Tuesday, April 29, 2008

I know, I know...

I have had almost no time to write or breathe for that matter.

A lot of things have been happening in my life between shows and school and work. I have done three shows this semester and each one has been so amazing.
The season started out with Our Town by Thornton Wilder. I was lucky enough to be cast as Emily Webb, a role I was reluctant about at first. I read this play in 9th grade at Trinity so my opinions of it were, obviously, tainted. I asked that if at all possible, I not be cast at all so of course, I got the lead. After working on this show for a couple of weeks, I started to really enjoy it and by the end was very upset that it was over.

The second show I did has probably been my favorite show I have ever done and it was Man of La Mancha. I was blessed enough to also be cast as the lead in this one as well as the role of Aldonza. This is truly, truly a remarkable show. At first I was hesitant because Aldonza is a whore... yes, a genuine whore. I didn't know how I felt about portraying myself that way. Also there is a very violent rape scene that involved me and 5 other guys. I worked extensively with my director and even though it was a very hard scene to get through, I felt very safe. I honestly feel that this has been the best show I have ever done. I got incredible feed back from it and requests from several directors who came and saw the show. I also had the remarkable privilege to meet Mr. Dan Rodden, an equity actor from Chicago that was hired to play Don Quixote. He was such a joy to work with and truly a remarkable actor. I still keep in contact with him and we remain very very good friends.

Even before La Mancha ended I started my 3rd show, Dancing at Lughnasa; an Irish Catholic play about 5 poor sisters. It was a hard transistion to move from La Mancha, which was incredible, to a pretty slow paced show about Irish women. I went from playing a prostitute to a 40 year old irish catholic school teacher. What a leap! It was a challenge that I took on willingly and had a lot of fun with. This show did not do as well as La Mancha and was not really for college student audiences but I did enjoy it. We closed this weekend and it was rather sad because it was my last show at Normandale.

After La Mancah ended I decided to take a risk and audition at The Chanhassen Dinner theater. They are an incredibly exclusive theater and so when I got even a call back I was very surprised. A week later I got a call offering me the lead in their mainstage production of the musical, SWING. I was completely in shock and still am. It is going to be an incredibly tough process with only one day off a week and 8 shows per week but I am so so excited for it!

I have been working hard to maintain a 3.8 GPA which has only been a struggle due to so many other outside commitments. I have really enjoyed all the classes I am taking especially my Drama in Literature class. I get to read and write about plays all week... who wouldn't like that!
Now that I have a little more down time for a while, I will work very hard to write in here more often because I have quite a few things to say that I haven't had time before to rant about!