Pushing Through

I suppose it's time for another April catch-up post, in the midst of the busy-ness.

On Friday, Kay and Brian were in town!  They came over and made dinner-- wonderful salmon quinoa cakes, sweet potato fries, and a mayo-sriracha sauce.  Zan and I provided salad and wine.  Yum!  After dinner, we headed into the city to see Mike and Josh in their operetta, Iolanthe.  I really enjoyed it-- Mike and Josh both stole scenes (so luckily, they were hardly ever in the same scene!).  It was really great to see a lot of people from GGSS, too, since I haven't been around much since February.  I guess that's what comes of not working on the spring show AND not being a law student!

I spent the weekend in Williamsburg.  My mom and I drove down on Saturday.  We hit heavy traffic, but we made it fun with a before 11:00 AM stop at a Dairy Queen for onion rings and an M&M blizzard.  Upon arriving, I visited the Shoe Attic to use the gift certificate that my dad gave me for Christmas.  I got a really fun pair of see-through Oxfords, a pair of basket-weave heels, and a new dress.  I'm very excited to wear them, now that spring has arrived!  After the shopping spree, my mom and I ate an early dinner at La Tolteca, stopped at Wawa for a vanilla coke, then returned home so I could write...and write... and attempt to write some more.  This paper for Tudor's has proven very difficult and demanding.  I really feel the labor involved in putting together paragraphs, constructing something from nothing.  I write a lot of papers, but for whatever reason, this one feels a million times more challenging than any paper I've written recently.  By midnight, I had finally churned out a solid page.  I tried to go to sleep, but my mind was churning with thoughts, brainstorms, worries... I got up, wrote a bit more, then finally fell asleep sometime after 2:00 AM.  Sunday was more devoted to writing.  For a break, my mom and I took a walk down DoG Street, got Cheese Shop sandwiches for lunch, and another vanilla coke.  Then I wrote some more.  I took a short late afternoon break, and we ran some errands, then I settled in for more writing.  I took my computer out to the screened porch to enjoy the warm air.  I drank sweet tea as I wrote.  I completed nine good, solid pages, and I managed to get direction for the rest of it. 

Sunday night and Monday I felt confident, but that confidence-- and my motivation--waned upon returning north.  The dreary weather today hurts, too, along with the added pressure to begin my paper for medieval literature in earnest.  Tomorrow I present what I've written so far for Tudors, then hopefully my mind will concentrate on medieval lit for a while without feeling guilty for not working more on my Tudor paper.  I know that once I finish it all, once I return home next Wednesday night, I'll feel a million times better.  But this is perhaps the toughest week I've had in this program so far.  I just need to find the will-power to push through, because a brilliant summer-- and a class I'm really looking forward to taking-- wait just around the corner!
 

Broadway Legends

Last month, while going a bit crazy buying theater tickets, I clicked "purchase" on tickets to "An Evening with Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin."  And last night, I saw them!

The evening was a bit different than I imagined; I had thought it would be more concert style, where they would sing a song and talk about their Broadway experiences, but there was only a brief moment of that in the second act.  Instead, we were treated to two Broadway greats singing medleys from great Broadway musicals.  The first act told a love story of sorts, using songs primarily from Sondheim, Rodgers and Hammerstein, and Kander and Ebb.  It ended in a hilarious "dance" in rolling office chairs to the song "April in Fairbanks."  The second act began with LuPone singing "Everything's Coming Up Roses" from Gypsy and Patinkin singing "The God-Why-Don't-You-Love-Me Blues" from Follies.  These numbers were very strong, especially Patinkin's.  Then a medley from Merrily We Roll Along, ending with "Old Friend"-- and then the part I had imagined!  Patinkin talked a bit about being cast in Evita with LuPone, and told a few stories about rehearsals and opening in L.A.  Then he sang the entirety of "Oh What a Circus"-- AMAZING.  He's still got it.  His voice sounds just as it sounds on the Secret Garden soundtrack; he's taken really good care of it.  It was a really a stand-out moment for me.  Then LuPone sang the entirety of "Don't Cry for Me Argentina," which was obviously a stunning a moment.  How exciting to get to see those two sing such signature songs!!!  The second act ended with a few more medleys, a significant portion from Carousel, and ended with "You'll Never Walk Alone."  Wonderful!

At the end of the evening, leading into "You'll Never Walk Alone," Patinkin quoted Dr. Selden's graduation speech from Carousel, about how he brought us into the world and got us this far, and now we have to go on to find happiness and our own form of success.  It was especially moving to me, having grown up and having been shaped by listening to Mandy Patinkin.  You see, getting to see Mandy Patinkin perform was kind of an emotional moment for me: I've listened to him as Archibald Craven on the Secret Garden soundtrack since I was four years old.  Over the ensuing twenty-two years, his songs have grown to mean more and more to me-- from a child imagining a dollhouse with a hundred rooms per floor in "A Bit of Earth", to a teenager (and now adult) moving to Virginia and dreaming of a life that I will never know from "I Heard Someone Crying." Over the years, I grew to understand an know the heartbreak of "Where in the World" and the deep longings of the "Quartet," and the joys sung about in "A Girl in the Valley" (which I put on a mixed CD I made for Zan when we started dating).

Despite being different than I had expected, I really enjoyed my evening with LuPone and Patinkin.  I do wish they'd had a Sweeney Todd song thrown in, and I would've loved a Secret Garden song, obviously, but regardless, it's a must-have experience for lovers of classic musical theater and a rare chance to see two Broadway legends together again.

Valentine's, Friends, and a Reprise

Valentine's: We don't go all out for Valentine's Day.  Our anniversary is coming up soon, so we usually save our "big date night" for that, and stay in on the all-important holiday of love.  But we do manage to make the day special in some way!  Last year we saw Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters; in Seattle we had a fancy candle-lit homemade dinner.  This year, we dressed up (I even put on make-up!), Zan made me a wonderful pasta dinner, and we marathoned the last few episodes of Buffy: The Vampire Slayer.  Plus, Zan got me flowers while at the grocery store buying the dinner supplies. :)!  I love our low-key Valentine's Days.  I also can't believe we're done with Buffy!  Zan insists that now we need to finish Angel (we're at the beginning of season 4, but I got so depressed watching it that we quit and switched to Parks and Rec... which we've totally caught up on), but I'm thinking it's time to make Zan watch all of Veronica Mars, seeing as how the movie is coming out soon and all.

Friends: On Saturday night, we went out for dinner with two of our/my friends.  It's odd, because I've known C&H since I was a child-- C and I went to the same church, and were friends in high school, and H and I worked on school projects together when I was in third grade.  Now H is in my M.A. program!  Crazy!  We had a really great time together, and they were our first guests to the apartment!  It's so strange, like two worlds clashing, but I love having C&H in the area.  It's so nice to have old friends around, who have known you your whole life.  The apartment is really coming together, by the way: we have now, in addition to our rug, coffee table, breakfast bar stools, and couch (!), a regular chair, a make-shift television stand, two end tables, and a dresser!  Whoo-hoo!  Now all we need is a real bed and we'll be in business!  It's beginning to look and feel like a home.

And the reprise: last night Zan and I saw Peter and the Starcatcher at the Kennedy Center!  I saw this show on Broadway a couple of years ago and fell in love with it.  I really, really, really wanted Zan to see it, too.  And, as last time, it was wonderful!  It wasn't quite as magical as it was when I saw it on Broadway, but it still retained plenty of its charm.  And Molly and Boy had great chemistry, and it still got me right in the feels when she said, "It's supposed to hurt, that's how you know it meant something!"  Sigh... I wish I were more like Molly.  Or, since I doubt I'll ever be a Starcatcher (drat the luck!), I wish at least that I could play Molly in a production someday (alas, I have an inkling that I'm too tall).  It's so much fun going to the theater.  It makes me feel like a real human, rather than a "student" human.  It opens up the possibilities of life.  I'm so glad I went ahead and got the tickets for this show.

A Theatrical Weekend

Saturday and Sunday night were both spectacular this week, in theatrical, yet different, ways.

On Saturday night, we had our final performance of The Tempest.  I'm very sorry to see it go, but the last performance was excellent.  I'm really going to miss the cast, crew, and seeing some of my favorite scenes night after night.  After the final performance, we had our GGSS Potluck Party.  I ordered a Wise Guys pizza for my potluck entree and Mike and Kelsey were nice enough to pick it up for me.  I think the pizza was a hit!  And I was happy to have it, since now that I won't be frequenting the law center as often, I'll have no reason to go to Wise Guys... no more sushi or Wise Guys.  Sad day.  But the potluck was lots of fun!  There was mac & cheese with chevre, chili and cornbread, mini-cupcakes, fried rice, cheeses and meats and crackers... amazing!  Then we had directors speeches, crew 'awards', and I received a personalized poster signed by the cast!  I was very moved by it.  I'm so, so grateful that Ben and Sara let me work on this show.  It's been a blast.

Then on Sunday night, I saw Mother Courage and Her Children at Arena Stage starring Kathleen Turner!  I bought the tickets awhile ago, thinking Zan and I could see it, but Zan spent the weekend in NYC (making movies!), so I invited my friend Cara to go with me instead.  We had such a good time!  We ate at Jenny's Asian Fusion by the waterfront; it was very tasty, and-- by ordering only small plates-- very inexpensive.  Then, the theater!  I'd never been to Arena Stage, but the space is beautiful.  It has several theaters within it, and multiple levels.  Mother Courage was presented in the round, but even so I venture to say we had very good tickets.  I really enjoyed the show.  There were a few things about the interpretation with which I slightly disagreed, and the translation was slightly different from the ones I've read before, but overall I give it two thumbs up.  The staging was entrancing, the acting was quite good-- the girl playing Kattrin, especially, was wonderful.  It was also nice to feel like a real human, taking advantage of some of the things that D.C. has to offer. 

Hope everyone else had a good weekend, too!

Mustn't let a little thing like 'little' stop you

So, I really, really want to see Matilda.  I've only heard a couple of the songs, but they are just phenomenal.  Anyone up for a trip to New York City?

Remnants of Break

Today is the first day of classes!... technically.  To accommodate multiple Monday holidays during the semester, the first day of classes-- though always on a Wednesday-- follows a Monday schedule.  So, since I have no Monday classes, I do not have class today.  Nor tomorrow, because my first class was cancelled, due to a conference this weekend.  So, I am lucky, and have a few extra days to savor the sweetness of Winter Break (I have gotten a couple of reading assignments to start on, though).

I feel very grateful for these few extra days because I'm getting a cold.  We've had a terrible cold snap here, with wind chill feeling like -15 degrees F a few nights ago, reaching a high of 20 degrees (felt like 8) yesterday.  Brrrr... And, perhaps because of the dry air, or the stress that accompanies the beginning of a new semester, I awoke yesterday with a sore throat.  Last night it turned into a runny nose, and this morning it's a bonafide cold.  Thank goodness for tea.  Also, thank goodness for gumbo, cafe au lait, and beignets.  I tried to make lunch for myself yesterday but failed pretty miserably, so I headed up the hill (despite the cold) and feasted on some creole favorites.  Yum!  I really felt perfectly happy while eating that meal.  And, while we're on grateful, can I just say how much I love long-johns, scarves, fuzzy quilted hats, fingerless gloves with mitten covers, knee-high stockings, and boots?  They've been keeping me warm whenever I've needed to go out the past few days.

And why have I been going out?  Well, The Tempest rehearsals have started!  I am very, very excited about this one!  On Monday we had a read-through with the full cast, then yesterday was the cast's "dramaturgy" day.  We had them in three separate time slots of an hour each, so I gave a condensed version of my Shakespeare lecture three separate times, and I had a blast!  I love talking Shakespeare.  Each hour, I spent about thirty minutes of a brief history early modern theater/Billy Shakes, then the directors and I worked on scansion with the groupings and answered questions.  The evening flew!  So much fun.  I wish this were my real, paying, every-day job.  Who doesn't love to teach the wonders of Shakespeare?

Being transported and rapt in secret studies

Over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, I officially donned by dramaturg hat!  I formatted and edited The Tempest for our GGSS production.  The directors sent me an HTML edition with their initial cuts.  I then went through and, cross-referencing the 2008 Norton Shakespeare edition, formatted to show shared lines, corrected spelling from the HTML edition, made additional cuts, and-- at times-- chose places to share lines differently from the choices made by the editors of the Norton Shakespeare.  I would have liked to use a facsimile First Folio, but at the time I didn't have one on hand...

I also had variable punctuation between the two versions-- and boy, does punctuation matter.  Figuring out how to punctuate was a beast, because it can make such a difference in how an actor interprets a line.  Additionally, since we have several women cast as male characters, and the directors want those characters to be women, I changed pronouns, "sirs," "fathers," "brothers," "lords," and "masters" to the feminine (while trying to maintain the meter).

Altogether, formatting and editing the script for performance took nearly ten hours, but I had so much fun working with the play that I didn't even notice the time passing.  I actually wished I had more time to work with it-- but alas, it needed to get sent to the directors for approval ASAP, and I had obligations for class to worry about over the break.  And, now that classes are over... I still have two major papers to write.  But all I want to do is research for the actor packets and compile the glossary!!!  ...I think I should take this as a sign that I need to find a way to throw myself back into researching and making early modern drama-- or making some kind of theater-- full force.

A Little Busy Bee

I thought once Cabaret closed I would have an abundance of free time-- so much so that I would sit around watching movies and reading books for fun and sometimes just being downright bored in the most gleeful of ways.  This has, of course, proved untrue.  It sort of started that way: Sunday night after a long day at Cabaret strike, I decided to take time just for me.  So, I put on my PJS, then curled up in bed with tea and Netflix.  I spent a lovely night watching both Atlantis: The Lost Empire and Thor, neither of which I had ever seen.  Then Monday morning rolled in, and I have been going non-stop.

Between catching up on the workload of two seminars, beginning to think seriously about/research for my final papers, and attending Modernities Working Group and an Apprenticeship Teaching seminar, school is keeping me hopping.  End of the semester is right around the corner, and we're all feeling the crunch.  I need to go go go if I'm going to get everything done and done well.  The last few papers looming over my head have me feeling just an edge of anxiety already... in just four weeks, I need to have completed all of my work for this semester.  Right now, it's a chilling thought.

Then, additionally, I am happy to report that I will be dramaturging GG&SS's winter play The Tempest by William Shakespeare!  If you know me, or you've followed this blog for any length of time, you know how much I love Shakespeare and theater.  I'm so excited to be a part of this production, to get to research production history, to put together actor packets, to teach a little about scansion, and to uphold the vision of these two directors.  After our first meeting last night, I am very excited about this production-- the directors' concept is gorgeous and really well conceived.  And I get to research for it and to help the cast and crew put it all together!  This, of course, means a lot of work-- work I am very happy to undertake-- but still, something I need to direct a lot of energy and time towards if I'm going to do it right.

And, of course, I need to see my friends!  Last night I attended a most excellent karaoke party with my cohort.  It was so nice to see them again, after missing a lot during Cabaret.  We really bonded over the singing of mostly 1990s pop songs.  Then tonight is a "low-key" movie-watching party night with the cast/crew of Cabaret (with whom I want to keep in touch).

So, with school, The Tempest, and a social life hanging in the balance, I find that all of that time I supposed I would have for just me-- with tea and a book, or Netflix-- has totally gone out of the window.  But I think I'm okay with that.  Maybe Winter Break will be enough time to recharge... when I'm not cooking up eighteenth-century masterpieces with my Foodways friends, of course. :)

Life is a Cabaret

 (Cast and Production Team of Cabaret.  I'm on the left in menswear and a beret.  Very Marlene Dietrich.)

Tonight is closing night of Cabaret.  As my first experience with GGSS, it has been quite the ride.  I haven't written a lot about it-- mostly because I haven't written a lot at all-- but since September Cabaret has dominated my life.  I rehearsed two to four nights a week for nearly all of September and October, and when I wasn't at a wedding, a conference, or struggling to finish the massive amounts of reading and writing assigned to me for midterms, I spent my weekends at crew call.  Last Friday I spent from 9-5 helping with load-in: I helped hang the backdrop, moved heavy set pieces, made sparkly bow-ties, and used a sewing machine for the first time.  The next day I was back at the costume closet, sewing on snaps, reshaping hats, and hemming.  And Sunday was tech run-- as an ensemble member who rarely leaves the stage, I spent nearly ten hours sitting in the "cabaret" as lights were adjusted and set pieces were spiked.

Then, on Wednesday we opened.  Zan surprised me by coming to the show when I thought he couldn't make it, my friend Pete came to see me (and to see Mike J., Kelsey, and Josh, of course) and on Thursday some members of my cohort came out to see the show, too-- I can't express how moved I am that they came to see me, when I have such a very small part.  On Thursday night I attended a cast party (something I haven't gotten to do enough) and tonight I'm bringing goat cheese and crackers to our final cast party potluck celebration.  Tomorrow is strike, then it's over.

I'm not sure I've made the most of this experience.  I've met some really nice, interesting people, and I hope to continue to build some of these relationships in the coming weeks/months/years.  I've gotten to experience the joy of singing loudly to Kesha, Katy Perry, and Britney Spears as we all put on our costumes and make-up pre-show.  I've gotten to get up onstage to sing (just a tiny little bit) and dance (badly, because I'm me).  But somehow I feel like with all the other things I had going on, especially during the last two-thirds of October, I didn't become as invested as I wanted to become.  I didn't bond with the cast quite as much as I wished/hoped I would.  The long commute to the law center hasn't helped either, and why are parties so hard to get to these days?

But, there's always the next show...

(Which is The Tempest.  And I'm hoping to put on my dramaturgy hat.)

I Can't, I Have Rehearsal

I guess you can tell from my radio silence for most of this month that I've been incredibly busy.  October ended up being far busier and more stressful than anticipated.  To be honest, I haven't really had a chance to catch my breath since my last blog post, and today, though I'm writing, isn't really an exception.  But I finished my last paper for a little while, so.

Things I've Done:
Attended the Blackfriars Conference
Presented at the Blackfriars Conference
Watched "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!"
Found a great crepe place to get lunch on my way to campus
Written a literacy narrative
Workshopped literacy narratives
Done all of my reading for my seminars
Written a short close reading exercise
Completed a massive midterm project
Completed the second paper for Brit Lit... even if it's not great...

And now I belong to Cabaret until November 10th.

Whirlwind

There's so much to do and to tell, and for once I don't mean reading and schoolwork!  Well, okay, I don't mean entirely reading and schoolwork.  There's still a lot of reading and schoolwork.   

But!  Now there's a play!  A musical, in fact!  I'm so excited to be a part of the ensemble for the Georgetown Law Center's Gilbert & Sullivan Society production of Cabaret!!!  Plus, my friend Mike J. will be in it!  We haven't been involved with a play together since, I think, Romeo and Juliet in 2006, and that's far, far, too long.  And while I've done tech work on a few plays in the past couple of years, I haven't actually been in a play since 2008!   I'm so excited to be in a production again.  I have a very, very bit role (which I'm going to chalk up to my horrible dancing-- seriously, they asked me to walk across the stage in time to the music, how do you imagine that went?), but it's a role and I think it's going to be an excellent production!  So glad to be involved!

But there's more!  I have an amazingly wonderful cohort.  I really, really love them.  Last night we had "Girl's Night Out" in Georgetown.  We went to a Mexican Restaurant for margaritas and gossip (about boys, obviously), and we discussed classes just a little bit, too.  It's a little intimidating how much socialization I'm doing.  I love it, don't get me wrong, but I'm used to holing up with my reading materials and never seeing the light of day.  Or the dark of night?  So this is new.  In a good way.  Plus, beforehand, I had happy hour drinks with Cara and Amanda-- it's complicated how we all know each other, but suffice it to say, we have lots of mutual friends, but I just met them.

And today, my friend Alicia is meeting me for lunch, I have a make-up class for British 1790s (which is why I spent all yesterday reading, and will spend the rest of this morning reading), a guy in my cohort invited everyone over for homemade pizza (seriously, when I said my cohort was wonderful, I meant it wholeheartedly), and my friend Pete is having a horror movie night at his place to celebrate Friday 13th.  Plus, I think I'm getting dinner with one of my best friends from undergrad tomorrow night.

Look at this happy whirlwind.  

New York City, Center of the Universe

In the continuing whirlwind of my journey back east, I ventured up to New York City for the weekend to celebrate my birthday with Broadway-- and my mom and Kay.  Seeing Kay again was soooo wonderful!  It had been way, way too long.  We took a morning train up on Friday, Kay got on the train in Philly, and into the city we went!  After checking into the hotel we lunched at John's Pizza (No Slices!) and then decided just to go see about tickets to Book of Mormon.  Of course, those are impossible tickets to get, but why not?

We got tickets.  For that night's performance.  Three seats together in a box.  What a way to kick off the birthday weekend!!!  Then Kay and I hit up American Girl Place (to revisit our lost youth) while my mom headed over to the Brooks Atkinson theater to see about tickets to the Saturday matinee of Peter and the Starcatcher.  She managed to get three tickets, fourth row orchestra, center, at a 30% discount.  Holy crap.  Thrilled, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner and the musical.

We had a great dinner at Del Frisco's with a very funny waiter (or two) who gave us a free slice of lemon cake with buttercream icing since it was (almost) my birthday, then walked down two blocks to Book of Mormon.  It was, indeed, great, though not as great as the shows on Saturday would be (though we did not know that yet).  The musical was hilarious, as anyone who has heard the soundtrack must know, but it had so much more heart than I had anticipated.  It dealt with tough subjects-- the AIDS epidemic in Africa, female circumcision-- in a very thoughtful way.  I really did not expect that.  And while yes, it made fun of Mormonism a bit, it didn't go for too many cheap shots :).  Overall, I was impressed and I can see why it won the 2011 Tony for Best Musical.

But the next day!  Saturday was magical. Magical.  Upon waking, Kay and I went to Starbucks for breakfast (she prudently got yogurt, I got a rice krispie treat), then went to the Disney Store (sensing a pattern in our interests?).  Then we went next door to Forever 21.  Kay got some belts, I got a shirt and a clutch, and we headed over to Carmine's for lunch.  But after lunch the magic really began.

Before I get to the shows, I should tell you that between our matinee and evening show Kay and I ran into our friend Andrew in Times Square!  Such a small world!  We spent an hour or so catching up with him and it was wonderful.  We got gelato at a coffee shop in Times Square and tried to get him a ticket to Book of Mormon (but failed).  We bid him a fond farewell as he headed off to meet a friend and to see Warhorse.  But to turn to the magical theater we saw...

Peter and the Starcatcher was the best thing I've seen in a long time, possibly ever.  It's not a musical-- it's a play "with music."  That is, they sing a little bit, but mostly it's a play.  A bit like Shakespeare's Twelfth Night (or really, Shakespeare's anything).  It tells the story of how Peter Pan came to Neverland and became Peter Pan.  It's a show that children might enjoy, but it's not a children's show.  It was an amazing ensemble piece-- I really don't even know how to describe it.  All of the actors were phenomenal.  It won Tony awards for lighting, sound, costume, and set.  Each was deserved a million times over.  I laughed uproariously through most of it, and at the end it brought tears to my eyes.  It was so good I was almost sad we had tickets to Once that night, because I wanted to see Peter and the Starcatcher again immediately.  Can you tell I was blown away? 

But when we got to the theater to see Once, I could tell it was going to be magical, too.  And it was-- it won the Tony for 2012 Best Musical.  It, too, felt totally different.  We walked into the theater and the ensemble was onstage in a set that looked like an Irish pub playing pub songs.  Audience members (real ones!) were on the stage buying drinks (real ones!).  And then the musical itself-- each actor played an instrument or four, and they danced with them.  They were the orchestra, the dancers, the actors, all in one.  More beautiful than anything.  And also very bittersweet-- anyone who has seen the movie could guess that.  I loved it.  Loved, loved, loved it. 

After the show, Kay, my mom and I went to the hotel bar for a drink and snack.  We talked all the way until it was my birthday.  Then we went back to the room and I opened the present Kay had brought me: The Paris Wife and Paris stationary.  She knows me too well :).  We rediscovered this weekend that we really are the same person.  The last morning in New York we met my friend Kiki for coffee and she had a beautiful journal for me for my birthday.  Such a surprise!  We had a great time catching up, then Kay, my mom, and I had a train to catch... back home we went, after an amazing birthday weekend!

Steampunk Cocktails and a Comedy of Manners

(Steampunk Heart)

Despite the fact that I'm in a theatre program, the amount of time that I actually have to go see theatrical pieces is limited. Sometimes our professors will say to us, "Seen anything good lately?" and we all stare baffled and bewildered-- what, like, in our FREE TIME? Ha.

But last night I decided to get out of the apartment, to get away from the academic articles and the grading, and to see a play. Katie and Dan invited us to the Annex Theater in Capitol Hill to see Cocktails at the Centre of the Earth. The play was absolutely adorable. Except for one rather awkward, unnecessary, and excessive striptease in the second act, the whole thing was delightful. The play was set in a steampunk world, where Col. Moutarde harvests mummies to create fuel to run, oh, just about everything from steamcabs to drying panels to pneumatic tubes to blimps. But his business is threatened by the new clockwork robots created by Gepetta Odenkirk. Meanwhile, Helena and Lansing, married but completely broke, look for rich lovers amidst the crowds of elites who gather at drinking clubs on blimps, under the sea, and at the center of the earth. Meanwhile meanwhile, one radical Marxist tries to take down the entire elitist world in the name of the working man, who labors in cerithium mines. Great fun ensues, as seahorses serve martinis, characters burst into song, and the robot repeats back things he ought not to have heard. Sadly, last night was closing night of this original piece, otherwise I'd recommend this show to everyone 18 and up (for partial nudity and quite a few sexual innuendos).

But I think the point is, getting out of the house to see theater reminds me why I got into this in the first place. Actors who look like they are having fun on stage? Why, what a novel concept! A funny, irreverent script that doesn't take itself too seriously? How extraordinary! An audience who is really into the play, instead of passively watching? What fun! And it makes me remember that theater can be exciting, can be moving, and can be something worth studying and experiencing.

(Annex Theatre, Cocktails at the Centre of the Earth)

Just our hands clasped so tight

The image of clasped hands can mean so much. The clasped hands of a nervous girl waiting for her entrance in a play two years ago; the clasped hands of a girl in a theatre, waiting with excitement for a much-anticipated show; the clasped hands of that same girl yearning with all she has to be a part of what she sees in a theatre in Stratford-Upon-Avon. And more: the clasped hands of lovers, meeting and parting again and again; their clasped hands as they embark together into the dark.

What can I say of Stratford-Upon-Avon and the RSC? To me, this is everything I want. This small English town, full of life, energy, shops, history, and above all, Shakespeare. Being here again I feel the same emotions I felt nearly two and a half years ago when I saw the Henry VI Trilogy— such an intense knowing that here is where I want to be, that this type of theatre is what I want to help create. I’ve been, in small ways, beginning to inch towards that goal, but it is still so distant. But being here I remember again how certain I am that I know what I want in life, and I remember why I tell people that I want to be a dramaturg, or to some a literary manager, or an artistic director—whatever words they can best understand my dreams. It’s not some abstract thing to tell people so they won’t question me further about my plans after graduate school: these are my plans.

In the past two days, I have seen both King Lear and Antony and Cleopatra. King Lear was flawless, and Antony and Cleopatra striking. The RSC is… beautiful. I am perfectly convinced that they can make me love any Shakespeare play; I was lukewarm towards King Lear before, but now! The image of Lear standing in the rain with his fool is one I will never forget. And Antony and Cleopatra—watching this show was sheer joy. At times I could still mouth along with the lines.

When we bought our tickets for 1 Henry IV, an Englishman in front of us said he had seen a crap version of A&C at the Globe, but that the one at the RSC was quite good. When we asked him what was wrong with it he said, “Antony is supposed to be a colossus and they played him as if he were a bank manger, while they played Cleopatra like a tart.” He continued, “They are both supposed to be majestic, and the power struggle between them makes the play dynamic.”

How incredibly accurate. Of course, in the play, each is a little proud and a little crazy, and the politics of the world barge in on their happy harmony causing rather terrible rows, but that makes the play fun to watch. What’s theatre without some conflict?

But these are not two hormonal teenagers like Romeo and Juliet, nor is this the superficial love of Miranda and Ferdinand. Antony and Cleopatra are both older, they know their own hearts and minds, they have both had past relationships (Antony with Fulvia, Cleopatra with Caesar), and while those loves were not untrue, what they have for each other is so certain as to cause them to follow each other into the dark.

Today my mother and I went to the Shakespeare birthplace, and in one of the several introductory rooms, the film narrator said, “No other playwright has so impacted our lives like William Shakespeare.” I thought to myself, “Some lives more than others.” For without Shakespeare—and the subsequent club Shakespeare in the Dark (to which my dear friend Mike Johnson inadvertently introduced me before we even knew each others names), my dreams of working at a Shakespearean theatre, the hours spent both with my books in academic study and in the playhouse itself—my life would be a much lonelier, poorer place. Here’s to the Bard.

For the lad of all lads was a Warwickshire lad!
~Ode to Shakespeare, David Garrick, 1769

Two stars keep not their motion in one sphere

I have noticed that people fall on one side or the other: Prince Hal or Hotspur. They are passionately devoted to one while being lukewarm towards the other. Truly, as Hal says, "two stars keep not their motion in one sphere."

I am now a Prince Hal girl. After six years of being pro-Hotspur, my mind has been completely changed in the course of an afternoon. I've always liked Hal, but been a die-hard fan of Hotspur. Today's performance of 1 Henry IV at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London has changed all of that.

But to begin at the beginning! The past two days have been incredibly fun. Yesterday my parents and I went to Cardiff, Wales, to see the Doctor Who Exhibit and to visit places where both Doctor Who and Torchwood were filmed. The Doctor Who Exhibit was lovely-- I got to see Daleks, Cybermen, Clockwork Men, a Weeping Angel, costumes worn by David Tennent, John Barrowman, Billie Piper, Freema Agyeman, Kylie Minogue and Catherine Tate, plus about a thousand different props. Then, just a short walk from the exhibit, was TORCHWOOD TOWER! It was covered in strawberries to advertise some festival or other, but there it was! We took obligatory pictures, then headed down to Mermaid Quay to see the restaurant where Owen and Diane had their first date in an episode, and we ourselves ate lunch at a Cafe Rouge (one of my favorites from my days in Bath). Just after lunch, we found Ianto's Door, the true entrance to the hub, where Gwen delivers the pizza in the episode "Everything Changes." We also noticed that the entire area was called Roald Dahl Plass, which made me very happy since I love Roald Dahl's stories.

After spending time Doctor Who-ing it up, we took a bus to Cardiff City Center to take a look at Cardiff Castle and walk the grounds. So full of history-- they had this fantastically creative film that used no words, but depicted the past 2000 years through the journal of a girl from 2010. It's a bit difficult to explain, but it was awesome. It ended with the screen rising, giving the audience a view of the Keep, and the last thing to become visible was the Welsh Flag flying proudly in the blue sky. I almost cried, it was so beautiful.

We finished up the day back in London with dinner at this great Indian place called Punjab.

Today was spent in London. My dad had to go back home today, sadly, but my mom and I still had a good time. I got to see Garrick's Theatre Royal Drury Lane (yes, the real one, except it was rebuilt in 1812) though we didn't get a chance to take the tour, we visited Platform 9 and 3/4ths at King's Cross Station, we walked around Kensington, and, most importantly we saw 1 Henry IV at the Globe.

1 Henry IV has been my favorite Shakespeare play since I was seventeen years old and still in high school. It perfectly combines comedy, drama, and history, and effortlessly switches between the two, even within the same scene. It's a gorgeous play. So, you can imagine how excited I was to see that it was playing at the Globe! As we bought our tickets I excitedly quoted to my mother lines such as The Douglas killing the King's wardrobe piece by piece, Glendower and his spirits in the vasty deep, and, most importantly, told my mom about the wonders of Hotspur.

But then! Oh then-- Hal. In almost a flash, my love of Hotspur faded as the actor playing Prince Hal began to shine (as brightly as the sun, some might say). The actor playing Hotspur was fine, but either he didn't get very good direction or I just didn't like his interpretation of the role, whereas Prince Hal-- I have no words. He was superb, sublime, everything you could want in the wayward, noble Prince of Wales. His charisma stole every scene, and his interactions with Falstaff-- well, goodness! Falstaff was played by Roger Allam, so of course he was the creme de la creme, as well. I seriously have never loved Prince Hal more, whether on the stage or on the page. A thoroughly captivating three hours.

And the Globe! After my independent study in Renaissance Performance, seeing a play at the Recreated Globe Theatre just made my day. We bought food outside and took it in, we sat in the middle gallery (my mom refused to be a groundling, and given all the schoolgroups in the yard I'd say it was a good choice), and guh. The staging, the jig, the music, the cannon, everything! While it wasn't quite Andrew Gurr's The Shakespearean Stage come to life, it very nearly approximated it.

We ended the day at pub called The Prince of Wales (I joked that it was in honor of Prince Hal) with a Steak and Ale Pie and mash. How wonderfully English! And tomorrow it's off to even more the Bard-- Stratford-Upon-Avon, where they joke that they have one industry: Shakespeare!