well, it's another exciting day at work. We've amused ourselves thus far with a improvised interpretation of the upcoming Dinosaur Musical based partially on a 2-page sample of the script, but mostly on what we know of various extinction theories with lots of show choir choreography in the mix. And, as usual, we read to each other from The Onion, watched youtube videos, and did pilates.
The big news in my life is I've decided to audition for Shakespeare in the Park's upcoming production of As You Like It despite the fact that my schedule for May is rife with out-of-state trips. But, this way, I can blame my bad schedule on not being cast. Still, I was invited to audition and I'm going to, for exposure if nothing else. I'm actually quite nervous about it, but I've cooked up a monologue for it and one of my friend's Tarot cards say that it should be a good experience.
Edit: okay, it's a few days later and I've already auditioned: it went really well. The director said I had a good handle on Shakespearean language and then teased me with the prospect of call-backs (yet to be determined). one of my friends sat in on the audition and yelled "That's my girl!" when it was over and I take that to be a good sign. But I really have no idea whether I have a shot...we'll see. One thing that's already come of this is more attention and respect in the office. also, I was prank-called by my boss...not sure how to read that.
On Saturday I went to the Cesar Chavez march. It was a lot of fun. We marched 4 miles from Guadeloupe Street to the Alamo, chanting and holding signs. I used to be really politically active and often rallying for social change, attending town hall debates, whatnot. Now instead of making petitions, I merely sign them. Am I already sinking into a slough of disinterested acceptance of status-quo mediocrity? I'm gunning for a second wind in which I will detach from society to live on a self-sufficient commune totally under the tax-paying level. I don't really know if I could do that. I mean, I bought a coke at the march...what empire-serving, consumerist behavior! I had an encounter with a woman who was all for violent revolution to attain a true communist state...It's scary that people even try to use peaceful rallies to support utterly un-Cesar-like ideals. Yet the march was hope-inspiring, over all, and exciting. We impeded traffic all through downtown and someone even yelled at us to go back to "whereever we were from". Kansas? No, please don't send me back!
Also on Saturday we went to a push cart derby. It felt like a small town event with the picnickers and the lovely distant sun setting over downtown while lounging in a park. and the derby itself was a barrel of monkeys what with wheels flying off and the soothing scent of barbecue gently filling the air.
On Sunday, a few of my housemates and I visited the Mission of San Jose, one of the old Spanish centers for disease control, er... proselytization, um...empire building. It was just bursting with historical information, and I was actually impressed with a rather balanced view of the historical realities of the plight of the natives, and it certainly didn't parade Texas liberty like it was the miracle of all creation, at least compared with the Alamo. The whole episode was a little lost on me because I spent half of the time walking 5 feet behind, reading my monologue over and over while mumbling to myself. Actually that's what I've been doing for the whole weekend, but I think it'll be worth it.
next post: the results of the audition, and a heartfelt guest commentary (but who?)
Monday, March 30, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
so much has happened!!!
it's been a while, dear reader, so the following is going to be a fast/furious synopsis of my life for the last month; highlights only. But just so you don't think my life is actually a hoedown mixed with a shindig wrapped up in a barrel of monkeys, I will preface this with a picture of my boring life at this moment:
doot do doo, twiddle thumbs, bum, bum de dum. (answering phone) Magik Theatre, this is Tara. Magik Theatre. No, we don't show movies. Okay, bye. (making a to-do list) clean room. get driver's license. laundry. underline "clean room" several times. write "at least the darks" beside "laundry".
okay, enough of that. now for the nonstop excitement (dates and times entirely fictitious):
February 20teenth: went clubbing again...this time completely ossom. 80s theme club, or so we thought (dun dun duh!). So we are dressed up in ridiculous apparel to go out and arrive only to find out that the club has switched owners and instead of being 80s themed, it is now beach/surfing themed. Hilarity naturally ensued. And it was a fantastic evening of dancing and of explaining to people over and over again why we were dressed like this
classic.
February 31st: ceviche night/wedding shower/farkle? =yes please
monday: movie night times two!
part one: Mad Hot Ballroom
MO: "it's a really good movie"
MD: "we haven't seen the movie"
Tara: "i hear it sucks"
H: "tara's a jerk"
Tara: "in fact i'm not even going"
MO: "H, your quote should be 'tara's an idiot'"
Tara: "hey K, come in here and say anything"
K: "why?.. you're such a jerk, Tara."
part two: Martian Child
Though this is actually a cute and heartwarming movie about family and a child's need to fit in, I thought it would be more exciting if we dressed up as martians....which we did. hilarity again ensued.
March -3 degrees Celsius: one of our dear friends decided to up and leave us for absolutely no good reason. so we threw a hootenanny for her. details classified.
the rainiest week in Texas...ever: my mom and sis visited! it was like a rollercoaster which is especially dangerous in the rain, and let me tell ya...it was rainy. we had some great times though but tiring because it was always either very hyper go-go crazy dancing to latin jazz in front of the Alamo or else angry walking out on the otherwise-very-nice Japanese restaurant sitting on cushions on the ground. That's the way it goes. I love them so much though that I'll take it latter any day to get to the former even once.
spring break kid's camp: suck.
Luminaria: Despite my usual abhorrence for working on a weekend, the ginormous arts fest/crazy pants was a lot of fun. I was stage manager for The Gazebo: the tiniest, yet probably most ossom venue in the whole city. it was fun, and since the performers had an inordinate amount of problems and yet went off smoothly (because I solved the problems with my inordinate amount of stage managing skills) and with an appreciative and large crowd I felt both competent and needed. This naturally led to a warm, glowy feeling of self-importance which was magnified by getting to hold not one but two clipboards, announcing upcoming performers on the mic AND having a random person compliment me on my heel-clicking skills.
There were several positive encounters with my boss (usually these encounters are awkward) including one in which the lady who was seriously enamored of the heel-clicks told him that I should be featured in a play in which I run, jump and click my heels together. He said, "uhhh, what? okay." details of this performance still to come.
Naturally I got a watch a lot of the artists. Some were awful, some were amazing. There was everything from creole music to ballet to tasteless comedians to Shakespeare to hip-hop dancing to sidewalk chalk art to open-mic poetry to fire-juggling.
After strike at The Gazebo, I hung out with my family downtown and took in all the action. fireworks+smoothies+finally not raining=a pretty darn sweet night.
March 17.5: lots of panicking, delicious Indian food, marvels abundantly abounding
March 18 and 3 dozen: sand volleyball. I like volleyball but am really bad at it. ended up with swollen thumb and bruised foot. I decided to write a haiku about it:
volleyball is fun.
dive: the ball goes out of bounds
At least sand is soft.
here's another:
Look at all those stars...
What is that ball falling down?
I'll get it! (oh shit!)
honestly though, it really is a lot of fun and it probably wouldn't be as much fun without making a fool out of myself. we should probably play a different sport sometime though: like tennis.
Lent: I have given up kicking orphan and puppies for Lent. And, through diligence and repetition, I have finally learned the song "You Are All We Have".
the Texas History Extravaganza (and cookie dough sale): the best thing about the theatre for young audiences is that kids will absolutely love you for simple things like juggling their shoes, pretending to trip, wearing an oversized Dr. Pepper can, or squirting them with a water gun. At one point in the show, the audience of about 200 2nd and 3rd graders were screaming so loudly and for so long that one of the other actors screamed "Will you let me tell my story?" and I laughed so hard I had to go stand behind the set.
last Saturday: went to the country (tra la la). Visited a place called Luckenbach which featured a total of 4 buildings, a dance hall, 10 different intentionally misspelled words (including 3 variations on the word "parking" and two variations of "please"), and a very interesting sub-culture of people who buy armadillo-shaped purses and say "darn-tootin' ".
went to a sort of barbecue/potluck with people from my church complete with hayride, very furry cows, and other, exciting farm things.
yesterday: summer camp themed birthday party. popsicles, water balloons, Red Rover, ice cream sandwiches, face painting (I had an underwater scene plus a space rocket), ping-pong, spaghetti fight, cake, etc. this, by the way, was for a 20-year-old...and it was great. so there!
right now: had lunch consisting of a co-worker's party leftovers while talking with co-workers about families, embarrassing anecdotes, and Passover. next: reading the Onion, insisting that despite what so-and-so might have heard we aren't showing "that Mouse play" anymore, possibly leaving work early.
now remember, kiddies: don't put the rat poison in the salad bowl, you'll end up pushing secret messages through your neighbor's fence and wearing high-tops to the 4th of July on the moon.
you'll thank me later.
doot do doo, twiddle thumbs, bum, bum de dum. (answering phone) Magik Theatre, this is Tara. Magik Theatre. No, we don't show movies. Okay, bye. (making a to-do list) clean room. get driver's license. laundry. underline "clean room" several times. write "at least the darks" beside "laundry".
okay, enough of that. now for the nonstop excitement (dates and times entirely fictitious):
February 20teenth: went clubbing again...this time completely ossom. 80s theme club, or so we thought (dun dun duh!). So we are dressed up in ridiculous apparel to go out and arrive only to find out that the club has switched owners and instead of being 80s themed, it is now beach/surfing themed. Hilarity naturally ensued. And it was a fantastic evening of dancing and of explaining to people over and over again why we were dressed like this
classic.
February 31st: ceviche night/wedding shower/farkle? =yes please
monday: movie night times two!
part one: Mad Hot Ballroom
MO: "it's a really good movie"
MD: "we haven't seen the movie"
Tara: "i hear it sucks"
H: "tara's a jerk"
Tara: "in fact i'm not even going"
MO: "H, your quote should be 'tara's an idiot'"
Tara: "hey K, come in here and say anything"
K: "why?.. you're such a jerk, Tara."
part two: Martian Child
Though this is actually a cute and heartwarming movie about family and a child's need to fit in, I thought it would be more exciting if we dressed up as martians....which we did. hilarity again ensued.
March -3 degrees Celsius: one of our dear friends decided to up and leave us for absolutely no good reason. so we threw a hootenanny for her. details classified.
the rainiest week in Texas...ever: my mom and sis visited! it was like a rollercoaster which is especially dangerous in the rain, and let me tell ya...it was rainy. we had some great times though but tiring because it was always either very hyper go-go crazy dancing to latin jazz in front of the Alamo or else angry walking out on the otherwise-very-nice Japanese restaurant sitting on cushions on the ground. That's the way it goes. I love them so much though that I'll take it latter any day to get to the former even once.
spring break kid's camp: suck.
Luminaria: Despite my usual abhorrence for working on a weekend, the ginormous arts fest/crazy pants was a lot of fun. I was stage manager for The Gazebo: the tiniest, yet probably most ossom venue in the whole city. it was fun, and since the performers had an inordinate amount of problems and yet went off smoothly (because I solved the problems with my inordinate amount of stage managing skills) and with an appreciative and large crowd I felt both competent and needed. This naturally led to a warm, glowy feeling of self-importance which was magnified by getting to hold not one but two clipboards, announcing upcoming performers on the mic AND having a random person compliment me on my heel-clicking skills.
There were several positive encounters with my boss (usually these encounters are awkward) including one in which the lady who was seriously enamored of the heel-clicks told him that I should be featured in a play in which I run, jump and click my heels together. He said, "uhhh, what? okay." details of this performance still to come.
Naturally I got a watch a lot of the artists. Some were awful, some were amazing. There was everything from creole music to ballet to tasteless comedians to Shakespeare to hip-hop dancing to sidewalk chalk art to open-mic poetry to fire-juggling.
After strike at The Gazebo, I hung out with my family downtown and took in all the action. fireworks+smoothies+finally not raining=a pretty darn sweet night.
March 17.5: lots of panicking, delicious Indian food, marvels abundantly abounding
March 18 and 3 dozen: sand volleyball. I like volleyball but am really bad at it. ended up with swollen thumb and bruised foot. I decided to write a haiku about it:
volleyball is fun.
dive: the ball goes out of bounds
At least sand is soft.
here's another:
Look at all those stars...
What is that ball falling down?
I'll get it! (oh shit!)
honestly though, it really is a lot of fun and it probably wouldn't be as much fun without making a fool out of myself. we should probably play a different sport sometime though: like tennis.
Lent: I have given up kicking orphan and puppies for Lent. And, through diligence and repetition, I have finally learned the song "You Are All We Have".
the Texas History Extravaganza (and cookie dough sale): the best thing about the theatre for young audiences is that kids will absolutely love you for simple things like juggling their shoes, pretending to trip, wearing an oversized Dr. Pepper can, or squirting them with a water gun. At one point in the show, the audience of about 200 2nd and 3rd graders were screaming so loudly and for so long that one of the other actors screamed "Will you let me tell my story?" and I laughed so hard I had to go stand behind the set.
last Saturday: went to the country (tra la la). Visited a place called Luckenbach which featured a total of 4 buildings, a dance hall, 10 different intentionally misspelled words (including 3 variations on the word "parking" and two variations of "please"), and a very interesting sub-culture of people who buy armadillo-shaped purses and say "darn-tootin' ".
went to a sort of barbecue/potluck with people from my church complete with hayride, very furry cows, and other, exciting farm things.
yesterday: summer camp themed birthday party. popsicles, water balloons, Red Rover, ice cream sandwiches, face painting (I had an underwater scene plus a space rocket), ping-pong, spaghetti fight, cake, etc. this, by the way, was for a 20-year-old...and it was great. so there!
right now: had lunch consisting of a co-worker's party leftovers while talking with co-workers about families, embarrassing anecdotes, and Passover. next: reading the Onion, insisting that despite what so-and-so might have heard we aren't showing "that Mouse play" anymore, possibly leaving work early.
now remember, kiddies: don't put the rat poison in the salad bowl, you'll end up pushing secret messages through your neighbor's fence and wearing high-tops to the 4th of July on the moon.
you'll thank me later.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
SO MUCH IS HAPPENING!!
I didn't intend for the title to be in all caps, but fate made it so. I believe this is fitting because this is the craziest week since I've moved to San Antonio.
First of all, in fact all-encompassing, is the fact that it is spring break (!). This means that my mom and sister came down from Kansas to visit. They arrived last night and it's already been amazing to have them here. I've been absolutely bouncing off the walls in anticipation since Monday (though caffeine may have had something to do with that too). So far they've come to see a show at The Magik, we had lunch at Tito's, and as I type they are a'huntin' for supplies to make Thai food for tonight's supper.
Spring Break also means kid's camp at Magik and instead of mostly field trip groups we've had tons of parents bringing their kids to the shows. This has made seating 8.95x crazier. Plus in the mornings the phones ring nonstop. my very favorite are the people who expect me to list the types of candy bars we have in our concession stand even as all 5 lines are ringing at once. My second favorite are the kind who couldn't find downtown San Antonio if the Tower of the Americas was planted in their backyard. ("Are there any landmarks on Alamo St. that would help us find the theater?" "um...the Alamo" Remember?) It's gentler in the afternoon (like right now).
The kids are, of course, what the theater is all about...and right now we are full of them. we really get all types here and though it can be frantic, it really feels great to see (some of) them catching on and learning lines and having fun. some of the little ones will come up and hug me whenever they see me and that's pretty darn special. There are also those who are sent to theater camp because their parents don't know how to handle them and they think, my kids are creative, they need an outlet, when really their kids are undisciplined and need...discipline. and one terribly smart child who was here had to be sent home because he wouldn't stop kicking other children. I don't claim to know the individual situations of these kids, but some really have problems that we can't control. It's a little bit heartbreaking.
That's the way it is though. every job has fulfilling moments and disappointing moments. Tour shows are usually a lot of fun though. Yesterday I went to a school to perform Schoolhouse Rock and the kids there just loved it. That really is the most fun part of my job.
Alas, it is all rainy, grumpy weather. I'm tired. Deep breaths. Other than crummy weather and stress at work, this week has had ups and downs. This weekend is Luminaria, a ginormous arts festival downtown and I'm working 3-midnight. I think it'll be fun. I mean, it's an arts festival, how ossom is that? I'm stage managing the gazebo in Hemisfair Park and it should be a good time. But it's so cold and frankly, right now, I sorta would just like to sleep for a few days. but I would never do that while my mom and sis are visiting, and while there are parties to attend and houses to warm and festivals to witness. maybe next week...
First of all, in fact all-encompassing, is the fact that it is spring break (!). This means that my mom and sister came down from Kansas to visit. They arrived last night and it's already been amazing to have them here. I've been absolutely bouncing off the walls in anticipation since Monday (though caffeine may have had something to do with that too). So far they've come to see a show at The Magik, we had lunch at Tito's, and as I type they are a'huntin' for supplies to make Thai food for tonight's supper.
Spring Break also means kid's camp at Magik and instead of mostly field trip groups we've had tons of parents bringing their kids to the shows. This has made seating 8.95x crazier. Plus in the mornings the phones ring nonstop. my very favorite are the people who expect me to list the types of candy bars we have in our concession stand even as all 5 lines are ringing at once. My second favorite are the kind who couldn't find downtown San Antonio if the Tower of the Americas was planted in their backyard. ("Are there any landmarks on Alamo St. that would help us find the theater?" "um...the Alamo" Remember?) It's gentler in the afternoon (like right now).
The kids are, of course, what the theater is all about...and right now we are full of them. we really get all types here and though it can be frantic, it really feels great to see (some of) them catching on and learning lines and having fun. some of the little ones will come up and hug me whenever they see me and that's pretty darn special. There are also those who are sent to theater camp because their parents don't know how to handle them and they think, my kids are creative, they need an outlet, when really their kids are undisciplined and need...discipline. and one terribly smart child who was here had to be sent home because he wouldn't stop kicking other children. I don't claim to know the individual situations of these kids, but some really have problems that we can't control. It's a little bit heartbreaking.
That's the way it is though. every job has fulfilling moments and disappointing moments. Tour shows are usually a lot of fun though. Yesterday I went to a school to perform Schoolhouse Rock and the kids there just loved it. That really is the most fun part of my job.
Alas, it is all rainy, grumpy weather. I'm tired. Deep breaths. Other than crummy weather and stress at work, this week has had ups and downs. This weekend is Luminaria, a ginormous arts festival downtown and I'm working 3-midnight. I think it'll be fun. I mean, it's an arts festival, how ossom is that? I'm stage managing the gazebo in Hemisfair Park and it should be a good time. But it's so cold and frankly, right now, I sorta would just like to sleep for a few days. but I would never do that while my mom and sis are visiting, and while there are parties to attend and houses to warm and festivals to witness. maybe next week...
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