to my "home." Which is where I currently am, and I must add TEMPORARILY am. Waiting for the next leg of my journey, far, far away from here.

My Time in Paradise

2006-04-12T08:01:00.000-07:00

I have now lived and worked in Orlando for almost five months and it only feels like a couple of weeks. I leave for home on May 9th and I have to say that I'm not ready to go. And although I have at least four weeks left before I go, they're passing too fast. This whole experience has been a great one, I've met a lot of good people whom I like, and a few that I don't. The times I've had in this city were so much fun, and I think the reason why is because living in Orlando has been my first time completely indepedant. And I like that. I'm a very independant person, so coming here and not knowing anyone or anywhere was an adventure I'm glad that I took. An adventure that has surely paid off. But, as I said, I have a few weeks before I have to leave, so I'll quit reminiscing too soon and enjoy Orlando and DisneyWorld in the time that I can.

In just a little over a week I leave for New York City! That's right! I decided that I needed a break from DisneyWorld and am going to the City to get away from it! I'm staying with friends Evalyn and Peter in their Manhattan Apt. While I'm there I'll see Evalyn's new off Broadway show: A Fine and Private Place. Which I'm very excited about! I'm also seeing The Light in the Piazza and The Threepenny Opera on Broadway while I'm up North. Along with theatre I'll be visiting friends in the city, and who knows what else. Expect me to blog a full entry on my experience when I return.

Good Times in a Good Place

2006-02-20T11:30:00.000-08:00

Well, it has been way too long since my last post, and I know that some of my friends out there are curious as to how my life has been going. And the answer is: very good! This internship continues to be as good as i was from the start. Although my hours at work are increasing as the season becomes busier, my paycheck is dramatically increasing as well, allowing me to begin to explore this area and state even more. This Wednesday I will begin volunteering at the Mad Cow Theatre Company in downtown Orlando. I am ushering for a show called Bad Dates. I don't know much about it other than it's a very popular show and has been extended past its original run dates due to that fact. I'm excited to be seeing another professional, regional theatre besides Barter and look forward to comparing the two. Even so, I'm sure that it will hardly be comparable. Barter is a very good theatre and the productions it produces are of such a high calliber that it is often unbeatable. But at any rate, I will have much fun ushering and I look forward to getting back into the theatre scene at any level, something that I've missed since beginning college. I'll post after I see the show and let you know how it is. AND IN APRIL!!! I am going to see Bombay Dreams in Clearwater, FL.!!!! I am so excited that I can hardly wait. I saw the show in NYC and was instantly in love, but the critics weren't so the show closed rather quickly. But the North American tour is starting up at the end of this month, and I am lucky enough to have a chance to catch it. I am really looking forward to it...

And speaking of theatre...I was very saddened to hear about the Barter Theatre's recent incident. The scenic building was recently burned down, but luckily all pertinent set pieces to upcoming tech rehersals were already loaded into The Beast (the barter truck). But it's still very sad. Even with hurtles like this, Barter always recovers much stronger. Rick Rose and his wife Amanda Alderigde are in New York City this week auditioning for the Barter's summer shows. My friend Evalyn Baron has been dining and meeting with them all week, as they are all good friends. I was told by her that the insurance money is very good, but much will still be needed to help recover what was lost. Abingdon has always been behind the Barter, as well as the whole region, so I'm sure that will be no problem. Several local places have already offered to let Barter use space to construct the scenery, including The Paramount. And I hope anyone in Abingdon reading this will help the Barter in anyway that they can. Volunteer, donate money, etc. Every little bit helps.

I have to get ready now and head out to work, those tickets don't tear themselves, haha. So many famous people are down here recently, and adding to the list I will include: Ty Pennington filming his TV show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Julia Roberts, Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, and George W. Bush. Very exciting stuff is always happening! So let's find out what it is today...

I'm Going to Disneyworld!

2006-02-06T22:09:00.000-08:00

And they really do too! For those of us that watched the Superbowl 40 (mainly for the commercials and hideously bad half-time show) this line is from the farmiliar Disney advertisment that aired during the game, showing players on the winning team declaring their pilgrimage plans for Disneyworld right after winning the big game. I didn't think that they always did, but they must because they were here today! I went to Epcot and the Magic Kingdom today with my friends Holly A., Ryan N., and Joe R. to play in the parks. When we entered the Magic Kingdom everyone was waiting for the parade start, except before the parade today was a special pre-parade for the Superbowl MVP and the other guy. We watched as red, white and blue streamer cannons burst open and a marching band came down Mainstreet, USA. All of the farmiliar Disney characters were there, but in their sporting attire. Then, with hundreds of Steeler fans screaming at the tops of their lungs, down rode the three players and their families in true Disney style. Such an exciting thing to see and I'm glad that I was able to be a part of it.

So, anyway, that was the most exciting event of today. I spent the entire rest of the day playing in teh parks and riding all the fun rides, thanks to my Brazillian friends for giving me fastpasses. That made the day so much nicer...

I met my new roommate today. His name is Mike and I sort of already knew him from around. I'm glad it was him though because it's someone that I know and will be able to trust. I was very worried that I might get some kleptomaniac or something. This is my first roommate experience, being down here, so all of this is new to me. Coming from a private room in college to a four person apartment in Orlando, Florida is quite a change. But I've been very lucky and very fortunate with the roommates I have. I get along well with all of them, as they do with me, and we're friends too, which makes it even easier. However I do miss my ex-roommate Yago, who left this past Thursday due to the ending of his program. The International program has been winding down, so my Brazillian friends have been leaving for the past three weeks and will all be gone by this Friday. My remaining Brazillian roommate, Fernando, leaves this Friday. Very sad. When Yago left the apartment was very empty. But now things are all coming back around and I'm making American friends. Everyone is nice and awesome here, so friends are easy to come by, I'm thankful for that. But I wish Yago and Theresa teh best. They flew to NYC on Friday for a week in the city before heading back to their home country. I hope they enjoy it and have the best time, as I'm sure that they will.

I think this is all I'll post for now. I want to thank my readers out there, my friends who care enough about me to read about my life and see how I'm doing. I love to hear that you're reading my blog and what you think, so send me a message sometime. I wish you all the best and I'll write again soon!

A Much Needed Update

2006-01-24T09:28:00.000-08:00

So much has happened over the past few days that I've wanted to post, but my inherent sense of laziness mixed with my bad habit of procrastination has kept me from doing so. But I've finally found the time and effort to post! So here goes:

The past few days here in Orlando have bene great. I love this place even more every day. I had Sunday and Monday off, so I was able to explore more and I enjoyed that. On Sunday I went into Disney's Animal Kingdom to ride the new roller coaster Expedition Everest. I had never been to Animal Kingdom before, so it was a good experience all together. But my main reason for going was to ride Expedition Everest! AH! Such a good roller coaster! It doesn't open to the public until April, but they had a special cast member only preview this past weekend, one of the many perks of working for Disney! And let me tell you, it's great! The storyline behind the ride is this: An old abandoned railway through the Himilayas has been reopened for transportation. However, the locals warn of the dangers and urge you not to ride because of the Yetti: the protector of the "snowy regions." But of course, you do ride. And it's great! The special thing about this roller coaster is that you go backwards as well. Very much fun, but I don't want to give too much away. You can see pictures of the ride and my visit to Animal Kingdom on my Webshots page.

So after I got back from Expedition Everest, I just laid around and was lazy for a while, something I haven't gotten to do too much of recently. Later Sunday night I went to Downtown Disney and Pleasure Island with some friends. Always a fun place to go. I got a couple of CD's at the Virgin Mega store and went shopping in the Cirque du Soleil store. When I got back at 2 a.m. I immediately fell asleep. Good times.

Yesterday, Monday, was another sort of lazy day. I cooked, which I like to do when I have the time, and did some house chores. Then later on I went with Yago to a Brazilian strip mall type of thing. There was a grocery, restaurant, nightclub, and electronics store all owned by Brazilians. It was very cool, like a little Brazil. But they all spoke Portugese. Yago bought a bunch of Brazilian food from the grocery and I tried a new soda from Brazil called Guarana. Guarana is a cherry type fruit indigenous to Brazil whilch they have a soda flavoured from. It's wonderful! So I'll probably be going back there in the future to get more Guarana. And that was pretty much all I did yesterday. Nice to relax every now and then. Essential too, especially when you're living in a resort area! But today I have work, from 2:30 until 8:30. Not too bad, so I'm happy with it. Maybe I'll go out tonight, who knows? Some of my friends had mentioned something about a movie...we'll see I guess. But now I've got to get ready so I can catch the bus and get to work. Off to Disney-MGM!

Exploring Orlando

2006-01-18T17:13:00.000-08:00

First of all, I would like to start this blog by just saying that I have an awesome roommate, Yago. I like all of my roommates, but Yago is really cool. I've been hanging out and running around with him and his friends recently here in Orlando, and they're all very nice and extremely friendly in welcoming me into the Walt Disney College Program. So I thank them for that and I am glad to have friends like this here in Orlando. We're all in the same boat here, so everyone is friendly and easy to get along with. A true and good community has been formed here. We all work, live and play at Disney. We're all connected as Disney cast members. Interesting how such a simple job can connect people on such a level. At ETSU people weren't connected like this, but were more woven into the school then we are into the work here. Maybe ETSU was just an awful and depressing place? I would think so. I thought so then and my time here is only serving to confirm this. Great things do lie ahead and life gets better, always! As unhappy as I was being at ETSU, I am very happy to be here. This is a good place for me, as good place for anyone at that! I would reccomend the Walt Disney World College Program to anyone in college! Check out their website and attend a meeting if they come to your school and do this! It's completely worth it.

I am an official park greeter now, able to remove my "Earining My Ears" banner and work as a normal cast member. So that's just what I did on Monday: work. My first full day without all of the training stuff stuck in between. The first day I haven't had to sign a million different forms and papers as well. It went by relatively quickly, but the smell of food in the park always makes me hungry. I think it's the mammoth turkey legs they sell...
Anyway, Monday night after work, I was invited by Yago to go to a birthday party of one of his friends (who I had sort of met the night before). Having nothing else to do, and knowing that I had Tuesday and Wednesday off, I went along. After cake and conversation we left to go to Club Paris, a club in downtown Orlando owned or sponsored by Paris Hilton. It was closed on Mondays though, so we went to another club there called BB. We didn't like it much. It was like European MTV, and that stuff is insane. Fun to watch, but not because you like it, but rather like one must watch a burning building. You just stare. So once we realized that we didn't care for the joint, we left en route for Pleasure Island at Disney. Pleasure Island is a part of Downtown Disney that has like four or five different night clubs and is meant for nightlife. So we went there (because, as cast members, we get in free) and had fun until around 2 a.m. Fun times. At two, when the clubs close, the security people come out with whistle and yell to chase all the drunk people away who have now taken the party out into the street. Fun to watch if nothing else! So this was my Monday night. Lot's of fun, lot's of wildness. And hopefully to be repeated soon...

Today I went to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure with Yago and Theresa, both from Brazil. It was a lot of fun, Universal Studios always is. We started the day in Islands of Adventure and worked our way over to the Studios. They have a new ride in the Studios: The Curse of the Mummy. It was very awesome. But they replaced King Kong with it! Who does that!? King Kong was a Universal Studios classic, you can't get rid of classics! But they did, and as much as the new ride rocks, I miss the old King Kong ride. I think it was called Konfrontation. Otehr changes included a Shred 4-D ride and a new Nicktoon ride where the Hannah-Barbara ride used to be. OH! And the Jaws ride was closed to! UGH! Ah well, at least we didn't have to wait in the lines very long. That was nice. So after a long day of having fun I've come back to my humble apartment to spend a lazy evening before going into work tomorrow. I have to be there at noon everyday this week, so that's nice. I like working evenings I think. It gives me time to go out at night and sleep in in the mornings. Maybe I'll go to Pleasure Island tomorrow night....who knows? I never know from day to day what I'll be doing, but I like it that way and it's a good place for me right now.

Another Day

2006-01-14T18:02:00.000-08:00

On my second day of training, which was today, I learned entrance procedures for Disney-MGM studios. A lot of fun. I had to be there at 8 a.m., which meant that I woke up at 5:30 a.m. to catch the bus and get there in time. Today was an unordinarily cold day in Orlando. The high was in the fifties but wind chill made it at most 35 degrees farenheit. Work isn't bad at all. You just smile and greet guests, answer questions and give directions. A very fun job. Time goes by quickly and it's such a fun place to be. I'm in DISNEYWORLD! AH!

And when I say that I'm in Disneyworld, I mean that I'm in Disneyworld. I truly am living in the park. Sure I sleep in my apartment a mile or so away, but I really do spend a lot of time eating, working, shopping and playing the parks. I have my car here and can go anywhere in Orlando, maybe I'll utiliaze that in the future. But for now I'm content using my free admission into the parks for leisure. After work today at four p.m. I walked over to Epcot for dinner. I went to France in the world showcase and ate at Chefs de France. I loved it because I was able to speak French to the people who all are from there. So much fun! Then I went to Japan and bout candy! I have to say that japan makes the best novelty candies (i.e. hard candies, suckers, etc.) of any country. They're so original. I bought two bags of hard losenge type things, one is soda flavored (the best candy EVER! It always makes my trips to Disney worthwhile!) and the other is a mix bag of drinks (latte, orange drink, and some other stuff I can't read because I don't know Japanese). I also got a sushi tray, little candies made like sushi! HOW CREATIVE AND FUN! I haven't tried that yet though, but I must tomorrow.

Today was the last day of filming for the sydicated t.v. show Who Wants to be A Millionaire at Disney-MGM. They have an attraction for teh show in the park and film a bunch of episodes on it every so often with Merideth Vieriea or w/e - whoever the hell she is. AND NEXT WEEK! I get to be one of the first people to ride Expedition Everest, Disney's newest roller coaster in Animal Kingdon!!! SO EXCITING! Cast memebers are given an opportunity to ride the ride before it's opened to the public! It seems like an awesome roller coaster, so I'll let you know how that is after I've ridden it! But now I must go to bed so that I'll be able to get up again at 5:30 a.m. tomorrow. I can hear Illuminations going off over Epcot in the background! So much fun here!

Earning My Ears

2006-01-13T19:17:00.000-08:00

Today was my first day of on-the-job training as a park greeter for Disney-MGM Studios. I am being trained under Chuck, a little old man who has worked there for years and is knowledgable about everyting in the park. If I don't know it, Chuck will. So I went in this afternoon at 12ish (which was very nice considering that I have been having to wake at around 5 a.m., and will have to do so tomorrow as well) and met my trainer. I had a sticker banner put on my nametag that says "Earning My Ears," then took another walking tour around the park. After a lunch break I started being trained on the gates doing "exits." I pretty much just stood at the gates and wished people a good afternoon and made sure that nobody took out park strollers, park wheelchairs, park EVC's, or alcohol-we wouldn't want Disney to lose their liqour lisence! Then after a while at this I took my last break of the day. To finish up the night I wished a few more people goodbye, coverd the turnstiles, and waited to be cleard for leave at 9 p.m. And I get paid for this! Tomorrow I will be learning entrance procedures and early entrance. Park guests staying in resorts can get into parks an hour early and stay an hour late on certain mornings and nights - Extra Magic Hours. Tomorrow is the early day for Disney-MGM, so that's why I have to be up so early. I learned that I will probably be working nights for a while after my training ends, so I'm pleased with that. Although I wouldn't mind mornings as long as it stays consistent and I'm able to get ample sleep. But I obviously won't be tonight! But that's ok, it's just tonight and I got to sleep late this morning.

So that's what I've been up to recently. I don't know how much news you watch, but if you've been watching Headlines you're sure to have seen Orlando in it quite a bit recently. JUST TODAY a school shooting happened in an area school where an eigth grader brought a gun to school and was holding a kid hostage while in the pan handle of the state TORNANDOES have been seen. And earlier a bank robbery and hostage situation happened nearby! So in my first week in Orlando a bank robbery, school shooting, and numerous tornadoes have happened. CRAZY! I rarely saw this area on CNN before, but recently it's been quite prevailent. Very interesteing. But even so, I still love it down here. We're supposed to get a cold front tomorrow with some really cool weather. I'm not sure what that will entail. I haven't been homesick yet, and I'm wondering if I will be? Maybe, maybe not, since I became used to living on my own in college who knows? So far though I've been having a great time and meeting some really nice people. I hope it stays this way! So, as Tigger would say TTFN, tata for now!

In Orlando!

2006-01-11T16:41:00.000-08:00

WOW! So many things have happened. So many good things! So much to tell, so I'll start at the begining:

On Saturday January 7th, I started my adventure by leaving Bluff City, Tennessee in my Oldsmobile (loaded to the brim with luggage) en route for Orlando, Florida and my internshipi with the Walt Disney World Company. So I started about 10 a.m. or so and drove and drove and drove. I stopped maybe twice and decided to quit around 6 p.m. because it had been eight hours and thought that I was a little over halfway there. So I stopped over in a little beach resort town called Palm Coast. One word describes this place: GORGEOUS! AH! Palm trees and town banners line the streets in the quaint little beach destination. It was gorgeous. In fact all of Florida is beautiful and Palm Coast was my first stop in the state to take it in. I ate at a Bob Evans and checked into a Sleep Inn, because Microtel wouldn't take me because I wasn't twenty-one. But everything was good when I realized that my room was bigger and nicer at the Sleep Inn than it would have been at the Microtel.

The next morning I woke up around 8 a.m. and was back on the road by 10. I had been told that it takes twelve hours to get into Orlando, so I was expecting a four hour drive on this morning. However, I was grossly mistaken. It only takes nine hours to get from Bluff City to Orlando! So after about an hour or less drive through Daytona I arrive in Orlando and am exiting the interstate on my exit in Buena Vista, FL. So this was around 11 a.m. and I had nothing to do. I called around and got a hotel room in the area - the cheapest, nice one I could find (which wasn't cheap, and I have AAA!) But even then hotel check-in time isn't until 3 p.m., so I had a long lunch at the Olive Garden and found where I would be checking in the next day. Then I decided to go see if I could check in, and to my releif, I could. So that night I pretty much just watched T.V. and slept at the Comfort Inn Resort to prepare for the next day.

MONDAY! Check in day! On this day I finally began my Disney experience! So I got up around 7 a.m. and arrived at my check in and registration area - Vista Way Apartments - at around 8. From this experience I can truly say that Disney is a well oiled, extremely efficient machine. There were maybe 200-300 of us (college program students) checking in on this day, but I got through all of the registration rather quickly. First you fill out all sorts of forms and recieve your very important resource guide. Then you follow a blue line through a maze of registration tables and booths (very Disney) where you're assigned housing, take care of payroll stuff, are check for the "Disney Look," and much, much more. All in all it took me about two and a half hours or so to get through it all. But trust me - that's not bad at all. Whenever the majority of people start arriving later this month it could take up to 4 or 5 hours! CRAZY! So after I finished with this I was able to go and unpack before my housing meeting later that day. I was assigned to Chatham Square, room 16308. I have 3 roommates: two brazillians, Yago and Fernando, and an American that I don't know much about except that he's kind of strange.... I get along well with him, it's just that I try not to have contact if I odn't have to. But my other two roommates are really cool. I met Yago first on this day, he was the only one awake, having just returned from work himself. So I unpacked my stuff until 3 p.m. when my housing meeting was scheduled. I walked over to The Commons (another housing complex where the meeting was held) and couldn't help but just be taken in by my situation! I WAS IN ORLANDO! I'm walking on palm tree lined streets with warm winds blowing around! Such a wonderful atmosphere! Plus DISNEY! And they spare no expense - even for their employees. I sat through the meeting that lasted about two and a half hours where they went over all of the property guidlines and stuff like that. Kind of boring, but the presenters tried to make it as entertaining as possible in the Disney fashion. MAGIC! After this was over, I walked back to my apartment where I continued to unpack and then went to Wal-Mart when I realized that I had no food. But now I do, so that's all good. After this I just unpacked more and slept.
Tuesday was day two of registration where we just filled out some more forms and found out where we would be working. I'm officially a park greeter for Disney-MGM Studios! And with my Old Hollywood phase recently, I'm very happy to be there! On this day I was also given a Traditions time and more information on my work times, etc. After finishing my second day of registration I headed back to my room where I met another of my roommates: Fernando. He had been asleep when I first arrived and then had work when I was back that night, so this was the first time I'd met him. He said that he and some of his friends were going out and asked if I wanted to go to which I replied YES! I had been too caught up in work and unpacking that I needed to get out and explore Orlando. So I went with Fernando and a bunch of other interns (mainly from Brasil) to the Florida Mall where we spent the afternoon. Very fun, and all of those kida are really awesome. We're all in the same boat here, so it's easy to get along - a community feeling that was so seriously lacking at ETSU. And what I've been craving. Later on I was invited to go to Downtown Disney with them but said no because I had to sleep to get up early for my Traditions class.

And that brings me to today! Wednesday! This morning I woke up at 5 a.m.! AH! To get ready for my Traditions class which began at 7, but the bus left at 6, and you do not want to miss the bus (a charter buck by-the-way). So, for those who don't know, Traditions is the Disney welcome class where you FILL OUT MORE FORMS and learn all about Disney History, Sexual Harrassment, How to Treat Guests, and much, much more fun stuff. In fact, the class was FIVE HOURS of fun stuff! But the upside of today was that I recieved my official Disney Pin and Employee Card. Now I have the ability to get into ANY PARK, ANYTIME FOR FREE! WOOOHOOO! So at 12 p.m. after the class, I came back to my apartment, changed out of my "Disney Look" clothes and hopped onto the bus for the Magic Kindom (or rather the TTC to catch the monorail and ride it in). So I spent a few hours of the afternoon in the Magic Kingdom! And a few hours was all it took today. I litterally stepped onto every ride! Including Space Mountain - which ROCKS! The population here at Disney is low right now and it's the best time to visit the parks. I plan on going out again tomorrow evening as well after my employee tour of the Disney-MGM studios. No lines, I plan on taking advantage of this. After my Magic Kindom excursion I came back to the apartment where I made spaghetti and watched a bit of television before getting online to post this. Tomorrow I have a tour of the Studios and I should be starting work on Friday. Exciting stuff! And much more fun to come!

Orlando or Bust

2006-01-05T16:58:00.000-08:00

This Saturday morning I will be leaving for my internship at Disneyworld in Orlando, Florida! I will be unhooking my computer tomorrow to pack it up, so tonight will be my last post until I get down there. I cannot wait! I'll be driving for about 6-7 hours on Saturday, then stopping over somewhere to sleep, driving the rest of the way on Sunday, staying in a hotel again that night, and finally checking into my apartment on Monday morning. I haven't really started packing yet, I'm the worst procrastinator I know. But tomorrow I have all day to do just that. I'm not going to take as much with me as I took to college - just the basics this time. Clothes, TV, computer, and other stuff.
I'll post again as soon as I get there and have my internet working, but now I'm going to go and watch Will & Grace. I can't wait!

Happy New Years!

2005-12-31T15:49:00.000-08:00

Tonight is officially the last night of '05, a time we look back on what the year has beheld. OR get drunk. Actually tonight is the most dangerous night to drive because of all of the drunk drivers, or "buzzed drivers" as the term is this year. So if anyone is out driving, be careful and safe! I remember on New Years Eve 2000 I was in Gatlinburg and a drunk driver ran into an electricity pole, causing the power to go out all the way down the strip. That was interesting... I'll be staying in tonight to watch the ball drop from my favorite place in the world: New York! I cannot wait to get back up there, hopefully this summer. A friend of mine is moving to Queens in February and has invited me to stay with her if I want to come up. I may just take her up on this offer.

So I leave for Orlando this Friday, and I've been randomly packing for it since Wednesday. I still need to take care of some stuff with ETSU, that crap hole, and then I'm off. I really need this break, and I'm so happy that I'll be working at Disney for five months. This will be the longest time and furthest distance I've ever been from my parents. I'm actually looking forward to that too. If there's one thing I did learn from my one semester at ETSU it's that I'm a very independant person. And going to a school that's 30 minutes away, although did allow for my independance, was still too close to home. I look forward to meeting new people with different outlooks in Orlando, not the hickville dispositions everyone has around here. A new surrounding. That's what I need and what I'll be getting! And I will bet that I won't ever want to come back here. I hope I get into UMd for fall '06 so I won't have to.

On a side note: I recently got the song Photograph by Nickleback and I have one question: WHY DO PEOPLE LIKE NICKLEBACK!? I had heard the song before on some commercial, but just realized how bad it is. The singer sounds like he's trying to releive hisself but is constipated - no joke. That's what he sounds like through the whole song. Now when I listen to it I laugh because of this. Nobody sings like this! NOBODY! He's just a washed up star trying to sound uber rocker. It doesn't work. And I have to delete that song from my iPod soon...

So everyong be careful tonight, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The Producers

2005-12-29T04:44:00.000-08:00

One of the greatest films of the year opened this weekend. It was the musical version of Mel Brooks' The Producers. Contrary to all of the negative reviews that this movie has recieved, the film is extremely likeable and very, VERY fun. It makes me sad to think that todays critics don't have the ability or mind to appreciate something good. Of course you have to go into this movie with a certain mindset to understand it anyway, especially if you're critiquing it. But what the closed minded reviewers didn't take into account was how much the audience still loves slap stick comedy. Slap stick hasn't been seen on screen for quite some time now, but The Producers has changed this. Slap stick is trademark of a Mel Brooks film, and, judging by the audience reactions I've seen, is still in high demand. I've seen this movie twice already, and both times I saw it the audience laughed OUT LOUD and hard consistently throughout the film. It has been a long, long time since I've seen an audience react so well to a movie. This is a good thing. And the movie itself is wonderful! With todays crappy stage to screen musicals (i.e. The Phantom of the Opera, Rent) I am happy to see something worthwhile come along. The Producers obviously had clear direction and made sense all the time, which highly depends on the style in which it is made. So I commend both Stroman and Brooks on this. Very wonderful. As for Broderick and Lane, I felt that their performances were always top notch and never did I get the feeling that they were in autopilot from having done the roles so many times, as reviewers have said. One must understand that both Lane and Broderick were creating their own versions of their characters while keeping in mind the originals from Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder. And one other actor to be mentioned would be Gary Beach who was utterly AMAZING! The whole cast was amazing and perfectly cast. So anyone who has anything bad to say about this movie obviously doesn't know what they're talking about and will be proven wrong when it does well at the box office. So that's all I have to say about that.

Anyway, my holidays have been great and I'm looking forward to leaving in January for Disneyworld. Expect many posts from my experiences there! But I must be off for now, so until next time! GO SEE THE PRODUCERS: THE MOVIE MUSICAL!

Glorious Fall!

2005-10-23T01:41:00.000-07:00

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

2005-10-21T05:25:00.000-07:00

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....

2005-10-11T17:11:00.000-07:00

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

2005-10-01T22:17:00.000-07:00

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.

Issues with Communication

2005-09-28T16:21:00.000-07:00

Communication between friends is so very, very important. This is something everyone should remember. Lack thereof always results in something awful, many times the end of a relationship with another. So it has happened to me. Thankfully, I am not the one who isn't communicating, but rather the one not being communicated to. And it doesn't feel good. This "friend," whom I almost want to call an ex-friend but won't merely because I hate the word, has some issues she needs to work out if she wants to stay connected with me at all. I really don't have the time or effort to continually put up with her problems. And it's not just the problems of a normal friendship, she causes them. So I am distancing myself from her, something I vowed I would do from many a friend that was bringing me down. And this is what she's doing. So please, for the sake of all that is enjoyable, communicate with those friends you want to keep. It's something valuable. If something bothers you, tell them so. If you need something, tell them. They will more than likely accomodate your request until you really hurt them. Then it may be unrepairable. So just communicate.

ANYWAY! On with my life. Thankfully, especially in the wake of this, I have found new friends on campus. I was at first having a hard time doing so because of two reasons. One, I generally hate people from this area, and two, I only like theatre people if they're serious about the business (which no one here is) otherwise there is a conflict of interest. So, luckily for me I have found friendship in for French people: Delphine, Odail, Auré, and Clement, Two Germans: Tabea and Stephani, and a Palestinian: Fifi. So yay! Now I can speak and practice my French language as well my friendship with these people. And they are so very nice. Just this past weekend we all attended a showing of The Scarlet Pimpernel at the Barter in Abingdon. Tabea and Stephani won the "far away first timer" prize. Very much fun. And this is good for me. Very good.

I was interviewed the previous day for an internship at Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL. I do hope that I get offered a job. If so, it would take me away to Orlando for the months of January through June. That would be wonderful. But who knows? I should find out in a couple of weeks or so. And the NYC trip is starting to become a more pressing issue. I actually just got off the phone with the bus company - at which the lady always calls me Chris - to try and get our quote, which they don't have yet. Of course they wouldn't. With the meeting tomorrow, I'm in a rush to get things settled. And I have yet to pick the third show. I'm hoping that Jerry Springer: the Opera makes it to B'way so we can go see that. But I can't wait too long or I wont be able to get good seats for anything! So who knows. We'll just wait and see what happens.

A Few Day 'Till Equinox...

2005-09-17T00:15:00.000-07:00

...And my sinuses are going to kill me! Anytime there is a seasonal change, like clockwork, my sinuses flare up and bite me! I hate it! And I really do believe it is the area that I'm in. This wouldn't happen in all climate conditions. Or at least that's what I think....

Anyway...lately I've been enraptured in college - going to classes, all the reading, etc. etc. I went to the first meeting of Patchwork Players this past Thursday night. Patchwork is the student ran theatre organization here on campus. I'm hoping to get involved there, but from the initial meeting it seems it might be a waste of my time and effort, so I'm considering not going back. Also, I'm planning the NYC trip for Abingdon High's "drama dept" (as dubbed by moi) again. Plus, for this halloween, I'm working at a haunted house!!! This I'm very excited about! I get (a little) compensation for my talents, but when you're scaring people in a creepy mansion, who cares? There is something about haunted houses that I love, always have and always will. I love a good scare, it's healthy. So this haunted house, called Krone House, will be at the Thunder Valley Campground beside of Bristol Motor Speedway throughout the month of October, and everyone reading this sould come. It's better than the average jump-and-say-boo walk. I think you'll see what I mean when you come. For more infor visit: http://www.kronehouse.net

Last weekend I went to the Barter with Ryan Cury and Jenna Melgar to see the opening of The Scarlet Pimpernel which is AMAZING! I urge everyone to go see this show, it's one of Barter's best. The best I've seen since Falsettos a few years back. The reason I love it so much is because the music serves a purpose, it isn't frivilous or haphazzardly shoved in in an akward spot. This is characteristic of all of Frank Wildhorn's work, the composer. All of his show's are great. They're smart, make sense, and can purvey a sense of darkness even when you're laughing. I urgered and begged Mrs. Payne, my high school coral director, to do Jekyll & Hyde for our spring chorus musical one year, and of course she never did. Instead we were stuck with the unimportant fluff of Rodgers and Hammerstein or Irving Berlin! This was because nobody wanted to do it, mainly nobody knew what it was. And not many people have the mental capabilities to like and understand Wildhorn's shows (as with Sondheim, JRB, and many other geniuses of musical theatre.) At least not without seeing them on stage first. And then they STILL may not like them. I've come to the conclusion of why this is so: people (the majority) in this area don't like to think when they go to the theatre. They would rather see pretty sets and costumes, maniacal, jittery dances, and listen to farmiliar, catchy songs that rhyme. If you see a show by Sondheim, or Wildhorn, or JRB you have to listen to the music and get the story from it. You have to think about what is happening, it faces true issues in society and uses such props as symbolism and the human condition to tell its story. They have meaning and life. A purpose. And most of the time when people see these shows, and aren't the illiterate nincompoops that hear "Tomorrow, Tomorrow" and smile, they like them. They leave the theatre with a different idea or perspective on something. The reason people don't like musical theatre is because of the fluff like Rodgers and Hammerstein. It makes no sense and is frivilous garbage except to show the history of musical theatre. We have come a long way since Oklahoma!, so why do we have to keep going back there? I just get so sick and tired of people saying that they hate shows by geniuses like Sondheim and Wildhorn. They obviously know very little about theatre and are very simple minded to think poorly of one of these masterpieces. They are the people setting the cornerstone to the future of musical theatre. People should embrace it and learn to like it because there's much more where it came from.

Look! On the horizon...It's...ETSU!

2005-08-22T22:27:00.000-07:00

What emotion can I use to describe the onset of college this Thursday? I'm excited, nervous, depressed, relieved, and worried at the same time. Of course my slight depression does come from another reason: all of my friends are either gone or back in school. My best friend Ryan Cury returned to high school last Wednesday for his senior year. We spent so much time togetehr this summer doing the most fun things and now it has come to an end. No more late nights out. AND I'm moving to Johnson City so that eliminates seeing him on a regular basis. All of my otehr high school friends are going away to college too, and so the recent days are spent packing and preparing, so I haven't been able to see them and probably won't for a while, maybe even never again. That might be a good thing though. Totally submerging myself with a new group of people. But there are friendships here I want to keep, and will, like that with Ryan. But some of them I think I need to get rid of for my growth and overall health!
But moving out into my own place will be a fun adventure. I have a private dorm and bought a french press coffee maker. Combined with my P.C. and high speed internet access I'm all set ofr a nice year! But the the classes...ugh! I'm sure it will be much better than I'm giving it credit, but I'm going in blindly at the moment. So we'll see in a few weeks how classes are and if I like them or not. My two fun classes are stagecraft and theatre lab, which is basically just bitch work for the theatre departement. But that's just fine with me 'cause it's what I love to do. I plan on making my dorm wonderful! I got a new T.V. as well, but I'm not sure I'll be watching it that much, except on weekends.
The clock keeps ticking and I'm getting more nervous and excited as the time draws near. So much anticipation mixed with curiosity makes for weird emotions, I think. So we'll see how the future falls into place and what becomes of my freshman year. I look forward to a prosperous time!

I'm Wearing Someone Else's Clothes...

2005-07-13T21:48:00.000-07:00

...And I'm feeling better! So goes the lyrics to a song on Jason Robert Brown's new solo CD Wearing Somone Else's Clothes. An AMAZING new CD filled with the witty and vibrant lyrics of Jason Robert Brown with rocking jazz accompaniment that I purchased last night AT HIS CONCERT! PEOPLE! I cannot begin to describe this awesome theatrical event that I was so privelleged to witness last night! Jason Robert Brown kindly came down to The Barter Theatre here in Abingdon, VA for a concert to promote his new CD and to celebrate his show The Last Five Years which is now playing at Barter's Stage 2 (and is an amazing show in itself)! So my friend Ryan Cury and I got second row center seats last week and are now VERY glad we did!

So he came down and last night he did an amazing concert (sans Caucasian Rythym). He also brought his friend Jen Colella, star of Broadway's Urban Cowboy, with him to do the duo songs. She was equally amazing as well! Currently she's working on a musical about Johnny Cash called Ring of Fire as well as a new project with Twyla Tharp, creator of Movin' Out, about the music of Bob Dylan which will be opening at The Globe in San Fran later on. AWESOME! I will definitely have to catch her in the Bob Dylan project later on. If it's anything like Movin' Out it is bound to rock!

But about the concert...JRB was as great as I expected. His talents abound with singing and playing the piano. I list him in the greats among Sondheim. His music is so true and he uses it as a tool by which he tells the stories through -- that kind of music akes for good theatre. Otherwise it's fluff. His sound is catchy and honest. Listening to his songs, I couldn't help wonder: How much of his music is based on his true life? Because the lyrics in his songs are so stirring and interesting. Many artists base their works on life experiences, and if this is the case with JRB, I would love to read his autobiography if he ever writes one. This concert was all that I expected and then some, well WELL worth the $20 I paid for it. Both of the performers soooo talented and two of the nicest people on earth - especially Jen. After the show I was able to semi meet them. JRB signed my CD and I met Jen Colella. So much more casual at Barter than meeting the stars outside of the stage doors on b'way.

So I urge all people who like good music to go out and buy his new CD Wearing Someone Else's Clothes. It speaks to you on many levels and it's just plain good! Especially if you like his work as much as I do! You'll be glad you've got his great CD in your library.

I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change

2005-07-10T19:20:00.000-07:00

WOW! What a show it is! I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change is one of my top FAVORITE all-time shows EVER! I would bet that it would rank among the greats of musical history, as well it should! It's been running off-Broadways for years now and is still going strong. I saw a tour production of it come through the Barter Theatre a couple of years back and was awed by the wonderfulness of it all. Smart comedy with intelligent lyrics. Yum! The feast of a theatre go-er with good taste.
SO anyway, the reason I've been doting so heavily recently on this show that I on this show that I once saw is this: Theatre Bristol will be doing a production of it this season in 2006!!! JUST what I've been waiting for! I need to do a show like this to further my career and grow more. I will audition, I'm not sure what will happen - if anything. But I can always hope for the best. I may go and do a little schmoozing over there at their offices soon so that I may let it be known that I have interest in a part. I have done many shows through Theatre Bristol, and I do accredit it with my start in the business, the place where I really got serious and started to learn. However, as all actors do, I grew out of Theatre Bristol and their usual run-of-the-mill productions. Always the same boring stuff. But now they're doing this! Very cool. So I could use a production like this, and we'll see what happens casting wise. Who knows? I can only hope...
Other news includes the Jason Robert Brown concert here at Barter on Tuesday. I got second row seats to this sure to be amazing show. SO I'm very excited. I'll be sure to poost after seeing that. But I don't feel much like blogging anymore. I'm actually looking towards D.C. at the moment for a possible trip to see a friend newly returned form London....so I'm out for now.

The Big Apple

2005-06-17T18:13:00.000-07:00

Well! I got back home this morning after a whirlwind trip through NYC in three full days and viewing four shows! It was a BLAST! (as was expected) And everyone who went had an awesome, AMAZING time!

We left for the city on Monday night and got there at around one o'clock or so on Tuesday. We were able to go into our hotel, The Edison, right away and freshen up from our trip up. Some of the group then split up and went ahead to do their various activities around the city while the rest of teh group and I went to Rockefeller Center for sight-seeing and lunch. I re-visited St. Patricks Cathedral on 5th Avenue. It is really a breath-taking sight to see. The flying butresses, the stained glass windows, the statues of saints, and even just the grand scale of everything there... It is an impressionable feeling. But the fact of the gift shop in the place always bothers me a little. I feel like they're "selling Jesus." But I don't know. SO! After leaving the cathedral I browsed through some of the 5th Avenue shops: Banna Republic, Mexx, and H&M before going to the concourse at under the G.E. Building for lunch. There I ate two hefty slices of NYC, brick oven pizza over a bottle of San Pelligrino while watching the people out in the restaurant area (which serves as the ice rink in the winter) through the large glass windows. God I love New York! SO! At a set time I met with the rest of the group in front of the G.E. Building to head back to the hotel. There was a lady with NBC there handing out tickets to a taping of Last Call with Carson Daily. Some of the group went to that and said they had a blast. They saw the cast of the new Comedy Central show Stella and watched a performance by rap star Fat Joe. Ayway, I went back to the hotel with the rest of the group so I would have time to get ready for the show and enjoy Times Square. That night we all saw Dirty Rotten Scoundrels at the Imperial Theatre. I believe everyone truly enjoyed this show. And Norbert Leo-Butz's performance is one to be remembered by all! So after seeing this amazing show (my favorite) we retired to our hotel two blocks up and had a nice sleep considering the bus ride the night before.
The next morning I woke up and met the group in lobby at 9 a.m. to see everyone off to their daily plans. Since I had tickets to The Pillowman later that day, which I got myself, I decided to head down to the TriBeCa and Buisiness District areas. Since I was not as farmiliar with that area, it would give me a chance to explore and discover, even though I had stayed there before when I went on the chorus trip; we never saw the area in daylight so there was no exploration time. Anyway, my friend Meghan Kennedy - from Tennessee High School - decided to accompany me and hang out with me for the day, since I have her the other ticket that I had to The Pillowman. I originally got it for my friend Meghan Groves, but she was burned before the trip and ended up not being able to go with us. So I gave her Pillowman ticket to Meghan from THS. And we headed downtown on the red 1 train. We got off and ate breakfast at a cafe called Pecan where I had a cucumber and egg bagel with a grape juice. Yum. Then we walked around on Lafayette Street, going into Loftworks and Century 21. Good discount stores in the business district! At around 1:15 we took the train back to 42nd Street, had lunch at The Olive Garden, and then walked up to the Booth Theatre to see The Pillowman, which I did truly enjoy. Many people don't like it, for various reasons. I can see their reasons and agree, but at the same time, I really liked it. A very radical show. Dark. But it makes you laugh, even in the most greusome of circumstances. BUT after the show Meghan and I waited at the stage door, got ALL of the leads autographs AND had our pictures taken with Jeff Goldblum (Jurassic Park, The Life Aquatic...). Very cool. Later that night we met back with the rest of the group in the hotel lobby to make sure we were all there before heading out before seeing the show that night. Some more people from the group joined Meghan and I and we all headed uptown to Caprice Cafe on Columbus Avenue for dinner. They have really good food there, sort of a French/Deli infusion. I remembered it from having eaten there when I went up for my college auditions in the winter. However, we went up there kind of late and had to really hurry so that we could get back down to The Palace theatre before the show started. So after we finished our meal we bolted out the door and ran back to the subway station at Lincoln Center then ran to the theatre. We were only five or so minutes late, which didn't matter at all! We saw All Shook Up that night. It's fun and has good music. But that's all. I had seen it before with the chorus on that trip, but I wasn't worried about missing the first bit or so. After the show we had a meet and greet with the cast where we got to meet and ask questions. We spoke with Cheyenne Jackson, Jen Gambatesse and some other from the cast. Very fun and enjoyable. Then we all left for the hotel, but some of us decided to go out for a while. We went down to Greenwhich village and hung out at a cafe called French Roast until about 2 a.m. mainly because our service was so slow. But we finally got back to the hotel and slept in preparation for another day in NYC.
On Thursday, we all awoke kind of sad as we put our luggage into the holding room and left for our last day in the city. A buch of us went to Chinatown for the day where we bought fake stuff and laughed at bargaining with the Chinese people. We ate lunch at some cafe in Little Italy which was fun. Authentic Italian food I guess. But if that's so, I think I like the stereo-type Italian food better. Then around 12:30 Ryan Cury, Karen Hartshorn, and I took the subway uptown. Ryan and I had a meeting with Evalyn Baron and Karn was heading to the Metropolitain Museum of Art where we would meet her later. So Ryan and I left her at 42nd Street/ Grand Central Station where she continued uptown. We shuttled over to 42nd and Broadway then took the subway back down to 18th street. From there we walked three blocks or so and met Evalyn at 18 18th Street where CAP 21 is located, a place where she teaches theatre classes and serves on the board. Once we were all met and had taken a tour of the facilities, we went next door to the Cupcake Cafe and had the best cupcakes in the world! They make them all from scratch there: frosting and all, and they're all sooooooooo good. Each one adorned with a little flower on top. Then we all sat and talked of things theatre while we "cupcaked." It was an hour of very theraputic discussion. Evalyn is such a sweet, sweet, intelligent lady. Very much a mentor figure to me, someone I can look up to and be able to stay focused on my career by doing so. Her and her husband Peter have been doing very well since their return to their home in NYC. Evalyn has been doing many commercials and voice-overs and recently finished a reading workshop of a new play: Kiki, Baby which is broudway-bound. Peter just finished a performance of South Pacific at Carnegie Hall with Reba McIntyre and Brian Stokes Mitchell and is really getting into the NYC scene! AWESOME! Such nice people, I'm very privelleged to know them. So anyway, after our cupcake soiree Ryan and I said our goodbye's to Evalyn and headed back to the Met to meet Karen. Once there we explored for a bit. They currently have a really interesting exhibit on Coco Channel. Then we met Karen and went back to Rokefeller Plaza where she had to return something to J Crew. They had some problem with the subway so we ended up waiting 20 minutes or more on a train we never thought would come. BUt it did and we headed off. When we were leaving the subway station we noticed it was raining, so we ran into J Crew where Karen returned the item and then we had dinner at Manchu Wok in the concourse. By the time we left teh G.E. Building it had quit raining. I'm glad that we only had 30 minutes or so of rain the entire trip. It's always better when it's nice and sunny. We all walked to the hotel where we met the group and walked to the Shubert Theatre to see the SOLD OUT Spamalot starring Tim Curry, Sara Ramirez, and David Hyde-Peirce. Very awesome, very "big" right now. So after a thoroughly enjoying performance of watching rude frenchmen throwing cows, knights that say "ni!," and manservants beating coconuts together we walked back to the hotel to get our bags and head out on the bus.

The trip was so much fun and everyone had the best time ever! I'm glad I got to end my senior year having a blast in the greatest city on earth with my favorite people on it! It couldn't have been better and I thank all those who went and helped make it what it was. I'm a very lucky person.

NOTE TO EMILY SWAN: Don't bother leaving a message on here in your arrogance and jealousy. I didn't get mugged and we had an awesome time you stupid pig. I'm getting tired of deleting your rude, little, malicious, ignorant comments.

nyc05

2005-06-13T18:38:00.000-07:00

Well in about thirty minutes or so I will head on over to the Abingdon High School parking lot where I will board a bus and embark on a three day adventure in New York City. very exciting stuff and I have some of my best friends going to share the experience-which makes it all worthwhile.
Shows I will be viewing:
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
All Shook Up (again)
Monty Python's Spamalot
The Pillowman

It should be very exciting. And although the meet and greet didn't work out with Scoundrels I was able to get one last minute with the cast of All Shook Up. Not as popular as Scoundrels, but it will do. I've already seen the show before. It's fun, light, bouncy. Fluff, but Elvis so it deserves a little credit. The set is neat though, and there are some truly enjoyable moments. For a $20 ticket, I think it's well worth the price! You can't even get into Barter Theatre for that during the Virginia Highlands Festival! $40 for Singin' in the Rain!!! Not worth it by the way....

So I cannot wait! I still have some last minute things to do before I go: drop a letter in the mail. get some batteries for my digi cam...so I'd better get to it. Talk to everyone when I return! And do expect a lengthy, detailed post of my experience!

nyc05

Affirmation

2005-06-10T23:59:00.000-07:00

One thing that I hate is people who try to bring you down to their level or lower so that they can further themselves. Something that is, sadly, way too present in the artistic fields. Sure there are many, many great people out there, and I am not talking about them. However there are a few who are very crafty in the ways of seeking their successes. And I don't like it at all. Happily though, they usually don't succeed and maybe I won't have to put up with them for much longer if all goes according to plan.
Right now I am trying to distance myself from these people. I'm trying to distance myself from a lot of things. For instance: anyone who thinks that because they had the lead in a high school musical they are God. Or: anyone who is in a show at a professional theatre (without any lines, mind you) only becaues their mother is on the BOARD OF DIRECTORS and donates money to them! These are people I don't want to associate with. They will bring you down and are only in theatre for the means of socialization. They're not in it for the art. They like to be seen and talk about themselves. They are extremely VAIN and SUPERFICIAL people. Maybe they will go one to higher things, maybe they won't. Time will tell. But I, for one, do not believe theatre should be a social thing, for those true artists who keep it alive. Sure there is an "artistic community" and sure actors do hang out with other actors. BUT there is a difference in doing it TO socialize with those other actors and doing it because you LOVE IT. Those who do it because they love it are the true actors and will hopefully be the ones who succeede. You'll see them attending shows by themselves to see the show. Not to be seen seeing the show. The learn from all aspects. From working throughout the theatre and not just in the sole position of actor onstage. They know about technical details, business end stuff, and how a theatre breathes. This is the heart of a true actor. Someone who loves teh stage and fights to keep it going. The "social actor" does none of this. They're there for one thing only: to be seen. Sure they may have some talent sometimes, but that still doesn't cover up their superficial stench. It's so obvious who they are.
Sure the theatre requires you to work well with other people and form friendships; networking is what it's all about. BUT you need to get along with the other true actors out there. These social flakes will eventually die off. They'll either die in a drunken car crash or from lung cancer due to smoking starting at 15 years of age. I cannot nor will I ever be able to get along with these social idiots who you mainly find at community theatres (although not all of them are like this) and at every theatre function even when they're not invited and are awkwardly out of place. I know that they'll always be in the theatre. We'll never get rid of them. But hopefully they'll thin out in number as I progress and I'll meet true pros. I will no longer brag about another audition or show nor will I namedrop or gush over something theatrical that I'm doing. I am further more doing it solely for me and to further the arts in humantiy. That is my over all goal. Corny? Maybe. But I don't care. It's the grotto of a serious actor which is something I must become more of if I am to forever separate myself from these socialistic wannabe's and make something out of my carreer.
I do have friends, many friends whom I will keep. These friends I do not have to cut out because they're not like this. They either don't like theatre or have no aspirations there or are dead-set, hardcore, not-in-it-for-the-socialization actors, the kind of people I need to surround myself with. I will always love to talk about theatre. It's who I am. But I won't be doing it anymore to brag. That's just ridiculous. OH! And anyone who posts how much they'll be getting via paycheck for being a dancer really needs to realize how rude and arrogant that is. Maybe learn ettiquite?
So there you have it. If anyone was offended by this post: GET OVER IT. I'm being serious and honest here. I didn't mention names so I wouldn't hurt anyone. But you know who you are and what I think of you now. I could be wrong. But this is my opinion and guide henceforth. Thank you for making me realize it.

Anticipation

2005-06-03T00:53:00.000-07:00

Well well well. One full week until I make my pilgrimage to that mecca of theatre that we call New York City. The obvious seat of theatrical royalty, where all successes or failures are finitely detirmined. Such a rush to be going up there again this year, and to see such great theatre! Exciting stuff! So that's only one thing for me to anticipate in the coming weeks. The next is my annual Tony Awards party which I will be hosting this Sunday. So many of my theatre friends will gather with me and we'll have a great time doing what we love: being involved with theatre!

The Tony Awards should be exciting this year. I will be rooting for Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Monty Python's Spamalot, and The Pillowman which are all shows I'll be seeing in the big apple when I go this time. I'm also seeing All Shook Up which was undoubtedly snubbed by the American Theatre Wing for nominations this year. But I don't blame them. Such a loose story line and plot, it's really non-existant. And some of the lines are almost worse than the script for Brooklyn the Musical. Pathetic excuse for a Broadway show...

Anyway, The Light in the Piazza got quite a few nominations as well, the equivalent of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels actually. I bougt the CD for Piazza at B&N the other day. It's not bad at all. A little too operatic for me though, although some people love that stuff. So more power to them. I do like the unconnected feel of the lyrics and music though. It makes for more real theatre which I always do love. The show seems to be very stylized too, in that lush Italian sense, or so I guess from the Broadway.com video. My friend Evalyn fell in love with it when she saw it. And a message to her: I think you would be perfect in the mother role, after hearing it on the CD. Evalyn said that it brought back her feelings on West Side Story. I can see why. They're very similar in many aspects. I would guess that the writers did draw much inspiration from West Side Story.

I think I shall go now though and finish some more of the finalizing details on the NYC trip. I really can't wait! A week with my friends in the theatre district of the world! Heaven on Earth!

Always Look on the Bright Side of Life!

2005-05-16T19:36:00.000-07:00

That is the title of a hit song from the new Broadway musical Spamalot, which I am seeing this summer on my trip to NYC along with my friends accompanying. This show was bound to be a hit and is now sold out for months. 14 Tony Nominations! Only one nomination shy of The Producers. It still could beat The Producers in how many awards are actually won. Producers only won 13 of the 15 it was nominated for. So if Spamalot were to win all of its nomination categories, it would hold the record for the most Tony Awards in Broadway history. Highly unlikely though, even though this musical is wicked awesome! Spamalot's contenders are very worthy as well. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, which we're also seeing, is up for best musical as well as 10 more nominations, 11 total. It recently won the Drama League Award for best musical, so we'll see what happens at the Tony's. Anyway, I got the Spamalot CD in the mail today via Walmart.com. They have cheap CD's there, but only order online! Their in store selection is very sparse. This CD is AMAZING! I am loving the show already and I have yet to see it. Very catchy, very new, and VERY funny! I see why New Yorkers are eating it up, and the Python name helps too, I'm sure.
But anyway, we have a meeting on this NYC trip this Thursday and I'm only getting more and more excited with each day. I'm also seeing The Pillowman up there with Meghan Groves. It should be good too. Very interesting plot I think. It received 6 Tony noms, we'll see how it does. Doubt will be a hot rival though. I hope I get to see my good friend Evalyn Baron while I'm up there this time. I missed her when I was up there with chorus, so maybe we'll be able to meet her this time. Such a dear and very talented lady. One of my role models. Her husband Peter is doing a concert staging of South Pacific at Carnegie Hall with Reba McIntyre in June. It's before we get up there or I would have gone. Around June 6th, I believe it is.
So, enough of theatre talk. I'm looking for a new job right now. I have to get out of K-Mart. It's the portal to hell, I promise! I've applied at the Wildflower Bakery, but I don't know... If anyone has any suggestions, leave them in comment form on here please. Maybe I'll see if the Cafe at Barter needs anyone. I doubt it though.

The Baltimore Waltz

2005-05-12T20:49:00.000-07:00

Well kids, I've decided to start posting again. After a month or so hiatus, I'm returning to the blog scene, hopefully staying longer than last time, at least I'm going in with intentions to do so. Well I won't be filling you in on what has happened over the past "blackout" period. You can imagine whatever you want there. I'll pick up on this post at where I am now.

Last night, after a successful performance, The Baltimore Waltz closed. I was saddened by this because of how good it was on the last performance, not because it was over. You see, the first performance was really rough and teh tech rehearsal was barely indeiscernable as a show. But our second public performance proved to be awesome. It became so much better over 48 hours or so. It's remarkable how the theatre works like that. But I couldn't stop thinking of the fact that, if we were to have more performances, how wonderful we could have become. With only two shows and a rushed tech, not to mention very primative rehearsals before hand, we were never really given the chance to blossom. But we really became something by our last show. The cast was where I wanted them to be. The only things that could have improved were technical details, sound mainly. Ugh! Anywho, we really accomplished something. And I'm proud of it. And the show itself proved to be evry enjoyable for all those who came and saw it. And I thank the audience so much for their support. Every student and faculty member of AHS I thank you for your support of the arts in your school. To those students who came from THS: Thanks so much for supporting the arts in general. This event was something greater than a school event, it soared above school rivalries and served as a gathering for people to come together and enjoy something greater. I thank all of my friends who so generously gave up their time to come and sit through our experiment: Elizabeth O., Amber M., Claudia K., Trip C., Jannette, and the many others whose names evade me at teh moment! I thank you all! Karen H., dear girl, even gave me a rose. Such a sweet gesture, and it really means a lot. Anyway, I hope everyone enjoyed the show and took something special away from it. We did it! Again!

More on this to come later. I will share more in depth reflections about this great show that we did, but now "The Apprentice" is on and I DO NOT miss "The Apprentice!"
Bon soir, mes amis!

Nervousness About Fordham!

2005-03-14T19:11:00.000-08:00

Well dear readers, Annie Get Your Gun and all of that mess is finally over! Thank God! And I can resume a normal life. I really disliked that whole experience, it was too..."undercooked" for me I guess. I've came to realize that what I disliked most was the absence of a vision, an underlying reason, that tying purpose that all successful productions must have. There wasn't one here. In fact I don't think that the AHS musical has ever had one. No purpose. Why do it then? Well the answer to that is simple: do a school musical with a big cast and every parent, grand parent, relative, and friend of every cast member will pay eight bucks to see it! Why would someone do that? I have nooooo idea! They have nothing better to do maybe? Or perhaps they think they're showing support? Or maybe they enjoy having a redneck whooping contest during curtain calls to see which cast member has the most acquaintances in the audience? I would actually suggest the latter theory as the reason, but one never knows. I have so many complaints about high school theatre, but I'll let that be the last, for I'm through with it! That's right! Other than forensics Annie Get Your Gun was my last performance through AHS, and it was my final bow on the treads of the auditorium. There is the drama club play you could argue about being another project, but as I often stress, I try to distance that production from AHS and the idiotic ideas of theatre that exist there. I'm in it for the art. The drama club play will be art. It will be good. And that's all there is to say about that, besides come and see it! The Baltimore Waltz will be at Barter Theatre Stage Two May 10 and 11. Call the box office for more info and tickets should go on sale soon! 1.276.628.3991

I am about to go insane waiting for my acceptance/rejection letter from Fordham University in NYC. Oh goodness, how I want to be there! So badly in fact, I feel as if there aren't words to describe it! Such an AMAZING school! I had a friend, Jenna Melgar, who went to NYC this past weekend to look at colleges, on of which was Fordham. She went on Saturday and said that the attendance office was open, which isn't usual, but they were getting ready to send out the letters! This set me off on a dizzying fit unable to concentrate! AHHHHH! I need to be there. It is necessary! I know I am probably setting myself up for a complete let down, but I can't help it. The idea of being accepted there and attending school in NYC keeps me awake at night. The opportunities and open doors abound if such an event should take place. But with an acceptance rate of 50%, it's a toss-up! I really don't know what to think. I have to be accepted in both theatre and the school for the theatre department. So that leaves for double the chances of something going wrong. I do fit their criteria academically - barely. I'm relying on the fact that I'm coming from what is labeled as a "disadvantaged area" to really boost my standings and eligibility. I know that's bad but I don't care, I WANT TO GO THERE! Also, whenever I auditioned there back in January, I was the only male on the tour. Does that mean I was the only male auditionee there that day? Very likely actually. I don't think their theatre department is that sought after, except for me of of course. I seek it with every fiber of my being at the moment! I also heard from a girl who attends school there that they send out forty letters for the theatre dept. and of that forty twenty are accepted. Right at 50%. But then again, that's a very small number, so I don't know if I misunderstood or if it was incorrect information or what. But I hope my chances are high. I like to dream that they are.

But I need to quit going over statistics in my mind and let fate run its course. I know I do, I keep telling myself thus but can't seem to convince myself so. This self inflicted torture will not stop until I receive that envelope from Fordham and open it. With glee or sorrow, there will always be tomorrow. Pray for me, I'll keep you posted!

Acceptance

2005-03-02T15:07:00.000-08:00

This past Sunday I received a letter from Belmont University, or rather a package. I knew immediately that I had been accepted because we all know that those who are receive large envelopes and those who aren't receive small ones. There really isn't that much consolation with college rejection letters I suppose now examining. They don't even give you the benefit of hope if you were not accepted. They send you a small, cold envelope as to foretell you what's inside.

Anyway, that wasn't the case with me, thank God. I was lucky enough to be accepted and receive the grand package with details, literature on the college, and of course the deposit slip. Universities love those deposit slips. Anyway, I'm very excited about being accepted there and going to college in lovely Nashville beckons me with a happy calling, but my heart lies at Fordham and I don't hear from them until the first week of April or so!!! If I'm accepted to Fordham University I will go there in a heart beat. But it's such a toss up with that school. And the longer I wait to reply to Belmont, the more my chances of a good dormitory disappear. Ugh, the problems! I just hope I get accepted to Fordham sooooo much. Such and AWESOME school. And I think I need to be in NYC. It may just be in my head, a figment of my imagination, but I don't believe so. I have an internal metaphysical need to be in that city!

So in other news: Annie Get Your Gun opens at Abingdon High in a week and a half. DO NOT come and see it! It is the most horrible, embarrassing piece of theatre, if you can call it that, I've ever been involved in! I hate it. We'll see what happens I guess. I should have went with my gut instinct and not even auditioned back in January. Ah well.

Snow days are sooooooo nice and fun. We've had three this week, and I don't believe we'll be having anymore. We really haven't needed the past two, but I have enjoyed them so! They've been such a nice time for mental rest. Especially with the opening of this wretched show coming up ever so quickly. Now I must run though, I'm meeting Ryan Cury at the Cafe at Barter to run lines. We're supposed to have act two off book for a run through tonight. Supposed to. Hah!

Annie Get Your Gun, and shoot me in the head with it!

2005-02-15T21:45:00.000-08:00

That's exactly how I feel right now about this ridiculous excuse for a show! I'm getting extremely fed up with the directors and the way I'm being treated in rehearsals. And it will stop, or else I will take other action. I'm given no respect by the directors, no consideration and they treat me like I'm some sort of hooligan troublemaker! Anyone who knows me knows that this is the polar opposite of who I am and I'm getting really tired of this blasphemous treatment really quickly! With all that I have going on right now, I am giving this ridiculous excuse of a musical the majority of my effort. I have so many other priorities and projects happening simultaneously and I give most of my time and concentration on this stupid musical only to be treated like crap! I do not deserve this at ALL and am outraged! I have not been on the stage all my life to be treated like an ameture in a HIGH SCHOOL PERFORMANCE! Last year, the director treated another student like this. When he didn't make the show this year I guess they needed a replacement and I was there to be so. But unlike the other student, I won't stand for it. This will either stop aor my continuation in this project will. Not to sound too arrogant, but AHS is LUCKY to hav eme in this pathetic show when I have better opportunities elsewhere. Tomorrow I'll have a little talk with Madame Payne expressing my concern and my wishes for change. I deserve better, I know I do. But I truly doubt anything will happen. As much as I'll hate to cease my existence in the musical, and as much as I'll miss being with my friends there, I won't hesitate. I don't enoy making this show such a high priority only to be yelled at by the unsympathetic directors. And it won't phase me to walk out a day before opening! I'm not a quitter, I just don't deserve this and won't take it. I am not just beggining in this field. I understand where I'm at. I know how far I have to go and how little I've really come, but I'm very much ahead of where I'm being placed in Annie Get Your Gun right now!

So anyway, thanks for reading my rantings, I just had to get it off my chest. And yes I do feel better now. That's why I keep an online blog: to get rid of the things bothering me and recieve therapy via writing. This is something everyone can enjoy and I urge people to start a blog or onling journal or whatever. Just express yourself.

This week has been nothing but craziness with all that's going on, but I must confess that I LOVE it! It's what I live for: a busy schedule, no free time! It's an actors dream. My first competitive forensics match is this weekend in Marion. I hope I do well and go on. I want to go to state this year, and not just as an observer. But I should have gone last year. I was screwed over.

I got my hair cut today by the lovely Laura Altizer. She agreed to do hair and make-up for The Baltimore Waltz and I know she'll do a marvelous job! But she decided to experiment with styles for the show today using my hair! So I had a wonderful dapper dan/film noir style this afternoon. It was fun though. And I'm ver grateful to Laura for making our show beautiful, which she will do! And you be sure to come and see it too!

I ♥ Huckabees

2005-02-08T21:53:00.000-08:00

Well I just saw one of the most amazing films of the year that I must talk about. Through the Arts Array series at the Cinemall, I just saw I ♥ Huckabees. It was AMAZING! I love movies that are able to be funny yet intellectual and deep at the same time. That's something that's slightly hard to accomplish on fil I presume. And to add to it, the film had vey beautiful cinemaphotography. The pale, pastel colors, white and black, it all made for a remakable sight. This is the kind of movie I love. I'll add it to my list of recent great movies (in no particular order):
1) Garden State
2) Finding Neverland
3) I ♥ Huckabees
I know that there are more, and maybe they'll come to me later. But ah well....
The music for this movie was perfectly chosen too. Like Garden State. I must obtain the sound track ASAP. There's an excuse to go to Barnes & Nobel....

Well today was the first day of auditions for The Baltimore Waltz that didn't happen. We had two people scheduled to audition today, but come to find out that neither had prepared peices for audition. Luckily, we're having a second audition date on Thursday, so we'll just add them to it. I'm very excited about this production and really can't wait to dive in. I'm already skimming the surface with pre-production goodness. Mostly business stuff, set design, the initial idea. I've settled on going film noir/dectective mystery. Our website is now up http://www.thebaltimorewaltz.7p.com and I encorage all to visit it. AND COME SEE THE SHOW! SUPPORT THE ARTS! May 10th and 11th. Reserve tickets through Barter (628-3991), but they're not on sale yet. Stay tuned for sale date!

Now I sit here writing and listening to Act Two from Jerry Springer the Opera, which I must give highest honors to. I love this show! Just the idea of turning that white trash t.v. show into an opera, something associated with the rich, intelligent, upper-classes (although it doesn't have to be) makes me smile. And I cannot stop laughing from hearing Satan and Jesus' argument through an exceptional aria. "TALK TO THE STIGMATA!" "RAPED BY AN ANGEL, RAPED BY GOD! (referring to Mary)" Some might say that this show crosses boundaries and is unsuitable. But one must remember that's it's not to be taken seriously. It may present ideas and thoughts, but it's up to you, the audience, to decipher and make your own thoughts and ideas based on what is presented to you. Some people get so angry and offended from watching plays, but that proves that we've accoplished our goal. We've gotten people to start thinking. This only applies when a person has seen a show first. If they haven't seen a show, and start their outcries beforehand, I must say that that's called ignorance.

We'll I'll go now and play on the internet a bit before I must retire. I cannot stop thinking about Fordham now and how bad I want to get into that school! I love it. I have to be there, I need to be there. I felt a connection upon entering that amazing school and I must sustain it! So wish me luck, and I need your prayers...or meditations. Whatever it is that you, the reader, do. So good night.