Contact Improvisation

Here are a few pictures from the final session of my Movement and Improvisation class this semester:

We went down to Oak Ledge park in Burlington down by the waterfront to do some dancing and site improving. It was raining so hard and the lake was so flooded that the beach no longer existed and the water was sweeping up onto the walkway, dragging full trees out to open water and eroding away the trail. It was a lot of fun though and a great example of how beautiful the performing arts are in any medium when they persevere. That was basically how the end of the semester happened for me: perseverance. By the end of April, I was feeling like there was legitimately no more brain/will power that I could give. Somehow it all happened though including my Theatre History final which was a beast. Greece through the Renaissance. Bam. Overall, it wasn't that bad and the transition into this new job is going smoothly. Today was our last day of training and I'm definitely ready to begin the actual job and the actual summer. If only this rain/thunder/massive amounts of lightning would quick for a moment. But let's take a minute to see what my summer has been like so far.

Summer 2011 So Far: 
1. I work in an office now. Which is a much better improvement from McDonald's, however it's a little weird for me. I'm just not totally emerged into it yet. Soon though. The cool thing is I get to work in all these different UVM buildings where I find things like this:

A composting toilet! It's basically a hole in the floor and when you push a button foam eats your poop.

2. Rain.

3. GAGA. Her new album is probably going to be my soundtrack during the whole summer. So much fun, I love it. It's so artful and full of character and life. It's the best to rock out to.

4. My new room in UHeights! One of the amazing perks of this job is that I get a free room in the swanky UHeights dorm on campus. I feel like I have my own apartment. It's fantastic, but I feel like I'm getting way too spoiled before next school year...

5. Beginning to have summer fun with Megan. The other night we went to the waterfront and started walking along the Burlington bike path as the sun set. It was beautiful, even though the water is still incredibly flooded and high and was eroding away the earth under the trees along the shore. It was part of the magic though.

6. Thinking about myself, and how I feel, and what I want to do with myself in the present and in the future. Ever since Voice and Speech I've thought about how I take care of myself as an artist and I've started really doing warm ups in the mornings and taking care of my voice and the rest of myself. I think I'm going to start doing Sun Salutations (yeah, yoga!?) and stretches out on the lawn this summer. Those are the things that make me feel good and happy, so why not do them? I've also been thinking about a performance piece I've been thinking about writing, and next semester, and grad school, and Hairspray, and why the hell am I not doing any performing the summer, etc.

This was part of a text I just sent to Megan:

"i hope i can really kick ass thru the rest of college and make something of myself in grad school u know? i still feel like im missing myself. im missing myself in parts that i only find when im truly in the moment performing (when im not being judged by teachers or peers) or when we're together doing something crazy :)"


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!

Lope Is My Friend: A Spanish Comedia

Yesterday I (and all of the Theatre History students at RTT) turned in their gigantic final research papers for the semester. It was quite a feat finishing that beast, let me tell you. Mine came out to about 16 pages with 60 endnotes, 4086 words, and a four page bibliography. I could not be more proud of it, though. It's beautiful. It's my personal little (or not-so-little) work of art. And in the whole process of researching and writing this monstrosity, I think I made a friend.

That friend is Lope de Vega, a 16th Century Spanish Renaissance playwright and poet, and the subject of my paper. Lope was a child prodigy of the written word, and once claimed that he had written fifteen hundred plays in the span of his life. He had a dark past filled with women (LOTS of women, Lope was a player. He finally married an insane woman. Literally, insane.), exile, travels throughout Spain, death, a stint as an ordained priest, and an eventual decline in popularity, health, and well being. This totally did not stop him from being completely awesome, though. He had huge impacts in the world of literary drama and theatre. Lope was writing during the Spanish Golden Age of theatre when the private and public spheres were colliding, when the world of theatre was becoming professional with acting troupes (which even included women on the stage), when elaborate costumes were paid for and contributed by the community, and the building of permanent theatres. In 1609, Lope went before the Madrid Academy (the big cheese of the Spanish literary world) and introduced his Arte nuevo de hacer comedias en este tiempo in which he introduced a new form of the comedia (play). Lope's form would become the national drama of Spain because it combined the classical styles with modern Spanish concepts to create more accessibility with its audiences. Not only that, but Lope's dramas emphasized the theme of honor in the lowest classes on people, even peasants. He also created strong female roles which embodied honor and a woman's virtue. Lope was amazing, despite his personal failings.

My paper also explored the reasons why we as a Western culture do not know anything or study anything about Lope or all of Spanish culture/literature. What I found was a historical phenomenon known as the Black Legend, a prejudice that traces its roots all the way back to the Protestant/Catholic tensions between Spain and the rest of Europe, especially its worst enemy England. It's this prejudice that has lasted us for so long, and it's this same type of prejudice that prevents us from truly seeing modern cultures such as some Middle Eastern and Asian cultures because of stereotypes and prejudices we have placed on a whole group of people. It makes you see the world differently when you have it all laid out in front of you.

Lope stood for the little people. He wrote about the passion and honor of the peasant, even if he was a player... He made contributions to the intellect, form, and evolution to the Spanish drama. That's why Lope is my new friend. I got pretty emotional as I finished the final sentences Sunday night at 12:30 in the morning, and it wasn't just because I was exhausted. I felt like I was letting go of and losing a really great friend. But Lope will always be in my mind and in history. And by the way, bringing all of those books back to the library was an unbelievable feeling.

Yeah, that's right. A whole Price Chopper shopping bag.

One of my books on the Black Legend was called Tree of Hate, and there was a hilarious picture of the professor who wrote it. He looked terrifying and like he was constantly judging you. I forgot to take a picture of it, but here is me trying to replicate it for you:

This doesn't really do it justice, especially with my Reese's bowl behind me, but you get the idea. TREE OF HATE!!!

Thanks Lope for all the fun times!

Peace out!

Hair. Hair. Crazy Hair.

Here are some spectacular updates or what's going on in my life:

1. I'M PRETTY STRESSED OUT but so isn't everybody around this time of the semester so I'll just skip over that one.

2. It's off! This happened awhile ago during Spring Break but I haven't gotten a chance to blog about it but all the hair I grew for Twelfth Night got cut off! Finally! I feel (and personally I think I look) much better.

Before

After

3. I got a new job! Yes folks, I got a new job for this upcoming summer. I am one of eight new Conference Assistants working at Conference and Event Services here at UVM. I get free housing during the summer and get to stay and work right here in Burlington! It's kind of like a dream come true. I'm so excited and the job is something that I'm really going to love doing, which is important. Megan is also going to be staying in Burlington during the summer working full time at Career Services at Champlain so you know there are going to be awesome adventures happening this summer. Stay tuned.

4. St. Patrick's Day and the UVM campus is normal. Everyone is going about their day, although everyone is looking a tad greener than usual. Then, on the steps of Royall Tyler Theatre, a figure emerges holding bagpipes with a group around him. It is Orion Lay-Sleeper, star of Twelfth Night, and yes...he stands on the front steps of the theatre and busts out some pipes.

It was awesome. (just sayin')

Okay, that is all for now.

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!

From the Library to Home

I returned home from the hardest and most stressful semester yet last week. Remember when I said I loved the library? The smell of the books, the thrill of the hunt trying to find the right book with the right information...well that's still all true. I still love the excitement that comes from finding that book on the shelf, it's just...when last Wednesday rolled around...I was ready to get the hell out of there. While finding reference books to take pictures of drawings and old magazine photos of 30s fashion was fun, I was done with the whole intellectual part of school. Then I spent a total of 13 hours finishing my costuming project, which was again was fun especially while belting out showtunes in the costume shop, I was still ready to go home. I was ready for Christmas. Unfortunetely (but also fortunetely), we had to leave 308 behind and close it's doors for the last time because we all moved out. Ashley is on her way to Ireland to study abroad, and Megan got accepted to be an RA next semester. She's going to be moving into Champlain's Quarry Hill ("The Q" as it will lovingly be called) January 3rd. So this is goodbye to our precious 308 where we have had amazing memories and fantastic times...

The first thing that had to happen when I got home was to decorate. My mom and I spent all last Friday decorating the house. We got the tree inside (a week before Christmas, yikes!) and while it's kind of a Charlie Brown tree, it's still pretty with the white lights and old ornaments. On Saturday I went outside and put lights all over the front of the house. If you ask me, I think we won for best house decoration, if a little late. Then came the baking. We baked peanut butter blossoms with chocolate on top and sugar cookies with frosting and sprinkles with M&Ms and gumdrops! If you can't tell I got a little excited about the cookies.

One of my family's biggest Christmas traditions is that we always watch the movie National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation starring Chevy Chase. I think it's my mom's favorite movie. Anyway, every year we try to rent it somewhere because we don't actually own it. So, we tried at the Lyndon State College library (my mom works up there), but alas there was no movie. My mom was pretty dissappointed. So my parents went to one of the antique stores in Lville and found it on VHS. It's pretty weird that VHS tapes are antiques now...just saying. We got to watch the movie. It's a hilarious movie and I think it'll always be a family tradition.

Something else that' happened so far over this break is that, while my boss forgot to schedule me for hours this week (don't get me started), I have free time (at least for this week). So, Eden made a special trip up from Plymouth to see her family and Megan and I. It was so awesome to see her. I miss that girl!

Anyway, it's shaping up to be a beautiful Christmas season. Break out the eggnog, Santa hats, music, and mistletoe and let's rock this Christmas!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Palm Tree Thanksgiving Part 2

After an evening at Red Lobster eating cheesy biscuits, we made it to Venice Monday night and crashed at my grandparent's condo where we stayed for the week. It was such a fantastic week. Just the fact that we had no responsibilities and no worries while we were there blew my mind. We saw the new Harry Potter movie (of course), we saw Burlesque (a fantastic movie which we both highly suggest), we went to three different beaches, we ate out, we slept, we finished our epic Heroes marathon which has spanned a year, we went swimming in the pool, we danced in the pool, we made cookies, we watched Glee, we chilled with my grandparents, we riced potatoes for Thanksgiving, we ate Thanksgiving, we decorated my grandparents' Christmas tree, we got waited on by a terrible waitress, we ate AMAZING homemade gellato, my grandmother got me a new electric toothbrush, and we saw an amazing performance of Ragtime at the Venice Little Theater.

It was strange to see Christmas decorations everywhere when it was over 80 degrees and sunny...

It was an awesome vacation that was incredibly well deserved. I'm so glad we took it and that we got to spend it with my grandparents. Thank you for a fabulous week! Now we've been back for another full week and I've been on a dead run since our return. Between Toys and school work, I'm pooped! On top of that, it's been snowing all day and now it really looks like Christmas out there.

Peace out!

P.S. The squirrels in Florida are tiny, like rats. Nothing compared to the ones in Btown!