A Long Post: or, My Life Right Now

The first day back from spring break is pretty much the worst thing ever.

New York was awesome. We saw four shows, two on Broadway and two improv shows. One night we got (really cheap) rush tickets to this new play called Impressionism--still in previews--AND we got front row seats, which was ridiculous. Joan Allen (the mom in Pleasantville, among other things that I haven't seen) and Jeremy Irons (the voice of Scar in The Lion King evidently) starred in it, which was pretty cool, and overall it was a great show--not without its flaws, but really interesting to see something in its earliest stages of performance. The next day we got some more rush tickets to The 39 Steps, a ridiculous spoof of a Hitchcock movie. It used lots of improv techniques which was really interesting, and the first act was probably one of the funniest things I've ever seen--unfortunately it lost steam in the 2nd act. Still totally worth it. Then we saw a long form show with performers and writers from NBC--two of the actors who play writers on 30 Rock were performing, one of which was on my coach's team years ago in Chicago. After that we went over to another theatre and saw a group of Titanic alums who live out there now. Both shows were excellent, and overall more impressive than the Broadway shows.

The other highlights of the trip: the $1 falafel sandwich I had in the east village, the exhibit of stage designs at the Museum of Modern Art, playing the "guess the price" game for the ugly designer dresses at Saks Fifth Avenue, the thrift store in Greenwich Village where I got a brand new $220 dress (it still had the tag on it) and a pair of shoes for $19 total, the Max Brenner chocolate shop/restaurant that we stumbled upon and that Willy Wonka himself would probably endorse, and the delicious Indian food. Also, I now hate Times Square (after spending several hours there waiting for shows to start) and New York is not the place to go for a good coffee shop, which surprised me.

Anyway, that was a long description. My life has now switched back into being consumed by Asymmetry. We had the meet and greet tonight, and it was so cool to get all the designers and actors together for the first time. The designs look so good--I feel like the designers are reading my mind, but they're finding thoughts that I didn't know I had. Hearing the play out loud was amazing too--I have a much better idea of where it's going, and some of the moments already sounded really good. I can't wait to get back to rehearsal tomorrow!

Of course...

...the day I leave for New York, and I wake up at 6 am with a horrible sore throat. This would happen, wouldn't it? Time to gargle cayenne pepper for 3 hours and hope it goes away...

Spring Break and Springtime

It got up to at least 60 degrees today, maybe warmer. What a beautiful surprise for break. This afternoon I got some iced tea and went up to the capitol square to try and get some work done outside. It was too windy to juggle papers so I ended up seeking refuge in a coffee shop, but it was nice while it lasted.

We start rehearsals for Asymmetry right after break, and I have so much to get done before then! I have rough blocking written down for the about 30 pages of the script already--having the whole thing blocked in my head by next week is looking remarkably doable. We got the whole cast together for a meeting last week, and I'm so excited to work with everybody. And terrified--what a daunting task.

I only have another day or so to really work on it, since I leave for New York on Wednesday. I'm super excited to get to actually see stuff in the city, since I didn't get to this summer. We're going to go see improv, and go to museums, and maybe see a show or something. I haven't been on a plane in like 3 years though, and I've always hated flying. Oh well! But it would've been nice to make it home for a weekend--I miss everyone! I hope you're all having awesome breaks!