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!"