A lot has happened in the past few weeks. I was sad to learn that I did not get cast in either of the two shows I auditioned for but I’m learning how things work and I think it is for the best. I wasn’t really passionate about either of the shows and I already have a lot going on and the plate is filling up. It’s about time – I was starting to watch movies without falling asleep in the first 20 minutes… definitely an indication that I have too much time on my hands. What is nice, however, is that the extra time has allowed me to explore the city, see some shows, work out more, and even take a dance class – I’m taking musical theatre dance… I know you wish you were a fly in the wall of that room. This weekend I got to head downtown … I ended up spending the day in Central Park and exploring the neighborhoods uptown. There was a great dog festival of some kind in the park that was hilarious to watch. I don’t think you can ever get enough of seeing dogs with shoes on all four paws or tiny hooded sweatshirts. Somehow I don’t think Leuven would fit in with that crowd. That night I saw a comedy show in the east village which was pretty good (especially for $5!). On Sunday I became a member of the Westchester county art society. I had been asked to work an event at the school library – basically pouring drinks at an art gallery opening. It was great – I ended up meeting a lot of artists and chatting it up with the locals (I even gave out my digits – to an older woman who wanted me to work for her at her next gallery opening) … not a bad way to make some quick cash, drink wine, and get cultured all at the same time!
I’m funny! Who knew?
Despite my initial disappointment with general auditions, I did, however, audition for the comedy troupe on campus, Lampoon, and was offered a spot in the troupe! This was really exciting for me – while I’ve done a lot of comedic improve with BIG (Baltimore Improv Group http://www.bigimprov.org/ ), I’ve never done sketch comedy (think SNL). Lampoon seems to be a combination of both. We actually had to submit a sketch for the audition, and since I have no experience in that, I was a little nervous about my first attempt at the writing gig. But I guess it worked – let’s all hope to god that my comedy writing improves or this could make for a very long year. Anyway, I meet with the troupe tomorrow night for the first time – more to come!
Getting Naked with the Bard…
Additionally, I have joined forces with three of my fellow first year theatre grad students to create a brand new theatre company on campus. The company is called The Shakespeare Naked and will involve two troupes – one all-male and one all-female. The troupes will practice separately – spending the rest of the first semester working to build and strengthen their work as an ensemble and finally choosing one Shakespearean play for both troupes to rehearse. The second semester will be spent rehearsing the two separate productions, which will be presented to the community in April. We are both working on the same play for a few reasons – one to explore the differences in the single-gender interpretations (obviously cross-dressing is involved as they did back when these plays were first presented), and also to allow us to play as one full company – mixing the casts by either a performance in which the audience decides who plays which character or some other idea like that.
I’m funny! Who knew?
Despite my initial disappointment with general auditions, I did, however, audition for the comedy troupe on campus, Lampoon, and was offered a spot in the troupe! This was really exciting for me – while I’ve done a lot of comedic improve with BIG (Baltimore Improv Group http://www.bigimprov.org/ ), I’ve never done sketch comedy (think SNL). Lampoon seems to be a combination of both. We actually had to submit a sketch for the audition, and since I have no experience in that, I was a little nervous about my first attempt at the writing gig. But I guess it worked – let’s all hope to god that my comedy writing improves or this could make for a very long year. Anyway, I meet with the troupe tomorrow night for the first time – more to come!
Getting Naked with the Bard…
Additionally, I have joined forces with three of my fellow first year theatre grad students to create a brand new theatre company on campus. The company is called The Shakespeare Naked and will involve two troupes – one all-male and one all-female. The troupes will practice separately – spending the rest of the first semester working to build and strengthen their work as an ensemble and finally choosing one Shakespearean play for both troupes to rehearse. The second semester will be spent rehearsing the two separate productions, which will be presented to the community in April. We are both working on the same play for a few reasons – one to explore the differences in the single-gender interpretations (obviously cross-dressing is involved as they did back when these plays were first presented), and also to allow us to play as one full company – mixing the casts by either a performance in which the audience decides who plays which character or some other idea like that.
I’m really excited about this project. I believe it’s really a challenging endeavor and I think it will be a big success. Besides my improv group, I’ve never worked in an ensemble based setting – typically I do plays with casts that only work together with the sole purpose of creating a final product so there is little time to develop craft and build a true group dynamic. Moreover, Shakespeare has always been a bit intimidating to me. I don’t have a great amount of experience with it so I know this will push me to explore classical text. It feels like blasphemy to say this around a theatre crowd but for years I really didn’t even like Shakespeare. In the past few years I’ve begun to grow a stronger appreciation for it but it takes time to do so. It’s a shame because so many productions are done badly and are therefore a huge turn off to many popular audiences (which was the case for me). So, our goal (as the company’s title implies) is to strip down the text and really get into the essence of what has made Shakespeare to be referred to as the greatest playwright of all time. The show will be produced with minimal sets, costumes, and props – with direct focus on the acting and themes of the play. Alright – I’ll get off the Shakespeare soap box and move on. Anyway, that’s the big project lately.
-Academia-
Acting Up
Riiight… so besides the aforementioned goings on, I’m still taking classes. Overall, they’re going well. It’s definitely starting to pick up in pace. Currently I’m working on a number of scenes and monologues (and even poems) for a few of my classes – scenes from Othello, Agnes of God, Spike Heels, and Danny and the Deep Blue Sea; monologues from The Altruists, Hamlet, and Look Back in Anger; and poems – “She Walks in Beauty” and Shakespeare’s sonnet 130. I thought it would be tough to keep them all straight – memorizing at least, but I’m getting the hang of it. I think my favorite “assignment” as of yet was preparing and performing “Green Eggs & Ham” by Dr. Seuss (the teacher is trying to get us to play around with rhyme when we work on Shakespeare but since I read the book to my little brother at least 5 times a night for about a year when he was younger, this was like second-nature to me). I do so like that Sam-I-am!
Life is a Cabaret
I’m really loving my Singing Workshop class. We work on a new song every week – any song we want so long as it could possibly be performed in a sort of cabaret setting. So far I’ve sung “Jimmy” (Thoroughly Modern Millie the musical), “You Don’t Know Me” (Ray Charles), “Makin’ Whoopee”, “Bette Davis Eyes” (Kim Carnes), “Rita’s Tune” (Sweet Smell of Success the musical), and the next two are “Knock on Wood” (Eddie Floyd) and “Lost & Found” (City of Angels the musical). It’s a blast – it was a little nerve wracking at first because everyone in the class is very very talented but I’m beginning to loosen up and just have fun with it. If you have any requests, let me know :)
Shadowland
Ahhh puppetry class. Contrary to popular belief, I’m not the most skilled at arts and crafts. Ok, so it’s definitely more involved than tracing my hand and adding colored feathers to make a turkey – that I could do. I just don’t have an eye for shadow puppetry. I appreciate it as an art form – more so now that I realize how inept I am at it – but I think I need to be a little more patient when working with a utility knife (I don’t even think that’s what it’s called – box cutter maybe?) Anyway, I’m currently working on a mini-shadow puppet show with another girl in the class. It involved two characters murdered accidentally and the killer driving off into the sunset with a song from the Pulp Fiction soundtrack in the background. Yeah, definitely a disaster. However, I did have to do a research project and presentation on shadow puppetry styles in China, India, and Indonesia (which turned out to be an hour because my topic was so massive – I really do have a problem with curbing information). So, despite the many hours spent in the library and creating a 50 + page power point, I have learned to love it as an art. It’s really pretty cool and I’d like to one day see a live performance. Point of the story – if you’re ever in China, India, or Indonesia, and the tour guide tries to sell you on one of the many tourist attractions, I highly recommend the shadow puppet shows!
-Academia-
Acting Up
Riiight… so besides the aforementioned goings on, I’m still taking classes. Overall, they’re going well. It’s definitely starting to pick up in pace. Currently I’m working on a number of scenes and monologues (and even poems) for a few of my classes – scenes from Othello, Agnes of God, Spike Heels, and Danny and the Deep Blue Sea; monologues from The Altruists, Hamlet, and Look Back in Anger; and poems – “She Walks in Beauty” and Shakespeare’s sonnet 130. I thought it would be tough to keep them all straight – memorizing at least, but I’m getting the hang of it. I think my favorite “assignment” as of yet was preparing and performing “Green Eggs & Ham” by Dr. Seuss (the teacher is trying to get us to play around with rhyme when we work on Shakespeare but since I read the book to my little brother at least 5 times a night for about a year when he was younger, this was like second-nature to me). I do so like that Sam-I-am!
Life is a Cabaret
I’m really loving my Singing Workshop class. We work on a new song every week – any song we want so long as it could possibly be performed in a sort of cabaret setting. So far I’ve sung “Jimmy” (Thoroughly Modern Millie the musical), “You Don’t Know Me” (Ray Charles), “Makin’ Whoopee”, “Bette Davis Eyes” (Kim Carnes), “Rita’s Tune” (Sweet Smell of Success the musical), and the next two are “Knock on Wood” (Eddie Floyd) and “Lost & Found” (City of Angels the musical). It’s a blast – it was a little nerve wracking at first because everyone in the class is very very talented but I’m beginning to loosen up and just have fun with it. If you have any requests, let me know :)
Shadowland
Ahhh puppetry class. Contrary to popular belief, I’m not the most skilled at arts and crafts. Ok, so it’s definitely more involved than tracing my hand and adding colored feathers to make a turkey – that I could do. I just don’t have an eye for shadow puppetry. I appreciate it as an art form – more so now that I realize how inept I am at it – but I think I need to be a little more patient when working with a utility knife (I don’t even think that’s what it’s called – box cutter maybe?) Anyway, I’m currently working on a mini-shadow puppet show with another girl in the class. It involved two characters murdered accidentally and the killer driving off into the sunset with a song from the Pulp Fiction soundtrack in the background. Yeah, definitely a disaster. However, I did have to do a research project and presentation on shadow puppetry styles in China, India, and Indonesia (which turned out to be an hour because my topic was so massive – I really do have a problem with curbing information). So, despite the many hours spent in the library and creating a 50 + page power point, I have learned to love it as an art. It’s really pretty cool and I’d like to one day see a live performance. Point of the story – if you’re ever in China, India, or Indonesia, and the tour guide tries to sell you on one of the many tourist attractions, I highly recommend the shadow puppet shows!
Alright, while I’d love to stay and chat, it’s time for some reading. Hope you all are well. Anyone up for a visit soon? Let me know!
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