Ah Mondays

Today all we did was work on Act I, so Tyler had the night off. We ran it twice with going over notes in between. I still have been pretty sick lately, which is making things slightly more stressful than normal. Things are starting to sink in with deadlines and such. Especially with midterms being over, realizing that we are already half way done with the semester. Not only have I been working on this project, but I am taking twenty credit hours, plus I am still bartending on the weekends. There is always the struggle of trying to keep up a façade of a social life, which I am trying. But things are piling up. Script Analysis is so much work that is piled on top of everything else. The stress of trying to keep my grades up in order to graduate is getting worse. However, I would have to say, this semester is probably the best attendance I have ever had while at college, and it being my second to last semester, I would say that it is pretty impressive. I am happy that even though other parts of my life are stressful, I always look forward to rehearsals. There have definitely been shows where I have dreaded rehearsals. This is not that show. I love working with everyone. Seeing my work and their work come together to form this fun work of art is amazing and so very satisfying. As an actor myself, I feel like I can communicate better with them about what I want since I know how to explain it to an actor. I have worked with directors in the past who were not really good at communicating, and therefore, the actors suffered because of it. I have been trying to teach them skills that they can keep with them and use on future projects. I have also witnessed these actors improving. I am working with six, relatively new actors. Francesca, Emily, and Tyler are all freshman and this is their first college show. Well, Emily and Tyler were pit singers for A Chorus Line, but since they only worked on the show for two weeks and sat in the Flex the entire time, I don’t count it. Lydia did a few shows at her community college, but this is her first show here. With Rachel, I do believe this is her first show ever, so the rehearsal process has been very daunting for her to try and get into good rehearsal habits, instead of bad ones. With Amanda, this is her first show at SEMO with a speaking role. I did cast her as Hattie when I directed the one act, Laundry and Bourbon, but that was just for my directing project, not a University production. I think that it has been an absolute blessing to watch these students bond with not only each other, but their characters too. It is so exciting to me to watch people learn and know that I was able to help them achieve it. Since resigning from teaching/directing at On Cue Performing Arts Studio in July, this project has been helping fill that gap of purpose for me. I love helping people and teaching. Plus, with theatre being my passion, as an artist, directing is pulling all of my talents and loves into one little corner.