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"I mean, you made it to Ohio. Who knows where else we can go."

Meh - Its been a while. Where to begin.

I've been so disconnected from the theater scene lately, its so.... unusual.. and I don't particularly like it. I guess that's what happens between shows, not much to do about it except involve yourself in other less committal activities. Such as the film and scene.

The film was quite an interesting experience. The first time I've done anything like that. Having to be conscious of where the camera is, how loud you say your lines.. And the most interesting part was the WAY you say them. If you say it in a theatrical way the way you'd say it on stage - it looks phony and unrealistic. Film is so pure and natural that its a whole different style of acting. That was interesting.

It was draining too. We worked for maybe.. four, five hours? Which I know is hardly anything compared to alot of film projects. But I think it takes more out of you then stage performance. There's so much stopping and starting in between lines that its SO hard to carry on emotions throughout the whole scene. The focus required is insane. Along with that keeping consistency with where you are, where your looking, so that different shots look like a whole scene... that's hard too.

Overall I liked it because it was a challenge. I definitely want to to more of it, especially because I know it gets much more pro from here. We still have one more scene to shoot. I'm excited to see the final product! And maybe, just mayyybe if its good I'll post it on here :)

The director scene also went well. I think. We had our first performance so that it could get critiqued and we could work from there. And as an actress, I knew the scene was off. I felt boring. The next rehearsal we changed things around a bit which I think will make it more interesting. Not much to report.

I had an appointment with my academic adviser the other day, and I can't even tell you how amazing I felt afterward. She officially changed my major to Art and Technology and was genuinely excited for me. She said that those two things go so well together... something I had never really thought about before. Theater and Animation are compatible? She was so interested she wants to schedule another meeting to talk about all the career possibilities I have. WOW. I never thought I had any possibilities other then an Actress. If I wasn't an actress I was just going to stay at home, raise a few kids, and encourage my husband to make more money.

Kidding - but really. The idea that my interests are going to combine into the ULTIMATE career is an incredible realization for me. Of course, being an actress will always be my top priority. But now, I have another option. Another goal. And having that security that no matter what my life is going to be enjoyable... now that's a great feeling.

Random thoughts of the week:

I scheduled an appointment to get head shots done!

Looking for a job this summer to teach/help out with children theater. Can't really start looking till the spring. But I'm searching for some options.

Invited to a theater kid dodge ball game.... that can't be a good idea.

Saw 'Love and other drugs' - pretty good. And I think someone who works in the theater department at Ohio State was IN IT. could be wrong, but i don't think i am ;)

AH ALMOST FORGOT - I jumped into a lake the other night in 20/30 degree weather! IT WAS AWESOME. Granted, i had stage two slight stage three hypothermia.... the thousands of other people there made it one of the best nights of my life.


The Ohio State vs. Michigan game is tomorrow. Its the biggest rivalry I've ever witnessed in my life. People have been preparing all week. Taping over all the letter 'M's on campus signs and what not. I sold my ticket for $100. I think football is dumb. If we lose, cars will be flipped and set on fire. COOL.

It was my roomie, Ali's, birthday! Check out her blog. 'Ali's Blog About Nothing'. YAY!

Oh yeah. Thanksgiving happened. Yesterday. Woo.

Two weeks until I go HOME TO JERSEY!

Theatre and Art and Technology OH MY.

I've gotta say, Its been pretty weird not having a show to indulge in every night. For the time being, its nice to have my nights back but I know its going to get old fast. I'm grateful at least for Corbin's directing project whichhhhhh I will take the time to explain now.

Corbin is directing a scene called 'The Class' in which I play a student, Ellen, who successfully convinces her professor that he sucked in the last show he did, Hamlet, because he knows the lines and all the logic behind it but he cannot connect the emotion of the character on stage. In order for her to take his acting class next semester she proposes a whole new way for him to teach. She will act out a scene, he will explain it, then he will act it out, and she will tell him what he 'teaches' but doesn't 'do'.

Well that's a little confusing, but its a cute 10 minute scene. I actually quite admire his directing technique as well. He's sort of directing it as if it were a film, so very levelheaded emotions and no big movements - or movements at all really. As a matter of fact, he sat a foot or so away from us the last time we did the scene, stared at us in the face, and called out 'BULLSHIT' every time we were too big. It helped me a lot, I was totally focused. I have never acted for 'film' before so it was good.

Speaking of 'film' I was perusing the notices that the theatre department puts out every once in a while and a film student was looking for an actress to help her film a 5 minute segment. I emailed her saying I was interested, and we're meeting today to go over it. Basically - I have the time, I don't have the experience, so its a win win. I'm helping her, I'm helping me - and Its something I enjoy!

I also put out a notice myself on the art department 'blog' asking for a head shot photographer. I've never had head shots taken before, and rather then spending a ton of money when I'm basically just starting out I decided it would be good to have another win win situation by getting a student to take them. Helps their portfolio, and I get them for dirt cheap or free.

While I was looking over the art website, I came across this Godly revelation. A major I never knew existed.

Art and Technology.

I'm currently majoring in computer science, because I thought they didn't have an animation major here. Well look at that, I didn't do my research. Now I get to skip all those really lame and boring Math and Physics classes and skip right to the heart of what I want to be learning, 3D animation and design!

Of course, Theatre is always my top priority - but I'm so glad I don't have to have a sucky Computer Science major along with it that no one thinks makes sense and I have to explain. A huge weight is lifted off my shoulder.

So, my schedule for next semester is so ARTSY.

Intro to Art
Beginners Drawing
Theatre 280 - next class after 100... which i still haven't taken yet.
Theatre 688 - New Works Lab (creating and performing original works)
Theatre 405.10 - Alexander Technique.

I finally feel like I'm doing what i WANT to be doing! And although I am hesitant because both Art and Theatre are very much competitive and lofty majors - I'm more of the person to do what i want then do something I don't want for the money.

And my new friend Lauren who is in Aida this semester is taking 280 with me! I have an awesome semester lined up! Even if Drawing is at 8:30AM on three days and Alexander technique is at 9:30AM on the other days.... at least its not math or physics!

So much exciting stuff coming up for me. Next semester is going to really be a learning experience! The first run of Corbin's scene goes up Friday and the filming for this girl's project is over the weekend! I'll letcha know how it goes :)

BTW - i got my third ear lobe piercing last week. I'm at 5 in the left ear and 3 in the right ear. I had to convince the piercing guy that I couldn't pierce anything else because I was an actress. Actually I think I was convincing myself that i couldn't pierce anything else!

"I will not be the girl stuck at home in the 'burbs, with the baby, the dog, and the garden of herbs. I will not be the girl in the sensible shoes pushing burgers and beer nuts and missing the clues. I will not be the girl who gets asked how it feels to be trotting along at the genius's heels. I will not be the girl who requires a man to get by."

Leaving The Shore

So, that's a wrap! On The Shore of the Wide World has come to a close... and its surreal.

(The show poster.. which for some reason I didn't post before... but just found online!)

All of our hard work, memorization and analysis has paid off in a great run. This weekend has had its highs and lows, but all together I think we were really proud of what we'd accomplished. I'd say the general consensus was that everyone was happy that it was over so they could have their time back, but sad because it was such a great group of people.
Tuesday night was incredible. By far the greatest show for me hands down. I don't know what it was. Maybe it was having a day off to kind of recoop, and since we had just done 4 days in a row i kind of needed one. And it also might have been that on Monday I worked with Corbin and Taylor on Corbin's directing scene. I don't know if I've already explained this but Corbin needed some people to act in a scene he's directing and asked me to help... so we rehearsed that on Monday. And what really helped was that he introduced me and Taylor to a new technique called the "Meisner Technique". What we basically did was sat in chairs facing each other - one of us looked down at the script and memorized as much of the line as we could - looked up - looked at the other - and without any emotion or anything spoke the line. A very interesting technique which called for extreme focus. By the end of that rehearsal we were in the zone! And i believe a little of that carried over into Tuesday's performance.
I really don't know what it was Tuesday, but i felt GREAT. I was pumped beforehand. I hardly warmed up, but I just had loads of energy inside of me - i was ready to burst. The second I hit the stage for the preshow, i was in character. All of the energy was channeling into the perfect character. It was the only day i really walked offstage after my scenes saying 'YES'. brilliance.

Me and Corbin tryna be cool backstage with electronic cigarettes.

Wednesday on the other hand. Horror story. Nothing went wrong like lost lines or tripping and falling, but the energy was horrific. We weren't our characters, i don't know who we were. Or I was at least. I think we were all a little down about the performance. Especially because the people from the Royal Shakespeare Company were there - and they saw the original production of the show in London. Huge step down on Wednesday.
Thursday we had off. Friday was another good day. Slightly less good then Tuesday, but still good. My dad and my Aunt Shelly and Joan were there, so it was nice for them to see a good performance.

Allison and I, love her fake pregnant belly!

And tonight, tonight was bitter sweet. The energy was a little low because we were upset. There were a few flubs, but it was a nice closing night. Not the best ever, but i think we had fun and thats all that matters. After the show was photo call. First time I had one of those... after a performance. We staged a few scenes so the photographer could take some pictures. And we also gave Mandy (or director) a gift - it was so nice! Allison got a matte frame for all of us to sign, that framed the show poster (posted above) so we all got to sign it and a card for her and Sam (the stage manager).. and I think Mandy really liked it. Very cool.

Classic dressing room shot.

So whats next for me?! Well.
- Corbin's director scene. Gotta memorize that. Its a cool teacher/student piece, I play the student. I think I'll post a little about that later, but we have our first 'show' kind of thing in.. wow... 5 days? I have to memorize. Its a 10(ish) minute play... for a class.
- SPRING'S AWAKENING! That starts in January. I plan on being off book by Jan. 3rd. I have from now till then to get cracking and analyze the play too! Gotta make a good impression on this one, but i'm SO excited for it to start. Its gonna be quite an experience.

So, here's to being 'On the Shore' :) Can't believe its over. Much love to the cast and crew <3

Four More On the Shore!

Me and Zach (who plays Alex, my boyfriend) Corn in the background in Aida garb!

Opening weekend is over! Shows on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday all went swimmingly, there were the minor complications but they're to be expected!

Thursday was a good show, full house, minor problems. I actually don't remember it too much... that's kind of sad. I didn't have anyone there for me so it wasn't a big hype. It was a big deal because it was my 'debut' though! I do remember the feeling distinctly when i bowed for the first time. It was very rewarding!

Friday my Aunt Mermie was there. We had a great day touring the campus and the show was good that night too. Not as sold out as Thursday cause everyone wants to go out on Friday nights but hey, I wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else!

Friday my Mom and Grandma and Aunt Rhonda and my roommate Ali were there, that was a great day! We went shopping in Polaris and Easton and then topped it off with the show. They weren't too jazzed at all the cursing and the electronic cigarettes, but I think they liked it otherwise. That was the night we had big tech problems. The show began and me and Zach have the first scene, so I'm trying to get into it and midway through the scene when I have to look up and see 'the moon' i realize that... the lights aren't how they usually are. And as the show continues... the lights don't change. When i finally exit the stage a few scenes later the stagemanager informs me that the cues were frozen and they couldn't fix it without restarting the system. So for about the first fourth of the show we only had one set of lights. (But at least we had them) They somehow got it to work and the show went on, I dont even think the audience noticed.

Sunday was sold out. A lot of people from the other show going on, Aida, were there because they didn't have rehearsal so it was cool seeing some familiar faces. Something interesting happened during this scene too! So as i've said before the seats are kind of in bleacher form, so you can walk under them and stand next to them and look up... We have one scene thats on the railing of one of them. So my knees basically touch an audience member. So as we're doing this scene, the spotlights on us and on those lucky members of the audience who just happen to be on the edge. Well. The dummy right in front of me thinks its a good idea to start TEXTING in the spotlight. When the show started we were told that since we were trying to be 'real' in this show, and since in between our scenes we became a member of the audience, if we caught someone texting we were to let them know to stop. Well Hannah, who plays Alex's mom (or my kind of mother in law) sees him texting, crawls over to him - in the spotlight, and grabs the phone from him. All during the scene. And i'm wondering why this guy is laughing right in front of me. What a dummy.

Hannah and me and Amber (helps with costumes!)

We had Monday off which was nice but also kind of depressing. I didn't really know what to do with myself. Well, Corbin (who plays Cristopher.. Alex's little brother) is in a directing class and needed some actors to do a scene that he's directing so me and Taylor (who plays Paul.. Alex's friend) went to the theatre to work on that with him. At least my day wasn't totally acting free.

Corbin and I

But not all of the weekend was just fine and dandy. We got a not so favorable review which I regret to post.

Sigh.

No ones taking it to harshly and we're all having so much fun and learning so much along the way.

Its actually quite interesting how much each day is different. I can feel when a performance is good or bad. Audience reactions have a lot to do with it. The Theatre 100 classes are required to come see the shows, and most of them aren't too thrilled about attending. We don't get a lot of reactions from the audiences full of unwilling students but that raised another question.

Is it really the audience's fault for not reacting, or am I not allowing a reaction? We.. or I have been struggling with this idea for a while. I don't have many moments that are comical - the play itself is not comical in nature. But I want to make sure that the audience is receiving my emotional moments too - laughter is just the only one we can hear and acknowledge.

Tori (who plays Ellen - Grandma) and Myself.

Needless to say I'm still so thrilled to be working on this. I haven't been this happy in so long. With just one day off I'm getting twinges of what its going to be like when the show is over, and I'm already getting depressed! I'm happy to have another show to look forward to but none with be quite like this.

Me and Allison (who plays Susan - pregnant lady!)

Stage Managers Eve and Sam prepared BLT's for the cast!

I'm actually starting to have to consider working for this summer and next year already. I'm thinking about trying to teach or assist at a children's workshop for acting. I kept thinking about my grade school productions and how much I'd love to go back there and just revamp the whole program. Might be fun! If someone trusts me enough to teach their children. haha!

Four more to go, I couldn't be more excited to savor them all. More pictures to come, and I'm sure tons more stories too :)

OPENING NIGHT!

Its opening night! All of our hard work is finally paying off with an audience tonight!

Things have been turning out really well. Monday's rehearsal was rough, and we were a little scared we weren't going to make it work in time. But something happened Tuesday and we were ON! Things started getting.. fun (not that they weren't already, but it was like we were discovering something new), which showed.

Yesterday was our 'Preview' which was a new concept to me. A preview is the night before the show when all the theatre majors and grad students can come to the show for free. (Which is AWESOME for us - audience practice, and awesome for them - free show). We had an audience of about 20 which was just enough to pump up the adrenaline and give us practice for tonight.

No drastic mistakes, the whole performance felt great. The one little pinch in the night was that two people decided it would be a good idea to sneak in to the theatre after the show started (doors close for good once the show starts, no late entry) and they came in through one of the doors in the wings. So as I was making an exit offstage, I exited through the audience kind of and had to go behind the seats against the wall (the seats are kind of beacher esque so i exit underneath them) they were trying to get in! Cool guys. haha.

So we're ready tonight, for sure. Its my Ohio State University theatre DEBUT! It finally hit me when I saw the program.


Its actually quite a fun experience backstage. Our call is 6:35, we have a warmup onstage which is really great. Thats about 10 minutes. Then we hit the dressing rooms where we have some costume people helping us get dressed and such. The show is hooked up to speakers throughout the greenroom and the dressing rooms so we can always hear whats going on, as well as a monitor so we can see it too! Its kind of fun now because in the Thurber Theatre Aida is working, so sometimes we have two sound streams and two monitors going at once! Then at about 7:20 we're released into the theater to do the preshow which consists of talking to the audience in our accent, but not necessarily in our character. One person starts a stomp-clap that gets us back onto stage, we introduce ourselves as our characters, and we begin the show!

8 Shows! Lets do this! My Aunt Mermie is coming tomorrow. My mom, grandma and Aunt Pam are coming on Saturday, and the following weekend my Dad, Aunt Shelly and Aunt Joan are coming! Hopefully along with that a bunch of friends will show up too. Looking forward to posting tons of pictures! A photographer actually came to the show on Tuesday and took tons of pictures which I am hoping end up on the Theatre server so I can get my hands on some! We'll see!

On a different note, I got an e-mail from the Spring Awakening people that informed me that they are giving us a new script! The one we originally received was the original translation which had a lot of dense language. This one is a more modern translation, so not much is really new except it will be a lot easier to memorize, listen to, and have fun with!

AH I'm trilled, here we go!!

"There's things we all want to do Alex, but we can't always do them...
You know what I mean? Like... live until I'm twenty five - at least."
- Sarah Black (On The Shore of the Wide World)

Cue to Cue to Cue to Cue

Tickets for my family!

So here's something I've never done before! Cue. To cue. Okay so maybe I've done in on a much smaller scale, but this right here. This is legit.

Basically what my last three rehearsals have consisted of has been starting a scene, saying a few lines, getting a hold, going back to that spot, entering again, saying your lines, getting a hold, either doing it again, or skipping to the ending transition. This is all while the lighting people and the sound people get their cues down.

And I'm actually enjoying it a lot! Lights have always been the icing on the cake for me. Once you are doing your scene with lights on you, it brings some sort of magic into it. I know its cheesy but I kinda get emotional about it! Like my passion for the art is brought out under the lights.

It is astounding how absolutely beautiful these lights are. They compliment the stage so well and bring out almost a fairy tale like color in all of the scenes. Its really making our good play turn into something great.

So, SIX DAYS until opening! SIX DAYS We have all of our props, and I believe our costumes start today. Wow. What an addition that will be. We're finally going through a real, live run of the show.

Oh! And we started playing with the electronic cigarettes. So fun and interesting! Granted, it tastes like crap - its pretty legit. The smoke is so realistic. Just as long as i don't try to smoke it the wrong way or ACTUALLY light it on fire when i'm 'pretending' to light it. We'll be good. This is a pretty fail proof play. haha.

MY FIRST PERFORMANCE AT OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY IS SO CLOSE!