Awesome News of Awesomeness

Forgive my negligent blogging, I've been seeing fast I can make "free time" disappear now that I'm out of classes and the kids aren't! So far, pretty darn fast.  I've started trying to run...again...and have done several four-mile stretches in the past week and a half.  Sadly, I think it's time for new shoes.  Do I dare try ebay, or do you really have to try running shoes on?

I am very pleased with how my second year of grad school ended (although it's not COMPLETELY ended yet, as I'm in a production of Romeo and Juliet that's being directed by one of my professors.  I'm playing Lady Capulet.  It's going to be an interesting production...we're using four different locations in and around the Communications building, and the audience will travel with us as we move.  As we move to the different locals, the costumes will gradually become more and more modern.  This story is every place, every time, etc. The production goes up Memorial Day weekend.) But the OFFICIAL school year ended nicely.

I'm still maintaining a 4.0 GPA. Yay, me! This year's classes included Vocal Production 1 (Linklater Technique), Vocal Production 2 (Dialects), Screen Acting 1 and 2, Playwriting, Meisner 2 (acting technique) and two modular (week-long) classes in Cecily Berry technique and Voice-over acting.  I performed in two shows and crewed for two more, which completed my backstage requirements.

Part of my GA job at the theatre is maintaining a blog about the theatre community.  One of my blog articles was picked up and reprinted in The Cutting Edge, which is an online newsletter for the Society of American Fight Directors.  It's in the issue for May/June 2011. Volume XXII, Issue 3... So that was fun.

At the end of the year we auditioned for thesis roles. I was called back for three of the four "thesis" shows, and ended up being cast in the first show of the season, Beau Jest.  Rehearsals start August 15, and the show opens Sept. 16.  The following synopsis is from the website about the author, James Sherman.

BEAU JEST is the hilarious, heartwarming story about Sarah Goldman, a beautiful young school teacher from Chicago who is involved with Chris, a great guy with just one apparent flaw, he's not Jewish. Sarah tells her parents that she is no longer seeing Chris, but continues to date him in secret.
To keep her mother from trying to fix her up with "nice Jewish boys," Sarah invents the perfect boyfriend and regales her parents with stories of the man of her mother’s dreams. Eventually they insist on meeting the man, and in desperation, Sarah hires Bob, an actor, to play the part of her new beau. Unaware of the scope of the role he has taken on, Bob accompanies Sarah to dinner with her parents and her brother Joel. He quickly realizes that what he has gotten himself into is much more than he bargained for. It will take all of his charm, wit and improvisational skills to pull off the charade. But Bob rises to the occasion, and the antics that follow is only the beginning of a side-splitting tale that will have you rolling in the aisles, and wiping tears from your eyes at the same time

I've been cast in the role of Miriam, the Jewish mother.  Yes, it's true, I just finished playing a Jewish mother in Bye Bye Birdie, but hopefully, even though Beau Jest is a comedy, Miriam has a little more depth.  The first three chapters of my thesis document need to be completed before rehearsals begin in August.  Basically, the first three chapters cover what I think the main challenges will be in performing this role and how I plan to address them, any historical research I deem necessary for the role, a structural analysis of the play, and character background and research.  Since Miriam is a practicing Jew, and partakes in a Passover Seder onstage during the play, and speaks in Yiddish to her husband several times, I've decided that part of my historical/character research needs to be learning about Judaism and learning Yiddish pronounciations.  I went to the library today and got several books to get me started.

In other news, I received approval from the faculty to mount a production of a one-act play that I'm writing about two women in the late 1800's who walk across America to try to win a $10,000 wager.  It's based on a true story, which I stumbled across accidentally and found fascinating.  Another girl in my cohort, Whitney, is going to direct.  It's a two woman and one man show, and we'll start rehearsals mid-November and mount the show in early December.  I'm pretty excited about it, but I  have a lot of rewriting to do over the summer

We're trying to firm up some travel plans for the summer.  It looks like the kids and I will be heading to Pittsburgh from June 18 - 30.  The kids will go to Kidz Kamp at St. Philip's for the first week, and Don will fly up and join us for the second week.  After that, we plan to drive to Norwood for the golf tournament.  Then, somehow, we'll get Don back here and I'll drive the kids to Westford for a couple of weeks.  Hope my laptop holds up, because I have lots of writing to do during this journey! Maybe on the way back here we can hit eastern PA and DC.

So I'm doing a lot of work this summer, but not earning any money.  So if anyone knows of any short term theater work in Pittsburgh at the end of June, or Norwood in the beginning of July, or Westford in the middle of July, please let me know!