"ONE DAY ONLY"

Wow, what a weekend I had.

Rover Dramawerks, a theatre group out of Carrolton was doing a play festival project this weekend of seven short plays (10 to 15 minutes each) done totally from scratch in one twenty four hour period. These plays didn't even exist at 9:00 p.m. on Friday and all seven went on stage Saturday at 8:00 p.m. The idea is to come up with the ideas, write, produce, cast, rehearse, block, and stage the entire festival in just one day. Sounds impossible doesn't it? Well, it's not. I am here to tell you it definitely can be done.

With so little acting experience I probably didn't have any business whatsoever participating in this thing but it sounded intriguing and I am a glutton for punishment so I decided to go for it. Friday night there was a meeting to get information on what would be going on and to have a picture taken, quickly taken, really quickly. The casting was to be done based stricly on the pictures. Not a good thing, I figured I would end up being a tree. The other reason for the meeting was to put ideas in a hat for the writers to chose from and spend the night (literally) writing a play based only from this idea.

The writers began writing around 10:00 p.m. and wrote until they finished or until 5:30 a.m. whichever came first. Then the directors came in at 6:30 (a.m. again) and fought over the scripts and cast their plays from the pictures of the night before. At 8:00 a.m. (yep, still a.m.) the actors showed up to find out what they would be doing and had exactly twelve hours to learn the lines, rehearse, find costuming, props, etc. and be ready to perform in front of an audience at 8:00 p.m. The audience turned out to be around two hundred people.

Remember, I went into this thinking I would be a tree. No, not true. I was cast in a play about a topless donut shop as a waitress. NO I DIDN'T HAVE TO BE TOPLESS! The entire play took place in the break room and so all the waitresses' had all their clothes on.

Talk about baptism by fire. This part had somewhere around fifty lines with two small monologues. That was about fifty lines and two small monologues more than I had ever done on a stage, no----- more than anywhere. Nervous is not the word for my condition, panicky is much more like what I was feeling during this thing, especially so as the day went on and I was having a lot of trouble learning the lines. It seems that I was the only one in my play that was inexperienced at all. The other three cast members were seasoned actors, all the way to the one that actually teaches middle school theatre. The director was also experienced in the theatre and makes his living in the field.

So, as I mentioned, to say I was nervous didn't even come close. The longer the day got, the more I could see the in the director's eyes that he was not having a good time. I was just so nervous that I couldn't even follow the script not to mention learn the lines. I was sure I was going to make a very large fool of myself and ruin the entire thing for all my cast mates. Fortunately not only were my fellow actors experienced but they were all angels. They took it upon themselves to see that I didn't continue to panic and helped me with my part. They were lifesavers.

To make a long story a little shorter I DIDN'T BLOW IT, IN FACT I DID FINE.

I really did ok. I ended up getting through the entire play and even had several people from the audience who saw me later comment on how well I had done. They had no previous knowledge of my inexperience or panic so I have to assume they had really enjoyed it.

The play I think was one of the best ones that night and I know it got close to the most applause if not the most. Turns out I had a great time and plan to do it again, but not for a while. I had a good time, but I was totally exhausted when it was over.

All the plays were great and I am still so amazed that this could be done in ONE DAY ONLY.

By the way, if you are a casting director or are casting a part for your production, please notice I DID WELL!

At the bottom of this post is a link for comments, please feel free to share with me some of your thoughts on what you just read. 

HAVE APRON, WILL TRAVEL

Saturday night we were the recipients of a dinner cooked by a chef friend of a friend. 

 
Among the many offerings of Chef Alan that night were a very hot and so yummy Artichoke Dip, a Fried Calamari appetizer with two sauces, a red seafood cocktail sauce and an excellent roumalade, both freshly made. The salad course was a favorite standby of Caesar Salad and the Caesar Dressing Alan made just before serving, well my husband is still talking about how good it was. The main dish or should I say dishes were two slightly out of the ordinary pizzas. The crusts of both were made with a variety of grains including barley and flax seed, very creative. And the toppings were just as unusual. One of them was made with a marinated chicken, a pesto like base and cheese , one with carmelized onions, bacon and blue cheese, half and half, each different. The other was made with an assortment of grilled vegetables, mushrooms, basil, tomatoes, and cheese, Pizza Marguerita style, half and half, each different. Wow, it was very good.  The crusts were a little strange, but the topping was very good.  Desert was not made by our friend's chef, but it was just as good and strange. This desert was made by our other great dinner companion. Let me tell you about this desert. First of all, I loved it. In fact I was just today thinking that I would liked to have gotten the recipe and I intent to do that. But, you have to get past the name of this thing then you will see it is really good. It is called "Frog Eye Salad". I really liked it. Good job. 

Actually the whole dinner was unusual and good. So humbling to know that people have gone to sooooooooooo... much trouble for little ole me. I can't wait to do it again. 


*At the bottom of this post is a link for comments, please feel free to share with me some of your thoughts on what you just read.  

SONNETS AND MONOLOGUES

Apparently not all the brain cells are dead. I say this because I have spent the past couple of weeks selecting and memorizing both a Shakespeare Sonnet, which up until this time I didn't even know he had sonnets, and a monologue for my Acting class. 

I must admit I am really really surprised that I was able to do that. I mean I haven't had to even try to memorize anything for so many years I can't even tell you. So, I was pretty impressed with myself for getting this accomplished. 

So far I have only had to do the Sonnet in class once. Today I managed to not get picked before the time for class was over. However I will definitely have to do it Wednesday. I was able to find a book that had the sonnets written out in modern English so I at least have some idea what I am talking about. I wasn't really as nervous as I thought I would be. At least I didn't have to run around the room saying it or lay on the floor like a couple of others did. It's a technique, don't ask. 

The monologue on the other hand is a totally different story. I did it the first time and it was awful. I shook all the way through it and then the instructor didn't even understand what it was about. I wasn't really surprised because when I did it for my husband he didn't get it either. Well, I was sure that if I had to explain it to an auditor in an audition that would probably not be good, so I changed to another one. 

The new one is very self-explanatory and I feel like I won't have to tell everyone what it is about. It is sort of sad and I have it memorized. Now I'm trying to figure out if I want to try to cry at the end or not. Some times I sort of can others I just lose the moment in the middle and tears won't happen. 

This acting thing is getting to be more stressful, but more fun at the same time. I think I'll keep going.......at least for now. 

At the bottom of this post is a link for comments, please feel free to share with me some of your thoughts on what you just read.  

YOU'VE GOT A FRIEND

As we grow older some things become harder to accomplish. In particular it seems that finding new friends, real friends, not just someone you know or someone you met one time, but real people, people that you feel a connection with and are happy to call "friends" is very unlikely, but not impossible I guess. So, about five years ago when my husband and I were looking for a new house we happened to meet a salesperson who turned out to be one of those people, one of those people that become so rare later in life, one of those people that you begin a call a friend. 

At the time we met this person she was not in a happy place. She was waiting it seems, (even though at the time she didn't know it) for a new life. Although she seemed happy on the outside, she seemed so happy at that time that I remember thinking that she had it all. She seemed to have a great relationship, (wrong), and was very successful in her chosen path of selling homes. I was somewhat envious. 

Turns out that her relationship was not very happy, in fact it was awful. But, happy day, she recently met a new person to share her life with. She is happy now and life is good. Life is good for her, but her new life is proving to be good for me and my husband because her new soul mate appears to be another one of those rare people that we will be able to call a friend. We have spent some time with her and her new significant other and have so far had great times. We hope to have many more. What can I say? 

Here's to new friends and new friendships. Long may they wave....................so to speak. 

At the bottom of this post is a link for comments, please feel free to share with me some of your thoughts on what you just read.