the boys are too refined

things are really good right now and i have a lot of hope for the future.

medea ran this weekend and i'm have pretty bitter sweet thoughts about it now. sure, i'm glad i get my afternoon and evenings back - no more meetings throughout the day, rehearsals or performances. but on the other hand, this is the last show i'm going to be working on with some pretty important people who are about to graduate. rachael lang is such an inspiration. she spent hours and hours working and developing her perception of medea. she gave a stunning performance and everyone who saw the show and said anything to me commented on her vocal work in the production. john long was a great jason. he was strong and smart and he worked very hard on the role and he gave a great performance as well. i'm sad to not get to work with either of these people again (in school, that is). rachael was in my first directing project at school - we directed scenes in directing 1 class and she was 'becca' in my rabbit hole scene. john was in my first one-act, line last spring. both of them were great to work with and now they're going on into the real world. i guess my biggest hangup with the entire 'missing people' situation is that they get to go and do their thing, but i'm still in school waiting to do the same. it's weird, too, because i feel like i have a huge case of 'senioritis,' which is ridiculous because i'm only at the end of my junior year. those thoughts have got to go because i won't have time to be a piece of shit.

other exciting news: i found out today that i'm directing a main stage show next year! i'm so excited. it's the first time a student has directed on the main stage in about 5 years, so that's pretty awesome too. the show is liza and the riddling cave and it's about this mute girl who's father goes missing into the Appalachian mountains where there is a magic cave where anyone who goes inside gets frozen if they can't answer the cave's riddle. basically nobody thinks liza is worth a damn, especially her mother, but the girl is really close with her father and she's devastated when her father doesn't come home. her and her brother decide they need to go find their dad and long story short, liza - whose only talent is solving riddles - solves the riddle to free her father from the icy cave, which is possessed by the first two people to get trapped in the cave. it's a children's show, so the script is pretty simple and that makes it really open to interpretation. i'm thinking that with my production, i want to introduce the kids (probably 5th graders) to modern dance. i have a few reasons for that: 1) starting next year, we're going to be 'the school of dance & theatre' and that will be a great way to begin integrated people into this new collaborative effort that is going to leave a bunch of people feeling slightly alienated, unfortunately. 2) i like modern dance a lot and i think the story allots to movement, seeing as how liza is mute. i'll probably cast a dancer or a very movement oriented actress into the title role and go from there. 3) i've never seen a kids show like that. also, i already know i want to have a crazy light show. i think spectacle is going to be everything with this production. i also want to work with musicians. i want everything for this show, actually.

and if all else goes well, i'll hopefully have an independent study my last semester, where i get to direct something outside of the school and have it performed in the studio. that'd be pretty ridiculous. it's so great to think about the possibilities, isn't it? 

i've decided a long time ago that i want to start my own theatre company. i want to be able to produce high-quality, technologically forward theatre to a young and enthusiastic audience. i want to enlighten and inspire the community. i want to introduce new works into the theatre world and maintain and often rethink the ones that are already a staple in theatre history. i want to work with artists who have the same passions as i do. i really just want to make art and support myself by doing so. the real problem lies in HOW it's going to happen. really, though. i need to know.

i have a performance year-end review, a directing year-end review and a technical year-end review. i'm going to be reviewed out by the end of this week. i'll be talking about stage managing medea and box office management and probably possibly designing next year since i'm taking the intro to design class. melissa is directing rabbit hole and i'd love to do costumes or set for that - how cool would that be? any experience to make me more delicious to employers is what i'm looking for at this point haha. oh and john klenk is directing hal pinter's the homecoming and that's going to be amazing as well. i'd love to get cast in some shows when i'm not directing next year, but i won't hold my breath. that is really the only thing i haven't felt like i've been given the right chance at: having a really big, juicy role. i've been working so hard in acting class this year and i feel like it's about damn time, yanno?

until next time...