One of Those Days!

What do you do when literally half of your students are absent in one day, thereby making their group rehearsals as planned impossible and pointless?

You do what any good, mature, responsible teacher would do... You play a time-honored game that has remained a popular force for begging throughout the nearly 18 years you've been involved with public education.  And you do it on purpose.

Because, as a student, you were denied the opportunity more than you can count, and you understand the awe and respect a child might feel for an adult who does not merely allow such an activity to occur, but demands that the students participate.

And by so doing, you become not only a legend... you become (and I quote), "the BEST and FUNNEST and MOST COOLEST teacher I've ever met!"

Hey, Heads-Up-Seven-Up!!  Thanks for raising my awesomeness to a whole new level!  I owe you one!!

Allow Me to Introduce...

...my best friend this week:

Meet Airborne.  My love.  My hero.  My go-to drug.  And the reason I just got over this cold in 3 days.

I'll be honest: this stuff doesn't taste too great... but the PINK GRAPEFRUIT flavor is definitely the best!! AVOID orange like the plague!

I was skeptical at first, but a couple teachers and my Aunt Liz insisted I tried it... and now I am a believer!

It's like a monster vitamin that pumps you full of healthiness and, when taken at the first signs of under-the-weather-itis, is sucessful at helping you avoid getting really sick!!  Like cheating death... with a little effervescent tablet!

I love you, Airborne!  Thank you for helping support my immune system!

What Happened in Vegas...

Yesterday, my roomate Sarina Thomas and I went to Las Vegas.  A month ago, we bought tickets to see "The Lion King."  So we went down early to do some shopping and eat lunch, and made a whole day of it!  The combination of our pre-planned activities and spontaneous additions made yesterday a PERFECT DAY!  I can't think of anything I would have changed!

Our first stop in Vegas was to pick up our "Lion King" tickets!  Sarina & I decided to take our pictures then, since the lobby was totally empty!  I think we got some cute ones!

Next stop: THE BELLAGIO to see their pretty indoor gardens and eat gellato!  Yum!  Yum!  YUM!!!  LOVE IT!

Then... we went shopping at the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood.  We decided to get 10 minute massages... and again, LOVED IT!!!

After some shopping, we walked down the strip to the Forum Shops at Caesar's Palace.  No walk down the strip is ever complete without a sighting of the King!

Again, always looking for photo ops, Sarina & I got some pictures in front of the BEAUTIFUL fountains at Caesar's.

Then we went to lunch at the Cheesecake Factory.  It was phenominal!  And my herb-crusted salmon looked so pretty, I just had to take a picture of it!

After lunch, Sarina and I realized we'd be pressed for time if we tried to walk/drive down to Mandalay Bay, where "The Lion King" was.  So we took a cab!  It was fun, and was made even more exciting by our cabbie constantly talking on his radio AND texting on his cell phone while driving!!!

SHOWTIME!!  We had decided to go all out and got the expensive tickets on the 6th row, center aisle!  I think it was totally worth it!  The show was PHENOMINAL!!

Both of us had seen the show years ago, but I had forgotten just how amazing it was!  I cried 6 or 7 times during the show, because of the beauty of it, and the messages I saw within the text and music.  It was incredibly moving!  And I was really grateful to have been there with Sarina, who as a fellow Drama Queen, also fully appreciated the experience, and cried, giggled, and got goosebumps with me!  I can't imagine anyone better to share it with!

Our original plans for the day had ended with "The Lion King," but gratefully, while shopping in the Miracle Mile Shops, Sarina & I had decided to get tickets for the late show of "Phantom" at the Venician.  We had a couple hours before that started, SO... instead of leaving to go home, we took another cab back to the Bellagio, where we'd parked, and got a great view of their famous fountain show!

The whole thing was really beautiful, and watching it with the mini-Eiffel Tower in the background, I understood how people find Vegas romantic!

After the water show, Sarina & I walked to our car and drove to the Venetian where we parked and went to pick up our tickets for "Phantom."  Once again, we took advantage of the empty lobby to get our pictures in!

We still had quite a bit of time before the show, so we walked around the Venetian a little bit... and finally ate the cheesecake we'd gotten to go from the Cheesecake Factory earlier!

At 9, we went to be seated for "Phantom."  Since it was a spontaneous addition to our planned trip, we had bought the cheap tickets for the show.  However, when we got there, one of the ushers upgraded us to the EIGHTH ROW, center section!!  SO LUCKY!!  The theater was renovated for "Phantom" and was spectacular!  The chandelier was ENORMOUS, the chairs looked antique, the walls all around were draped in fabric that then was pulled away when the main "DUH! Dun dun dun dun DUH!" theme is played at the beginning of the show!  Amazing!

After "Phantom" we drove home, and with the time difference, we got in pretty late!  BUT, in a move I find most impressive, both of us girls were on time AND pretty for 9 o'clock church this morning!

What a wonderful day!  Yay for girl time!  And for loving your roomate!  And for delicious desserts!  And for fabulous theatre!  And for making wonderful memories!

An Overdue Apology

Dear Long Hair,

I am sorry that I cut you.  I know I said I was sick of you, and that I always did you the same way, and that I felt like I'd kept you the same for 10 years and needed a change... but I miss you.  It took me almost 6 months to admit it, but it's true.  I miss how pretty you looked when I curled you.  I miss how shiny you were when you were straightened.  I miss throwing you in a ponytail and not needing bobby pins to make you stay.

I am sorry.  Please forgive me.  And please, please, please, please, please, please, please grow back quickly!

Anne Bogart

Anne Bogart, a world-famous author, director, and theatre practitioner, was the keynote speaker at the Utah Theatre Conference this past weekend.  She is famous for her application of dance techniques to acting, known as Viewpoints.  Anne is one of the most influential theatre-practitioners of our time, and has in countless ways, revolutionized the world of theatre.  Hearing her speak was really a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity... and her insight and advice was incredible!

I understand that non-theatre people might not fully appreciate what it means to learn from her, but I felt like her thoughts applied not only to theatre, but to life in general!

Here's what she had to share (sorry if it's hard to make sense of my bullet points):

1. Follow the pulse!
• As an actor and individual, you must follow your own unique impressions and impulses.
• Be attentive to that "goosebump factor" and don't ignore it when it comes.
• Never talk down to your audience... instead, enlighten them.
• Enthusiasm is everything!
• When something happens, you must follow it!
2. Make a mark!
• Picasso said: "The first stroke on a page is always a mistake.  All the rest are to correct it."
• Don't be afraid of that first step.
• The French word for "rehearsal" is "repetition."
• What are you going to do that is worth watching?
• Make a memory!
• Watching something literally releases hormones in your brain that create memories...
3. Create the world you want to live in!
• "Theatre is the one art form where the subject is always society."
• We must ask the question: Can we get along?  How?
• We can and must create a model society within our rehearsals.
• Theatre (verb): to remember.
4. Finish the sentence!
• The reason for using phrases like "And I was like... You know... Umm..." is political
• Thost who can't finish sentences are no threat to anyone.
• "Being an artist means being articulate in the face of uncertainty."
• "Find your words... The first won't always work out, but some eventually will/"
• D. Schwartz said: "In dreams begin responsibilities."
• What are you responsible for?
• Don't describe yourself in low terms.
• Use words that give value to what you do!
5. Be unreasonable!
• Your actions must have some logic, but must be centered on something that seems unreasonably impossible.
• "In every action you do, you have to take a leap of faith in the middle of it!"
• Don't stop!  "Form the experience while you're falling!"
• Don't know too much!  Allow yourself not to have all the answers!
• A character will always be either smaller or bigger than you.  Let it be bigger!
• You'll expand as a person as you rise to the challenge of filling it.
• Resist certainty.
• The Steps to Creation are:
1. Show up.
2. Pay attention.
3. Tell the truth.
4. Don't hang on to what the results are.
6. Bring attention to where attention is needed!
• A director must be the most discriminating and attentive audience a performance will ever have.
• The act of watching something changes it.
• Observer-created reality... the Cinderella test
• The quality of one person's attention affects other peoples' perceptions.
• Catharsis (verb): to shine light in dark places
• We must select those dark places in the world around us and in life and shine light in order to encourage change.
• We must expand the definition of what it means to be human.
• Mother Theresa said to Morgan Janess (a director and Anne's friend):
• "In my country we have famine of the body.  In yours, you have famine of the soul.  You must continue doing theatre."
7. Cultivate attitude!
• The German word "halto" means attitude.
• We can choose to feed forward (as in jumping up to hit a volleyball) or to feedback (as in our response to something)
• Find the balance... Go out and get a sensation back!
• We have the ultimate responsibility for our posture/attitude/mood.
• We can either poison or make magical any situation.
• YOU alone choose your opinion & attitude... IT MATTERS!
• May we all have the will to go out and the grace to receive.
• Don't look at the world from the middle distance.
• Either look too close or too far away.
• Pick the right perspective!
• 3 things required to really make something:
1. Passion
2. Something to say
3. Technique

I left her keynote address feeling so impowered and motivated!  I love feeling like you've learned something that requires thought in order to digest it fully!  Even now, retyping it to share, I can't help but marvel at her insights!  This speech alone would have made the trip worth it!  SO glad I went!