Well tonight we open the Advanced Directing Festival: Direct Effect! I am in Katie’s show, Baby With the Bathwater. It is a really awkward play, but I think it will be really fun and the audience will get a kick out of it. Since there are two other plays in this festival that needed the space to work in and all the other conflicts going on, the tech week was really strange, which worried me at first. Our first dress rehearsal was on Sunday night, but then the next two nights the other shows were in the space and we didn’t rehearsal because Katie and I were in D.C. for Ideas in Performance. Our second dress rehearsal was last night and we had to stop about four or five times. I think we have fixed all of the problems and that tonight should run smoothly, it was just odd having a 2 day break during a tech week.

I am happy with the work I have done and the character I have developed for this show, especially considering the time constraint. I was only called to two rehearsals before the few days before tech week because of my involvement with She Stoops to Conquer taking up a majority of my time. But I memorized all my lines (monologues…) and started working really hard at it the minute She Stoops went into rehearsal. With Katie’s good directing skills and all of the actors commitment we have brought the show to a really good place. I wish I could have seen more of the process and all of the other actors improvements and discoveries throughout the show, but my character only is in the last three scenes of the two act play and again, I had some previous commitments, but I still feel connected with them and the show. I just felt like a sort of absentee player for a while, but the last two weeks have made me feel as more of a part of the process. So anyway, another opening night! I am excited for this piece to have an audience This will be my third weekend in a row of performing in a show, kind of intense! Break a leg to my whole cast and the other two shows!

WOW! Last night we went to see a performance of Rain Pan 43 at the Studio Theatre. I am never so cliche as to say that a play almost had me “rolling on the floor with laughter…” but this performance got me as close as it can get. If I had been near an aisle I seriously might have rolled out of my seat I was laughing so hard. The whole show was such a releasing experience. I usually try to tone down my laughter in the theatre because it can get pretty raucous, but that was not an option here. The entire audience was cackling pretty much throughout, so everyone was on the same page. It was just two men, who often spoke in barely distinguishable speech, such a unique manner that it became very intriguing to listen to them. A lot of it was in silence as well.

The great thing about this show was that there were moments of complete hilarity, but also very slow and touching moments such as when the men created an imaginary third person in between them with parts of their bodies and accessories like a hat. This was a very quiet portion of the show and you could just tell how intent every audience member was on what was occurring onstage. There was some audience interaction that was hilarious. The men even took two people’s chairs from the front row and left them to sit on the floor for the remainder of the show. I think what truly took me into the bizarre world these two actors had created was their commitment to the roles. Despite the fact that one of the men was pretending to be a huge Godzilla-like monster eating the entire audience, contorting his face and screaming growling noises, he was so committed to these movements and choices that it made it so much more entertaining and captivating. I was so impressed by their work with this performance, I just cannot get over it. I had never really seen a piece like this before, so it was another really great opportunity. I had no idea what to expect when I got into the theatre and was situated in my seat. Little did I know I was about to have an experience I will never forget and will continue to laugh about at any point I recall the show.

Last Wednesday, April 9th, our class went to see “Death of A Salesman” at Arena’s temporary location in Chrystal City. It was great getting to see the new stage they are working on, although the flat nature of the set design did not lend itself to well to the production in my opinion. The only aspect of the production that truly held my interest the entire time was the characters of Linda and Willy, mainly because of the extremely talented actors portraying the roles. The role of Willy is a very complex and challenging role and the actor did truly impressive work. The other principle characters, primarily Biff and Happy, did not do it for me. They seemed a littled flat at times, but perhaps I was just comparing them to the level Willy and Linda were at.

A few of us in this class got the chance to meet the woman who played Linda Loman, Nancy Robinette. Gregg invited our class to a dinner and conversation at his home in Alexandria. Let me start off by saying, wow- what a beautiful home Greggie! This was a wonderful evening and it was really great to get the chance to hear this very successful actor’s story. She talked a lot about how she did not jump right into her acting career after she graduated college in Kansas. Instead she got married and started having children. After she was more settled in, she then began acting after her day job, but realized she should focus on raising her child. It was really interesting to hear her struggles with finding the time to pursue her passion in acting, and hearing her explain her realization that she had perhaps done a few life events in the wrong order…but she just went with it and still managed to become highly successful. She talked about how she spent a short period of time living in NYC and I felt the same way about many of the city’s characteristics she gathered from living there. Just from being there 10 days last month I had my senses about the way of life there. She touched on the difference in the sense of community there than in other places and it was good to hear from someone who was a part of the theatre community in both D.C. and New York. I liked how she spoke of how different job opportunities are her women now and to think that her mother may not have had the same chances she did. She grew up during such a time of waves of change and violence.

Nancy inspired me to take more advantage of my youth and to know what I want in terms of the plans for my life. I am not going to let time and lack of thinking get the best of me. She touched on how she would do things a little differently if she could, so I know that I need to make things happen for myself, and I believe that I can. It was so wonderful to meet Nancy and to have a really great dinner at Gregg’s house. I thank them both for this remarkable opportunity

On Sunday, April 6, our Ideas in Performance class went to see Stunning at Woolly Mammoth Theatre. I had a few mixed feelings and emotions about this show, but overall the effect on me was strong, so I believe it was a good show. I did not know what to expect when I sat down and saw the set that was all polished white and expensive household pieces. The first scene started very suddenly and the characters were all very strong and noticeable choices. I was abruptly brought into the world of the play. The music was loud and often meant to be catchy and lure in “hip” audience members, pardon my poor word choice, but they did play Snoop Dogg’s “Drop It Like It’s Hott…”

Anyway, I was really involved in the main characters in this show right away. They were all very intriguing to me, in a way that you could easily detect psychological problems and chaos in their early upbringing that led to the issues the characters were experiencing in the present day of the play. The main character of Lily was my favorite. The woman playing her was an amazing actress and I was enthralled in her performance. Every movement and word, including intonation and volume, was completely true to the character the actor developed. I was so interested in why and how this 17 year old girl ended up being married to a middle aged man in an abusive environment. The character of the maid was also very interesting because she originally seemed very rationale and independent, but in the end was the one whose sanity snapped and led to her eventual suicide. The ending was the part of the play that I felt mixed about because the plot lines went a lot further than I thought they would and I was confused as to how it ended up how it did. I could follow everything and can’t exactly put my finger on how I think it could have been played out differently, but it simply felt off for me. But overall, for my first experience at this theatre, I was very impressed with the environment and production value.

One final thing that I found interesting in this theatre was the near to 5-minute announcement by one of the workers at the theatre where he pumped up support for the theatre and their upcoming season and directed us about the usual cell phone related speeches. I just felt that the man went on a little too long and what he was saying lost my interest somewhat. I thought it was great that he adressed the audience in person rather than via an recorded voice because it made the interaction more meaningful and real and as if he really wanted us to engage and become involved with the theatre, it just went on a little longer than I would have liked.

Well, it’s that time of the semester where you are entering the long haul, where even though a break is so near in sight, the days begin to go by slower and slower… and your pile of work keeps getting higher and higher. The fact that it has been more than 3 weeks since my last post should go to show just how much I’ve had going on. I wish I had taken more chances to blog, but regardless, I’ll recap. Right after we got back from NYC, She Stoops rehearsals kicked into high gear. We only had a few weeks coming back from break before our tech rehearsals began. The show has officially closed its run and now looking back on it two days after closing, I am immensely happy about the entire experience. This show has been a very intense process, but has become probably the most rewarding theatrical process I have had to date. I committed myself completely to the role of George Hastings and found both internal and external motivation for my emotions and objectives. After having a few actor conferences with Helen, the director, I became even more confident because she reassured me that she could easily see the hard work I was doing and that my character kept evolving incredibly throughout the process.

There are a lot of underclassmen in this production and that made me feel as if, as a Junior, I should set a good example for acting professionally in this department, and I think it came through and I hope I was a good role model for them. As a cast we have all become very very close, in part because we have spent hours upon hours together for basically the past month and a half. Marlowe is played by Cameron Doucette, who is a freshman that I didn’t know very well before this production, but I feel very close to him now because we found a place in our relationship to help take our characters to the level of care for each other that they have. The same concept worked with Emma, who plays my romantic love interest, Constance Neville. I obviously don’t have these intense feelings for her in real life, but we met each other in the middle and giving each other strong emotions to work with and helped the other to get to the right place. Our audiences were all great, and as always some hooted and hollered and others soaked it in more silently (typically on a Sunday matinee), but it was altogether a truly enlightening experience.

Of course there were certain rehearsals where I felt that I made a huge amount of progress and others where I sort of sifted through the process, but there are moments I will never forget where I could feel the sensitivity and emotion of the character take over me and that is where I knew I understood Hastings and no matter what I would feel him at least somewhat from that point on. After these moments I knew I could take myself there; that it was just a matter of focus and strength in character. Rehearsals consumed my free time, but I managed to still keep up with my school work. Being busy usually helps me to get my work done because if I am always free then I feel I can put things off because my free time is unlimited. When I feel my free time is limited, I am motivated to get work done at every chance I get. So luckily, I never have an abundance of free time so I should always be a motivated student!

So to conclude: my feelings about closing this run of She Stoops. I am going along the lines of- be happy the opportunity happened instead of being sad that it ended. I am so glad I got this opportunity and have taken so much from the experience, that yes I miss performing the show, but I know I will always take with me what I have acquired and use it in my upcoming acting endeavors and even other endeavors as well.

I’d like to just mention 10 things that I chose off of Gregg’s NYC blog, where he made a list of so many good things to do around the city including places to eat, places to shop,  theatres to look at, etc. I’d like to reflect on each one a little bit.

* First off, I did what I was long awaiting to do and was very very excited about… I ate a hot dog from a street vendor. Something about this hot dog tasted abnormally delicious and we all know how much I love a good hot dog. Jenn, Talya, and Helena were also quite excited about this… It was even cooler because it was at like 1:00 in the morning, but the vendor was still open for business since he was in the always bustling Times Square.

* At the MoMA I got to look at the original Van Gogh painting, “A Starry Night.” It was breathtaking and although I have seen it in books time after time, it was completely different in person at the musuem. * Strolling down Christopher Street was great…looking at all of the gay-themed shops around the area and getting a chance to see a show in the Lucille Lortel Theatre which was a great and comfortable space.

* I also got a chance to sit in another quite impressive theatre, emphasizing spectacle more than any other theatre I have been in here so far; The New Amsterdam Theatre showing Mary Poppins. It instantly screamed elaboration and extreme spectacle, which is exactly what the show lived up to be. Absolutely beautiful.

* Helena and I walked through Bryant Park, which was great. I had to of stared at the carousel for 5 minutes remembering riding it on my first trip to NYC almost 7 years ago.

* I gazed upon the Chrysler Building, of which I can see the tip from my hotel window, during the day and at night, as well as the Empire State Building. I loved the view at night more, especially when it was a little bit cloudy of a night because the low clouds sweeping across the lit up building was quite the sight.

* On my way to the Bethesda Fountain, I walked through Strawberry Fields and it was such a beautiful day. The sun was not out, but the gray sky almost made the views more serene.

* On a late walk downtown one night David, Helena, Talya, Jenn and I walked past the Friends building, the apartment building that they would scan up at the beginning of scenes in the popular sitcom. Wow, do I love that show so it was really cool to see the building up close after seeing it probably at least a 1,000 times on the TV.

* Helena and I walked through Grand Central Station and did the Whispering Corner, which was SO cool. We could hear each other even though we were in opposite corners of the lobby! I was amazed by this!!

 * I rode the really intense elevator at the Hotel Marquis where I think I maybe even let out an audible scream on the way up.. We were visiting one of Helena’s friends who happened to be staying there on the 27th floor or something high up…

* Lastly, Helena, David, Talya, Sommor, Layton, Jenn, and I walked around Canal Street the first full day we were there for some cheap shopping. I bought the quintessential souvenies like shot glasses, an I Love New York Sheet, and post cards for our grant donors.

Sunday, March 9th: Our last afternoon in New York City. Gregg took the whole class out to a pizza lunch, which was nice to be together as a group to celebrate a great week in the city. After brunch we saw one of the funniest shows I have ever seen, Is He Dead? at the Lyceum Theatre on 45th St. between Broadway and 6th Avenue. This is a discovered Mark Twain comedy that was starring Norbert Leo Butz. It was so quick-paced and hilariously clever and engaging. I was sitting next to Talya and the mere extent to which she was guffawing made me laugh and enjoy the show even more. I try not to let go and laugh out loud to the extent that I would in public when I am in the theatre, but I could barely help it during this production. The set was beautiful and it was really neat how they changed it completely between the acts from a struggling artists loft to a grand palace and it was so funny to hear a collective gasp from each audience member. All of the actors were so engaged and in the moment, playing off of each other beautifully. The text was so cunning and witty, the costumes bawdy and dashing, the set dazzling and soaring, and the comedic timing successfully astute. I really enjoyed this. My favorite actor was David Pittu who played four different characters: Basil Thorpe, Claude Riviere, Charlie, and the King of France. With four different parts, he was still able to commit to them all and create such a well-developed character.

After the show it was pretty much time to prepare for departure. I was so on time for the DC2NY bus only to realize that it didn’t depart at 7, but at 8- I guess Jon just got confused, so we all just collapsed on the ground after lugging our suitcases to the bus stop and we probably looked really homeless. After finally getting on the bus and leaving a little after 8, we only got about an hour and a half down the road before the bus got a flat tire and we were stuck on the Jersey turnpike for about 2.5 hours. Luckily I was having fun in the back of the bus with everyone from class, meeting new friends like James who highly enjoyed our antics, watching videos on laptops with the WiFi, and doing Lindsay’s hilarious book of mad libs. There eventually came a point where we were all kind of like, ok it would be nice if we were home by now- say around 2am. The bus driver was really nice and I felt so bad for him having to go out in the cold to deal with it, but yes after 2.5 hours we finally were back on the road. Time went by rather quickly considering the length of the bus ride from NY to DC, and we kept playing “games” and laughing which made it one of the craziest parts of the trip. Once we finally made it to DC, we had to wait once again on the side of the road standing with our luggage for almost a half an hour for our bus to come to take us to Fredericksburg. Here, we passed the time just singing songs at 3 am. We finally made it home around 4am, which made our first day back at school yesterday a very interesting one. School has picked right up and I am trying my hardest to get back in gear, although working all break never took me completely out of go mode. Well, the trip has ended, but I am not sad it is over, just overwhelmingly glad that it happened.

On the afternoon of Friday, March 7th Gregg held an interview with Natalie Joy Johnson, the UMW alum who is now a principle actor in Broadway’s Legally Blonde: The Musical. A group of us went in to hear the complete story of her journey taking us from her senior year at UMW to the present. It was such a great experience and as I said after the tour she took us on of the Palace Theatre, I really really like her and she is so enjoyable to speak with. A lot of her advice tied into what other actors I spoke to said: do what you can when you get here and take every opportunity to get your name out there in a good light, it’s all about who you know, making those contacts:  say yes to everything because you never know who you will meet that will lead you to another opportunity and offer. She is very motivating and uplifting because of how many setbacks and obstacles she overcame to eventually find rewarded success. Her first major setback came during one of her more promising theatre jobs after college where she had to quit before ever performing because she got a cyst on her vocal chord. After healing, she joined the promising cast of a new show called “Bear.” So much buzz came out of this group of promising young actors, but the show was eventually dropped after being delayed multiple times. Natalie remained confident and hard-working and kept taking opportunities to get her name out there, like singing weekly at local NY bars and clubs.

My favorite advice that she gave us was somewhere along the lines of, “Whatever it is you are doing, you must have self-confidence and own it. Sell it. Become it…Know that you deserve it.  Be yourself, be genuine. Don’t make any one audition the most important one ever because just the act of auditioning gets your name out there for casting directors who may remember you and try to use you later.”

I have been thinking about what she said a lot since that interview. No one audition has to be made the most important one of your life because there are endless opportunities to audition for one thing or another. Although the feeling of getting the part you wanted is so utterly satisfying, just getting your name in front of a casting director is an accomplishment. If you have a good audition and are just not as right for the part as someone else, they can still refer back to you later for a future production. We also got the chance to meet her agent, Jeremy, and hear a few words from him. It was really great to get to hear a story from a successful professional actor that came from the same place I will be coming from and who overcame many setbacks right after graduation.

Today, Saturday March 8th marked our last full day in New York City this spring break… I felt really sad about this all day. This trip has been almost overwhelmingly amazing. But in a way, I am ready to go back and get back to everything I have going on in Fredericksburg. Mainly, I will be back at my apartment and will finally have a little bit of time and space to truly come to terms in full realization of how this trip effected me and I will be able to take in everything that happened. I will make a post in the next couple days about my overall experience, but it may take a little bit of time to gather all of my thoughts.

Today we saw Sunday in the Park With George for our matinee at Roundabout Theatre Company at Studio 54 on 54th St. between Broadway and 8th Avenue. I was excited to see this production for two primary reasons. I had read an article in the New York Times about the intense animation skills incorporated in this production because the director is a very skilled animator as well. Also, in regards to the director the article discussed how young he is, at a mere 32 if I remember correctly. So first off I wanted to see it because of this director’s very young and intriguing take on this classic piece. Secondly, I wanted to see a production of this play because I have never heard any of the music and was not overly familiar with the script and storyline. I was very impressed with the skills in animation, but very disappointed in the storyline and music so I guess it was an even mediocre experience for me. The animation aspects were so amazing and I was literally sitting there with my mouth dropped open. The way they had the set (which was all white walls) colored in moving animation in correspondence to the story was absolutely astonishing. (They had a blank canvas of a dog that could move and wag its tail, I mean seriously impressive for my standards at least. As far as the story, I felt it was very slow and did not grab my attention at all. The music all seemed incredibly slow-moving and monotonous. There was not enough variety in the tempo and tune for my taste. I wanted at least a few songs to be a bit livelier. My favorite song, the only one that truly grabbed my full attention was “We Don’t Belong Together,” sang by Dot. Oh also, I loved the lead female actress as well.

Our evening show was Paradise Park at Signature Theatre Company on 42nd St. between 10th and 11th Avenues. This show was very absurd and I was just not into it at all. It was way too over the top for me. It was set in a quirky amusement park with very bizarre characters and story-lines such as a man in a mouse costume falling in love with a untalented ventriloquist’s dummy. They went to the extent of putting fruit cake in a sling shot and flinging it across the stage and smashing it against the wall of mirrors (of which pieces flew into the audience on Latera, Jenn, and I- ewww), blowing up a moon bounce on stage, and you may not even want to know what else. I went into it with the impression that it was a musical, which it was not a typical one at least…I just didn’t care about the characters at all and didn’t invest any of myself in them so I didn’t care what happened to them in the end. Any conflict they had was just too extreme that I just wanted it to end quickly so I didn’t have to deal with it. The artistic direction was just not to my liking and I couldn’t get past certain things that seemed insane to me. I can appreciate absurdist pieces, don’t get me wrong- but I just did not enjoy this piece.

I have very mixed emotions about leaving tomorrow, but I know I got a lot out of this trip and am satisfied with my progress here in the Big Apple. Well, we have a group brunch tomorrow, one more show, and a trip back to Fred and then it’s back to school bright and early Monday morning… did I mention: eeeeek. I’ll write more on the WiFi bus- which better have it’s WiFi working this time around.