Howdy folks!
This past Wednesday was the last day of my Intermediate Meisner class. We did mock auditions with cold read scenes, which was fun. It was nice to leave class on a lighter note, and I was able to use what we had worked on this fall. I've always done better at cold readings than I have with monologues, but with the Meisner technique I felt more connected to the scene and to my partner and I'm definitely going to use the technique to prepare for future cold readings.
I'm doing Facebook PR for Nouveau 47's holiday show. It's not too demanding on my time and it's fun. I really like doing promotional work, I wonder if that could be my day job some day. I think I'm good at it. In addition to making a Facebook event, I asked the playwrights to send me some bio information and answer some cute holiday questions, and I'm publishing mini "Know Your Nouveau Playwright" bios every few days on the event for people to share. The show consists of 10 ten-minute plays by ten Dallas playwrights. The idea of the bios is that it will make the plays more personal, make people giggle a little, and remind everyone that the show is happening. I am always more likely to see a show if I have friends working on it, because I want to support them, and this will make even patrons who don't know the playwrights feel like they're going to be supporting someone instead of just passively attending a performance.
This afternoon I'm going to get new glasses! It's always nice to change things up a bit. Somehow I always end up picking glasses that look very similar to my best friend's glasses, without even thinking about it. Even though I really want something pink or red with square or round lenses, I'm sure it will happen again this time. Really I just tend to look better in rectangular or oval lenses (which is what she always gets), probably because of how dark and bold my eyebrows are. It's going to be such a relief to have new frames. The stem broke on my old ones and was being held on with superglue. I have contacts and I wear them for shows and when I do yoga, but when I'm just going to work or hanging out with people I usually prefer to wear glasses. They're more comfortable and if I happen to doze off in them, I don't wake up with that weird dry eye feeling. During photo call for Plaza Suite, my contact spontaneously popped out of place and ended up stuck in the corner of my eye under my lower lid. It took me about an hour to get it out; it was really uncomfortable. Come to think of it, my attitude towards contacts is very similar to my attitude towards makeup- I don't usually wear makeup unless it's a special occasion or I have an audition or a show. I like the way I look in makeup, but it's too much time and effort when I'm just at my day job or running errands, and it's better for my skin to wear it less often anyway.
After I'm done at the eye doctor, I'll be heading over to TAG for a special rehearsal for Michelle's play (that's the high school student I'm mentoring). She asked me to come in and do a coaching session for one of her actors who has had to miss several rehearsals, so we're going to work on physicality (my specialty) and intention for an hour or so. We have our first rehearsal in the space this Sunday. I'm really excited for and proud of these kids. There are very limited resources and opportunities for students interested in theater performance at my old high school, and I'm so pleased to be able to help make this happen for them. The theater teacher they have now is really great, but her background is in history and a little bit of stage management. She does a lot for them, and takes them to shows at the Wyly, but her acting experience is very limited and her resources at the school even more limited. They don't have a stage of any kind, and these kids are supposed to be future leaders of America. They are going to grow up to be theater patrons (and perhaps some of them will work in the industry), but only if we encourage them to love and respect the theater. I got to do professional quality work in professional spaces through Junior Players and PUPfest when I was in school, but the neat thing about this production is that it's all original work and it will be fully staged (one step farther than PUPfest). It's going to be a really good show, and we're going to do a talk-back afterwards so Michelle can get some feedback as the playwright.
Tomorrow is the memorial service for Matt Tomlanovich. On Wednesday, I was speaking with one of my friends who also knew and worked with him a lot, and we both feel like he isn't really gone. Like it never happened. Tomorrow is going to be sad, but I think it will also be good because it will give us some closure. And it will be nice to share stories and be together. I'm going with a close friend, and Matt was like another father to him. The three of us produced my friend's one-man show together. I think it will help him release some of his grief by sharing it with others. I feel like I'm continuing Matt's work by bringing Michelle's play to the Margo Jones Theater. He always encouraged everyone to put their work out there and make things happen and just give it a shot. And he was always there to help and advise and share some homemade salsa and maybe clean the bathrooms. We should all be like this.
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