The Paperwork Home Stretch

I'm almost done with my applications for graduate school! It's the first big phase of the application process, followed by auditions coming up in a few months. I have five monologues that I really like that are all distinct from each other, I have an appointment for a private coaching session coming up soon, and I have a song that I love (just need to figure out the best part to highlight my voice that still makes sense compositionally, since I only get 16 bars). It's really coming together. I'm nervous about auditions, but at the same time I feel like I'm doing everything right in terms of preparation, and that's comforting. I really like the three schools I'm applying to- and I'm hoping that URTA will introduce me to some more kick-ass schools that I hadn't necessarily heard about but that I have chemistry with.

I've been feeling much more optimistic about my Meisner class lately. I really like Meisner technique, but I also think that pure Meisner is not the way to go for me, at least at this point in my education and experience level. It's helpful for discovering things onstage and in my approach to performance, but I want to explore other techniques and see how they compare. My only real strength in training techniques is in movement (Laban, yoga, figure skating); everything else has sort of been cobbled together over the years by doing a lot of shows, listening to directors, and watching other actors. That's a big part of the reason that I want to go to graduate school- because I spent so much time in undergrad focusing on stage managing or performing in shows (instead of acting in a classroom/workshop setting), I didn't get that strong foundation of training techniques and it makes me feel like I'm missing out. I'm a firm believer in the principle that it's okay to bend or break rules and tradition, but you have to understand how and why the rules and tradition work in the first place.

On a lighter note, I'm going to the State Fair tomorrow with my mom, and it's going to be awesome!! The Texas State Fair is such a big deal in Dallas that as a child growing up in a large urban city, I still got a day off every year of elementary and high school for Fair Day. It's a thing. I'm going to try the fried avocado and Funnel Cake Ale, watch the ostrich races, and just wander around and people watch. If you wander around for long enough, you usually stumble across some sort of performance- acrobats, bands, etc. It's pretty great, and it's one of the reasons that I love my hometown.