Looking Back, Moving Forward

The snow is slowly falling outside the large windows, the sky a milky grey. The flakes drift through a new air brought on by a new year. A fresh start. The air is chilly, but familiar like an old friend. It's reminiscent of winters long gone: of sledding down hills, skiing across open countryside in the colorful dusk, snowball fights, and warm afternoons with hot chocolate. It's also the snowfall of new adventures and memories yet to come. 2011 was quite a year, definitely busy, and it was full of amazing memories and good adventures.

It was a very stormy winter in haunted Converse and Megan as an R.A. at Quarry (aka The Q). There were lots of treks across frozen tundra and cold walks.

I received one of the most epic birthday cakes of my life shaped like the Doctor's TARDIS. Thank you Kendra!

Twelfth Night was an awesome and fun show to be a part of!

I was a part of the Catamount Singers and took an amazing improvisational movement class which changed a lot of my views of performance and opened myself up to new possibilities.

Megan and I started a brand new adventure as a couple.

UPlayers had a very successful semester this spring with an awesome bake sale , cabaret, and scavenger hunt!

I got a new job at UVM this summer and got to live and explore in Burlington during a beautiful summer. And I saw things like waterless toilets. Weird.

Megan and I took a trip to Cape Cod to see Ashley after her epic semester in Ireland.

The Doctor, his Roman Goddess, and the Gypsy had an epic and classy Halloween weekend.

I had ovaries.

HAIRSPRAY! happened after all that hard work and a debilitating bout  of bronchitis...

I also flexed a technical muscle in designing the lights for Toys this year. AND I was a teacher's assistant this semester, something that I loved doing and it confirmed my drive to be a theatre teacher. This summer I also started a "Ryan Performs in Places" segment on my blog which has been a lot of fun and a great outlet. I'm hoping to expand on it this year and possibly make a new blog for performances and writing. Hope to see you there!

I got my Dad a hoodie-footie for Christmas. Winning.

Iris had a good Christmas.

Finally, this Christmas and New Years was a lot of fun and full of Christmas cookies, family, and friends. The New Year concluded for Megan and I in Barre/Montpelier Vermont with one of our good friends Rosie. We went to the First Night dance party and then saw them release these beautiful paper, fire-lit lanterns into the night sky.

Happy New Year and a toast to new adventures.

Peace out!

Pizza and Cookies

This past week has been full of business, auditions, and happy moments. It began on Monday with Stop Kiss auditions at UVM. Those didn't quite work out according to plan, which was okay because I had a back up plan (kind of like Jennifer Lopez, except I don't want to be pregnant):

On Thursday night Alice, Matt, and I (we met some more RTT peeps there) traversed to Lyric Theatre's Hairspray auditions for next fall's production. Gina drove us in her car as our stage mom. She gave us encouragement and a little tough love. We were ready. Except it was one of the most nerve-racking experiences of my life. Just handing in the initial paperwork was terrifying. Don't even get me started on trying to pin my number on and then going over to take a picture. My legs were a little wobbily... But as I was getting my picture taken, guess who's standing off to the side saying my name? Annalise! From Shout It Out! She was there auditioning with Ty and Zach, a couple more folks from our cast. It had been such a long time since we'd seen each other, and it was great catching up. It still did not alleviate the shaking or my stomach turning around in circles. I took a page from Voice and Speech though and kept breathing. We did an improv workshop, then the crazy wild dance, and then we went in for the traditional audition. The whole introduce yourself, sing, and act. I think it helped that quoted Gaga as we went into the gym and put my paws up. Loosened me up.

Anyway, Friday passed and I hadn't heard anything about a call back while many of my friends had received one for that night. Tensions were high in my mind. Then came Saturday morning around 11:30 a.m. Click here and look at the "Council Members" list, second from the bottom. I'll give you a minute.

Seen it? Are you good?

I GOT A PART!!!!!!!!! I'M GOING TO BE IQ!!!!! I GET TO SING AND DANCE MY ASS OFF ON THE FLYNN STAGE THIS FALL!!!!!!!!

This is how excited I am.

I could not be more excited! This is such an amazing experience that I actually get to share with a lot of my friends from RTT who are also in the show. I got the call from an Unavailable number, and I knew immediately that this was it. I was shaking and crying while the stage manager was trying to give me the details about our first read through, and once the call was over I called my parents and my grandparents and jumped up an down and ran around The Q while Megan laughed and jumped around with me while families and students were trying to move out and gave me weird looks but I didn't care because I was so damn excited!!!

Anyway, as you can see I was excited. Just a little bit. When I say jumping around, I mean a lot of it. And rolling around. Really just a lot of moving and me screaming. Anywho, that same night was the End-of-the-Year Cabaret for UPlayers, and it went super well. We had a huge audience and our acts were totally awesome.

On Sunday I just want to mention that Megan and I went for a two hour hike in Centennial Woods because we can. We were pretty proud of ourselves, especially because we totally got lost (like, we ended up near the interstate going to Winooski, not quite sure how) but we found our way back. It was a perfect day.

It was a really perfect weekend actually, and now as we move into the last couple days of classes and exams, I will look back on this weekend with joy. Speaking of joy, check this out:

Did you know they made this? Pizza...and...cookies in the same box...  This had become a staple in The Q kitchen mostly because it's pure college food but also because it's so damn delicious... I mean, PIZZA AND COOKIES! You can't go wrong.

Peace out!

Do I Look Drunk? and Other Silly Stories

Hello hello! It's been quite awhile since I last posted, but there's been so much going on and so much left to do before the end of the semester. This whole week has been a blur on constant activity, running around, and not getting things done. Unfortunately, I'm sick on top of all that and with Stop Kiss auditions at UVM and Hairspray auditions with Lyric Theatre at the Flynn coming up in the next week (yes, I'm auditioning for two plays at once!), things are a little tense. I just wanted to give you an update on everything that's been going on this past week. Ready...set...go!

For all of you Vermonters out there, last Tuesday was Free Cone Day at Ben and Jerry's. This of course being the best holiday of the Spring, I was prepared for this. Ben and Jerry's is truly the only ice cream I really love, unfortunately it's terribly expensive so if I can get it for free, you bet I'm going to exploit that frozen sugary gold mine. Earlier in the day, the RTT gang headed to the Davis Center Ben and Jerry's for free cones after lunch (which we ate in line), then when Megan got out of work she came up to UVM and we got more cones.

The line was huge.

Our costume shop supervisor at RTT Alan (He's awesome. Just sayin'.) suggested we just take the truck.

Daffodils! Spring! Yay!

Then we headed downtown to raid the main Ben and Jerry's store! The line went all the way down the block to the Rite Aid. It was pretty intense.

Yay! More cones! Three total for the day, not a bad turn out for Free Cone Day.

Later that week was the opening of RTT's Spring Festival of Plays, or the senior's final projects, to put it frankly. I ran the light board (Yeah, that's right. I got technical. It was pretty crazy and I was insanely nervous. It was a great experience and it's awesome to have that on my resume, but it only confirmed that tech is not my thing. I didn't do so well on the taking orders and procedure bit. The show was awesome though.) for two performances, ushering for another, and working in the box office for the rest. It was a busy weekend, to say the least.

On Saturday I ran the light board for the matinee performance and ushered that night, so I went to grab dinner with Alice (Have I introduced Alice to the blog yet? One of my BFFs at RTT. SO MANY ACRONYMS!!!) who was also ushering. While we were waiting for the bus to go back to the theatre, this random drunk guy runs up to us.

"Okay, you three (there were three of us at the bus stop) as a collective whole, do I look or sound drunk!?"

Right from the get go this is not going to turn out well because the guy is quite obviously drunk.

"'Cuz I just got kicked out of Springfest (concert thing at UVM) because they thought I was pushin' people. I'm just a tall guy and when you stand like this (he proceeded to make some sort of weird pose with his hands behind his head and his crotch thrusted out) they think you're pushin' people when all you're tryin' to do is brace yourself!"

He then told us his ingenious plan to sneak back into Springfest even though the police specifically told him they were going to arrest him if he tried to come back. He was going to disguise himself. Of course I couldn't understand him a lot of the time because he was slurring his words. Fun times at UVM...

Needless to say, the one acts were fantastic and the Vermont Pub and Brewery party which Megan came to was a lot of fun. Even though I slowly got sick during that weekend, I managed to survive as did everyone involved. This cold that seeped into my throat, chest, voice, and sinuses was slowly wreaking havoc on my strength for the Catamount Singers concert which was approaching on Monday. That whole day I spent on vocal rest except for doing a skit in Theatre History and rehearsal for that night. It was brutal, but it did wonders to keep up my vocal agility for the concert. However, within the last hour before the concert was a stressful load of stress. I ran downtown to run some errands (including buying a dozen eggs for my lighting project on "Born This Way" which was amazing by the way), ate dinner, had a group meeting, realized that the black shirt I needed for the concert was left at The Q, ran to my dorm to grab all my other clothes, ran to The Q to get ready, and then Megan drove me to the concert. I was a hot mess that evening, but the concert went off without a hitch! It was a beautiful culmination to all the work we had been putting in all semester. Congrats Cat Singers!

Flashforward to Wednesday when the UPlayers threw their awesome 4/20 Bake Sale. It was projected to be successful because all those stoners need their munchies right? Some of our awesome slogans were: 

"YOU GOT THE MUNCHIES WE GOT THE CURE!"

"BAKED GOODS FOR THE BAKED! (or not baked...whatever you prefer...)"

and my personal favorite:

"GET YOUR BAKE ON!"

It was a wildly successful bake sale. We even raffled off a giant cupcake filled with pudding and a strawberry cake even though they both went to our costuming professor...

Sam trying to stuff our crappy Student Government providing tent into its bag. Thanks for the crappy tent SGA!

As you can see, it's been a pretty busy week here in Burly World. Hopefully this cold will pass me by soon as I go home for Easter weekend. Everyone have a lovely Easter!

Peace out!

Interesting Weekend

This past weekend was interesting. It was very fun, just very different and full of activities. It all started on Saturday when Megan and I went to the HO Wheeler school in the North End of Burlington to help paint their gymnasium. It was a Champlain College campus-wide event that Megan as an RA made into a dorm event for The Q. It was a lot of fun and it felt amazing to help out. The principal there was extremely grateful we were all there to help make their school a better place. Megan and I helped out for about three hours cleaning up and washing paint brushes. Afterwards we drove around exploring Burlington (the North End is like a maze...) and went back to UVM to go to the Eat My Art Out dance showcase.

After a hilarious visit to Burger King (you can find some of the most interesting people at Burger King), Megan brought me to the Flynn Theatre to watch the Lucinda Childs show Dance for my dance Movement and Improvisation class.

The performance was once again...interesting...It was supposed to be an experiment in repetition, and trust me, that message was made loud and clear. The music was like a mix of Ke$ha and the New York Philharmonic, techno-orchestra I'd like to call it, and it was on repeat for each of the three dances. The choreography meanwhile was the same moves over and over and over again. It kind of put me in a hypnotic trance, but then the music would change key or the moves would change, and I would be immediately snapped out of the trance. It was weird. And they played a video of the same dance as it was filmed back in 1979 on the scrim in front of the live dancers so they moved in tandem. Extra weird...But I enjoy any occasion to go to the Flynn.

On Sunday Megan and I traversed to Royall Tyler Theatre to finish writing cues for my light lab project for my lighting class. I'm doing a light show to Lady Gaga's Born This Way. Yeah, I know. Awesome. When we got to the theatre, however, I was unnerved by the number of non-theatre people that had invaded the building. Apparently there was an international debate team competition going down in the theatre. Why? I don't know. Mess? Oh yeah.

The theatre kind of looked like a disaster zone. UPlayers had to find another meeting space because there was no space, and then I had to stick around to have a rehearsal for a class project. Meanwhile, all the senior directors for the Spring Play Festival were scrambling to find rehearsal space. Needless to say, the theatre kids of UVM were pissed. And it's not cool to get a theatre kid pissed. We kind of ban together, and that we did. We got free pizza and muffins. I'm not telling how...

Like I said, an interesting weekend.

Peace out!

Eden, Kate, and Jill Went Up A Hill

The tumultuous snowstorm that we had yesterday here in Burlington was a symbol---no, it was a metaphor---of the crazy, most intense day from Hell I had yesterday. It started with English class which went well despite almost falling asleep because it's at 8:30 in the morning and totally boring. Then at breakfast, my mom called me from Florida where my parents have been living the life going to Disney World, seeing my aunt and uncle, going to shows, and now going to see my grandparents. Completely jealous. Although I shouldn't really talk seeing how Megan and I already had our epic Florida adventure. Then I went to turn in this application for a job opportunity I'm pursuing here in Burlington for the summer. I'm not talking about it too much because I don't want to build too much hype just in case it doesn't work out. But if I do a fantastic interview, then there might be a beautiful chance. So anyway, this snowstorm was crazy. It was like a hurricane with snow, so much snow that you almost couldn't even open your eyes when you walked outside. I'm braving the crazy elements getting blown around and looking like a crazed snow beast when I finally find the building where I have to turn in the application. I'm trying to shake the snow off, but it's not really amounting to much so I just take the application out and walk into the office. A guy comes out of the office that totally looks like a college student. I thought maybe he was work study but then he introduced himself as the guy who I've been talking to this whole time about the job. It threw me way off. Not what I was expecting.

Then I went to work for more crazy times because these patrons can be CRAZY. Plus, I was trying to coordinate Chase, Lissy, and Avery to come to the show tonight and Lissy had to exchange her tickets, adding to the mass. And the snow made a ton of people come in late, but overall it worked out fine. After work I was rushing to fix my time card and put my hours in because I had to go to Redstone Campus for Catamount Singers, about twenty minutes away. I book it over there and walk into the classroom which was dark and noone was there, which was odd. I took my coat off, turned the lights on, and stood there. Then I remembered: Cat Singers was rehearsing in Ira Allen Chapel on Central Campus today because we're singing at an event. RUN! I sprinted through crazy snow, slush, and people to make it to Ira Allen Chapel on time. I actually made it seconds before we started rehearsing.......Thank you God.....

This was the event we sang for that same afternoon. Megan came to hear us sing, and the place was PACKED. The man, Cornel West, was really cool. He's my new homeboy. I liked what he had to say, but the whole time I was freaking out because he went WAY over time and my call for Twelfth Night was at 6. Another RUN moment happened after this show. It was amazing that I made it on time to everything yesterday.

This whole week has been sort of crazy, but totally fun. Eden came and stayed at The Q with Megan and I this past weekend. I missed her so much! She came to the show and we watched horror movies until late into the night and had an epic slumber party. Just like high school times. Very fun. That girl just brings sunshine wherever she goes. After she left, Megan and I just felt so sad because she wasn't with us anymore. But I am so proud of her because she is doing so well and creating a beautiful life for herself. Love you darling!

Jill and Kate, my beautiful friends from Lyndon, came to Btown Tuesday afternoon to stay with me until Friday. Kate is probably going to be coming to UVM next year (a fact I am very excited about) so they came to check out Burlington and UVM. Unfortunately, UVM parking hated Jill's car and the size of my closet room made sleeping arrangements a little difficult but somehow we figured it out. They came to show along with Joe and Kat, which made for an excellent night. I was so happy they were there staying with me. We all cried when they had to leave, and I miss them.

Now it's closing weekend for Twelfth Night, and things on that front are winding down. It has been an awesome run, and I'm sad for it to be over but I'm also ready to experience this semester without Twelfth Night as well. The added time to my schedule is going to be amazing. Maybe I can actually take my time with homework.

Closing weekend.

Peace out!

My Birthday

In case any of you didn't know, and I honestly can't find anyway you wouldn't know I mean, jeez...it was my 19th birthday this past weekend, and it was a pretty amazing birthday weekend at that. My birthday this year really revealed the love that exists in my life and really just how beautiful life can be. It all started last week when Megan came and spent a couple nights with me at Converse which hasn't happened in a long time. Of course, this happened while Twelfth Night was finishing its last rehearsals before tech so it got a little crazy so by Friday night, I was pooped and I got even more pooped after a long rehearsal that night. But it was a good kind of pooped, obviously.

Cast, crew, and orchestra photo!

Saturday made up for all the poopedness. After sleeping in which was wonderful, and much needed, Megan and I took the bus to Williston to go watch No Strings Attached which was actually a really good movie.

It's really weird because Natalie Portman is in like a million movies recently. It's like her agent was on crack when they scheduled her for all of these movies...

Anyway, back on topic: so we had a really good time watching the movie when we decided we were so hungry we could eat like a baby dinosaur so we went to Chili's for lunch! It was soooooooooooo good! Perfect birthday meal seriously. So then after going to Toy's R Us (see post It's the Little Things) and after going to PetSmart to look at puppies, kittens, birds, and fish, we walked through a snow tornado, took the bus, and went back to the Q to do homework.

As if that wasn't enough, the next day was tech day for Twelfth Night so that means a 9-9 day. I got to the theater a little earlier than everyone else so I was just chilling in the green room when all of a sudden everyone comes in and starts singing Happy Birthday to me. It was kind of amazing. Then at our lunch break, I'm just sitting there eating pizza when all of a sudden my friend Kendra brings over this cake and announces my birthday. I freak out 1) because I love being surprised with cakes and 2) the cake was in the shape of Doctor Who's TARDIS. If you don't know what that is, that's okay. A lot of people don't, but it made my day.

Then everyone said happy birthday to me and we finished the tech. It was such a fantastic day. How I described it at the time was that I was overwhelmed with love. I think that's the perfect way to describe this birthday. Thank you to everyone for making it so special and thanks to Megan for my amazing birthday presents and a beautiful day. I love you!

And now, tonight is the night! Opening night! Hope you all come out to see the show! Here's my hair:

Opening Night

Peace out!

Service With A Smile

Back in Burlington! Yep, I returned to the big, not-so-bad Burly World on Friday where I was introduced to Megan's new dorm: The Q.

It's off the hook! She basically has her own apartment with a full kitchen, a HUGE living room, her own bedroom, and her own personal bathroom with a bathtub. The only issue is that it's quite far away considering it's an "off-campus dorm," but we have found ways to remedy that. There are secret roads and bike paths that totally take you there, and there's always the Champlain off-campus shuttle. It's not a big deal. It does mean that I can't really traverse to The Q during the week because of schedules and Megan can't really hike it to Converse either because of RA duties. But it's still cool. Her room is awesome. In case I haven't made myself perfectly clear...her room is awesome. The best part about the whole deal is that it's free because she's an RA. Well, it's not completely free I mean she does actually have to work as an RA but you get the point.

Anyway, before arriving at The Q, my mom and I stopped in for some lunch at Olive Garden, one of the best restaurants ever. We got a waitress that was pretty amazing. She kept saying "PERFECT!" all the time about everything we said.

"Soup, salad, and breadsticks??? PERFECT!"

It was in one of those rad, pothead, skateboard-type voices and it wasn't just "PERFECT," there were definitely a couple of "right ons!" thrown in there. Also, my mom asked for the dressing to be put on the side of our salad (she doesn't like a lot of dressing, crazy I know) so when this wonderfully ignorant, yet very entertaining waitress returned with our salad, she said:

"I like totally kept forgetting you didn't want dressing so a accidentally made like six salads with dressing on them. I kept looking down and was like, 'Crap!'"

I tried to get my mom to write "PERFECT!" on the receipt but she wouldn't do it.

I came back to Burlington at such an odd time because we started rehearsals for UVM's Twelfth Night this weekend. So far they're going very well. It's going to be a fantastic show, and I'm not saying that just because I'm in it. I'm kind of nervous because this is my first Shakespeare, but I think with this cast and the guidance we're receiving along with the hard work we're willing to put in, it will all work out. I'm definitely going to learn a lot. Plus, I'm already starting to gain an appreciation for Shakespeare. That's definitely an accomplishment. Shakespeare just really hasn't been something I've connected to or necessarily liked. I think it's because I just haven't understood it before. Now as I've grown in theatrical experience, I can actually understand what's happening and how these characters feel, especially what they want. Anyway, I've been living here at The Q all weekend getting to know Megan's co RA Nicole, watching Megan bust butt as an RA, making wicked awesome food in the wicked awesome kitchen, and watching the Miss America pageant.

Then, this morning (finally) UVM opened the dorms at noon and I was able to move in. I had rehearsal at 1:15. Problem. My parents and Megan's mom and gram arrived at 11 and we all went out to eat. This wouldn't have been an issue to our timetable if the waiter at Friendly's wasn't so slow. We legit waited three hours for our food. Okay, maybe not three hours but a long time. I managed to check in and get my card reactivated around 12:45. Let the Japanese game show that was moving me back into Converse begin. It was like a soul train line of my mom, me, Megan, her mom, and my dad parading up the stairs with my crap. Megan raced in to retrieve all the stuff she had in there and I threw it all in, then booked it to rehearsal.

Just in time.

Peace out!