Not Gone and Hopefully Not Forgotten

So I have done a poor job of keeping this blog updated, and I feel absolutely terrible for neglecting my faithful readers. I promise that my excuses are mildly legitimate. 

Among other things:

1) I had to sift through 52 hours of footage for my documentary and create a 20 minute film for my final project as a film major.

2) There was the Senior Showcase to prepare for

3) Graduation

4) And of course my transition to life in Orlando for the Disney College program, which I have now successfully completed. 

I have made the acquaintance of many wonderful people and have had many wonderful experiences thus far, and I wish to share them with you. All in good time, of course. The nature of my work is very exciting, but. like with any 9 to 5 job, it can be very draining. So I will do my  best to keep you updated, my lovelies, but I apologize for any further delays. Comment and ask questions! That way I will remember to keep posting! Otherwise, I will do my best! 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Mr. Darcy, Storm Cancelling, and Heath Ledger- What a Weekend!

Hello my darlings! I hope everyone has had a splendid weekend! I've enjoyed myself rather well, I'd say. Friday night was the last night of rehearsals in Mundelien 409, and we worked on staging the end of the show. We got pretty close to finishing. We had quite a laugh towards the end because two cast members, Gabe and Michelle, had to do a kissing scene because they play a married couple. What made it so funny was that one minute Michelle's character is talking about how destroyed her house is- which is totally tragic- and in the next she goes to kiss her husband (Gabe) before talking about her destroyed house again. As the moment is written it seemed like "We've lost everything. *passionate kiss* damn Katrina, I can see straight through my house." I mean in context it makes sense because the husband and wife have been separated for a couple weeks because of the storm, but just reading the script made it seem hilarious and nonsensical. After rehearsal, Michelle, Kelsey, Lia and I went to Lia's apartment to hang out. My good friend Felipe came as well. We ate junk food, watched Pride and Prejudice ( we played a game where you had to take a sip of your drink every time someone curtsied or spoke about marriage), and talked until 4:30 in the morning. It was awesome and well needed.
On Saturday, we moved into the Mullady theatre for rehearsal, and we finished staging the whole play- whew! That afternoon we did a full run through with scripts for the music designer. We managed to get comfortable in the new space pretty quickly which was really good, and we finally got to work with tables! We use 12 chairs and 8 tables for the show, only we hadn't worked with tables in the staging up until this point because they had to be built. Well, now they are done! There are also a couple instruments that are going to be flown in and out for the "jazz band" moments, and they already had a trumpet, a sax, and a drum set wired to be flown in and out. It looks sooooo cool!!! I can't wait to see the whole thing when its all set up. They're just waiting to get a bass. At the end of rehearsal, we started to rework Part I a bit. There was this hilarious moment where Gabe plays Kelsey's producer and he asks "Should I cancel the show?" only at the end of rehearsal he accidentally said "Should I cancel the storm?" Everyone burst out laughing and was like "Yes! And the play ends..." lol With out the storm there'd be no story right? But wouldn't it be nice if you could just "cancel" a storm. Gabe didn't even realize he said it, which made it even more hilarious.
So that night I went to a concert with Kelsey, Michelle, and Kyle at The Metro in Wrigglyville to see Kelsey's good friend's band play. We got lost on the way there, but we managed to find it eventually- we went the wrong way for .7 miles thanks to some bad directions-spontaneous work out! The band was pretty good. The drummer was drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon in between songs which I thought was funny, and one of the guitarists used a violin bow to play which was pretty awesome. The band had two drummers, which is something I've never seen before. All in all, good times. Poor Kyle was starved, so we only stayed for the first band before heading to a McDonalds for sustenance- much to my chagrin ( I try to avoid eating at fast food places as much as possible). But it was worth it because we witnessed what looked like a homeless man drug deal going down in there. There were two grubby looking guys sitting together pulling random crap out of their backpacks like a tea kettle, body spray, sponges, just the most random stuff. We had a good laugh about it. Afterward we made a pit stop at Starbucks where we chatted with the barista about the Power Rangers. Surprisingly he knew a lot about all of the different seasons. When we got back on campus, I went to Lia's to work on lines- we had to be off book by Sunday. Her friend Patrice was there, and we engaged in some healthy conversation. By the end of the night, I felt pretty confident about my lines!
Today was really rough. I got a decent night's sleep, but I was still dead tired! Everyone was! It was a really rough rehearsal  which sucked because it was Paul's 20th birthday today. We went through and changed a lot of Part I and II of the play, and it looks a lot better! When 4:00 rolled around, though, I was revved to peace out. Tonight I ended up talking with my friend Andrew on the phone for 3 hours instead of sleeping like I had planned on doing lol. We ended up grabbing a drink at Rock Bottom Brewery and seeing The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus.  It was very weird and confusing at times but also cool and very beautiful. It was so nice to see Heath Ledger alive and in a new movie again. It almost made me forget he was dead. Whoever said his acting in this movie was like the Joker is ridiculous. He was splendidly different! But it was so strange- the plot I mean. I felt very lost towards the end. Well, I need to get some sleep. Bon nuit!

The Last First Week of Classes of My Undergrad Career!

So I know its been a while since I've written, but I have a legitimate excuse. Did I mention that I'm taking 21 credit hours this semester? And, lest we forget, I have rehearsals every day except Mondays. Well, this week started out pretty well. We didn't have classes on Monday because of MLKJ day, so my friends Juan, Amy and I went out to Hamburger Mary's late Sunday night for some MaryOke (Karaoke for those of you who couldn't figure it out). Hamburger Mary's is this awesome diner/bar/ cool hang out that has free karaoke on Sunday and Monday nights. I went once last semester on Labor Day weekend to see a visiting friend who graduated and moved to New York 2 years ago. That Sunday was the day I was introduced to the amazingness that is Hamburger Mary's. They have the biggest collection of karaoke songs I've ever seen! They even have songs from Aladdin! Anyway last Sunday we got there too late and closing time (2 AM) rolled around right before I was supposed to sing! I cried inside a little because I've been dying to go back there since the first time, but everyone had class on Monday and Thursday morning so they couldn't go. Of course because it was a holiday weekend and no one had to work the next day the place was crowded! Next time we're going early enough so we can get 2 or more songs in like some of the other people there! New Goal!
Tuesday was the official start of the year. It was a bit overwhelming. I had a long day filled with 4 classes. My first class was Quantitative Literacy- sounds easy right? I thought so. Nope! Its definitely real math that requires a graphing calculator and major brain work. The professor is really chill, though, and he told us straight up that we didn't have to come to class all the time and that we could make up any quizzes or exams that we missed. Every class that I had up to this point took attendance and graded us based on it. Of course I'll probably still go every day because math is not my strong point so I need all the examples I can get. I had to go to a costume fitting after that which was interesting. I found out that none of my clothes will be distressed for the show, so I can use whatever I like in my wardrobe without fear! Thank God! Next was my Sex and Gender Differences and Similarities class which seems cool. The professor let us out of class an hour early! Meaning we were only there for 15 minutes. Playwriting, my third class of the day, may just be my new favorite. We all were given composition journals which we are supposed to write in every day because we are writers now (if we weren't already). I love being able to use my creativity for classes. I already have a ton of ideas. Now all I have to do is pick one to use as the one act play that will be put on at the end of the semester!!! The end of the day was kind of melancholy for me because I ran into Lia who was on her way to rehearsal while I had to head downtown to my Intro to Audio Production class. I told Lia to make sure I wasn't put in the back all the time since I wasn't there lol. I hate missing rehearsal! It made it hard to enjoy the class, which does seem like its going to be fun but... I just really didn't want to be there. I had to ask the professor for permission to miss two classes for rehearsals in February- which is a scary thing to do for a once a week class- but he was cool with it. I actually managed to make it to the last 20 minutes of rehearsal. I basically just watched them as they went through the new staging, but it was nice to be there. It just doesn't feel right not to see the cast everyday- except Monday- ya know? Oh and good news: I wasn't ever put in the back lol!
Wednesday was awesome because all I had was my Directing For the Screen class. It seems like its going to be extra fun! The group I'm working with is awesome, and I can't wait to get started. Rehearsal that night was pretty interesting.  Sadly, Jake wasn't there for most of it, but he showed up at the very end! Apparently everyone had last names now so Jamal and I were the only ones who were last name-less because we both weren't there for Tuesdays rehearsal- even though I kind of was. I still need to get on that. Any ideas? My characters name is Rachel and I'm an English professor at Southeastern Louisiana University.  First off, there is a scene where we are all in our chairs like we are waiting in a line for gas. Somebody realized that all of the black characters were at the front of the line and it looked very segregated! Ironic right? We had to change that up a bit, but it was hilarious when it was pointed out. We spent a lot of time on the floor because there's a scene where we imitate the levees breaking and the whole cast falls to the floor where they stand. So we spent a lot of time slowly getting up with the dialog and....we actually get to go off stage now!!!! Originally the plan was for us all to stay on stage the whole time, but for some of the scenes it just didn't make sense. This figuring out stuff as you go and ensemble interpretation and inspiration gets tough sometimes. There were moments where we'd all look at each other like: what do we do in this moment now? We got through it and things started to feel more natural to us. All in all, it was a pretty productive rehearsal.
Thursday night was really rough. We kind of dragged through getting the staging done and it took forever. People were confused, slap happy, and frustrated. I think Ann started to get irritated with us at times- after all, we are a very chatty cast. I had to use my reading glasses for the role of Grandmother which was tough because they are legit glasses, and I have to make sure I don't actually look through them to read from my Bible because they hurt my eyes. There was this hilarious moment when we were staging the part in the Superdome where Ann asked Kyle to reenact a rape scene with Kelsey. Now a lot of you may not know Kyle, but he's one of the sweetest, prettiest, doe- eyed boys I've ever met. Plus he's gay. So him playing a rapist was so out of character. We all cracked up for a good 5 minutes. When it came time for him to play out the moment, I think ever body turned to watch him, even though we were all supposed to be in character, and we just died!!!! Here's this sweet boy (who, by the way, has to grow facial hair for his character- which he's never done before) awkwardly chasing Kelsey off stage in what he think is the way of the rapist! We all just fell apart! I could barely breathe! Every time, I swear, they tried something a little different, but the results were the same- laughter. Finally we got to the end of part 5. We've still got a long way to go, and we move into the theatre tomorrow!!!! We did more work with costumes this afternoon, and everyone was given 20 bucks to buy what we need at thrift stores. I had Audition Seminar this morning which was fun- getting trained in how to be professional and skilled in auditions. I could really use that! lol I also randomly decided to audition for "The Vagina Monologues." I figured its senior year, it doesn't conflict with Katrina, so why not? Besides, I could use the extra practice auditioning. I'll find out tomorrow if I got it or not. We'll I have 25 minutes before I have to go to rehearsal. Time for a power nap!  Later my lovelies....

Week 1 Complete!!!

Wow so a bunch of awesomeness has ensued since my last post. So rehearsal has gotten very interesting, and we've been working on the wildest movement exercises. For example we had to jog at different speeds up and down our individual lanes in the theatre space. And we had to move around the space at different speeds, levels, tempos- crawling, hopping, whatever. We finally finished When the Levees Broke and we started working on staging the first part of the show. At first we just started working on moving around with the chairs. Each person has a chair and we use them to tell our story. We did chair work for what seemed like hours... divided into two groups we would work on running, walking and moving slowly with the chair in our lanes. Then we could walk wherever we wanted and start or stop and sit when ever. The objective was to develop natural, kinesthetic responses to each other with beats and patterns and forms with the placement of our chairs. We would pick up the beat or respond to the beat of someone close to us. It was really interesting and fun to play with. Its nice to have some staging down, and the repetition of the work is helping me to get my lines memorized. We have to be off book by next Sunday.
On Friday night we had what we like to call "Party: The P Word." We all met up at Ryan's apartment and engaged in revelry and bonding. We danced, played games, and, at the end of the night, made a pit stop at Dunkin Donuts- we like to call them "Glazed Yeast Raised Rings" because our stage managers provided breakfast for us the first day and the doughnuts they bought were called that instead of just simply doughnuts.  I ordered the 10 Munchkins for $1.59 and shared with everyone. The guy gave me like 16 Munchkins! Friday night was out of control but super fun and unforgettable. Luckily, Ann, our director, changed the call for rehearsal on Saturday and Sunday so that it was just 12-5 instead of 10-5 with an hour lunch break. Last night all of us were exhausted because our movement work was extreme, so I chilled at home and watched Inglorious Basterds and The Dark Knight with my friend Andrew. Today we had reached a breaking point. Our energy level was super low and we mainly worked on staging. The minutes seemed to drag, but when 5 finally rolled around, we were exasperated. Its been a long week, and we've all been in it together. We really came together as an ensemble and it can only go up from here! I'm so excited, and I love the cast, but I am so grateful for having Monday's off. Unfortunately, I have a night class on Tuesdays at the downtown campus, so I have to miss Tuesday rehearsals for two weeks. I have to talk to my professor this week about missing 2 weeks of class. I heard he's a very chill, understanding guy so I hopefully won't have anything to worry about. Well, I am in dire need of a nap. Everybody has moved back in and the grind will start up again soon, so I need to catch sleep whenever I can. Later!

Cast Bonding and Wild Movement Work!

So today was very different. At rehearsal we started off with the documentary and some dialect work. We talked about what we did for break in our General Southern Dialect. Most of the cast saw Avatar over break, and there was a general consensus of LOVED IT! Its one of those movies that you just have to experience in theaters you know? You have to do the 3D and see it on the biggest screen possible. I saw it about a week after  it came back and I wish I could afford to see it several times more! Apparently they had to leave out some stuff, namely from the love scene, so that it could maintain a PG-13 rating. Its like Pocahontas with humans and blue aliens. It awesome! Anyway back to the subject at hand, so after dialect work we did a ton of movement. For lunch we all went to Chipotle for lunch and then worked on a bunch more movement exercise after lunch. We only worked on the text for like 20 minutes or so at the end. Afterward, most of the cast went over to Emily's apartment and attempted to All the King's Men to study the dialect. It movie was so bad we didn't make it through the opening credits before we started and we ended up just talking for close to 3 hours. We all laughed so hard while we were together. We certainly have enough inside jokes to get us started! Its gonna be a fun rehearsal process! Now I'm getting caught up on BSG Season 4. That's Battlestar Galactica for those on the outskies. Alright my lovlies, that's it for today!

First Day of Rehearsals!!!!

So today was big and exciting. I started rehearsal for Katrina: The K Word today! For the next 5 days I'll be in rehearsal from 10-5! Whew grueling work, eh? Actually its really fun. We did a read through of the play with the entire cast in the morning and went over the stage, music, and costume designs with all of the designers for the show. I can't wait for everything to come together because as amazing as it all looks and sounds on paper, I bet it'll be phenomenal on the stage. Some of the images Lee Keenan, our lighting designer put up to show us were stunning. There was an image of a refrigerator in a tree! There were so many sad photographs but they had power to them. Apparently there is going to be a jazz band set up at the back of the stage in the beginning of the show, and the instruments are going to fly out. The design concept is pretty extraordinary. The music samples Misha, played for us were great. He wants to have instruments sort of disappear as people disappear in the show. He even played a track for us that was the sound of water being used to create a beat. We get to design our own costumes which is surprisingly quite the challenge. We had to bring anything from home that we think would work for our characters and what we didn't mind having distressed. I have quite the attachment to most of my clothes, so it'll be hard to choose what to use. Luckily we each will be given $20 dollars to go to thrift stores and find things. My character is a teacher with a Jewish mother so it will be interesting to see what I end up with.

Most of the cast went to Subway for lunch and we had a good time talking about "Glee" (best show ever!), Kate Winslet (my all time favorite actress), and some other shows. It was a good bonding experience. After lunch we worked on our General Southern Dialect with the Audra, the dialect coach. A Southern dialect isn't as easy as it sounds. Yeah, there are a bunch of things that are simple to say with a Southern twang, but there are a few things that are surprisingly difficult. We worked on it together and it was pretty hilarious at times. After a short break, we started watching some of the 5 hour long Spike Lee documentary When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts. It was so powerfully moving, I almost cried several times. Saying certain things in character is one thing, but a lot of the images we describe were hard to imagine because they were so horrible. This documentary made everything real for me. Now I can own what I say as my character in way. Watching that documentary made me so angry! I cannot believe America allowed this tragedy to happen. So many people died unnecessarily. I'm really glad I get to be in this show so that I can spread the word about the truth of Katrina to people.

Everyone in the cast seems really nice. There are 12 of us, 6 girls and 6 guys. I already knew most of the people who are involved but there are a few new faces who are only theatre minors or not even in the department. I think this week of work is going to bring us together. This performance is an ensemble piece so I think its important for all of us to have a strong connection. There is no main character. We are all very important to the story. I can't wait to see what happens as the show progresses. Tonight, Lia, one of my fellow cast mates, hung out with me and we watched Bride and Prejudice. She loved it! We had a good time and we talked a bunch. She lives in the apartment building right next to my dorm, so I have someone to walk to and from rehearsals with! Tomorrow I think we are going to have a cast bonding night of some sort. I'll keep you posted. I'm going to try to post everyday if not every other day, but we'll see what happens. Now I must be off to bed. I need my rest so I can get up bright and early for rehearsal tomorrow. We are going to work on movement and dialect and watch some more of the documentary! Good night!

A Year Has Passed at Last

So its has been exactly one year from today since I arrived in Paris, France for the first time in my life. One year since one of the dreams I'd been holding on to since grade school had finally become a reality. I can remember every minute detail as if it was yesterday:

The first smell that wasn't so pleasant but then the smells of the perfumeries overcame me. The experience in the tiny airport bathroom with my huge suitcases. Going up and down the stairless escalators, waiting 3 hours in the freezing cold of the Charles de Gaulle train station, nearly getting on the wrong train, getting on the wrong car and having to drag all of my baggage through 3 train cars -bumping into annoyed French citizens in the process but being aided by an older lady, trying not to fall asleep on the train for fear that someone would try to steal my stuff but falling asleep anyway, having my first train ticket stamped, arriving in Nantes for the first time and going to the wrong side of the train station, getting directed by Samuel- our activities director- to the line for taxi cabs, meeting Kathleen, Katherine, and Heather while waiting in line for a cab, ending up in a cab all by myself and driving through Nantes for the first time- everything was so new and unfamiliar to me but now its like a 3rd home to me, paying the cab driver 8 euros, taking the tiniest elevator possible up to the 3rd floor of 7 rue de Cadineers with my baggage, arriving at IES and exploring the place and the people, getting online and waiting for my host family to pick me up, talking to Kathleen for a while, being one of the last kids to be picked up- it felt like grade school all over again where you wait in anticipation for your parents to get you and how much they love you more than their work is based on how early they arrive lol- and being one of the last ones picked up, meeting my host mom for the first time and walking to the car with her while she spoke- and I mustn't forget her surprise at the weight of my baggage, the car ride to the house where she says to me basically that I have a lot of work ahead of me- because I understood less than half of what she was saying- arriving at the house where she said "Coucou!" to announce our arrival, the boys all coming downstairs to greet me and faire les bisous with me(the kiss on each cheek) which mortified me because I hadn't bathed in 2 days and I looked like hell, Stefane commencing to carry my suitcases up the stairs and commenting on how heavy my stuff was, being shown around the house, falling into bed, taking a shower, having my first dinner with my host family while feeling overwhelmed by how much I couldn't understand them, finally going to sleep after being awake for nearly 48 hours.

I am so happy for the experience I had and I feel so lucky. My host family was the perfect fit for me, and I learned so much! Contrary to what everyone assumed when I came back, I am not fluent in French. It takes more than 5 months to become fluent in any language- unless you're the Rain Man or something. Unfortunately, I am not a genius linguist, so I will gladly have to return to France in order to become fluent.

Coming home from France was a lot harder than I thought it'd be. I suffered from a major culture shock- which most people in my life can attest to- where I had a hard time adjusting to the differences between life in France and my life here. It took a while for me to be happy at home. When I came back, I arrived in Chicago and spent the day with some of my friends from school which really helped because we all thought we wouldn't get to see each other until August. I wanted to speak French all the time this summer, and I found myself calling some of my friends from the study abroad program because I felt like they were the only one's who could understand what I was going through. But I guess no body was affected as badly as I was. I remember everyone else being so anxious to go home by the end. I wasn't really. I love exploring new places and learning a language and culture. A film internship with the Heartland film festival kept me slightly busy, but I spent most of the summer looking for jobs and going to Chicago to be with my friends from school. This may sound really strange to some people, but it was my friends that I missed most while I was abroad, but before people get offended let me explain. When I'm in Chicago for school, the only time I ever come home during the semester, if I come home, is Easter. So I hardly ever see my family which I've grown accustom to. On the other hand, my friends at school are like my family away from home, and I see them everyday or close to- so going from seeing them everyday to going 5 months plus without seeing them was really hard. I hope that makes sense. Basically, when you're abroad you are less inclined to miss someone you wouldn't see anyway if you weren't abroad. So summer was tough and hard to enjoy, but then school started and I was so excited to be back! Only problem was, there were a lot of things that had changed since I was gone, and I had to adjust. Like, for example, some of my best friends- Anna, Carrie, Debi, and Meredith- lived several blocks away from me. Before I left I lived with Carrie and Anna, and Debi and Mer lived in the building right next door. We all hung out all the time. Now they all live together in an apartment a good enough distance away that I don't feel comfortable walking to or from there alone at night- but they offer to let me crash whenever. At the beginning though, I felt like the odd man out because I was stuck in the dorms, and I had all random roommates. I was still living next door to the guys minus Carl plus Kevin, who I was always tight with before I left. I had to adjust to some changes dealing with that area as well, but I think its a sign of strength that I've been able to overcome any unpleasant situations. Unfortunately or fortunately- depending on how you look at it, things change. Sometimes you can't find the good in those changes, but hopefully when I look back on it all in the future I'll be able to understand better. Somethings don't survive separation, but the friendships I do have are even stronger because of it.

I'm done with my theatre major, so I wasn't taking any theatre classes this semester. I wasn't getting cast in anything and I auditioned for everything, so I was afraid I lost it- my skills I mean. I had hoped that once I finally got in a show, people would see what I'm capable of and take me seriously for roles, but it was as if everyone forgot me as Mrs. Dickson in Intimate Apparel last fall. So instead of being in a production, I filmed a documentary on a production at school: Shakespeare's As You Like It. I spent 2 months filming rehearsals and interviews for my senior final film capstone. It was so exciting because I got to blend my two majors together! And on top of all that, I got cast in a show for second semester! I'm going to be in Katrina: The K Word opening February 12th, 2010. It's about Hurricane Katrina survivors recounting their experience. Its very different from any other show I've seen or done. There are no real relationships or character developments as I see it. Its more like story telling and reenactment. My character fled to safety and stayed there till everything calmed, so I don't speak as much as the others in my main character, but each actor is assigned a few minor characters for different scenes that are played out. Rehearsals start next Tuesday, so I'm excited. I'll also be editing my documentary this semester, so I'll be extra busy. On top of that, I'm taking 21 credit hours! 6 of which are theatre classes! I plan on keeping my blog updated as I count down my last semester of college. Only T-128 days till graduation Friday, May 14th. My goal is to make everyday count. Well, its 2 in the afternoon, and I'm still in bed! I better get started!