Thursday, February 7, 2013
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
The Rehearsal Room
Oh, right. THIS is what I said I wanted to do with my life!
Day two in rehearsal. I love being in the rehearsal room. Actors try something. Someone -- often the director -- stops and asks a question. Everyone talks about it. Actors try something else. And when good actors (and we have a room full of VERY good actors) try something else, it's transcendent. We also have a 9-year-old actor in the room who has never acted before, and he takes direction like nobody's business. (His dad is a famous actor, but I get the sense that he's just a very well-loved and well-supported kid who is confident to try things.)
Anyhow, I am remembering that in order to get into the rehearsal room, I need to find time to write things that are good enough to produce. And since writing and rehearsing and production give me joy, and since being too busy to do the things I love does not bring me joy, well I think the path ahead is clear. Or as one of my favorite cartoons says, the road ahead is hard and clear.
Day two in rehearsal. I love being in the rehearsal room. Actors try something. Someone -- often the director -- stops and asks a question. Everyone talks about it. Actors try something else. And when good actors (and we have a room full of VERY good actors) try something else, it's transcendent. We also have a 9-year-old actor in the room who has never acted before, and he takes direction like nobody's business. (His dad is a famous actor, but I get the sense that he's just a very well-loved and well-supported kid who is confident to try things.)
Anyhow, I am remembering that in order to get into the rehearsal room, I need to find time to write things that are good enough to produce. And since writing and rehearsing and production give me joy, and since being too busy to do the things I love does not bring me joy, well I think the path ahead is clear. Or as one of my favorite cartoons says, the road ahead is hard and clear.
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Work was joy
It was a rare day in which my work 1) afforded me no time to think just about myself, and 2) my work brought me pure joy.
First day of rehearsals for Ezekiel's World AND the first performance in a new series of musical theater—Jesse Green in conversation with Jason Robert Brown, and they both did JUST what I hoped, and knew, they could do so well.
Apologies that I don't have time to write more before dashing back to work this morning for second day of rehearsals plus all the work I have to catch up on from missing last week. But how sweet that just when I'm very sad and tired, I find such joy in programs I've been creating for the past year.
First day of rehearsals for Ezekiel's World AND the first performance in a new series of musical theater—Jesse Green in conversation with Jason Robert Brown, and they both did JUST what I hoped, and knew, they could do so well.
Apologies that I don't have time to write more before dashing back to work this morning for second day of rehearsals plus all the work I have to catch up on from missing last week. But how sweet that just when I'm very sad and tired, I find such joy in programs I've been creating for the past year.
Monday, February 4, 2013
Bridesmaids
That scene where Rebel Wilson's character gets a bootleg tattoo and it gets infected and Kristin Wiig's character tells her to put some ice on it, or some frozen peas, and so she pours frozen peas all over her back while she just squirms with delight, and Annie (Kristin Wiig) whose life is just falling apart can't believe how stupid this is, and just mutters under her breath that you have to leave the peas in the bag? God, it feels good to laugh like that.
Sunday, February 3, 2013
The Glamorous Life
How can this song not bring joy? How can it not? Something weird happened with the music on my mobile listening device, and all I had on there when I went to the gym was A Little Night Music and South Pacific. (You could do worse.) Hey, I did what I had to do. I listened to this while I ran on the treadmill.
The Glamorous Life, from A Little Night Music.
FREDRIKA:
Ordinary mothers lead ordinary lives,
Keep the house and sweep the parlor,
Cook the meals and look exhausted.
Ordinary mothers, like ordinary wives,
Fry the eggs and dry the sheets
And try to deal with facts--
Mine acts!
DESIREE:
Darling, I miss you a lot,
But, darling, this has to be short,
As mother is getting a plaque
From the Halsingborg Arts Council Amateur Theatre Group.
Whether it's funny or not,
I'll give you a fuller report
The minute they carry me back
From the Halsingborg Arts Council Amateur Theatre Group.
Love you.
QUINTET:
Unpack the luggage, la la la,
Pack up the luggage, la la la,
Unpack the luggage, la la la,
Hi-ho, the glamorous life!
MR. SEGSTROM:
Ice in the basin, la la la,
MR. ERLANSEN:
Cracks in the plaster, la la la,
MRS. ANDERSSEN:
Mice in the hallway, la la la,
QUINTET:
Hi-ho, the glamorous life!
Run for the carriage, la la la,
Wolf down the sandwich, la la la,
Which town is this one, la la la,
Hi-ho, the glamorous life!
MADAME ARMFELDT:
Ordinary daughters ameliorate their lot,
Use their charms and choose their futures,
Breed their children, heed their mothers.
Ordinary daughters, which mine, I fear, is not,
Tend each asset, spend it wisely
While it still endures--
Mine tours!
DESIREE:
Mother, forgive the delay.
My schedule is driving me wild.
But, mother, I really must run--
I'm performing in Rottwig, and don't ask "where is it,"
Please...
How are you feeling today?
And are you corrupting the child?
Don't.
Mother, the minute I'm done
With performing in Rottwig, I'll come for a visit
And argue.
QUINTET:
Mayors with speeches, la la la,
Children with posies, la la la,
Half-empty houses, la la la,
Hi-ho, the glamorous life!
MRS. NORDSTROM:
Cultural lunches,
QUINTET:
La la la,
MRS. ANDERSSEN:
Dead floral tributes,
QUINTET:
La la la,
MR. LINDQUIST:
Ancient admirers,
QUINTET:
La la la,
Hi-ho, the glamorous life.
DESIREE:
Pack up the luggage, la la la,
Unpack the luggage, la la la,
Mother's surviving, la la la,
Leading the glamorous life.
Cracks in the plaster, la la la,
Youngish admirers, la la la,
Which one was that one, la la la,
Hi-ho, the glamorous life.
DESIREE & QUINTET:
Bring up the curtain, la la la,
Bring down the curtain, la la la,
Bring up the curtain, la la la,
Hi-ho, the glamorous...
DESIREE:
Life!
The Glamorous Life, from A Little Night Music.
FREDRIKA:
Ordinary mothers lead ordinary lives,
Keep the house and sweep the parlor,
Cook the meals and look exhausted.
Ordinary mothers, like ordinary wives,
Fry the eggs and dry the sheets
And try to deal with facts--
Mine acts!
DESIREE:
Darling, I miss you a lot,
But, darling, this has to be short,
As mother is getting a plaque
From the Halsingborg Arts Council Amateur Theatre Group.
Whether it's funny or not,
I'll give you a fuller report
The minute they carry me back
From the Halsingborg Arts Council Amateur Theatre Group.
Love you.
QUINTET:
Unpack the luggage, la la la,
Pack up the luggage, la la la,
Unpack the luggage, la la la,
Hi-ho, the glamorous life!
MR. SEGSTROM:
Ice in the basin, la la la,
MR. ERLANSEN:
Cracks in the plaster, la la la,
MRS. ANDERSSEN:
Mice in the hallway, la la la,
QUINTET:
Hi-ho, the glamorous life!
Run for the carriage, la la la,
Wolf down the sandwich, la la la,
Which town is this one, la la la,
Hi-ho, the glamorous life!
MADAME ARMFELDT:
Ordinary daughters ameliorate their lot,
Use their charms and choose their futures,
Breed their children, heed their mothers.
Ordinary daughters, which mine, I fear, is not,
Tend each asset, spend it wisely
While it still endures--
Mine tours!
DESIREE:
Mother, forgive the delay.
My schedule is driving me wild.
But, mother, I really must run--
I'm performing in Rottwig, and don't ask "where is it,"
Please...
How are you feeling today?
And are you corrupting the child?
Don't.
Mother, the minute I'm done
With performing in Rottwig, I'll come for a visit
And argue.
QUINTET:
Mayors with speeches, la la la,
Children with posies, la la la,
Half-empty houses, la la la,
Hi-ho, the glamorous life!
MRS. NORDSTROM:
Cultural lunches,
QUINTET:
La la la,
MRS. ANDERSSEN:
Dead floral tributes,
QUINTET:
La la la,
MR. LINDQUIST:
Ancient admirers,
QUINTET:
La la la,
Hi-ho, the glamorous life.
DESIREE:
Pack up the luggage, la la la,
Unpack the luggage, la la la,
Mother's surviving, la la la,
Leading the glamorous life.
Cracks in the plaster, la la la,
Youngish admirers, la la la,
Which one was that one, la la la,
Hi-ho, the glamorous life.
DESIREE & QUINTET:
Bring up the curtain, la la la,
Bring down the curtain, la la la,
Bring up the curtain, la la la,
Hi-ho, the glamorous...
DESIREE:
Life!
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Ching Pong Boink Clang
Remember how I learned quickly during my Never Done year that it was really more of an awareness practice than a go out and do Big Things practice? That I found that as I went through my every day, it was most meaningful when I noticed that I was on the brink of doing something I'd never done, and that I could choose it, or choose the old familiar path? Well I just realized it's the same with joy. Josh and I were walking though the Cleveland airport, a little stunned, exhausted, but also just being in an airport, which we both have a lot of practice at so we were sort of on autopilot (pun intended, and Niel would have loved that pun.) Josh saw it first. He stopped and said, "Oh I love these." I looked and saw what he was talking about and realized, oh I love these too. There's a big one in Logan, and there's one in Boston Children's Hospital I think. So we stopped and we watched the gears turn and the levers push and the pulleys pull and the balls bounce. We chose one ball to follow from top to bottom, and it took a path that required four more to follow it onto that green balance thing on the left -- that has three balls on it in this photo. Many balls went past before any followed the path that led them to our ball. We weren't exactly late for our flight, but we definitely weren't early. But both of us just stood there and waited for that thing to fill up, and then for it to dump all five balls into that green corkscrew, and then whoosh, in a flash, the game was over. So sometimes joy is right there in front of us, and all we have to do is stop and notice.
Friday, February 1, 2013
Requited Love
I don't know. Maybe this?
Still in Cleveland. Niel's funeral. Very cold. Close family. Lots of delayed flights. Everyone made it except Niel's closest friend from college, who got snowed out in the Pennsylvania mountains. Mostly aware of good people. Also incredible sadness. People collectively piecing together a person's life. I started the day, before even leaving the house where we are staying, by watching this animation. What I like about it is the supernatural force, which helps me overlook the Disnification (body sizes, passive female, etc.) Also, from a story-telling perspective, I love how clear his objective is, and how clear his obstacle is. Not that it's terribly original, but it's clear. And then there's that supernatural force that I'm feeling a heightened awareness of today. That thing we can't quite explain that goes beyond what we can understand in our daily lives. That thing that gives mystery to our time here on Earth.
Still in Cleveland. Niel's funeral. Very cold. Close family. Lots of delayed flights. Everyone made it except Niel's closest friend from college, who got snowed out in the Pennsylvania mountains. Mostly aware of good people. Also incredible sadness. People collectively piecing together a person's life. I started the day, before even leaving the house where we are staying, by watching this animation. What I like about it is the supernatural force, which helps me overlook the Disnification (body sizes, passive female, etc.) Also, from a story-telling perspective, I love how clear his objective is, and how clear his obstacle is. Not that it's terribly original, but it's clear. And then there's that supernatural force that I'm feeling a heightened awareness of today. That thing we can't quite explain that goes beyond what we can understand in our daily lives. That thing that gives mystery to our time here on Earth.
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