Update

OK...I haven't posted in a while. I really hope to buckle down and write a post in the next few days, but tonight is just not the night. Lots to write about though! I went to New York last week and saw some amazing theatre, then came back here and saw more amazing theatre. More on all of that later.

In the meantime, have you seen the new commercial for West Side Story at Stratford? I really like the commercial and think that you should come check it out live on stage! :)

Wow.

I am a big sap, but this is totally one of the saddest things I've ever read....

Opening Night!

We opened West Side Story at the Festival Theatre on Friday night! Huzzah!

I could not be more excited to open. For one thing, we've been previewing for a while and rehearsing for months, so it is exciting to move on to the next phase of life here. For another thing, opening nights are always really fun. I love the energy when you walk in the building and everyone is excited and ready for the Big Show. I love the cards at your station and the tremendous amounts of candy and baking that get dispersed throughout the dressing rooms. It's all so much fun.

The show itself went well. I think everyone felt pretty good about it and the response from the audience and our peers was phenomenal. I have to say that I personally didn't feel like I gave the best show ever, but I think that has a lot to do with still figuring out where the show sits for me. In the beginning of previews, it was all about really focusing, remembering everything, and being there with the other cast members. Now that we know the show so well, a lot of that is coming more naturally so it's tough for me to know what the feeling of doing it really is. For the most part, I just keep listening, focusing, and letting the others influence me and see where that takes me.

And now I feel like these are things I shouldn't be admitting. But it's the truth!

Anyway, the show was great and people were very moved and it was all very exciting. We got very dressed up (we clean up well) and had a fun party and celebrated all the hard work that has gone into the last three months. It has been a difficult road, an interesting journey, and a lot of other cliches, but now the show is ours and we get the pleasure of climbing that mountain every night.

I, for one, could not feel more grateful for that very fact.

My Birthday Mug

For my birthday party, a few of us spent the afternoon at the Clay Cafe in Stratford. I decided to make a giant latte-sized mug as my birthday piece. My theme was painting outside the lines, as a throwback to this blog I wrote.

And here it is!
Now whenever I have way too much coffee, I remember to have fun and feel free to live life outside the lines...doin' it my way.

The Days Ahead

Today was our second last preview of West Side Story before Friday's opening night. I haven't said too much about the show yet because I feel weird about writing things on here regarding it all. Part of me is worried that I'm breaking some kind of code of silence when it comes to Stratford, and part of me doesn't want to go on and on about how wonderful the show I'm currently appearing in is....

However, I'm breaking that all now. I have to say I'm really proud to be a part of this show and I think it is something incredibly special. It really is such an ensemble show and it really is - in my opinion - a fantastic ensemble of people. I think everyone is doing tremendous work and it all feels very exciting.

Now, I won't say any more about it for fear of sounding like a first-year music theatre student. (No offense to any current first years, but you have a tendency to get overly appreciative of your friends' talents. Don't worry, I was there too....)

The other thing I will say is that this year I'm not reading reviews. For one thing, whether the review is positive or negative, it can mess with your brain. If it's negative, then you start to second-guess all the work you've done. If it's positive, then you can start to feel overly confident and that can be bad for you too. And, for me, the most important thing is that the show is ours and I'm very much in love with it. Someone else's opinion could mar that and I think that would be the worst thing of all.

So, as the next days go by, I'm going to do my best to just focus and keep doing the show we've been doing. I've learned so much in the last three months and I'd really like to honour that.

And with that...more rehearsal!

Extra, Extra: Writing War Won!

Well, I'm back from the writing crusade. A bit bruised, slightly sleep-deprived, but valiant! I completed the project as I said I would, knowing the whole while that - if I didn't - there would be many people who could publicly mock me for so blatantly blogging and facebook-ing about my quest. Yet again the success of the "tell-people-so-you-have-to-do-it" method is proven.

In 30 days, I wrote 223 (double-spaced) pages and 54, 546 words. Today, I printed off the first draft for my perusal.


And, all the while, I had my handy No Plot? No Problem! kit by Chris Baty, replete with tracking sheet (pictured below, on the right) to help me through. Note the shiny stars along the way. Every 2, 000 words I awarded myself a shiny gold star of motivation. Quite the thrill! And you'll notice the column to the left of the shiny stars is empty. That was the column for "onerosity coupons", the coupons that you would give to friends saying you would do a task for them (ie. walk their dog, clean their bathroom) if you didn't reach a word goal by a certain date. I am proud to say that I made it through the whole project without needing to dole out a single onerosity coupon. Boo-yah!


Now that I'm done I feel a strange sensation. It's called having time on your hands. I also realize how much I can truly get done if I get off of facebook and do something with my life. Those two hours a day I spent writing for the last month can now be filled with learning how to play the guitar or writing more blogs. Or sleeping. That's one thing that I kind of missed out on in the last month.

The other strange sensation I have is a weird protection surrounding my first draft. A couple of people have asked to read it and I feel very weird about it. I haven't even taken a full look through it all yet. I think that is the next step. And then, who knows? Maybe it will stay a neat project in a box in my closet, or maybe I'll continue to work on it and try and make something of it...

That next step remains to be seen...

For now, OPENING WEEK!

Back from the Dead

I have been away from the blog for almost a month now, largely due to the massive writing project I announced in the last post.

Blogging will commence again shortly.

But right now I'm at 45, 094 words and the goal of the project is so close that I can't turn away from it.

See you soon!

The Write Stuff

First of all, let me say that the mug I'm drinking my expired Christmas Blend from is my first Clay Cafe original mug. Not too shabby, eh?

Second of all, let me say that my first three days of novel-writing have been great! So far, I've reached 6, 836 words. Again, not too shabby!

Already I'm finding this challenge really interesting and fun. It's really nice to have a couple of hours a day to just create something with no guidelines, no observers, and no plan. My boyfriend commented that he would have a really hard time working on a project of this scope without making any kind of outline to work with, but I have to say it's one of the most freeing things about it. There are no points to hit, no plot points or characters that must appear. I simply start writing and see what happens.

What happens is even more interesting to me so far. A lot of writers have been recorded saying things like the characters inform you, or the story tells itself and all of that, but I kind of thought it was esoteric, artsy bull. On the contrary, it's bizarrely true. I'll start writing having no idea where I really want it to go and all of a sudden ideas keep coming and then a whole scene comes out that I hadn't anticipated. It may just be a fantastic symptom of being in the first week of this whole thing, but it's certainly a cool discovery.

For now, I'm going to keep riding the wave and see where this story goes. As of day four, consider me having a great time!