A Curious Showcase

So I'm such a terrible liar about my posts. I did say I had a ton of stories to tell - in that they would turn into a various amount of posts - but they ended up being thrown on the back burner because my time management skills for this blog can be as bad as FDR's legs.

Anyways, it has been a wicked long time since I have posted here, and it makes me feel like a pile of poop to think about that.

I admit, I've been very busy since my last spiel; my life outside of school is practically non-existant. But now that my first semester is over, I have some free time to work on this nifty little blog.

The amount of work that I have had to focus on within the past few months has been astonishing. I've had projects, big scenes, performances, essays and a Showcase to contend with - among other things, for certain!

So firstly, I was involved in a few performances lately. There's these things called "Directing Scenes" that the second year students do, and they basically put up performances from what they learned in directing class - complete with auditions, rehearsals, performance space, etc. I had done one a while back with a scene from "Death and the Maiden" as a sadistic doctor who got caught by the woman he raped years ago. I was tied up, tortured, had water dumped on me, etc. I felt like I was in a play about CIA waterboarding starring David Carradine.

Lately, I've had to contend with two other performances of that fashion - but longer in length. The first one, Ethan Coen's "Waiting," was a 20-minute one act that focused on the existence of a loser of a man stuck in purgatory as his time spent there continues to increase. I found it to be ironic that my friend played that particular man as he is an atheist IIRC.

"Atheists go to atheist hell" - Rick Perry

Anyways, that was a fun one to perform, that's for certain! But, I admit, it won't be able to top my experience with the other performance: Oberon in "A Midsummer Night's Dream," complete with quarterstaff combat! Firstly, it's Shakespeare, and I am pretty darn fond of that bard. Secondly, it had quarterstaff combat - something reserved for second year students! We were lucky enough to get tons of experience in that field. Basically, Titania and Oberon take turns beating buckets of butt from one another in our scene - and boy was it fun! Nothing says old world like going all Chris Brown on that lady. And some people know that I bottle shit up, so I need some way of unleashing a relenting cascade of pure emotions upon this fragile land. Beating the shit out of someone is actually mildly therapeutic. That's why little kids like to punch me in the nuts. They simply release their emotions - and they can't really reach any farther than my groin level.

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And then there was Showcase...

Mind you, it was not as bad as that picture implies. In fact, it turned out to be a pretty good experience! Every thing worked out fairly smoothly and I didn't poop my pants from sheer fury. I kept my sanity during the entire process by living on memes, laughing at every possible thing I encountered, and drowning my sorrows with lemon Pledge. I admit, however, that there were some times where I was at my wits end, but it was all a part of the process in building a great show.

Frankly, I was surprised with how well it went! We full houses for each show, and we had to bring in more seating for people. Opening night was ridiculously great, and the response from the audience was electrifying. That totally continued on to the second night.

But on closing, our worst fears were realized: the dead crowd.

I attribute such an atrocity to the fact that the crowd was composed of parents who HAD to go there for their kids or, like in my case, don't understand a single word of what was being said. It's like we were performing our show at a wake.

Nonetheless, the run was great and my first semester of theatre studies ended with a bang - that's for sure.

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Now, my second semester begins, and I look forward to what lies ahead. In just the past two weeks of being back, we've already completed our auditions for a Theatre for Young Audiences show. I've got a poetry collaboration coming up. Auditions for a film this week are coming. Insane, exciting projects have already been assigned. Meisner is making me shit my pants in bricks. Auditions for our year-end show are coming. Lots of things to do - and I don't mind at all! I like the hectic nature of it all. I'm glad to have performed and to have more stage time than I have probably had within the past three years combined!

Come at me, semester two! I'm ready!

...and as long as I don't need to put up with some prima donna diva poop, I think I'm good.