Vote as if the Future Depends on it!

...because it does!

Tomorrow is the NY primary and I just used this handy, dandy tool to find out about my polling location. I've known where it is for some time (voted there twice already), but I needed to find out what time it opens in the morning since I have to leave for rehearsal in LIC at 830am and am heading straight from Martyr'd Signs to Tempest to teaching, so it's the only time I'll have to get over there and fill in my bubbles! Plus, then I get to wear my "I Voted" sticker all day and remind everyone at both rehearsals to make sure they vote, too.

Yes, I'm very obsessed with this. Yes, I realize that not everyone is on my level. BUT IT'S IMPORTANT!!!!! Please, if you're registered, go vote tomorrow. I am not going to tell you who to vote for, I'm not even going to tell you who I am voting for, just PLEASE vote. It matters. Even writing in a candidate's name works for me. So long as you go out there and do your civic duty and fill in those bubbles. Ideally, it should only take 5 minutes.

#stepsoffsoapbox

Getting that Band Back Together

We're all happy you're back with your team, Browner! So much love!

So, lest you all forget what a giant Hawks fan I am, I, of course, have off-season updates! The big one is that Brandon Browner, original LOB CB opposite Sherman, IS BACK WITH THE HAWKS! He was traded to the Pats, and won SB XLVIX with them before spending last year with the lack-luster Saints, but he's back!!!!!!! So happy! With Lane, Shead, ETIII, Sherman, Bam Bam and now Browner! I am thinking the LOB should be in fine form. Again.

We also grabbed DB Chris Clemons, another member of the Superbowl winning team, again a few weeks ago, so it really looks like PC/JS liked that template the best. Why knock it if it works? I'm just hoping that we land a big veteran OL before the draft in two weeks. I think they'll probably work on drafting a few OLs (or college DLs that they can mold to be OLs in the Hawks' system), but I'd love a veteran on that line that can ground the new guys and get them to think and work together as a unit (someone who can do what Okung did, or what ETIII does on defense).

The other thing that came out is the 2016 regular season schedule! Other teams and their fans have complained about what they all see as an "easy" schedule for the Hawks this year, and, to be honest, I think that the front half of our season is loaded with some easier (seeming) games, but you never know! I mean, the Rams made us look pathetic in the first game last season, so... we could blow it, but I see big things. And I see us looking pretty strong all the way through the 7th week game at the Cardinals. That's assuming a lot of things line up for us, but yeah, I think we'll have a pretty winning record for the start of the season. And Just in case you need more explanation of our season, see the tutorial below.

About Blooming Time

Beautiful tree on my walk to yoga. "See my blooms?" She says,"Soon all the NY trees will follow my lead."

I feel like finally spring is here to stay. Yesterday evening I left for rehearsal without a coat (in a sweatshirt with a scarf in my bag) and coming home at midnight I didn't even regret that decision! As nice as it was at the baseball game on Saturday, yesterday and today are even warmer, and although it cools down again tomorrow, the highs are still living in the upper 60s to low 70's! Yay! It feels like we've waited so long for our weather to calm down and just stay at a consistent spring temp!

They even had to push the cherry blossom festival (usually held last weekend) to this coming weekend because barely any of the trees were blooming! Poor things...Even now I'd say less than 1/3 of the trees are blooming according to the cherry blossom tracker... Hopefully this week's warm weather will speed up the process a bit. Otherwise, I wonder if they'd push it back another week...?

As someone who runs cold, I am just excited at the prospect of wearing less layers everywhere I go. Once the nighttime temp stays above 50, I feel like I can get away with leaving my house without a scarf, coat and boots at all times. I also slept with my window open last night for the first time this year. And, dear god, do I love the fresh air! Hoping this week is a portent of more consistently warm weather to come.

And a warm breeze! I think the biggest change this last week has been the warm wind. NY winter wind is so cold. It finds its way into every nook and cranny and makes walking, even short distances, without every part of your skin covered an absolute nightmare. But now! Warm breeze! Yaaaay! I could pen an Ode to NY Warm Winds, I love it so much!

Root, Root, Root for My Home Team

Even though Felix had a tough day, I loved seeing M's fans holding King's Court (top pic) at an away game! 

Saturday I was able to convince a friend of mine to come with me to see the M's play the Yankees! It was awesome. I taught Stretch that morning and then booked it home to change and meet him for an early (by NY standards) brunch before heading up to the Bronx to Yankee Stadium. My friend, Josh, is from NY, but ultimately more of a Mets fan, so I even got him to wear my M's hat! Ha! It was a successful coup!

Unfortunately, despite leaving Brooklyn with plenty of time to get to the game, because the trains were all fucked up this weekend (no 4 train service after BK Bridge, and 4 running local after 59th...), we didn't get there until about half way through the bottom of the first inning. But, the weather was beautiful and we were in the sun from the third inning on (result: definitely sunburnt on my face and the tops of my hands--ouch!). And it was a good game! Well, the game went down to the wire! The M's eeked out a 3-2 win with Yankees in scoring position in the 9th, so... I'll take it.

I'm always surprised to see how many M's fans are at the games! But it always feels so great. I mean, NY is the adopted city of so many people, that of COURSE there are going to be fans of all the away teams in the stands. Especially, west coast teams.

After that we found a bar in Midtown to watch the 3rd period of the Rangers game before I headed to my first tablework rehearsal. It was a sports-y day, topped off with a bit of Shakespeare! All-in-all, awesome, but exhausting. Now, you see why I took most of yesterday to rest and recover. Plus, I always feel like that first day in the sun takes more outta you that you expect.

Good times, though! Super glad it worked out to root for my M's here in NY! There's nothing like an afternoon baseball game on a nice weekend... What is it Carrie Bradshaw said? Ah yes, "Miranda was a huge fan of the Yankees. I was a huge fan of being anywhere you could [...] drink at two in the afternoon without judgement." The sweet draw of baseball!

My Nerd Heart Rejoices!

My view as I walked to rehearsal on Friday evening! Yeah, I love surprise views of the skyline. This city, you guys...

****Warning: the following post gets really Shakespeare nerdy. It's awesome****

Friday was the first Tempest read through and meet-and-greet and I have to say that I am seriously nerding out about this project! The professionalism within both the production team and the company of actors is incredible! It just feels like home.

Besides geeking out for tablework in rehearsal (that started Saturday), I also bought a couple Shakespeare books/dvds to start checking out in my (limited) free time. Plus, I talked to Maridee and Aislinn and they dug around in their book collections, pulling out even more research items for me. Needless to say, even though my 6 favorite Shakespeare books are languishing in a box in my Dad's garage (I'll get you someday, my loves!), I feel like I have some good options here to really begin digging into the text.

Yesterday, I was going to go to yoga in the morning and leave the house, enjoy the sun and be productive, but I knew that my Shakespeare books were going to get delivered at some point, so instead, I spread out with the research I already had and started tackling my first scene (Act I: scene ii--Prospero speaks in exposition). It was awesome. Also, a little intimidating because I only got through about half the scene before I hit a brick wall and needed to take a break. So, I think working on the text a little bit everyday is going to be the way to do this thing...

I brought two large books in my bag with me today (one: a research book to read on the subway, and one: a book with Elizabethan word definitions that I'll use in conjunction with my script at lunch), and let me just say, I was glad I got a seat on my commute. That bag is HEAVY...

I also think I'm going to see if there is an Arden version of The Tempest I can borrow from NYPL. The Arden always has the most useful footnotes that not only give you specific word definitions, but also often put whole phrases or paragraphs into the original Elizabethan context. Some of Shakespeare's characters can be wordy. And Prospero definitely falls into this category...

He also doesn't follow the rules! Shakespeare writes in verse, specifically in iambic pentameter. It sounds like a heartbeat (ba-DUM, ba-DUM, ba-DUM, ba-DUM, ba-DUM) which tends to make memorization pretty second nature, and when characters stray from this structure, that informs the actor that something is up. Usually, it means that the stakes are getting highter or someone is getting emotional, but it can also mean that a specific word or phrase should be lifted or emphasized. Granted, I've really only begun to explore the first half of Prospero's first scene, but HOLY CRAP! I swear to the gods, he has more irregular lines than lines that follow iambic pentameter! Each irregularity needs to be examined on its own, and within the larger context to figure out why Prospero strays from the path, and what each line means for his emotional state both in the scene, and the play as a whole. Each break in the pattern means that much more work.

So, yeah. I made it through the first half of my first scene in three hours. And then I deserved the break I took.

If All the World's a Stage, I've Got a LOT of Lines to Memorize

Awesome art on a building in the LES. I would have missed it if I took a cab, so silverlining?

The weather's supposed to get nicer this weekend, my rehearsal schedule has changed and updated, so that now I have Sunday afternoon off (to spend with Jess, maybe?). Everything's coming up Millhouse!

On top of all that, I was given a $10 credit for a food delivery service around here, so I was able to order lunch (since I already packed my dinner and am heading straight from work to rehearsal) for a whopping $4. Yuuuuuuuup. Loving it!

I also decided to splurge on something that I've been looking at for a while, I officially am joining the Beach Body family starting with 21 Day Fix Extreme once everything is delivered next week (I'm supposed to wait and start it with my "challenge group" so that we can all encourage each other and blah, blah, blah, but I just wanna start asap, so that I can be done before mid-May). Honestly, I'm mostly trying this to see how the exercises go. I want to work on strengthening and toning and, as much as I love yoga, I think mixing it up (I'll be adding the 30-minute sessions to my 60-minute daily practice) will only help me. Working with weights and resistance bands and adding in some cardio will be a nice change of pace. It's an expensive trial, but if I don't like the nutrition parts, I can always cancel and just work with the dvds.

Something new!

And speaking of new, tonight is the first rehearsal for Tempest! I printed, highlighted, and organized my script yesterday and lord a'mighty I have a lot of script-work and memorizing to do! I just bought a Shakespeare book (mentioned by Antony Sher in Year of the Fat Knight as an especially good resource for Elizabethan word definitions) that should be delivered on Sunday and then I will get started on word/line/script work. Here we go!

Can't Bring Me Down

The rotating light effect on the sidewalk outside of the Double Down Saloon. LOVE IT!

So, here's the thing: I really have had an amazing week. Cis male bullshit, notwithstanding (and I'm a magic unicorn. I'm not gonna let that shit keep me down), it's been pretty great. Seen shows and friends and worked and rehearsed and taught with more fun on the docket for this weekend (a Mariners game, perhaps?)! Yay!

Yesterday, I forgot my phone at home and didn't realized it until I was already almost to the train station, so I didn't go back for it. And honestly, I was fine without it for the day, but as I started to think about my evening and night plans, I became more and more uncomfortable with my ability to get to not one, but TWO places I've never been before without the help of Google Maps (sad, I know, right?), so I went home between work and yoga to grab it. It was good choices.

Plus, I was still super early to yoga. And it was so great to see Dom again and take a class from him and have him kick my ass! Plus, he expressed interest in Maryr'd Signs! So I'm gonna send him the info and hopefully, he'll be able to come! Yay!

I headed straight from the UES to the LES to meet up with Maridee at this bar that I've totally been to before! Ha! I didn't realize it until I walked to the bathroom and had massive deja vu, but hey, I'm OK with it! It has a super Seattle-y vibe and was totally what I was feeling last night. I just should have sprung for the cab home instead of the 90 minute, two-train ride home. Ugh. Sometimes, saving $25 is just NOT WORTH IT.

But I got to see some good people, celebrate Maridee's Jesus Birthday and play some old school video games in a graffitti'd dive bar. YEEEEES! I would have regretted it more if I'd bummed out and missed it. I'll sleep when I'm dead, right?

And, I even woke my tired ass up to do yoga this morning before work. I talked myself out of it, and then remembered I have rehearsal tonight, so it was early morning or not at all, and I got up, had a lovely 65 minute practice, showered and busted my ass to the day-job. And am now super proud of myself.

Sometimes, A Girl's Gotta Rant

Fuck the Patriarchy

****I apologize in advance for all of the things written in all caps below, but they're written that way because when I was writing this, I was screaming those sentences in my head****

I almost didn't post this because I really don't wanna taint the awesomeness of the last week by remembering stupid shit, but I have had a WEEK of men being sorta shitty to me. And, this usually does not happen to me. I always attribute my lack of sexual harassment luck to being a tall woman with an unusually bitchy resting face, who walks everywhere with purpose (and her earbuds in). I am also very talkative and outgoing and never have any trouble striking up a conversation in a bar, so do with that contradiction what you will. But this week there were two especially troubling incidents.

The first altercation happened on the subway on my way to teach my Tuesday evening yoga class. A man, lurching down the subway car talking to himself and anyone else who will listen, comes up to me, a woman reading AND listening to music on the train (the international indicator for DND), and says, "ma'am". Now, I have been reading, with earbuds in, and have no idea what this gentleman might want. Yes, I heard him talking as he walked the length of the car, but I wasn't listening to the content of his ramblings, so, honestly, I assumed he was homeless and asking for money or selling something or trying to give me some jesus/jewish material (things that happen all the time on the subway), but NONE OF THIS IS RELEVANT TO WHAT HAPPENS NEXT (I just wanted to give you some context), so I respond, "no thank you". And he goes off! Not getting physical or anything, but suddenly raising his voice and calling me a bitch saying he was "only going to tell me how beautiful I was". Suddenly everyone in the subway car is looking at us. He has disturbed my commute to work and made EVERYONE IN THE CAR UNCOMFORTABLE just because I was not interested in receiving a compliment from a man talking to himself . So, I calmly respond, "And I said, "no thank you"", and immediately go back to reading my book. The man then leaves out of the door that connects to the next subway car (I was sitting at the rear of the train car) muttering to himself. He instigated the whole incident, he leaves, and I'm left sitting there with a handful of other people wondering WHAT I COULD HAVE DONE DIFFERENTLY TO AVOID THAT SITUATION.

Do you see the problem? Some rando can't accept that a woman doesn't want to talk to him, so he makes a scene, and I'm the one left feeling responsible. UGH, it just makes me SO ANGRY.

And this is why I almost didn't write this post. Because now I'm thinking about the goddamn patriarchy and getting super upset. AGAIN!

I mean, I didn't even realize I was upset at the time. It wasn't until I got outta the subway and started writing a facebook post about what had just happened that, all of a sudden, I was just SO MAD at this guy and how he made me feel. Why was he was ALLOWED to have the kind of reaction that he did and I wasn't? It was all about him and his need to say something, completely ignoring the fact my needs were different. I needed to sit there and read and listen to music and prepare to teach. Not deal with a nutjob. Grrr! Arg!

And then, I got to class, and was able to zen out teaching to two lovely yoginis. It was probably (hopefully) Yasmine's last class before she has her baby. She was due yesterday, so, for her sake, I hope that she has already given birth to her baby girl and she can start the business of being a mom instead of being pregnant. She's such a trooper, too! I mean, yoga two days before she was due? She's amazing!

And now, back the the patriarchy...

The second, and almost more upsetting, situation happened the VERY NEXT EVENING. UGH. So, Jessica and I were going to meet up after work for drinks and food before seeing the Beckett show, and she picked a great cocktail bar, but the food was pricey, so I found an awesome (and it was really awesome) divey sports bar that had great hh prices instead. She ended up getting stuck at work, so I got there about 45 minutes before her. The first 2/3 of that time was great. I was talking to the bartender, ordering beer, checking out the food menu, eating my fries, and generally minding my own business.

Then, the seat to the left of me opened up. Normally, this is no big deal, and the guy who sat in the seat, briefly bumped into me, so I apologized, smiled at him, and went back to doing what I was doing. Unsolicitedly, he tells me he's in the neighborhood to see Bernie speak, I make some sort of non-committal, clearly uninterested response and go back to what I'm doing. This sort of exchange continues, and it becomes increasingly obvious that this man is very drunk. At one point, he starts talking about his family and origin and it, literally, makes no sense (he later says a similar thing to the bartender who also looks confused). He seems harmless enough, but clearly not getting the hint that I am uninterested and really don't want to talk to him.

Then Jess arrives! Yay! She saves me! She sits down on my right (as the man on the left heads to the restroom), and I tell her about him and how happy I am she is here to save me. The guy sitting on the stool to the right of Jess agrees, as does the bartender. But we all nod and say he seems harmless enough, just drunk.

When he comes out of the bathroom, however, it all takes a turn toward the creepy. He pays, grabs his things and then taps me on the shoulder to tell me that I am "nicer than I think I am" then, as he says this next part he leans in, seems to stare right at my boobs, and adds, "no really, you're so nice" and stumbles out. Then the four of us (Jess, me, bartender, and guy on stool next to Jess) all kinda go, "OK, not so harmless, definitely creepy, no sense of personal space, and was he starring at my boob?" Yeah, shit got weird. The guy to the right of Jess apologizes for not sitting to the left of me, and the bartender apologizes for not suggesting I save the left stool and I'm left thinking, "OK, if you BOTH noticed creepy mccreeperson being creepy toward me, why didn't either of you SAY SOMETHING TO HIM? Better yet, why didn't I SAY SOMETHING TO HIM?" Now, I can't speak for either of them, but for me the stupid, unfortunate, completely fucked up answer is: I didn't want to cause a scene.

I have no idea if what happened the day before informed what happened to me on Wednesday, but I know if didn't help. And I shouldn't have to be worried about upsetting someone when I'm honestly not interested in talking to them and THEY'RE MAKING ME FEEL UNCOMFORTABLE. Now, I'm not advocating being rude, but there has to be a graceful way to bow out of a situation like this that doesn't leave me worried that I might get verbally or physically assaulted.

Let's work on this, society. Please. I am a strong, independent FUCKING AMAZING woman, and this shit still scares the crap outta me. As long as going on dates with men you meet online can end like this (SERIOUSLY?!?!?! WTF? WHAT. THE. FUCK.), we need feminism, we need to fight, and we need to admit that men and women are not treated equally.

#micdrop #ginaout #feminism #femibitch

Gothic Beauty

Dwan in Footfalls and Rockaby

After the technical difficulties of the first false start, the show seemed to go off without a hitch. The shows, three of Beckett's shorts: Not I, Footfalls, Rockaby, were performed in sequence with just a quick 3 minute break between each for costume changes and mental resets.

The first show, Not I, is Beckett's least performed piece. It's 24 minutes of dialogue supposed to be said as quickly as thoughts occur. Lisa Dwan performs this show in 8.5 minutes. Completely still with a tiny spotlight on the only non-blacked out part of her face: her mouth. She speaks so impossibly fast that as an audience member, your brain is unable to keep up. Luckily, a large portion of the monologue is repeated numerous times, so you can pick up new things each time. This show is supposed to be practically unmemorizable at its original 24 minute length. And yet, Dwan somehow spews it all out in less than 10 minutes. Insane. It's a feat of brilliance, but I have to admit, my brain was happy when it ended. It was a mental obstacle course to try to follow the stream-of-consciousness ramblings coming out of the dark.

The next show, Footfalls, is the longest one in the trilogy. And is also presented almost completely in the dark. Dwan wears a white dress and, one assumes, heels to allow her steps to be heard as she paces the stage (which also might be mic'd to amplify her--wait for it--footfalls--you're welcome). The show seemed to be about mother/daughter relationships (both characters played by Dwan, of course), but being Beckett, I might have missed some deeper meaning... It felt super Gothic. Actually, both this piece and the last piece would definitely have received Poe's stamp of approval. The only time the lights turned up was when she was stopped and having a dialogue between one of the mothers and daughters, otherwise it was a very low-light. More than the first show, obviously, but not by much.

In the final piece, Rockaby, Dwan sat in a rocking chair moving into and out of the spotlight. No matter where she rocked, her hands, lightly resting on the armrests, were lit, but her face only came into the light when she rocked forward. Most of the show was performed via a recorded voice over (Dwan, of course), that her onstage character only added to at very precise moments. The show was about an old woman, starring out her window and rocking, only seeing other windows, all with their blinds drawn. She seems to be waiting to die, but hoping her view will change before she does. The show concludes with her head gently lolling to the side.

The imagery and use of light and dark in this triptych was absolutely mesmerizing. It's amazing how quickly our eyes can adjust to a very small amount of light. Even though Jess and I were seated way in the back of the theater, I could see her facial expressions and her mouth movements no problem. In fact, both of us commented on how bright the house lights were when they went up after the conclusion of the show. And the lobby lights? Yuck. How cool though. Glad I got to see these pieces! Glad Jess thought of me to be her theater date!

Political Theater

The crowd at the Bernie rally and a still of the show we attended. Directly behind the arch.

Leave it to Jessica and me to plan on seeing the opening night of a show yards from where a presidential candidate is speaking. Yup. That happened last night. I had even expressed interest in seeing Bernie speak via facebook, so I KNEW the event was last night in Washington Square Park and I KNEW that was right next to NYU, I just didn't put it all together until I was sitting at the bar in Greenwich Village mere blocks away from both the hoopla and the theater.

And boy howdy, was is a shit show! There were so many people there, that at one point, Jess and I had to turn around and head back where we came from to go around the block. The crowd just stopped moving.

We also realized that Bernie was supposed to speak for an hour and the show was an hour, so... we were a little nervous about getting home, as well, but everything worked out. Unfortunately for the show, it all worked out because they not only held the house for 15 minutes, but then about a minute into the first piece, they suffered technical difficulty and had to hold for another 10. This meant we left the theater around 930 instead of 9, which was great for avoiding Bernie traffic, but meant that the audience was restless and unempathetic. Jess and I both agreed that it wasn't as if the audience was hostile exactly, just not necessarily on board with her. And it's tough material. And she's up there all alone. AND it was her opening night of her final run. It was all just rather unfortunate.

Over the Drama

My desk. At whatever office I'm temping at for the day.

So, even though I only worked one day last week, it had the workplace drama of a WHOLE WEEK. Somehow, as a temp, people think it is OK to vent to you about the ins and outs of their office environment. Usually, it comes across as playful banter or necessary venting or even an FYI about who is a hardass (or who to avoid) in the office. It's all well and good. Honestly, I thought I'd seen and heard it all. Until last Friday.

This was the second Friday in a row I worked at this law firm, and, although I noticed some tension between a few of the employees the week before, it was nothing like the shit show of awkward that I experienced last week. Both parties felt like it was appropriate to bitch to me about the other employee in the office (hurried and whispered conversations, of course). Then, I had to secretly transfer phone calls and monitor how long people took on breaks or lunch. And, if that weren't awkward enough, at one point, two of the employees actually started yelling at each other.

Needless to say, I emailed my temp service and let them know about the toxicity of the office. I not only asked not to return, but warned them that it might not be an appropriate work place for any of their temps. Yeah, it was bad. I mean, come ON! I am not your spy! I am not your friend! I'm not even your ally! I am here for one or two days to do a job and do not want to be dragged into your intra-office bullshit. Never again. I am glad to be back at a job where everyone seems cordial and likable. No more dramz pls.

Into the Fray

Seen on my walk to yoga last week. What will I see on my walk to yoga tomorrow night?

Tomorrow, Friday and Monday I'm back at this same temp job (yay consistency!), and Sunday starts the insanity of two-rehearsal days... Here we go! It's been a really long time since I've been this crazytown with rehearsals, so we'll see how I fare. Luckily, Tempest is paying me so it's not like I won't be making any monies. And I've done well. The last four days of rest meant I haven't spent any money since Friday (bonus of being lazy!).

Tomorrow night I am heading to the UES (right by Carlow, actually) to take a free yoga workshop with one of my fav teachers from Yoga Vida that I am SO EXCITED ABOUT!!!!!! I haven't taken a class from him since my unlimited yoga expired back in August, so YEEEES. Working it out and seeing an old friend AND hopefully being able to show him how far my practice has come in the 8 months since I've seen him!

Tomorrow night Maridee is having her Jesus birthday celebration, too, so after yoga I'm gonna head to this bar in the NoMad/Chelsea area to celebrate her and maybe even play some pinball (the bar has pinball machines!), but attempt to get home at a decent time since I have a long day ahead of me on Friday.

After working on Friday, I'm heading to Greenpoint for my first Tempest read thru, rehearsal, and meet-and-greet (we're gonna head to a bar after the rehearsal to get to know each other better), and then I pretty much start having one or more rehearsals everyday... Crazy times!!!! Although I'm not called for rehearsal on Monday, I am temping here all day and then teaching that night, so... It's not like I have any time off... Until May!

Gearing up to head into the fray! Here. We. Go.

License to Veg

A still of the performance I'm gonna see tonight. This is from backstage. She paints her face in black grease paint, so the audience only sees a disembodied mouth...

Because the rehearsal insanity starts on Friday, I gave myself permission to have a relatively lazy weekend. And I really took advantage of that. The last four days, I only left the apartment to teach my yoga classes (to 4, 8, 2, and 2 people respectively). Also, Monday after my class I ran into the owner of the gym who expressed interest in working with me to find another time that works in both our schedules to teach another yoga class! Yay! I'd love that! On top of more money, if I had another day/time slot I'd hopefully attract a different demographic. It seems like every time I sub the Sunday afternoon class it's completely full, so it would be fun to have a class like that on my regular schedule. Other than that, I just hungout and Netflix'd. Totally chill. And starting today that chill ends.

Tonight after work I am meeting Jess over by NYU to see this trio of crazy Beckett shorts that was last performed in NY right after I moved here (about 2 years ago). This is the actor's encore/farewell performance right before retiring and Jess, of course, hooked us up with cheapy tickets to this nutballs affair. We're meeting beforehand to grab a drink and some food in the area and then heading over to the show. Apparently, the show is pretty short (about an hour), so I shouldn't be getting home too late, which is a nice bonus.

Busting Out All Over

Tulips are starting to bloom!

It's finally starting to act like springtime around here! Or, at least the temperature's currently, not dipping below freezing, which I will take. It might even get up to the low 70's on Sunday and Monday! YES! So happy to hear that. I am done with this cold weather. This lingering chill. This insufferable freeze. Bring on the spring and the Sperrys and the jean jacket and the cropped pants and skirts without tights! I'm so ready!

Friday, I tried to run to the library after work to grab some books I have on hold, but I didn't check what time the library closed, so it'd been closed for an hour by the time I got there. It took me 90 minutes to get home from work Friday night. With nothing to show for it. BOO. I'll probably head back up there today to try to pick up my books on my lunch break. It's only a 15 minute trip from my temp job today, so I should be able to get there and back no problem, and still have time to chow.

And then there's this person. Finally throwing out their Xmas tree. In April...

I was good though, when I got home (after rushing to pee right away), I set up my computer and started working on recording that monologue for Mainestage. Two hours and three moves later, I finally finished, and started cooking dinner with a well-deserved beer in my hand. I forget how hard it is for me to audition via video. If I can see what I've done, I judge myself EXTRA harsh. Plus, the cat had been alone all day and was super needy. She kept video-bombing me either by jumping onto things behind me, or by meowing at the top of her lungs... With all of this, and the cars and sirens blaring past my window, this process took a while... But I like the final take and hope to hear back from them soon...

Shakespeare All the Time

Look at that set! Gorgeous!

After my record-breaking day o' theater on Wednesday, I had tickets Thursday evening to see Pericles (cross another off the canon list) at Theater for a New Audience (in BK, right by BAM). The theater is absolutely gorgeous, and I enjoyed the show, but I can definitely see why it's one of Shakespeare's lesser known & little produced shows. It meanders. A LOT. And the there are three different tempests that lead to ship-wrecks in the piece. I mean, we get it Bill, you're getting old, so you're writing about stormy seas, but geeeez. I do love the character of Gower and all the music works really well (even though it bothered me when "Marina" sang to her dad when clearly the servant sitting next to her was actually singing and she was just mouthing the words. Wouldn't have been a thing, if they'd just let her sing it. The song is the point, not Marina singing it, but instead they tried to dupe the audience... Boo. Did not like), but overall, tough Shakespeare show that they did really well.

Plus, first act is 90 minutes (makes sense, start the second act with Gower talking about how 16 years have passed since we last saw the characters, but... that's a long time before intermission). I don't think the show was served by me having seen the entire King and Country cycle a week before, but again, glad to have seen it. There were some performances (particularly Christian Camargo's Pericles and Philip Casnoff's Helicanus) that were absolutely outstanding and I enjoyed the clarity of place provided by costumes, set, and even the styles of music.

It's always good to see and hear more Shakespeare when I'm working on it. That helps me understand both what I'm rehearsing and also what I'm witnessing. Good things. Good Shakespeare acting is always so inspirational, too. Taking difficult text and spitting out the words with clarity and objectives is just yummy. It's the best kind of good acting. Especially in a show I'm unfamiliar with,

So, remember that audition I had for a theater company in Maine where I'd be working on All's Well and Richard III and teaching kids for two months and getting PAID? Remember how I was shocked I hadn't heard back from them? Well, turns out, that their email somehow went to my spam filter, so they resent it to me, and they want to see me to film myself working Queen Margaret's monologue at the end of Richard III, so yay! Callback! And potentially Maine for the summer! It would be amazing to both get the opportunity to work on two Shakes shows I've never done (OR EVEN SEEN) before AND get experience teaching kids, so we'll see. Planning to record the monologue tonight. I WAS going to do it on Wednesday, but then theater tickets, so...

Too Close for Comfort

YEEEEES. So. Good.

After Long Day's Journey, I wandered up a few more blocks to grab foodz and drinks at a bar near the Walter Kerr theater, killing a couple hours before The Crucible, and, because it's me, I found an Irish sports bar. They had a pretty good hh, so I ate some food, had a beer, and watched some sports before taking off across the street. Where I saw a friend of mine taking tickets for the show! Yay! I love seeing people I know in this (huge) small town!

The seats were great (although there was NO leg room) and the show was fantastic. Ivo (the hot new Belgian director, just off A View From the Bridge & Lazarus), set the show in modern times in a school room and it really worked to make what can feel like an out-of-date play feel new and fresh. The sad thing is that Miller's McCarthyism allegory feels almost too relevant to the fear-mongering and finger pointing rampant in today's 24-hour news media culture. I mean, take a look at the entire Republican party... Plus, Ben Whishaw is the best John Proctor I've ever seen. Just...incredible. And his chemistry with Sophie Okonedo (who plays Elizabeth) was absolutely beautiful. His speech at the end of the show about his name being the only thing he has left--gah! So good!

We watch the set gradually fall apart as the trials continue and more and more people are arrested and sentenced to death... Their world collapsing around them until it looks almost Apocalyptic. Otherworldly. Just super well thought out.

The most interesting thing about spending 7 hours watching classic American theater, is the difference between O'Neill's flawed characters Miller's. While O'Neill wrote the Tyrone family to be tragically flawed, you still empathized with and rooted for them. Miller, on the other hand, wrote the residents of Salem (and those that come to preside over their trials) to be completely horrible people. There is almost no one that you root for in that show. Everyone either orchestrates or gets caught up in the spectacle (with precious few exceptions), and this, at times, is very hard to watch. The mob mentality is horrifying. There are huge differences in these two iconic American pieces of dramatic theater. And yet, they're both beautiful and tragic and terrifying. And just plain good writing.

Long Day's Journey Indeed

When you win lotto tickets to this matinee, you go. You drop everything and go. 

After last week's perfectly Shakespearean weekend, and seeing just how busy I'm going to be for the rest of the month, I wasn't quite ready to stop seeing amazing theater just yet, so I bought tickets to two more shows for this week. And then, on top of that, I won tickets to the matinee preview of Long Day's Journey into Night (I've now won TWO of the Roundabout's $20 ticket lotteries) on Wednesday. I got the call at 1135am, so I'm pretty sure I only won because someone else didn't (or couldn't) claim their tickets, but I DON'T CARE! I will always take $20 tickets to a Broadway show!

This Eugene O'Neill classic is one that I've never seen before, and, given the text and length of the show, I'm honestly not surprised. It's a four-hander (technically five, with the maid, but she flits in and out and is more set-dressing than anything). Every single character is flawed beyond belief, and they all spend good chunks of time talking about it. The show is nearly four-hours long (it could definitely use some cuts), and the language is beautiful, albeit slightly repetitive (I think that's the point). The show takes place over one day in the Summer of 1912 in one room with one family. The audience quickly watches as these characters completely crumble, and eventually the whole family falls apart. Even though these characters are really fucked up, they're endearing. I don't know how O'Neill did it, but their flaws make them fully realized and the audience is completely invested in the outcome (I loved the shocked gasps when something surprised them).

The show first premiered on Broadway in 1956. It's semi-autobiographical, O'Neill's magnum opus, and is considered to be one of America's best plays. It even won a Pulitzer. And I get why. It's beautiful. And tragic. And HUGE. The journey that these four people go on over the course of one day is so intense. It's...overwhelming. But it's so long!

Jessica Lange is amazing as Mary Tyrone. She's restless and nervous and repetitive and literally cannot sit or stand still. It's perfect. And Gabriel Byrne's James is her perfect foil. His slow burn works wonderfully with her fits and starts. You can really see how much they both love and hurt each other. And the boys are great, too. Michael Shannon is always wonderful, especially so as Jaime. His drunken confession to John Gallagher, Jr's Edmund is terrifying and honest and somehow, ultimately, loving.

It's a great piece of theater. But it's a lot. And as piece one in a two-show day, it's even more incredible. It did make The Crucible seem to fly by, however.

April Crazy Brings May Rest?

Cherry trees blooming on the east side.

I also found out that I could have bought my BAM ticket for half-price if I'd used my NYC ID card to get a BAM membership beforehand. So, I am thinking that tomorrow I might try to get as many of the potential freebies offered by this ID card as possible. Or at least apply for the ones I don't have to do in person tonight and those that I have to show up for, try to knock out tomorrow. Get the most outta the fact that I live here. No more paying full price for touristy things! #winning

I also got my Tempest rehearsal schedule and it looks like my schedule is gonna be nuts starting next week. So, this week, even though I got at least one call about temping everyday I was available, I pretty much declined them all trying to enjoy a little downtime before I jump into the insanity of working two shows at once! Obviously, I am working today, and I already have jobs lined up next Wed-Fri and the following Mon, But we have our first Tempest read-thru next Fri, 4/15, and head into tech for Martyr'd Signs on Mon 4/18, so the last two weeks of this month are pretty much just gonna be two-rehearsal days everyday. At least Tempest is paying me, so it's not like I'll be losing money. I just know this week of pseudo-rest will have been necessary once I jump in with both feet.

Seen on my walk to the subway after teaching last Saturday morning.

I mean, it's not like I wasn't doing ANYthing. I was mostly seeing theater and teaching instead of working a day job. That is OK, though. I mean, I turned down two jobs on Wednesday and then won the Long Days Journey ticket lotto! So, good choices! It looks like that Sunday I took off a week or so ago to do absolutely nothing is the last day I have nothing scheduled until May. So, yeah. April is nut-balls.

But it's because I'm acting! And teaching! And auditioning! All good things. So good. Now, just hoping I get something lined up for the summer.

Making Friends and Networking with People

The Queen assisting Jess with her Savasana Saturday morning. 

After work last Friday, I headed straight to BAM to get in the standby line for Richard II. The show started at 730, the house opened at 7, and the box office opened at 6. I arrived a little after 6 and the line was already out the door, and at least 25-30 people long. I checked with the chick in front of me to make sure that I was standing in the correct line, and then we just kept talking. Soon the gentleman in front of her was talking with us, as well, and then we were making plans to grab drinks once the show started, assuming we were too far back to actually get tickets. BUT wonder of wonders, we all somehow DID get tickets!

I think, because it's David Tennant, and there was lots of press there, we all got lucky because the press returned a bunch of tickets AS the show was starting, so I got to sit gallery center (literally exactly center) with a ticket I purchased less than five minutes before! The only issue was that the lights had already gone down and the music had begun, and I had to walk past a good 15-20 people to get to my seat. That, alone, would have been embarrassing enough, but then, some guy I walked past had the GALL to say, "Shame on you" as I scooted past him. Yeah, to say that this colored the first half of the show for me would be an understatement. But then, I reached a point where I was like, look, I JUST bought my ticket. I was here at 6pm, most likely long before you, sir, because it is worth it for me to stand in a line for 90 minutes, hoping to be given an opportunity to purchase a ticket to this show. If you would like to blame anyone for the interruption, please blame the theater, who did not have to sell me a ticket after the show had started, but chose to, so that they could make more money. Harumph!

I even heard him complaining to an usher about it at intermission. This, clearly, was not about me, but about something that he was going through. Also, I had to pee the whole first half, so who suffered more? Really, think on it. Despite this mental distraction, the show took over and was worth the wait and the price of admission! So happy I got to see it.

Afterwards, I ran into Christine, the girl in front of me in line, and we went to a German bar to grab a drink and talk a bit. She's visiting NY for a month from Manchester and staying in an air bnb in the Bed Stuy/Bushwick area of Brooklyn. Last Friday was her first day, so hopefully, I'll be able to hangout some more with my new friend while she's in town! Yay friends!

Plus, John, the guy in front of her who joined in on our conversation, is an actor who once ran a theater company in London. He's equity and offered to help us both out however he could. So, networking and making friends and seeing theater! All-in-all a great night! Although, it did make getting up on Saturday to teach the 830am Stretch Therapy class a little more difficult than usual. But, worth it!

I had mental plans to head to a Shakespeare exhibit at the performing arts library after teaching a private to Jess last Saturday, but that fell through in the face of napping and hanging out at home for the afternoon before heading back to BAM to see the second part of Henry IV. It was good choices. I might head that direction after teaching tomorrow, but again, we'll see how I feel. The show runs through the beginning of next month, so I have a few more weekends to check it out if I bail.

Logic and Luck

Intermission for Henry IV, pt 2. I snuck a sneaky picture. And an usher yelled at me... Whoops!

I live in this amazing city. This city that houses some of the premier theaters in the world. With some of the best actors performing on those stages eight shows a week. And I have seen precious few of these productions. Well, that all changed in the last week. With a little luck (getting last-minute standby tickets to Richard II, and winning the ticket lottery for Long Day's Journey into Night), and foresight (impulse buying tickets Sunday night to Pericles and The Crucible), I have now seen six shows in the last seven days!

I have had the pleasure of seeing David Tennant, Antony Sher, Jessica Lange, Gabriel Byrne, Michael Shannon, John Gallagher Jr, Ben Whishaw, Saoirse Ronan, Sophie Okonedo, Ciaran Hinds, and Christian Camargo acting live in front of me. All within a week. Guys, THIS CITY! Between Wednesday and yesterday I saw nearly TEN HOURS of theatre. And from Friday to Sunday, I spent eleven hours at BAM alone. And I've crossed two more Shakespeare shows off my canon list. I am in AWE of the theatrical opportunities present in my city.

I'm not saying everything was life changing or mind blowing (though some of it was), but the sheer volume of plays to see and talent to see IN the plays, astounds me. I mean those shows don't even touch the SURFACE of what is available out to there. It's completely ridiculous! In the best possible way...

Anyway, now that I've started, I have no desire to stop. I'm going to keep seeing amazing theater as much as possible! And not even mind if it breaks the bank (to a certain degree). What I'm earning in culture more than makes up for the monetary cost. I have no regrets about the theatre I've seen in the last week. Even though it wasn't particularly cheap (I mean, it wasn't expensive, either. I've just had to adjust my thought process on what I'm willing to pay for theater. Anything less than $100 is a good deal. And anything less than $30 is a phenomenal deal), it's still completely worth it! I spent less than $150 on the three shows I saw this week. In the Seattle days, that'd be insane, but here, it works somehow. And it's incredible to see these performances that people will be talking about and referencing for years to come. Yes. Winning.

Multitasking Like a PRO

Working the speech (there's more on the back)...

Spending all of today at work either finding inspiration for Marcus for my Pinterest board (we finally tried on costumes and it's looking like the Romans are getting Indian/Punjab inspired outfits--super fun!), or working on/writing out all my lines. I started out just working on my big speech ("Who is this? My niece that flies away so fast?") when I discover Lavinia after she's been raped and mangled, but then I figured I might as well try to do the whole show, so... I did. And besides some word fluctuations (and that stupid short speech toward the end where I show Lavinia how to write in the sand with her mouth and stumps. Stupid speech won't stay in my brain! Grrrr Argh), I pretty much nailed everything. w00t. It's all in there. Now I just need to practice saying it onstage in context. Or as the much more eloquent Antony Sher puts it in Year of the Fat Knight:

You have to know [your lines] alone in your room. 

You have to know them when you speak them aloud with the other actors. 

You have to know them when the ante is upped in the rehearsal room (such as a run through).

You have to know them in front of the first audience at the first preview. 

You have to know them in front of the critics. 

You have to know them on a wet Wednesday matinee three months later, when the house is thin and you're thinking about the shopping...

I am currently working on step two. I have a bit of a ways to go before performing anything in front of critics or an audience and, luckily, lots of rehearsal to get there...

But spending the day working on that, and on character inspiration is always a good thing. I'm so happy I'm feeling rejuvenated about this process, this show and this character. Nothing worse than struggling to get through a show you know is no good. The wonderful ladies in the cast are definitely helping. AND not having to travel to get to rehearsal on Tuesday helped, too.

Also, when I was writing out all my lines, I made a wonderful discovery. With all the cuts and additions and rearrangements in our version of the script, I realized that I only say Lavinia's name once. I refer to her often as "lovely niece", "gentle niece", "good niece", and once I even call her "cousin", but the ONLY time I say her name is when I'm talking to her about writing out the names of her attackers. I say, "Look here, Lavinia" before demonstrating how she can still communicate with us (yes, in that same speech I was complaining about earlier), and I think it's lovely. It's something only I will notice, but the tenderness of that moment, the connection between the two of them. It's so clear. Marcus has been waiting for her to feel comfortable enough to explain to the rest of her family exactly what happened to her (and by whom), and he gets her attention with her name. LOVE!

One of the Greats

The Shakespeare Memorial in Stratford-upon-Avon (Shakespeare's birthplace and the home of the RSC). You see Falstaff in the foreground, Lady M to the left, Prince Hal on the right, Hamlet is behind the column, and Shakespeare is sitting on it

I finished Year of the Fat Knight AS my train pulled into the station after work last night. There I am, standing up, book and pencil in hand, both crying and laughing because I am so incredibly inspired by his story and his love of Shakespeare and this amazing part he's tackled and his amazing career... Basically I am a hot mess. But I feel reinvigorated! Not just for Martyr'd Signs, which you all know I was feeling a little bit...frustrated with, but also as I prep to tackle one of Shakespeare's biggies myself. I start Tempest rehearsals in a week or so and Prospero is always up there. Listed as one of the big Shakes roles every middle-aged actor wants to play. And I get to. At 30. As a woman. I'm kinda feeling overwhelmed.

I know the show will be truncated (they're hoping to cut it down to about 75 minutes), but Prospero is definitely the lead and he's onstage for, I'd say, 85% of the action. Even when he's not onstage, he's usually orchestrating the interactions of those who are. There's gonna be lots of line-learning. It'll also be super important to find the father(mother)/daughter relationship with whoever plays Miranda and toe the line of the master/slave/co-conspirator connection with Ariel. They're cutting Caliban completely (that's always a problematic part of The Tempest to me, so I'm OK with it. Even though we'll lose the Sycorax bits and cutting him makes me wonder if they're also cutting Stephano and Trinculo... hmmm... Hadn't thought of that... they have the best comedic moments. I guess I'll just wait and see). Knowing the show so well and playing Ariel fairly recently is definitely going to help me tackle Prospero, but it also means I know just how important he is to the show's success.

Tuesday's Martyr'd Signs rehearsal reminded me that Marcus is a good part. Maybe even a great part. And even in this cut of the show, maybe ESPECIALLY in this cut of the show, he's the heart of the Andronici. He's the only one who listens to Lavinia, really listens, and he always seems to have his heart in the right place, even though things are constantly exploding around him. I am still unsure whether or not this crazy workshop/experiment will succeed, but I'm happy to say I'm feeling better about the part I get to play in the whole thing. It's not unusual, though, one month out, to feel overwhelmed and doubtful that it'll be able to come together, even in shows with a more conventional rehearsal schedule. So, I'm making no judgments. Yet.