The work week starts WHEN?!

The work week starts at seven in the morning on a Sunday when the construction workers outside of Udi and Alon's window start making noise on their jackhammer.

Thoroughly tired of moping like a jet lagged, culture shocked idiot, I went to the post office today in order to buy what I thought would be the answer to my cell phone issues.  I THOUGHT I needed "Big Talk" card from the Orange Company - a cell phone company in Israel.  Both Udi and I were under the impression that the SIM card I had was from that company.  It turns out you need a NUMBER first before you can put "Big Talk" minutes on the phone.  I thought I had no number yet and that the SIM card needed to be re-validated or something weird.  I asked for Big Talk (in Hebrew, although I do admit that "Big Talk" and "Orange Company" were in English).  The guy behind the counter smirked at me.  Could he tell I was American?  I have a pretty damn good Israeli accent when I speak Hebrew!  I was annoyed.

After I found out that I did not have what I needed to purchase Big Talk, I walked back to Udi's apartment.  Together we sat and called CELLCOM - the ACTUAL company that I use in Israel - and added minutes on the phone.  WALLAH!  I have minutes AND A NUMBER.  I memorized it in Hebrew (Efes chamesh shteim, shteim arbah ehad, shalosh tesha shalosh ehad, or for all you non-Hebrew speakers out there, 052-241-3931).

It turns out that 200 shekels get you about 200 minutes.  That's about what Israelis normally pay to their cell phone companies, but it's still a lot of money.  I made the decision that I wouldn't ever use my phone when there was another phone available to use.  That way I can conserve minutes.  I hate money.

With that taken care of, I headed down to the beach.  I took my first Israeli bus (minus the buses I took when I was FIVE, those don't count) down to the beach.  From Ramat Gan to Tel Aviv is about forty minutes.  I took the number 63, which takes me through most of the major streets in Tel Aviv, past Shenkin, Dizengof, Bogreshov, and Ben Yahuda.  I got off at Ben Yahuda, ate my first falafel in Israel, and then...I could see...THE BEACH.

There is something so theraputic about the beach.  Something so infinitely calming.  Even as I was walking down there, I was thinking to myself, "I am happy to be here.  I miss my family, I miss my friends, but it is a comfort to know that they are thinking of me while I am thinking of them."

I sat my bag down in the sun, took off my boots and tights (I needed to feel the sand in my toes), took out my Kindle (plug in ad here) and started to read Darkly Dreaming Dexter.  LITERALLY two seconds after that, a guy, mid-forties, sat down and started talking to me.  First he asked in Hebrew if I was cold.  I told him that I wasn't because I'm from the States and this weather is like summer to me.  Then he started speaking to me in English.  In all honesty, it seemed like he was just really innocently interested in the states for a while, but it took him so freaking long to leave.  After about ten minutes, he left, and I read for a while again.

Cue in sixteen year olds twenty minutes later.  Two dark, dark, dark sixteen year old boys posing for something older came over and said "Welcome to Israel!"  How the CRAP DID THEY KNOW I WASN'T ISRAELI?  Maybe it was the Kindle, because they started looking at it and asking how it works.  One of them asked if it was a telephone.  They were speaking all in Hebrew and it was hard to understand them at times.  They left after seeing my Hebrew was limited, but came BACK two seconds later, one of them asking for his friend if I wanted to be his friend's girlfriend.  I told them I was leaving Israel in two days.  The guy shrugged and said "Eyn ba'aya," which means "There's no problem with that."  Then I told them that I was nineteen.  The kid said he was almost eighteen (lie).  Then I told them I had a boyfriend.  Then they left.  Obnoxious and stubborn, but respectful or something.

About ten minutes after THAT, another guy came over, asked if I was reading an interesting book, and then saw that it was a Kindle in English and spoke to me in English.  This guy was also in his mid-forties.  He sat down and started patting my leg as he spoke to me.  I said very little, but he is now under the impression that my name is Sara (those two boys think that too) and that I live in New York, go to NYU, work at the bookstore, and have a boyfriend named Charlie who is British.  I told him SOME truthful things, like I have been to Israel a couple times, like I love traveling.  He also thinks I've been here for like, a month and am leaving soon.  He told me I was beautiful inside and out and to never forget that.  This guy drove me off the beach.  I was so annoyed with the inability to read my freaking book and so done trying to get these guys to leave me alone that I finally said "David, I think I have to go" (oh, don't worry, he told me his name), and then he hugged me for a little longer than necessary, and finally I scampered off the beach to catch the bus back to Ramat Gan.

I spent only an hour by the water, but I wish I could have spent more time.  I had a fantastic plan that I would go for a walk by the waves, maybe just sit in the sun and think, but NO.  It was either the Kindle or my brilliantly pale legs sparkling like freaking diamonds in the sun that drew these guys towards me and screamed TOURISTTOURISTTOURIST.  So obnoxious.

Tomorrow I am going to La Escuelita and meeting with one of my mentors.  She and I will talk about what I'm going to be doing for them.  Matan, the mentor with whom I was in contact with, will not be there.  I met him yesterday.  He's my mother's cousin's son, and I saw that entire side of the family yesterday afternoon.  He's a very nice guy and very into what he does.  On Tuesday, my friend Avi Kagan is picking me up and I'm spending a couple days with him and his family.  Friday I am starting my internship.  I will be teaching Spanish to Spanish kids who have grown up in Israel and pretty much forgotten all their Spanish.  I hope they are not older than me/the same age.  While it was comfortable (not easy, but comfortable) directing my peers who were my age, I think that had something to do with them knowing me really well.  These kids won't know me at all, and I am unsure what they'll think of me.  I just need to be able to capture their attention.  Anyway, I'm not the only teacher there.  I'll simply be an aid.

 

Camera Party

You know that annoying chick taking pictures all over the place?  Yeah, I never thought that'd be me...at one point as I was taking pictures of Israel's marvelous foliage, a crusty, dark old raisin man asked me why I was taking pictures.  I said I live in the United States and I need pictures of Israel.  He grinned and told me I should feel free to take pictures from inside his house.  WELCOME TO ISRAEL!

 BAT!  They're so freaking adorable.  And so unafraid of humans.

 I haven't been in Israel in the winter since I was five.  I had to put the space heater on in the bathroom this morning as I took a shower.  See those people?  THEY'RE WEARING SWEATERS.

 A glimpse of some Israeli apartment buildings in Ramat Gan, a neighborhood of Tel Aviv.

 Foreshadowing my second Walkabout in Tel Aviv?  I think sooo....

Tenara Grapples with the Unknown, and then Realizes It Is Not That Bad

There is something intimately mystifying about traveling alone.  You kind of almost don't exist.  There is no one there to remind you that you matter to someone.  Of course you know you do, but when you're up 35,000 feet in the sky, phones off, trapped into sitting with and sleeping next to some weird people you don't know, it becomes very difficult to feel connected to something stable somewhere else.

There were no major glitches with the flights.  From CMH to EWR was boooooooring.  The plane was filled with business men and women in suits, clicking on their blackberries as soon as the plane's wheel touched the ground.  Those guys are even more addicted to technology than the teenagers who LIVE in the digital age.

As I sat in the Newark airport and talked to my parents, Maria, and my friend Becca who went to Israel with me last time, I realized that, where the traveling was concerned, I wasn't scared.  I was just bored.

I managed to scrape up a couple of hours of sleep on the flight over.  It was a strange flight.  The majority of the clients were elderly Christians making it to the Holy Land before their time came.  Behind me sat two Hassidic Jews yammering away in Yiddish.  Peppered in between were only a couple secular Israelis.

When I arrived in Tel Aviv, I met my parent's friend Alon at the exit of the airport.  Outside, the weather was a balmy, hazy seventy-degrees.  Despite of that, I found myself shivering a lot.  Alon and I yammered away in the car as we drove to Alon's apartment in Ramat Gan, a neighborhood of Tel Aviv.  Alon shares his apartment with his partner, Udi, or should I say Udi shares the apartment with Alon, since it's really Udi's apartment in the first place.

Udi's apartment is on the ground floor of a pretty standard-looking Israeli building.  The bookshelves upon entrance or riddled with Carl Jung books, as Udi is a Jungan psychologist.  Udi and Alon have a modest kitchen, a small table, one bathroom, a sitting room, and a bedroom.  I am taking up the sitting room.  The futon in the corner (futons are terribly popular in Israel for some reason) is lying on the ground underneath this enormous windows.  Udi and Alon's adorable and UN-YIPPY chihauhua, Bambina, is curled up next to me.  She will sleep with me in the bed tonight.

Everything that I imagined would happen didn't, and everything I didn't think of did.  Exhibit A: I thought I would get no sleep from Tuesday night to Thursday.  False.  I slept like a freaking rock on Tuesday night, and I did manage to get reasonable sleep on the flight on Wednesday.  Exhibit B: I thought I'd be clawing at the walls of my house by the end of the first walkabout, ready to escape to Israel.  False.  I was actually really sad to go.  Maybe it's because the first walkabout with the theater went so freakishly well, or maybe it's because I am a nostalgic person in senior year, or maybe it's because everything was suddenly falling into place, but all of the sudden a part of me wanted to stay.


Exhibit C: that I would weep from the moment I got off the plane through the first week and finally stopping once I'd gathered my bearings.  I tend to be a notoriously bad traveler when it comes to culture shock and disconcertedness.  Though it is only the first night, I'm not sobbing into my hands (WIN!).  I am nervous.  THIS BRINGS ME TO EXHIBIT D, WHAT I HAD EXPECTED TO HAPPEN AND WHAT CERTAINLY IS HAPPENING:


I am fearing the unknown.  When am I going to make the move from Udi's to my mom's cousin's Micha's place?  When am I going to be able to use my cell phone with the Israeli SIM card as an Israeli phone?  Which bus do I take to get to La Escuelita?  HOW DO I BUY THE BUSS PASS?  Just typing out these questions is actually starting to freak me out.


I have a plan, however.  Tomorrow, after I sleep in, I'm going to take a walk.  Udi and Alon will be working in the morning, and so they will leave a key with me and I will take it upon myself to familiarize myself with the neighborhood.  I remember from years past that there was a small market somewhere around their place, and so I'll slip in there and buy batteries for my dead camera.  I'll take pictures and then walk back, have some lunch, and by that time Udi and Alon will be home.  I am going to call first my Uncle Micha and then my cousin Matan, who is also my mentor for La Escuelita.  They're having a party on Saturday afternoon for Matan and his cousin Elinor's birthdays, and they've invited me to come.  It makes sense that I would bring a load of my stuff over there that day, since I'll be staying with Elinor's family.  I will smooth out the details tomorrow when I speak to Micha.


The slightest thing will set me off, and it's so weird.  Like this mess with the Israeli SIM card.  I don't exactly NEED a phone with me in Israel, but it'd be lovely to have one, and also really freaking convenient.  Everything about Israel right now is exactly the same and also completely different.  Same: that the water in the shower kind of smells like ocean and you have to use a squeegy thing to push the water from the floor down the shower drain.  Different: that I was shivering as I got out of the shower, because it is in the low 60s now.  Same: the sounds.  Different: the smells.  Same: the air.  Different: the foliage - everything's green!  Same: Israel.  Different: me.

Leaving Happens

That's what I feel like inside.  I don't know if I look like it on the outside, but I definitely feel like I'm stuck in a painting with swirling cool colors and a gaunt, screaming green man staring out at the world.

I am leaving tomorrow.  It's strange, for some reason, I'm not entirely worrying about what happens when I get there beyond being homesick.  As of right now, I'm just worried that I'll be too homesick to have fun.  I know that I'll have to suck it up, and that I will most definitely have fun, but I am going to miss everyone so much.

I've packed NEARLY everything (still left are sweaters, toiletries, and things for my carry-on bag).  I went by the theater today and said goodbye to everyone.  I think it got a little melodramatic when I had to give my key back to Rich.  I promptly crumpled to the floor in the fetal position.  Win.

My dad played me a message on our phone from Udi and Alon, the two friends who are picking me up from the airport.  I think they are anticipating my anxiety, and were very comforting.

My next blog post will be from another country!!!!!!

Aaaand...I'm off!

Tenara Gets Descriptive

My grandparents bought me a Kindle for my birthday, and it is currently by my side (just purchased Darkly Dreaming Dexter!).  I'm listening to the acoustic version of Say You Don't Want It by One Night Only.  There are a crap-load of bags on my bed from Easton, including Bath and Body Works, Target, Hot Topic, and Lids - all with things either for me or for the host families I am staying with in Israel.  By my elbow are four bottles of the Chinese herbs I'll be bringing with me by strict instruction from my acupuncturist (I know, I'm a hippy).  There are two large suitcases - empty - standing in the middle of my room.  My camera and webcam are perched haphazardly on my desk, and I had to say goodbye to a couple people today until May.  

Now that the show is over, reality is actually sinking in.  I think I subconsciously scheduled my first Walkabout so that I could not face the fact that I am leaving for nine weeks until I had to.  Now I kind of have to.  My mom said I should pack some warmer weather stuff for May tonight, but it's 10:30, and I really doubt that'll happen.  Is it a good idea to stuff my ears with my fingers and say "lalalalalalalala" until I'm on the plane?

In regards to the show - everything went marvelously.  We had a practically full house the first night and a completely full house the second night.  The second night, Eileen, Holly, Andy, Fred, and Melissa came.  I was so happy.  There were a couple glitches in terms of lines, but improv was great.  Keihin ripped apart the audience doing a Beevis and Butthead impression.  It was a Four Square scene with Amber, and during the second round (the first round she wasn't even able to say anything) she said "Can you believe I've never even seen our show before?"

After the show, the cast (minus Keihin and Daryon, because they're lame) went to the Blue Danube for a very late dinner.  A couple other people came.  We were there until midnight.  I was so sleepy for the majority of the time, and then when I got home I realized I was sinking into a post-show depression.  Fortunately I knew that Damien and Amber were also suffering from this terrible affliction, as they were online at 2:30 in the morning with me, posting things on Facebook about the show.

Today I had coffee with Maria and Leslie Reece.  It was a sad coffee because I realized how much I'm going to miss everyone.  I had to say goodbye to Myca yesterday too.  On Tuesday I'm dropping by the theater to give Rich and Britt their card and say goodbye to the interns (WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA), and probably stop by school and cry or something.

I am leaving on Wednesday afternoon at four.  I'll be in Newark around five, and then my flight to Israel doesn't leave until after ten.  I'll get into Tel Aviv at 4:35 pm Israel time.  That's seven hours ahead of my life.  It's interesting to think that the Israelis are in tomorrow already.  

My two biggest concerns as of right now is getting too homesick to enjoy myself and getting over jet lag in a rapid fashion.  I hate jet lag.  It impairs my senses and my ability to have fun, it makes me nauseas, and I can't sleep when I need to.  Even when I do get at least seven hours of sleep, my internal clock is still telling me that I'm dumb and should be sleeping at four in the afternoon.  Also, I can't seem to eat.  The easiest way for me to get over jet lag is if I repair my internal food clock, so having meals at the appropriate time of the day sometimes can speed up the process.

What I am totally excited about is seeing all of my wonderful friends.  I am staying for the first weekend with my family friends Udi Avital and his partner Alon.  Then they are driving me to my host family's house, my mom's cousin Micha, his wife Sybil, and his three daughters; Elinor, Romi, and Ta'ir.  Elinor just came back from a two-year period going to an international school in India, and now she's working at Amnesty International.  She's 19.  Romi is a year younger than me, and Ta'ir is 14.  Apparently, Micha told my mother that the girls are already placing bets to see who I'll bond with the most.  I must say, that's putting a lot of pressure on me.

At the end of the first full week in Israel, I'll be taking a bus from Tel Aviv to Moda'in where the Kagan family lives.  They're good friends of my family from Columbus.  They were here because Avi Kagan was the Israeli representative for the Columbus Jewish community, and our families grew very close.  I'll spend the weekend with them and then take a bus back to Tel Aviv for the work week to start on Sunday.  In Israel, it's only half of Friday and all of Saturday that they have off.  A day and a half?  Insanity!

THE SHOW

I'm so drained right now.  I don't know if I can do justice to the show that just occured, just because there were so many things going through my head and I have so little energy right now to write about it accurately.

The short version is that everything went beautifully.  The long version is that I was completely calm and fine until Amy Bradley and Maria showed up, and for some reason, I started freaking out.  Rudy Frias, one of my friends of theater came, as well as my neighbors.  We had a practically full house!!!!

The actors were amazing.  The improv was absolutely hilarious.  They killed.  Everyone was really impressed.  The scenes were amazing too.  It was flawless.  During the improv, I was literally almost crying with happiness.  I stood in the back and watched.  After the scenes were done and everyone clapped (STANDING OVATIONS), I curled up in the light booth and hid until most people were in the lobby.

It was great, and it went great.  All the misgivings I had yesterday are completely gone.  Now I'm just depressed that it's almost over and I have to face the reality of leaving the country in five days.

Tomorrow's another show!  I'm so excited.  I know some people are coming back, and I think I've convinced Ben Faith and Justin McKibben to come again for the improv and the cast dinner after.

Right now I am stuffed to the brim with Indian food.  I'm sitting in my basement with Myca Preest (she loved the show) and Maria DiSabato (ditto) watching O Brother Where Art Thou.  It's time to shut off the computer and be a good movie-watcher.  Hopefully on Sunday I'll have more articulate things to say about the show.

Reality and Life Continue

To do:

1) Make cookies for the show
2) Wash costume
3) Clean room
4) Re-print list of scenes plus notes from last night to post in the dressing room
5) Call Rich about programs
6) Acupuncture appointment
7) Run Sid and Cassie scene with ringtone sound cue
8) Run Skins 1 with Damien's sound cue
9) Run 10 Things again
10) Get all actors in costume by 6:45 for Bailey's mom to take pictures
11) Shepherd actors into dressing room by 7:40
12) Am I running house?  Must call Britt
13) MAKE THANK YOU CARD EXTRAVAGANZA FOR BRITT AND RICH


No matter how many other things I put on this to-do list, I always feel like I'm missing something.  The problem is I never write anything down, so I never remember it.


As everyone can read, I HAVE A LOT TO DO.  It's currently twenty to one in the morning, and my not sleeping is certainly not going to help the stuff I have to do for tomorrow (although some of it is less important, like my room and the thank you card - there is time to do that).


Today's run-through went really, really well.  Because of the set for CCT's NEXT show, The Price, today the interns and I worked on painting all the walls around the stage this off-white color.  Paired with the gray primer of the floor, the stage looks very bare and uniform.  I like it, especially for our scene night - it's so plain, which works for the nine different scenes in nine different settings that we're going to be using.


The second part of the day was using Rich's car and rushing (NOT SPEEDING) all around the city looking for two RASTAFARIAN HATS.  Damien and Keihin need them for the 10 Things I Hate About You scene.  Sierra and I first went to Costume House over by Bethel.  They were out of stock.  On a whim, we tried Rag-O-Rama.  They also did not have any in stock.  The woman working at Rag-O-Rama suggested we check at Puff & Stuff Smoke Shop down by campus.  I have to say, I was quite excited to finally have a reason to go in there.  I find it hard to believe that someplace so shady could actually exist in broad daylight of high street, although that makes me sound SO naive and sheltered.


Sierra and I parked in a dinky little parkinglot behind a trash-covered apartment building on Chittenden (OSU ATTACK CENTRAL), and walked to the Smoke Shop.  As soon as we walked in we were hit by a wall of 'incense', while bongs and bowls hung from the wall.  Classy.  FORTUNATELY they had the hats we were looking for!  I had CCT's card, and when I gave it to the studnet behind the counter, he asked for I.D. (it says Richard Albert on the card).  I had anticipated this being a problem at maybe the Costume House.  I said it was the company card and that I worked with Columbus Civic Theater.  He gave me a dirty look, but then ran the order.  I stopped myself from retorting outright to him.  Really?  He works at a Smoke Shop that sells perephenalia (for tobacco use only, I'm sure) and that reeks of pot, and he's worried about a semi-shady business exchange?  Sierra was wearing her smiley-face shirt and I was in a black skirt and black tights and leather strappy boots.  We did not quite look like we belonged there, although that may have been the problem.  Oh well.


After rushing back to the theater (rushing, not speeding), we helped with what painting there was left to do.  I have to say, those were the last props we needed for my scene night, and I am very happy we found it just in time.


ON THE SIERRA FRONT - she said she is 98% sure that she could do the show!  She couldn't come to rehearsal today, but she told me she thinks she'll be able to make it tomorrow.  This is good news - the show is very Amber heavy right now (she's in four scenes in a row and practically every other scene before that).  It's not that I don't love Amber or think she is wonderful and talented and all of that - it's just that with Sierra, there's a little variety.

The third part of the day was spent at school.  My actors were performing 10 Things (Damien and Keihin look really spiffy in their new hats), but I couldn't actually be there for the performance, as I had a meeting with the Women's Assistance League about money for my walkabout in Israel.  I talked with them for about five or ten minutes in Tom's room under the watchful and doting eye of Mary, and then I left to go back to town meeting.  At four, right when I had to leave, I re-entered the room (Yong-Sung and Aharon [Aaron?] were also presenting their walkabouts for money) and they told me they're going to help me out with my requested $500!  This is such fantastic news.  They told me all the ask in return is to send them a thank you letter when I get back (OF COURSE) and to come talk to the organization in whole about my experience in either the summer or the fall.  This is so exciting.


The fourth part of my day was the run-through.  After yesterday's rehearsal, which was slightly ridiculous just because that was the first time we were pairing technical stuff with acting stuff, so things were bound to go wrong, the run-through went SO SMOOTHLY.  I was so happy.  Improv was freaking hilarious, and no one forgot their lines or freaked out or anything!  Yesterday I gave my actors a pep-talk.  I told them that the last couple days are supposed to look like crap, because it's when you pair the acting (something very tempermental that you've been working on for about a month and a half) and with the technical light/props/set stuff, which has only just been strung together and is still shaky.


What I realized today as Bailey's mother gave me a ride home is that at this point, the show's really not about the audience.  I mean, yes, I hope you all enjoy it and laugh and cry at the right moments, but I realized that I have given the actors some really great experience that not a lot of them would necessarily have the chance to do, going to Graham, which is unfortunate.  Amber is a different story - she started acting when I started acting, so I was 11 and she was 7.  And she's also in a show right now in addition to mine.  And I'm not saying that my actors are totally bad and that this was a good experience for them because I'm perfect and I took pity on some hooligans or anything.  I'm just saying that this is way different than what we did last year because it's in a very professional setting, being in an actual theater and all.


Maybe I'm totally wrong, and I shouldn't be thinking ANY of this as a director.  I don't know, Rich always seems very very concerned with the audience, which he totally should be, so now I kind of feel bad for what I'm thinking.  And Rich isn't really concerned in the way that he's afraid to take risks or something lest the audience doesn't like it.  He just always wants to make the theater experience a really good one for every patron who comes in through the doors.  And I COMPLETELY want to do that too.  I don't know, maybe I'm rambling.


As I was watching the show today, uninterrupted, I realized that while I'm very proud of what I've done, I kind of wish that I had the resources and the people who could put forth the comittment to do an actual SHOW SHOW.  Like, not a scene night.  My dream show to direct is A View From The Bridge by Arthur Miller (it also happens to be my dream show to star in).  For right now, however, this is good.  And while everything is coming together and it looks great, a part of me can't help but feel disappointed.  Am I disappointed because it's soon to be over?  Or was I so engrossed in the drama of directing that I missed something and now the show looks weird?  I don't know.


It doesn't matter.  I wonder if every director feels this way before a show.  Also, I don't really have the time to get misgivings now.  Everything is finally falling into place.


After rehearsal today, I went to Thomas Worthington and watched the final dress rehearsal for My Fair Lady, which my best friend Candice is Eliza Doolittle in.  I realized that I don't really like musicals anymore.  Or maybe I don't like musicals with dull music.  I don't know what it was - maybe it was just freaking Henry Higgins, the mysoginistic stupidhead.  Anyway, Candice looked beautiful and sang beautifully.  I've never seen a show at Thomas Worthington that wasn't in their blackbox theater.  This was the first time I was in their giant theater.  They do one really big name musical a year.  This year Candice is starring in it!  The guy who plays Henry Higgins is a friend of Candice's who I know from way back, and he did reallyreally well too.


As I was watching, I decided I would never want to direct a show that huge - at least, in such an enormous theater.  That place was GIANT!  The Shedd Theater at the Davis is smaller!  I like having theater be an intimate experience for everyone involved.  I like being right up in the front row and being able to see the sweat on the actor's brow - that way when a beautiful moment happens, like when Keihin punches Daryon and it looks like it's real, or when Sierra gets up and leaves after kissing Daryon dejectedly or when Wes is betrayed by Amber or when Bailey chases Wes around Whitlee and they're all screaming - you forget it's acting and you get lost in it.


THE POINT of bringing up Candice (I am such a rambler) was that she and a friend of hers from Linworth are penpals during Walkabout - they write actual physical letters to each other.  I want to do that so bad.  Who will be penpals with me?  I wish I could have set that up with Tristan before he left.  He'd be an awesome penpal.  DO ANY OF YOU ADVISORS HAVE TRISTAN AND JON'S ADDRESS IN WASHINGTON?????


Tomorrow is the show (AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!) and then also on Saturday.  I think I'll probably end up writing a blogpost on Sunday talking about the shows.  It would make sense to devote one blogpost to each performance, but Myca Preest is coming home from Kent to spend the night with me and Maria DiSabato tomorrow after the show, and so I'm sure my concentration will be elsewhere.


WISH ME LIMB-BREAKING!

Why I Do Not Like Reality

Yesterday's rehearsal was great - we worked with lights and sound cues, and everything was falling neatly into place.  Before rehearsal, I had come to the theater to refocus some lights with Rich for the scenes that take place in the aisles of the theater.  They have to be properly lit.

Today, I arrived at the theater at approximately eleven.  The interns were all there, minus Keihin.  I rushed at Sierra and said, "Please tell me Keihin is with Rich" (Rich was out mailing the post cards).  She said yes.  I promptly heaved an enormous sigh of relief and said, "Good.  I'm on such a precariously balanced knife right now, anything that goes wrong might cause me to convulse."  Sierra promptly took my hand, pulled me into the office, shut the door and said, "Well, then let me kill you."

Sierra's dad pulled her out of the show.  Apparently he read the script for Saved! and got REALLYREALLYREALLY angry.  Sierra says she thinks it's not so much about the content of the scene, but the fact that she didn't tell him ahead of time that the scene had racy content.  I don't really want to get into it on a blogpost - that's not fair to either Sierra or her father.  The point is, Sierra can't do the show.

It's amazing how the brain works.  When she pulled me into the office I knew exactly what she was going to say, and I couldn't even manage to think straight.  I don't know if I was blinded and numbed by sheer panic or if I was just in a state of shock, but it wasn't until I stared and stammered at a hammer for about five minutes that my brain started moving.  Literally, the thought process went something like this:

1) Sid and Cassie - Cassie = Amber
2) Saved! = cut
3) 10 Things I Hate About You = Alex
4) Dead Poets Society = not a big deal
5) Boys Will Be Girls = we'll figure something out.

As soon as those thoughts were cemented in my brain, I was able to properly articulate myself.  Sierra was so upset.  You can just tell when you meet her that Sierra's not a crier, but she was almost in tears when I was blathering on like an idiot.  I took her hand and assured her I wasn't mad.  "I'M mad," she said loudly.  "Well, I'm not mad at you," I repeated.  "This is totally outside of your control."

We decided that she's going to wait a day for her dad to cool down before trying to talk to him.  She'll play the 'I made a comitment' card.  Either way, Saved! is cut.  I know that there's no way her father will let her do the show if she has to do Saved!, and I can't possibly see anyone else doing the part as well as she does.  Besides, this just makes everything a lot less complicated, because that's one more role I don't have to scramble to recast.

Since Amber is homeschooled, I knew I could reach her.  I called her right away and told her the situation.  She agreed to do it.  Lines are such not a problem for her - she already practically had the scene memorized from watching it so much.

For Boys Will Be Girls, I am taking Whitlee's one line in the first section and then all of Sierra's lines go to Whitlee.  In 10 Things, Alex is going to be Sierra's part.  It gives Alex more stage time anyway.  In Dead Poets Society, Sierra's part is virtually nonexistant anyway.  She runs onstage at the end to join in the fun as the girls throw Amber's homework around.

Saved! being cut is a big blow though.  First of all, I feel really terrible since that's such a great scene, especially for Damien.  He had the role of the crazy Praise Jesus guy, which is so awesome to see him in (when I told him he had that role he said, "Alright, but I'm going to have to do some serious acting").  It's also just a good scene, especially since we've worked on it sosososososososososososososo much.  I hate that now it's cut.  I don't like the idea of cutting the most contraversial scene.

I should point out that in Saved!, while it IS a bit racy, it isn't something as drastic as having sex on stage or ANYTHING close to that area.  The term "hot pussy" is thrown around a couple times.  That is honestly as bad as it gets.  The problem is, we were mixing religion in with sexuality, which pisses people off.  This would have been SUCH A GOOD SCENE because religion vs. sexuality is something teenagers have to think about ALL THE TIME, and the theme of the scene night IS youth!!!!

And it was FUNNY.  HONESTLY.

But now it's cut altogether.  It was weird, as soon as everything had been settled and the back up plan had been confirmed, I allowed myself to panic and wallow and whine.  My first concern was that it was going to look crazy unprofessional.  I know that sudden last-minute changes have a tendency to look that way.

But today we worked the kiss scene with Amber and Daryon.  Poor Amber.  She was so nervous.  I'm asking a lot from her.  It's her first kiss scene ever.  And she has to jump in FOUR DAYS BEFORE THE SHOW OPENS.  But, to her credit, she did a really great job.  I said straight away that I don't want to recreate what Daryon and Sierra had, I want to make it something different.  While Sierra's action had been 'to entice' Daryon, Amber's action is now 'to test' Daryon.  Her time with him is like a test to see if he'll actually be serious about their budding relationship this time.  He fails, unfortunately, in order to help out a friend, but it looked really good with that action.

Alex did fine with the lines in 10 Things, and Boys and Girls went over pretty smooth.  I told the actors who have new lines that the lines have to be memorized by tomorrow.  It's jolting, but very possible.

Every moment that I was at the theater I was reminded of the situation.  Ben Gorman did the programs and I had to email him to alert him that Saved! was cut.  He came with a draft of the program.  I had to make the decision whether to take Sierra's name out of the program altogether or to keep it in there.  In the end, I sent Ben the information for an inserpt.  Maybe this is just wishful thinking or maybe it's sending out positive vibes, but I am keeping Sierra's name in there.  Besides, I want to give credit where credit is due.  She worked REALLY REALLY hard on these scenes, and I want the audience to know that we still think of her as one of our actors.  If it turns out she really can't do the show, we'll add in the inserpt that other actors are playing her part.

I so did not want to have to deal with this.  A part of me wanted to crawl into a cave and whine.  It's not that I even have enough in me to cry - I just want to whine with frustration.  Once or twice I teared up today with utter irritation.  I AM ANNOYED AT THE WAY THINGS TURNED OUT, BUT I AM GRINNING AND BEARING IT AND LOOKING FORWARD.

I always forget to address this question that you advisors had talked about before, the 'what's next' question of our journals.  I suppose the answer to that is to pull together a show that has just taken a major fall.  Yes, it will be fine, yes it will look fine, but no part of me wants this whatsoever.  I just wish for Sierra's sake that she could do the show.  I know it meant a lot to her and she worked so hard.  ):

What's next?  Reality.

Welcome to Crunch Time: Tenara Gets Grouchy

A week from tomorrow.  A WEEK, PEOPLE, A WEEK.

In all honesty, I'm not freaking out as much as I expected to be.  It may have to do with the fact that my actors are so FREAKING GREAT or that they all know their lines or that the Israel trip overshadows Scene Night stress.

Unfortunately, Wednesday was a rehearsal Daryon and Keihin both missed.  I was ready to rip out my hair.  Or theirs.  Or both.  How about rip out their HEADS?  Keihin called to tell me that neither he nor Daryon could make it, but I wouldn't let him get off the phone without speaking to Daryon personally first.  I believe I used a lot of: "This can't happen again" and "I can't make you take your job seriously - YOU have to do it", to which they replied with "No, of course not, this will never happen again" and "I realize that, I promise, we're all yours for the next week and a half."

GOOD.  Despite their absences, Wednesday's rehearsal was really productive.  I started incorporating the sound cues.  I think that excited all the actors, that it was finally coming together.  I also worked on action again with Sierra for her scene with Daryon - even though Daryon wasn't there, we made some REALLY GREAT progress with Sierra.  When Whitlee made some comment about how she hadn't even seen the show's opening date creep up on us like that, I assured them that I totally believe that they're ready.  They are.  The stuff I'm giving them now is just icing on the cake.  More like powdered sugar on the icing, which is really weird to think about.  How about the cherry on top?

Today, we ran the scenes, top to bottom.  It took about forty-five minutes all together.  Since the dressing rooms are still being used for The Importance of Being Earnest (this is the last weekend), I didn't post up the list of the scenes yet, so often I would start the sound cue for the next scene and then shout out from the booth what the scene was.  Something I've noticed that I have to rid all these hooligans - THEY KEEP TALKING AS THEY'RE GETTING INTO PLACE.  Everyone seemed incredibly surprised when I shouted out of the booth, "BE QUIET OR I WILL CUT YOU!"  Hey, whatever gets the job done is whatever I care about.

I still worry about Saved!, though.  Not that it's bad - the scene itself is being performed wonderfully by my actors.  I just worry that no one will think it's funny.  I mean, I crack up when I watch it, but I don't really count.  So, I think I'm just going to keep repeating THIS over and over again: my intention as the director is not to make fun of people's religion or to produce some stupid shock value, or to make light of what's important to some people.  I simply want to take a subject that teenagers have to deal with in their everyday lives (like sexuality, religion, spirituality, absurdity) and to make people laugh about it.  That's not to say that it's not important - just that it doesn't always have to be treated with such severity and seriousness.

I think I'll mention that in my curtain speech, as well as in my note in the program.  I just hope people think it's as funny as I do, religious people and non-religious people together.

So - my Israeli passport, army deferment, extension, and my new American passport are all in.  I have been contacting people in Israel about times to see and visit them, I've copied the numbers from my parents' Israeli phone book into my new notebook I got from my mother for my birthday, I know who's picking me up from the airport (Udi Avital, an old family friend.  I will be staying in his house with his partner for the first weekend - Udi and I will take care of all the logistical stuff, like getting minutes onto my Israeli SIM card for my phone, etc., etc.), I know who I'm having passover with (Rena Abadio), and my internships are...well, they're there.  My mentors have both expressed to me to just show up and then it will be easier to see what I would be able to do to help them.  

Oh - one last thing I guess I should mention - Amber, Wes, Whitlee, and Bailey performed today in front of the school as a sort of trailer, doing The Chumscrubber scene.  It went well - I don't think Amber and Wes were projecting to the size of the room, more just keeping their voices the way they do in the theater.  I also didn't catch Amber in time to tell her to censor her language - but when she said "That's why you get so much shit, right?" I actually think she pulled in a lot more people's attention.  Bailey had the real mouthfuls.  Her "just kiss him already" was replacing something much more blunt and the "before I beat you up" was also a tad nicer than the script reads.  Either way, I thought it went really well, and hopefully people are enticed to come see the show.  Next week we're doing another trailer.


Tomorrow my mother and I are shopping for gifts at Easton for my host families in Israel.  Then I have another rehearsal (much to Keihin and Daryon's grumbling, WE ARE REHEARSING TOMORROW).


I'm trying not to think of exactly what's bothering me about Israel - I don't even think I know.  One thing I did notice that I found utterly ridiculous was the color of my nails.  I looked down and saw that, not to my surprise, my nails were black, as I had painted them that way.  Then I realized they would be black in Israel.  And probably chipped - but still black - when I got back.  For some reason, that made me insanely nervous.  My nails are black now and will be in two weeks when I leave, unless I use remover...why does that drive me insane?  I don't know.  Oh well.

Happy Birthday to the Director

Yesterday, one of my actors did something very uncool.  It put me in a really awkward position, because I knew I had to talk to him about it, but I couldn't call him out in front of everyone.  The thing is, this actor has been kind of flaky the entire time we've been rehearsing - for example, springing on me last minute that he can't be at rehearsals, or skiving off rehearsals for very not-okay reasons.  The first half of my rehearsal was fine, because I wasn't really paying attention to what was going on, but then the second half of the rehearsal I was really upset by the situation.  Regardless, the actors rehearsed really, really well.  Everything is coming together.

Today I talked to the actor when he got to rehearsal - I pulled him aside and spoke to him one on one.  I expected him to be defensive and flaky again, but he was actually very considerate and agreed that what he had done was disrespectful and not okay, and that he wouldn't do it again.  Case closed.  I hope I won't have to deal with this anymore.  I told him that he was putting me in a very awkward position, because I just didn't want to have this conversation with him - and that I shouldn't have to.  He's better than that, and I have more important things to do with my time.  Then we went back into rehearsal.  At first, our conversation seemed to strike within him a deep disappointment for his actions - which is good - but not when it affects his acting - which it did.  I told him to snap out of it.  What happened happened and it's over.  Luckily, he listened.


Today we did this exercise that Britt had suggested to get the actors thinking about their 'actions' in a scene.  An actors action is probably Rich's favorite phrase.  The action is what the character is doing, or trying to do, or trying to get out of the other character.  An action can't be 'happy' or 'sad' - those are emotions.  It can't be 'intimidating' - that's an attitude.  An action CAN, however, be 'to intimidate'.


The exercise went like this: first I started out with Daryon and Keihin, using their lines from the scene where their characters get into the fight.  The lines were:

Daryon: You know what Tony?  Sometimes I don't even know why we're friends anymore.

Keihin: It's weird, isn't it?  I'm Mars, you're Venus.  I do things, you worry about them.  I sleep with girls - YOU persuaded Cassie to attempt suicide.

The point really isn't the lines they're saying - it's the way they're saying them.  First I asked them to say the lines exactly how they normally did.  This is center stage, both Keihin and Daryon standing right across from each other.  No blocking, no movement.  Just the two actors on a stage.  Then, I asked them to change it up with actions.  I told Daryon to employ the action 'to defend himself' and Keihin to employ the action 'to hurt Daryon'.  This is difficult, because Daryon has the first line - he's defending himself before he even knows what's going to be said to him.  The next actions I gave them were 'to apologize' for Daryon and 'to blow him off' for Keihin.  That actually looked really great, the way Daryon was pretty much apologizing to Keihin for the way they had been drifting apart, and Keihin completely blowing him off.

I had Wes and Amber stand up onstage and do their two lines next.  The lines are:

Wes: Oh.  Were you a part of that?

Amber: No, but...they were my friends.  The guys who did it.

Again, context is completley unimportant.  Luckily, I had already sort of employed actions in these actors without directly doing it, so it was easier to get started for them, but once I changed it up (Wes: to ascertain [to get the truth], Amber: to lie, or Wes: to make fun of, Amber: to apologize), I think it was harder for Wes to see the purpose of the exercise.  And the truth is, when I was an actor, I totally thought directors were insane for getting me to do this - but now that I'm directing, I can actually SEE the difference it's making.  It's incredible.  I don't know if the actors can see it, but I can see it.

Then I asked Daryon and Sierra to stand up and do actiony type things with two lines from their kiss scene.  The lines are:

Daryon: I did just leave him.  Literally.  And then...I wanted to see you.

Sierra: Do you want to kiss me, Sid?

At first, it was going really well (I gave Daryon the action: to seduce, and we all had fun with that).  Then, I gave Daryon a rather abstract action - to love her.  Not to woo her or to kiss her or to hug her - just to love her.  His action in that scene is just loving her.  For some reason, Daryon had SUCH A HARD TIME gathering himself and getting to that place in order to do that scene.  The other actors in the audience were getting annoyed, and yelling at him that it was so easy.  I like that it was hard for him, though.  Every actor has that place or that action that is really hard for him or her, and it's probably just for very personal reasons.  For example: Keihin can absolutely not do 'to apologize'.  It is literally the most difficult thing, getting an apology from him through an action.  We're going to have to work on that.

The thing is, even though it was so hard for Daryon, when he finally did it (Sierra's action was to get the truth out of him), it was so sweet and so genuine and so nice.  It was just SO GOOD.  This is how I know that it was a geniune acting job - because it wasn't easy for him.  Luckily for him, though, that's totally not Sid's action in the scene.  Sid has just met up with the girl he thinks he's in love with after his best friend has tackled and punched him.  He's a LITTLE preoccupied.  Maybe his action will be 'to focus on Cassie', but we'll work on that.  I gave Sierra and Daryon homework for tomorrow - to come to rehearsal and give me an action for Cassie and for Sid that will work in that scene, and then I get to decide whether I like it or not.  Mwahahahhaa.

I just realized how awesome it is that as a director I can see the importance of these exercises even though I couldn't see it when I was an actor.  That literally just made me so, so happy.

Today is my eighteenth birthday!  My parents and my brother and I went to an Indian restaurant in Grandview and I had a wonderful surprise!  A woman called Bibiche who was a great friend of mine last year when I was working for Community Refugee and Immigration Services now works at that Indian restaurant!  She and I became close over the year as I worked with her one on one and I spent a lot of time with her then-four year old daughter, Emerode.  She's from the Congo.  I was so happy to see her that I stood up and gave her an enormous hug.  At first, she was shocked to see me, but then she got really happy too.  I told her it was my birthday and she started singing to me!  Then, later on in the evening, she told me she wanted to buy me a drink, out of her pocket.  She grabbed me the menu (at first I thought she meant just like a pepsi or something) and then showed me all of their mixed drinks and beers.  Then I realized that EVERYWHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD THE DRINKING AGE IS EIGHTEEN.  I laughed for about an hour and then told her that in America, you had to be twenty-one to drink.  Just the gesture though nearly brought tears to my eyes.

When we got home, my family gave me their presents - my brother gave me the third season of Family Guy (I don't care what anyone says, I love that show).  My mom gave me (this is adorable - are you all ready for this?) a really pretty notebook in which she had written down all the lyrics of the songs she had written about and for me when I was a little girl.  She copied the dates that she wrote them and everything.  The rest of the notebook is obviously for my use.  I was very touched.  My parents also got me a faux leather jacket from Target.  Score.  After that, we all had Pattycake Bakery cupcakes.  Double score.

I am full and happy and content and peaceful on my birthday, which is all anyone could really ask for.  Also, I talked to Genelle today, and we didn't even say anything remotely productive, like, 'tell me about Austria' or whatever.  It was a fleeting conversation on Facebook which involved us calling each other 'cat' and 'buddy' a lot (it's a long story) and saying things like 'will you be my cat in marriage' and 'love me?'.  Then she had to go.  I don't think I really realized how important my friends are to me until this year when I'm not going to see them for such a long time.  I spent Sunday night with Tristan at his house.  We watched Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, and I met his parents and had gingerbread pancakes.  Literally like, the best thing ever, right?  And now I don't get to see him until May, because by the time he gets back from Washington, I'll still be in Israel.

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.

In Which Tenara Rips Her Hair Out With Frustration

OH DEAR LORD DARYON AND KEIHIN ARE KILLING ME SOFTLY WITH THEIR DISTRACTIONS.

I don't think I ever belittled what the teachers at The Graham School have to go through on a regular basis - but now I have a better understanding as a whole of what Mary especially went through during her Improv winterim.

It's not that Daryon and Keihin are bad - they're great actors, actually, but THERE'S SO MUCH THAT WILL DISTRACT THEM.  Also, now that it's crunch time, it's getting to be a little scarier.  For example:

 

See what's going on here?  Acting, right?  Intense stares on both ends - Tony is angry at Sid...

BUT NO - Keihin is about to start CRACKING UP because Daryon is 'too serious'.  I hope I'm the only one who's peering at this photo critically and saying "KEIHIN YOU'RE ABOUT TO LAUGH", although I suspect that anyone who knows Keihin well can tell he's trying really hard not to laugh.

I know that when this is all over, I'll look back fondly at those two, speak of them lovingly as my "problem children", etc., etc.  But for right now I just want to strangle them.  (Sorry, that's probably not good to say in a Super Professional Walkabout Blog to My Teachers, Friends, and Family Members.)

Here - let me be more diplomatic.  Right now what's happening is that Keihin is having trouble with his lines.  Because of the intense ice storm this past week, today is the first day that we rehearsed without scripts onstage (with the exception of Alex, who's brand spanking new to the show).  So Keihin's playing the old Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court game where he gets super frustrated at himself for missing his lines.  He ends up sulking for the rest of the rehearsal.  At the end of the day, I came up to him and said very clearly, "You are a great actor and I have complete faith in you."  He just shrugged me off and muttered something self-degrading (is self-degrading even a word?).

Beyond that, today went really well for the first rehearsal off book.  We also talked about what scenes we're going to perform for the school as a Teaser Trailer to entice people to come see us.  We have decided, but no one that reads this blog is allowed to know it , as they will probably eventually see the trailer at school.  Except for Genelle, who is in Austria now, so I suppose she can know which scenes we're doing (psst - hey Genelle, it's 10 Things I Hate About You and Skins).

Beyond that, things are looking nice.  We have a make-up rehearsal tomorrow and I'm going into school to hang up the posters I've made.  I'm making preparations for Israel - bus tickets, creating bank accounts, getting my first debit card (!!!) so I don't have to change over any money, etc., etc.

Amber is so freaking adorable.  This is during the Midsummer Night's Dream scene when she falls down on the floor, screaming, "OH ME!"

In Which Something Goes Wrong and Walkabout Advisors and my Mother Get Excited that I'm Learning Life Lessons

So, Sunday night I got a Facebook message from Chuck (Rachel), telling me she was really sorry, but she couldn't do the show anymore because she and her mother would be out of town on the weekend of the show and there was no way to move around the trip.  It was incredible how instantaneously my brain started working in thinking of solutions to this impromptu problem.  The first solution that bounded into my brain was Alexander Bell, who had watched rehearsal one night and mentioned briefly that he would be interested in doing acting.  I had berated him for not telling me that earlier, as I could have used him.

But then, Sunday night, I sent a message to Xander asking him if he would be interested in taking over some very small parts that Chuck was leaving behind.  He said that he would love to do it, anything to be able to help.

So Chuck was in five scenes in which she had lines.  Boys Will Be Girls, Skins (parts 1 and 4), Dead Poets Society, and Saved!.  I did some quick rearranging, and I've decided to give Chuck's lines in Dead Poets Society and in Saved! to someone else - DPS to Bailey, probably, and Saved! to Amber.  That leaves Boys Will Be Girls and Skins.

For Skins, the two parts that Xander will be taking over really don't need to be gender-specific.  The first part is a friend of the group - her name is Jal, but no one ever says her name and there's nothing in the script that references her being a girl.  In Skins part four, Chuck was playing the mother in the scene.  I honestly don't mind changing the mother into an older brother or something, since Tony (who in the scene is being yelled at by his mother and father), never says "Mom" to Chuck's character - he only ever addresses his father by name.  Xander can easily play the Mom as the older brother, even though Tony has no older brother.  Either way, it doesn't matter.

The scene that I am having qualms about is Boys Will Be Girls.  The whole point of Boys Will Be Girls is to have the boys act like girls and the girls act like boys.  If I put Xander in the part of a girl, it would completely defeat the purpose.  It absolutely has to be a girl.  I told him about this, and he said he didn't mind doing whatever, as long as I was happy.

I decided that I would keep Xander only for the two scenes, and of course for the rest of the scenes in which Chuck was in but had no lines - just as a student or as an extra or whatever.  But for Boys Will Be Girls, I needed a girl.

I talked to Britt about it, and after the initial shock that something like this happened (which is extremely unfortunate, but not Chuck's fault), we came up with the idea that maybe I can switch around the order of the scenes, so Boys Will Be Girls will be the first scene we perform, and I could just fill in for Chuck's part, as a cameo appearance, and then disappear into the light booth.

This is obnoxious, because I really didn't want to be acting for this Walkabout, at least not involved in what I was directing.  This is partly because Columbus Civic Theater's Walkabout was meant to be a directing walkabout and partly because I don't want to seem like the overly eager theatrical jerk who wants to direct and star and do the light booth and produce and costume and blablablablabla 'it's all about mememememememe."  Obviously I know nobody thinks that of me, but it's still enormously disappointing that I even have to deal with this situation at all.  I wanted the focus of the acting to go on my ACTORS, which EXCLUDED me.

As of right now, I think my filling in for Chuck's part is the simplest and easiest way of resolving this issue.  Chuck didn't even have that many lines - just like one or two.  I guess it would be different if I was filling in for someone who had ALL the lines.

Still, I wanted to stay off the stage entirely.  I wanted to come onstage and give the curtain speech, then disappear into the light booth and hide once the show was over - you know, what real directors do.  I wanted everyone to gush about the actors, because that's the real way I know I've done my job right.  If everyone rushes at the actors, screaming about how well they performed, I need no other validation, because thank you very much, I directed them to perform that well.  If people rush me and talk about how well directed the show was, I don't know how much that is the acting or just the choices I made as a director.  I want the fact that I was ever involved in the process to be an afterthought, like, people leaving the theater and then suddenly thinking, "The director did a pretty good job," but then going on to say, "Dude, did you SEE Sierra in Saved!?  She was hilarious!"  (She's going to be hilarious.)

BUT I SUPPOSE EVERYONE MUST MAKE SACRIFICES FOR THE SAKE OF THEATER AND WALKABOUT AND WHATNOT.  It was a weird day.

In other news, the literary magazine is 95% done.  I just need some artwork to decorate, and then I'll be able to send Evan the digital copy to have it printed.  I know, I know, really freaking late in the year, but in my defense - I'm the only one doing it.

ANYWAY, I don't have to work at the theater today because SCHOOL WAS CANCELED BECAUSE OF THIS ICE STORM AND SO THERE ARE NO INTERNS AND THEREFOR NO PRACTICE AND BRITT DOESN'T NEED ANYTHING DONE AT THE THEATER, SO I AM SITITNG AT HOME, STEWING IN MY OWN SELF-PITY THAT SOMETHING DIDN'T GO ACCORDING AS I HAD PLANNED IT.

But the good thing is that I was accepted into Bennington College, my top choice.  No word yet as to what kind of financial package they're awarding me - I'll know in about two weeks.

Until Thursday, stay warm.