Fri, Feb. 13
... We'll be right back after this
I get silly when I'm trying to distract myself. Last night, before my "Screwtape" rehearsal, I was bouncing on the couches in the student lounge at school. Standing on the couch, like a three-year-old, and bouncing.
Laurel thought I was nuts. Maybe so. Actually, definitely so. I just needed to boost my energy. I wasn't in a great headspace, so I needed something to get me out of it and doing something more upbeat and energetic and fun. Some actors run around in circles, some do a crazy dance, some shout or sing; I jump on couches.
I've actually had a rehearsal now for all of my showcase scenes, except for the one that I haven't written yet, and except for my monologues and song, which I have to get going on. Actually, I'm still waiting for the music for the song to come, but I should start memorizing the monologues, so that I can really be confident and work them before March 26.
It seems so much more real and imminent now than it did when I was just doing the pre-production work and getting the show down on paper. That was real, but it was kind of abstract and it felt like I had all the time in the world. Now, it's 6 weeks away. Six weeks from tonight. Ack! I know the pieces are all coming together, but I have to start dealing with other people now, and that's when things gets scary. And exciting. And when it all starts looking like what it's supposed to look like.
Like I've said several times, it feels like I'm planning a wedding. I've got to find places for the people that I really want to be a part of it, there are some people that I want to be, but can't, all the planning goes into one night, and everyone's there to make me look good. Heh. Not quite, but you know.
Anyways, enough freaking out about it for now. Friday Five time.
1. Are you superstitious? No, but being in theatre, you can't help but be surrounded by theatre. Saying "Break a leg" instead of saying "good luck," never whistling in a theatre, never saying the word "Macbeth" in a theatre setting... But do I believe in them? No.
2. What extremes have you heard of someone going to in the name of superstition? Again, theatre people are all superstitious in some regard. You're constantly surrounded by people who have their lucky whatever, and who live by all the theatre superstitions.
3. Believer or not, what's your favorite superstition? Not whistling in a theatre. I just like the story behind it. It started with the fact that they used to hire sailors to do the rigging behind the scenes (hence the fact that many nautical knots are used in set design and rigging), and the whistles meant different things in terms of undoing certain knots. Undoing parts of the set are bad. Sets fall on actors when they're undone. Hence, you don't whistle backstage, or you may cause a sailor to drop a set on you.
4. Do you believe in luck? If yes, do you have a lucky number/article of clothing/ritual? Nah, not really. I don't have anything that's really like that. I have things that mean something to me, but nothing that I associate luck with.
5. Do you believe in astrology? Why or why not? Again, no. I don't think that the stars have that much influence on us. It's too random. I heard a great saying once: "I don't believe in the stars--I believe in the One who made the stars."
One yearago today: I feel like Morbidman was the show that had a hell of a rehearsal process... not that I had a bad cast, but there were a lot more issues than there are this time. With Our Town, I've had a much easier time working with the cast, but the booking and administrative process through the whole thing has been hell. Is there going to be a show that's just good? No strings attached?
infinite || abyss
posted at 10:10 p.m.
