All Eyes on Me

Finally Kindness's long-awaited post-bac show has come to fruition. We did our performance in front of his magnificent and meticulously-constructed environment involving suspended tree branches, flowers, nails, hooks, domestic items, and various accoutrements reflecting the life of a little girl. i think he was pleased with it; I had fun doing it, and it was certainly a unique experience for me as an actor and an interesting addition to my creative resume. I've done art before, but I've never been art before. :-) His installation will be in the Dreitzer Gallery in Spingold for the rest of the week if you missed last night. I, sadly, being living art, will not be.

*Yawn* I've gone to bed at a ridiculously early hour (10PM on Monday, 10PM on Tuesday, 9PM yesterday) every night so far this week, and yet I don't feel recharged or well enough rested for having slept so long. I don't feel sick, but I wonder if something's up. I'm hoping the excitement of Festival this weekend will cancel out my early-evening heaviness so I'm not a drag the next couple of nights.

I'd like to go to BSCF tonight and hang with people, but I have to prioritize my chores in preparation for the weekend. I have most of the sheets printed, but none of the cards, and nothing's packed yet. I may even have to buy a few new sets of supplies, like folders and playing cards. I need to put clean sheets on the guest bed for Seamus Reynolds who will be crashing at Elsinore for the weekend. And I have to finish reading the materials for LXHS. I'll only go to BSCF if I've accomplished enough of all of that by the time seven rolls around, but I doubt I will be able to afford it.

I could try to get a bit of work done on my next character sheet assignment for Labor Wars, as we have a meeting next Tuesday. But I won't be working on Monday next due to the need to work a monstrously long day on the following Thursday, so I should at least have all of that day to finish up the sheet. It'll be nice to have a day to recover after what promises to be a packed and possibly sleep-deprived three days.

The other interesting, theatrical, artistic thing I did yesterday (because I am such a busy, productive girl) is that Kindness and I ran the opening part of the performance piece we're going to do at his post-bac show. We marched into the Shapiro Atrium with nothing remarkable about us except for huge makeup handprints-- mine on my cheek, his around his neck. We then undressed, and redressed each other in dress-up clothes, mine vaguely like a little girl. Then we used makeup to paint colorful patterns over our bruises. When we were finished, we gathered up our things, packed them into a box with a unicorn on it, and marched outside.

I'm not sure if we got much in the way of audience reaction. For all our strange public doings, I think most people just looked at us, thought "Huh, weird," and continued about their business. But I am confident that in a context where it is a clear that it is an artistic performance, as it will be during the real show, people will attend. And Jonathan was pleased, which is all that matters to me. I like performing, so I am excited for this piece to go up in its proper place.

Having Brenda and Frances over for dinner tonight. It is cold and sad outside, so I want comfort food. I have decided to make a big old meatloaf. Haven't had that in a while, and it will be easy, tasty, and comforting. Frances has an idea for a Hamlet-related theater piece that I'm interesting in hearing about, so we shall discuss that over dinner.

Yesterday I had a lovely lunch with Jonathan and heard about HIS theatrical piece he wanted my help with. As part of his final art show he wants to incorporate a sort of living installation that expresses his theme, and he asked me to play a part in it. I love his idea, and I'm very excited. This should be happening in April, I think, which means plenty of time to prepare.

Have all the headshots taken and prepped now. Just have to print out Jonathan's and we're good to go. I still need people's bios, though. I should send out an e-mail threatening that if I don't get bios by, say, Thursday, I'm writing them myself. And they will say nothing but how awesome I, their wonderful and long-suffering director, am.

It occurs to me that my show opens exactly two weeks from today. So I am exhausting all venues I can think of to get the word out about it. A Facebook invite has already been setup, but to reach those who read my Livejournal but like myself aren't big Facebook fans, here's the repost of the invitation for you:

To Think of Nothing, directed by Bernie Gabin and Phoebe Roberts, will be playing two nights only in the Merrick Black Box Theater in the Spingold Theater at Brandeis University, Thursday February 25th and Friday February 26th, to start at 8PM. The show should run no longer than an hour. Tickets are free, but donations are gladly accepted.

Starring

JARED HITE (Faustus, Claudius, Lear, Oberon, Lord Capulet) as Cassander
FRANCES KIMPEL (Caliban, Hamlet, Dromio of Syracuse, Tybalt, Brutus) as Andromeda
STEPHANIE KAROL (Goneril, Helena, Marc Antony) as Thalia
CAITLIN PARTRIDGE (Juliet, Casca) as Euphrosyne
LIZ BAESSLER (Snug, Mercutio) as Aglaea
JONATHAN PLESSER (Albany, Lysander, Friar Lawrence, Julius Caesar/Octavian) as Damon
CHARLOTTE OSWALD (Hippolyta) as Selene
JONATHAN KINDNESS (Rosencrantz, Gloucester, Bottom) as Palamon

As I said-- "This is probably the most significant thing I've done as a writer and artist. It would mean the world to me if you would do me the honor of marking this down and coming to see my show. If you are available on either date, please come join me for this important event."

Tickets are free, but seating is limited, so it is recommended that you reserve your seats ahead of time. Drop me a line at breakinglight11@gmail.com with the showing you're coming for and the number of seats you'd like to reserve.

Hit the thrift store today in hopes of finding something for use in To Think of Nothing. The biggest thing I was looking for a red formal dress for Frances. Her character Andromeda is supposed to look like she was dressed for an evening out at the theater. I wasn't expecting to see anything suitable, but to my pleasant surprise I found an elegant gown in a perfect color. I tried it on myself, and found it a very nice fit. This made me optimistic, as Frances is similarly shaped to me, but I immediately after became nervous, as I have tried on costume pieces on her behalf before that did not always end up fitting her. Still, it was just the look I wanted, so I decided to take the chance and buy it. When Frances and Brenda came over for dinner tonight, she offered to try it on. Figuring I should get my heart broken sooner rather than later, I agreed. I waited in the kitchen, my breath caught in my throat... only to have my lovely leading lady emerge looking perfect in the gown. I couldn't believe I actually lucked out! So, for only eight dollars, Andromeda is excellently costumed.

It needs ironing, and it will have to be hemmed to proper length, but that's nothing I can't take care of. Will have to investigate how to accomplish the sewing. So that means Frances, Jared, and Plesser are dressed. Jared will be wearing a sky blue button-down shirt. Plesser will be wearing the blue Elizabethan doublet my mother made for my brother when he played Romeo a few years back. It's a beautiful piece, blue velour on one side and reversible with a silky blue patterned other side. If we had more time and a bigger budget, I might ask her to make the costume for Charlotte. I need a burgundy Elizabethan gown for her, which might be tough to find. If worst comes to worse, I think she may have a burgundy dress that we might be able to make seem Elizabethan in a pinch. We need a green button-down for Kindness, but that won't be tough to find. If he doesn't have one of his own, Jared does.

Not sure what were going to do about the Graces. They need to look ancient Greek, but not too cheesy costumey ancient Greek. If we can find white gowns with that air that would be fine, and if worst comes to worst, Steph knows how to make pretty cool-looking chitons out of sheets.

So we're in pretty good shape, costume-wise. And we're keeping the budget low too! Hooray!

I had a great conversation with morethings5  at BSCFabout how burdensome it can be to keep writing again and again, especially when you don't feel like what you're producing is any good. He's trying to write a daily blog about fairytales and finding it can be difficult to be brilliant and insightful every day. But even though the more you write the more likely it is to be shit, you're also improving your writing the more you write, and therefore are also more likely to produce something good. It occurred to me that my LiveJournal is my way of dealing with this-- yes, most of the stuff I post in it is "what stupid thing made me angry" or "this part of me looked particularly pretty today," but every now and then, I write a really thoughtful essay about pornography, and it gets me writing every day, giving you lot something to read. :-)

So, in that spirit, I am going to write some shit in hopes that maybe another time will be gold. I am irritated with Express. It's abused me in such a way as I developed Stockholm Syndrome as a result. After realizing I needed a pair of black dress pants, I decided to check out their Editor style that has excellent word of mouth. When I went to the store to try them on and see, I dug through the stacks for my typical size zero, short length. You'd think they'd have plenty, but I had a bit of a tough time finding a pair. And then, when I finally got into the dressing room with them... they were too big. They were too big on me! Now, I know I haven't lost any weight, all my other clothes fit me just the same. Express apparently vanity-sized things so that everything is now a little bigger. I now couldn't find pants there because they were out of the even smaller size I needed.

I should be pissed; I really could use a nice pair of black slacks, and they kept me from being able to get them by making my size even more obscure. But instead, I feel smug. I love being a zero. The only thing I could love more is being a double zero. And now, due to Express's nefarious deception, I am. Even if this means I can't seem to get a pair of pants that fits.

This is their wickedness at work. Express screwed me, and made me like it. Screw you, Express!

:-)
 

Yesterday was a busy, productive, and very positive day. Went to work and actually had enough stuff to keep me occupied for pretty much the entire time I was there. At quitting time I ran out of there and raced home to meet Bernie, with whom I was going to the Burlington mall. He wanted to restock his teas from Teavana, I wanted to finally get my hair cut. I think the last time I had it done was July, and I was really starting to look rough. It came out nicely, I think, though the stylist I got this time didn't style it with product like the last one did. As usual, no one noticed, but I'm just pleased that it looks good.

After I came out of the chair we raced back to Brandeis to pick up Steph. Bernie dropped us off at my house, where we found Frances sitting on the front step. A lovely surprise, certainly. We invited her to come to the grocery store with us, and she helped us prepare the dinner we planned for the cast. The main course I decided on was chicken chasseur, a Rachel Ray interpretation of a classic French dish with chicken in mushrooms, tomatoes, shallots, and white wine, browned on the stove then braised in the oven for forty-five minutes. I was momentarily thrown by the fact that I didn't seem to have any white wine left, so I took a chance and combined white wine vinegar with apple cider vinegar to sweeten it a little, and used that instead. I was relieved upon tasting it that it worked, with minimal change to the intended flavor of the dish. Green beans served as the accompanying vegetable, though I don't think I made quite enough for eleven people. Steph indeed made her delicious strawberry-filled empanadas for dessert, and Bernie brewed a pot of tea from his new Teavana haul. The cast seemed to very much enjoy it, though it turned out Charlotte was a vegetarian. Ah, well. Almost perfect, but not quite. If truth be told, I was kind of hoping to impress them with my multitalentedness. She acts, she directs, she writes, and she cooks too? Yowza! ;-) I know, I know, I'm pathetic.

After dinner came the readthrough. I had packaged the scripts beautifully in textured white envelopes and labled each one with the actor's name. I had this fantasy of, like, tracking each one of them down in a newsboy cap and handing them over, saying "This was messengered for you from the studio, miss." But I didn't really have time and it would have been too hard to figure out where everybody was without spoiling the effect. So I settled for passing them out at the readthrough, which was almost as satisfying.

The readthrough itself was amazing. It was so cool to hear the actors I'd chosen speak the material for the first time. They did a wonderful job, sometimes even managing to capture what I'd heard in my head, and I'm so excited to work with them all. I was extremely gratified by their understanding and appreciation of the script, and the way they all meshed together so well. I loved Kindness's instinctive grasp of his character, and so many of his line readings were spot-on. Jared, of course and as always, was wonderful, and even though I didn't even know him when I wrote this play, he unbelievably well embodies his part. He's such a fantastic actor. God, everyone was fantastic, and I could gush about them all day. Also, I think this gave me an idea of what stuff we'd need to work on as well, which will be helpful for my planning.

So I believe we are off to a strong start. I assigned them to memorize their lines over the break, and plan on doing my blocking over the next several weeks. I feel very good about this, and I am incredibly pleased that yesterday went so well.