NEW RULE FOR ALL CAST AND CREW MEMBERS OF BYU-IDAHO'S "FIDDLER ON THE ROOF"!
No more injuries allowed! No cuts, scrapes, bruises, twists, sprains, fractures, breaks, aches or pains of any kind will be permitted from now on! I don't want to hear about so much as a papercut! Exceptions will not even be made for splinters or stubbed toes!
We have now had hospitalization-level injuries 4 flipping times in the past week. Mandi (Hodel) broke her arm somewhere near her elbow slipping on the ice, Sarah (Ensemble) severely sprained her ankle during the wedding scene onstage a few nights ago, Tara (Accompanist and the director's daughter) fell stepping into the orchestra pit and severely sprained her ankle the day before yesterday, and last night Bonnie (Ensemble) fell during "Tradition" and fractured her ankle. I think I'm done with injuries. Especially with those relating to ankles. We had tech rehearsal last night, with the origonal intent of getting through the whole show. I was there from 6pm and didn't leave the theatre until 12:30 am, and we almost got done with the first act! We got through 8 out of 19 scenes total. So now, our entire rehearsal scedule is thrown off, which is especially inconvenient during this phase of rehearsal because we're bringing in the orchestra. But, never fear! The show will be ready and fabulous by the time we open in 6 days. I was chatting with Bro. Hyrum after rehearsal last night, and he made a comment about how he's not sure when we'll get a lot of things done, so I looked at him and said "We have 7 days...miracles can happen." He laughed and said "They can, and they frequently do, it's just that I would have liked to know we would have been okay without them."
The comforting thing is that I remember thinking that same thing for almost every single show I've been in, and the miracles ALWAYS happen. So, armed with my techie blacks and a headset, I shall join my brothers and sisters in Zion, and work with all my might to make them miracles come to pass! Nothing can stop us! We may be fighting conflicting schedules, lack of sleep, and a mysterious Curse of Injured Ankles, but such trifles shall be dwarfed by the glory of the miracles that had darn well better come to pass before Feb 3rd at 7:30pm. Wish us luck!
Friday, January 28, 2005
Saturday, January 22, 2005
The key to being funny is to make fun of yourself, always vote democratic and wear women's deodorant
For today's blog, I would like to share with you a little story. It was composed in the Portland airport during a 3-hour-layover during christmas break, by two lovely young women I like to call Liz and Rebekah Whittaker. Be prepared to enter a world of magic, intrigue, and weirdness and you follow the journey of "The Blind Brick Carport"! It's a timeless tale that will entertain children and adults for years to come, and it goes a little something like this:
Once upon a time, there was a brick carport. It was a very sad brick carport because it didn't have any eyes and it couldn't see anything. So it decided to go on a journey to find some eyes. But there was only one problem. It was cemented into the ground. So it couldn't go anywhere. So instead, he decided he must bring some eyes to him. He called his friend Monseiur Sofa, who had eyes, to find some eyes for him. But that was also a problem. Monseiur Sofa was also cemented to the ground. They needed someone with legs and eyes. So they beckoned Stephano, the Italian brainwasher, to brainswash them into thinking they had eyes. Unbeknownst to them, Stephano was also the notorious pirate captain, Peg-Leg Jagger-Pete, and was planning to brainwash them into giving him all their money. Stephano (actually Peg-Leg Jagger-Pete) was about to brainwash them when out of nowheres came that famed defender of truth and protector of eyeless carports cemented into the ground, Captain Pancreas! He shot insulin at Peg-Leg Jagger-Pete and broke his brainwashing powers! "Gblahgxgh!" cried the carport. "I can see!" Sure enough, insulin got on the carport and revived his sight. For you see, he wasn't really a carport at all! He was the infamous Peg-Leg Jagger-Pete's first mate, Blind-man Jink! Peg-Leg Jagger-Pete couldn't believe his eyes! Oh, what a joyful reunion that was! "Wait!" cried Monseiur Sofa, "I was sure you were my secret lover, Maria, who got untimely changed into a brick carport. This is too much for me," and he promptly exploded and killed everyone within a 3-mile radius.
The End
Once upon a time, there was a brick carport. It was a very sad brick carport because it didn't have any eyes and it couldn't see anything. So it decided to go on a journey to find some eyes. But there was only one problem. It was cemented into the ground. So it couldn't go anywhere. So instead, he decided he must bring some eyes to him. He called his friend Monseiur Sofa, who had eyes, to find some eyes for him. But that was also a problem. Monseiur Sofa was also cemented to the ground. They needed someone with legs and eyes. So they beckoned Stephano, the Italian brainwasher, to brainswash them into thinking they had eyes. Unbeknownst to them, Stephano was also the notorious pirate captain, Peg-Leg Jagger-Pete, and was planning to brainwash them into giving him all their money. Stephano (actually Peg-Leg Jagger-Pete) was about to brainwash them when out of nowheres came that famed defender of truth and protector of eyeless carports cemented into the ground, Captain Pancreas! He shot insulin at Peg-Leg Jagger-Pete and broke his brainwashing powers! "Gblahgxgh!" cried the carport. "I can see!" Sure enough, insulin got on the carport and revived his sight. For you see, he wasn't really a carport at all! He was the infamous Peg-Leg Jagger-Pete's first mate, Blind-man Jink! Peg-Leg Jagger-Pete couldn't believe his eyes! Oh, what a joyful reunion that was! "Wait!" cried Monseiur Sofa, "I was sure you were my secret lover, Maria, who got untimely changed into a brick carport. This is too much for me," and he promptly exploded and killed everyone within a 3-mile radius.
The End
Thursday, January 20, 2005
What is this?! The Beverly Jew-billies?!
If anyone is offended by the title of this blog, please excuse the humor...I couldn't decide if it was too off-color to post or not, but since it was funny, I decided to post it anyway. It's what my friend Ben turned to me and said during a rehearsal of "Fiddler on the Roof" last week. (Along with "Warsaw backwards is 'was raw!' ") But I digress. Anyways, after my lengthy unintended sabatical, I have returned to tell ya'll what the heck it is that I am doing. And this is what I am doing. I am sitting on the couch and needing to pee and listening to my Jen ranting like the lunatic Candian she is. I am also procrastinating my math homework, which I really shouldn't do because I have rehearsal in a couple hours.
Oh yes. Rehearsal. That is a large part of my life at the moment. The great Bro. Hyrum asked me to assistant stage manage "Fiddler on the Roof" and since we open in a couple weeks it's getting down the crunch. And from my experience so far I'm beginning to think he picked me because I've helped him with tech before and the stage manager for this show doesn't really do much. (Shah! Not a Christian thing to say, I know.) I'm also finally in an acting class this semester, with John Bidwell. My poor psyche is going to have a rough time of it this semester when it comes to acting. (Please excuse me while I go into theatre terminology for a moment.) Bidwell teaches method...he's all for Stanislavski as explored and explained by Uda Hagen and Michael Shurtleff. I'm also being trained by Hyrum Conrad in Alba emoting, though, which is quite the opposite of method, although still presentational in nature. (Alba's pretty deep stuff that I can't even hope to explain...check out http://keystoneonline.com/story.asp?Art_id=1135 and there's a pretty good article there. It's not a very widespread technique because so many people are so used to method, and because there are only 5 or 6 teachers in the U.S. certified to train in Alba.) Later in the spring, if I get into "Our Town," I'll be working with Omar Hansen, whose main focus is story-telling and representational acting. I think my brain might explode. BUT, I figure the best way to learn is to learn it all, and then choose which works best for me and to have all those things as resources so that I can employ them all in their proper time and place.
Being involved with "Fiddler" is tons of fun, though. I love working with Bro. Hyrum, and the cast is fabulous. We had a minor crisis yesterday...actually, it's pretty major but I'm trying to labor under the happy dillusion that it's not. Our Hodel broke her arm slipping on the ice yesterday, so her left arm is all up in a sling. The break went into her elbow so her arm is totally immobilized. So we're trying to re-work choreography and figure out how a costume can hide a cast and/or sling. We're also wondering about set peices that were supposed to be done weeks ago, and about Spencer looking Russian without being wigged because the Dean pulled him aside the other day and told him that he didn't care if he had permission from a proffesor, his hair was too long and for talking back, he has to have it extra short. Also a little concerned with Anselin, who passed out onstage last night. Oh yes, and about Marcie, the little girl who's been called in just this week to play Bielke...we still haven't heard from her or her parents and she's a youngun. But these are the adventurous little things that make show biz exciting!
My schedule's pretty easy this semester...I'm only taking 13 credits, and all but three of my classes are fine arts related (english, education, and math). Hizzah for that.
So I think that's about all I can think of to say. My Jen says that I should mention how "fabawesome" and "fantacular" she is. I think I'm going to go eat soon, because if I don't I will, in the words of Jen herself, "feel like a hammer without a head...completely useless!"
Love you all!
Oh yes. Rehearsal. That is a large part of my life at the moment. The great Bro. Hyrum asked me to assistant stage manage "Fiddler on the Roof" and since we open in a couple weeks it's getting down the crunch. And from my experience so far I'm beginning to think he picked me because I've helped him with tech before and the stage manager for this show doesn't really do much. (Shah! Not a Christian thing to say, I know.) I'm also finally in an acting class this semester, with John Bidwell. My poor psyche is going to have a rough time of it this semester when it comes to acting. (Please excuse me while I go into theatre terminology for a moment.) Bidwell teaches method...he's all for Stanislavski as explored and explained by Uda Hagen and Michael Shurtleff. I'm also being trained by Hyrum Conrad in Alba emoting, though, which is quite the opposite of method, although still presentational in nature. (Alba's pretty deep stuff that I can't even hope to explain...check out http://keystoneonline.com/story.asp?Art_id=1135 and there's a pretty good article there. It's not a very widespread technique because so many people are so used to method, and because there are only 5 or 6 teachers in the U.S. certified to train in Alba.) Later in the spring, if I get into "Our Town," I'll be working with Omar Hansen, whose main focus is story-telling and representational acting. I think my brain might explode. BUT, I figure the best way to learn is to learn it all, and then choose which works best for me and to have all those things as resources so that I can employ them all in their proper time and place.
Being involved with "Fiddler" is tons of fun, though. I love working with Bro. Hyrum, and the cast is fabulous. We had a minor crisis yesterday...actually, it's pretty major but I'm trying to labor under the happy dillusion that it's not. Our Hodel broke her arm slipping on the ice yesterday, so her left arm is all up in a sling. The break went into her elbow so her arm is totally immobilized. So we're trying to re-work choreography and figure out how a costume can hide a cast and/or sling. We're also wondering about set peices that were supposed to be done weeks ago, and about Spencer looking Russian without being wigged because the Dean pulled him aside the other day and told him that he didn't care if he had permission from a proffesor, his hair was too long and for talking back, he has to have it extra short. Also a little concerned with Anselin, who passed out onstage last night. Oh yes, and about Marcie, the little girl who's been called in just this week to play Bielke...we still haven't heard from her or her parents and she's a youngun. But these are the adventurous little things that make show biz exciting!
My schedule's pretty easy this semester...I'm only taking 13 credits, and all but three of my classes are fine arts related (english, education, and math). Hizzah for that.
So I think that's about all I can think of to say. My Jen says that I should mention how "fabawesome" and "fantacular" she is. I think I'm going to go eat soon, because if I don't I will, in the words of Jen herself, "feel like a hammer without a head...completely useless!"
Love you all!
Monday, January 10, 2005
Don't be so glum, friend!
Greetings, all! After a lengthy absence, I have returned to bloginate once more! So very much is on my mind, however, that I kind of doubt that there will be anything of real substance in this entry. I've been a little overwhelmed this week.
I think the word "overwhelmed" has too many negative connotations. When I say I'm overwhelmed, it doesn't necessarily mean bad stuff is overwhelming me. It's just that oh so very much has been going on that I'm not sure what to make of everything. So by the word "overwhelmed" I mean that I am experiencing ecstacy, despair, confusion, outrage, happiness, pensiveness (is that a word?), meloncholy, annoyance...you name the emotion, I've got it tumbling around in me somewhere. It's a little bit exhausting.
I'm a-thinkin that all this emotion is making my contacts a little dry. Please excuse me while I remove them. I think this is the end of my blog.
I think the word "overwhelmed" has too many negative connotations. When I say I'm overwhelmed, it doesn't necessarily mean bad stuff is overwhelming me. It's just that oh so very much has been going on that I'm not sure what to make of everything. So by the word "overwhelmed" I mean that I am experiencing ecstacy, despair, confusion, outrage, happiness, pensiveness (is that a word?), meloncholy, annoyance...you name the emotion, I've got it tumbling around in me somewhere. It's a little bit exhausting.
I'm a-thinkin that all this emotion is making my contacts a little dry. Please excuse me while I remove them. I think this is the end of my blog.
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