another short day

Home from work early again, surprise surprise.  I need to clean really badly, since housing inspections are on Thursday, and I don't want them to think I live in filth.  Which I don't, for the most part ;)
Sunday night was, as I expected, great fun, and rather unexpected as well.  My horoscope that day was completely right, but of course not in the way I thought it would be.  That always happens.  Damn ambiguous horoscopes.
My plan for the rest of the day is to clean and nap (I'm way tired.)  And call Mom, cuz I didn't talk to her yesterday.  Aside from that, I think I'll nap some more.
Exciting.

Thus far, today is great, and I feel like it's going to continue to be great.  Just a feeling I have :)
Both today and yesterday I got out of work really early.  It's not that we're slacking off in rehearsal, but we're just doing so well.  Every day we come in, talk quickly about things to think about in our run-thru, do a run-thru of the show, have notes, and work notes afterwards.  To do another run would just be exhausting and pointless; no need to kick a dead horse.  So, then we go home.  It's in good shape, and we don't go into tech until NEXT Tuesday.  We've got time to spare.  In fact, this upcoming Tuesday we're not even going to have rehearsal.  Don will be in LA shooting a few episodes of Passions (yes, seriously), so we're just gonna take two days off!  Hooray.  Although I'll go into work on Tuesday anyway...  There's a production meeting, as well as a post-production review for Sueno and Bad Dates.  And I'll get some paperwork done - update my preset checklist, create a shift plot and perishables list, and begin the tech checklist.  Just 'cause I can.
Last night Lauren and I rented Crash.  I was NOT IMPRESSED.  Good acting, great ensemble in general, good camera-work, but... come on.  You're telling me this won over Brokeback?  I shake my head at you, Academy.  This movie is...well, it's like a bunch of people decided they wanted to make an "Important" movie.  They read the script and went, "Wow, this film is Important." With a capitol I.  But that's the problem with it.  They got so caught up in Theme or Idea  that they forgot to write an actual script that makes any sense.  Yes, prejudice is a problem.  It's a problem that so many people are prejudiced.  That's what this movie said, but it's ALL that it said.  It didn't offer any interesting insights into it, and didn't leave us wanting to discuss anything ABOUT the problem.  And the redemption scenes, if that's what they're meant to be, or perhaps they were meant to be Recognition scenes - ACCOMPLISHED NOTHING.  Great, so asshole cop saved the life of a woman.  That does not erase the fact that on the previous night he inappropriately GROPED her in a gross abuse of power.  And did he realize that groping her had been wrong?  I certainly didn't get that.  Bottom line is, the entire movie made me feel like the were hitting me over the head with a frying pan, with no point.
So, let's see.  Brokeback Mountain - great script, great acting, great cinematography, great music.  HEARTWRENCHING story.  Subtle.
Crash - unrelaistic script (do people really talk like this?  Um, no.), great acting, nice cinematography, okay music.  STUPID story.  Frying pan.
What else is new?  Wednesday night was great fun, Thursday night I saw Failure to Launch (I would have liked this movie in 8th grade), Friday I saw Jimmy Kaplan, and yesterday was Crash.  I also watched part of My Best Friend's Wedding on TV last night; it's dated.  It's weird to see something that I remember going to see in theatres and looking at her cell phone and e-mail and thinking how dated they are.
Tonight - out for Whitney's birthday to Wolski's...I've never been and I hear it will be fun.  Tomorrow - major cleaning and seeing the interns do a staged reading of Pygmalion at Ten Chimney's.
Life is good at this moment.  :)
Also, this will make sense to no one but me, but I'll say it anyway: the carousel is going 'round again.

Sad news from my favorite author (since 5th grade, I might add...) 

I just felt my life change.  Did you feel it?

highs and lows

I've definitely been having a highs and lows kinda week.  I seem to always be having a really good fun time, or a really yucky not happy time.  Not really any in betweens.  I'm trying to stay as ositive as possible and just enjoy the time I have left here this season, but it's hard having evenings off when others are at work, and I sit at home twiddling my thumbs much more than I should.

So, exciting as it is to finally have 6-hour days...I'm not so much excited about them.  Evenings aren't much fun for me, and I wish I was working 6 hours in the evening rather than in the afternoon.

I can tell people are starting to have the "I'll be leaving soon" mentality.  From this point on it's one big stream of goodbyes..  Charlotte leaves tomorrow, Intimate Apparel closes this Sunday, then after next week Becky and Kyle and Jenna will leave, and Mike, and George, and Amanda, and Jeanine, and Moth the kitty, then Chris and Stacy... I don't particularly like this part of the season.  I hope the people I've developed close friendships with will remain close friends, and if not close, at least keep me updated on their lives as things progress.

Work continues to be great, though.  I really enjoy working on this show and feel proud of myself for the good work I'm doing on a daily basis.  I can tell I've grown a lot this season.

At the same time, I'm getting excited about warm summer weather, being home with Mom and the puppy, and especially seeing people on the East Coast again. 

Tonight: a kareoke party for Charlotte's farewell and a new episode of LOST.  What more could a girl ask for?

"But...eyes are the windows to the soul.  I don't know what color your SOUL is!" -Briana, to me

"Who's 'Becca'?  Oh, you mean 'LEGS'." - Velma

Things that make you go hmm..

My horoscope today: A past friendship or relationship that fizzled actually could reincarnate as a business relationship. You might just find that whatever it was that didn't have you two working on a personal level makes you great work partners.

 

Okay, the fizzling happened, now where's my business opportunity?  hehe

we're Tuesday people

This (the Subject) is so true of Theatre people. 

Tuesdays with Morrie rehearsals are going really great.  We've been doing short days but getting TONS accomplished.  We began staging yesterday...and FINISHED staging today.  Umm, I have never seen a play be staged SO quickly!  The actors are great.  Bobby has done the show before, so he's completely off book, and Don wants to keep up with him, so he's already 90% off-book too.  Paul, the Director, really prepares for rehearsals in a big way, and Sahba and I are *so* on top of things. 

In summary, this week has just made me feel really great about myself and what I'm doing.  (Not so great about myself in other arenas, but..it's okay.)

"You're, like...the MacGuyver of ASMs." - Don Mackay, to me in rehearsal today ;)

another article, life update

Regarding Intimate Apparel: http://www.mkeonline.com/story.asp?id=1391323

Life update:  Lydia's visit was great.  I'm so glad she was able to come when I had four days off in my life.  We went to the opening of A Month in the Country (no, I didn't work on that show), wandered around town and ate quite a bit, went to the art museum, saw a movie at the Oriental Theater, watched the Oscars, etc.  Oh, and I took her to see Intimate Apparel as well.  I've determined from her visit that I'm GREAT to visit, because of all the free stuff I provide:  a place to sleep, towels, groceries (thank you Wisconsin), two plays, $22 off our dinner at Mader's, beer at the opening night party, 1/2 off our art museum tickets, a cab ride, wine, internet service, cable...all of these things were free.

Today I got an e-mail from Troy Dwyer saying he wants to work with me this summer.  This made me both VERY happy (to hear from him, who I haven't spoken to since sometime before graduation, and that he thought of me as the person to SM his play despite the fact that I havenm't spoken to him since last May) and also rather sad (I couldn't say yes to working with him because I don't know that I'll be back from Milwaukee yet when rehearsals for his show begin). 

Tuesdays with Morrie prep is going great.  I'm excited to be working on this show.  Everyone just gushes about the director, Paul Barnes, non-stop.  It's just a two-person show, in the Stiemke, I'll be acting as ASM both throughout rehearsals and through the run, and Mark Sahba, the SM, will definitely let me do my thing without looking over my shoulder or doubting my skill.  Plus, he's fun.  And we MIGHT be doing 6-hour days, which I have NEVER done and I think it's about time!  For those of you not in the know, six straight hours of rehearsal (with ten-minute breaks and one twenty-minute break) tallies up under Equity rules as the same amount of hours as an 8-hour rehearsal day (with ten-minute breaks plus a two-hour dinner break).  So, when doing 8 hour rehearsal days (the standard in my life), it goes something like this...

10 - 11:30 am Meetings, rehearsal set-up

11:30 - 4:30 pm Rehearsal

4:30 - 5:00ish pm Dinner break (aka paper-work on the computer)

5:00ish - 5:30ish Dinner break (eat some food)

5:30 - 6:30 pm Dinner break (more paperwork, set-up for rehearsal)

6:30 - 9:30 pm Rehearsal

9:30 - 11:30ish Paperwork, etc.  So, 8 hours of rehearsal = 13 or so hours of work.

Now, let's look at a 6-hour day!

10:00 - 11:30 am Meetings, set-up for rehearsal

11:30 am - 5:30 pm Rehearsal

5:30 - 8:00ish Paperwork, etc.  So, 6 hours of rehearsal = 10 hours of work.

That's three less hours of work!  Now, how amazing would this be in my life?  (Says the girl who has been a bit bored this week with her evenings off..haha)

Anyway, I'm done with that now.  In other news, I have recently turned into a female again and it's really quite annoying!  Grr.  The end.

Q & A on Theater in Milwaukee

I came across this article regarding theatre in Milwaukee.  It has some nice things to say about theatre here in general, the Rep, productions I've worked on, and people I work with on a daily basis.

Check it out.

more brokeback

Lydia and I saw Brokeback Mountain again last night...  I wish Heath Ledger would win.  Anyway, here's another video spoof of, of course, two of my favorite hobbits: http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2699711?htv=12

As I type this, it occurs to me they could do one with my OTHER two favorite hobbits as well..

Intimate Apparel review

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=404629

It opened Sunday night.  The U/S run was today.  I start prep for Tuesdays with Morrie Tuesday next.

LYDIA IS HERE!