Interlude II

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... and I got it. And it was beautiful.

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Interlude

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All I want for my birthday is snow...

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Thoughts about my up incoming birthday...

But I want to live!!! Jesus, Budda, Spider-man, one of you guys has got to help me!!!!

My birthday is approaching (cue the munchkins!) and for the first time in my life I will no longer be freakishly young, which is a very sad thing I think. I've enjoyed being an illegal comodity all my life, so I don't think I know if I can be anything else.

Should be a fun night though. Filled with comradery, and beer, beer, beer, beer, beer-- oh, and wine, lots of wine! I have no idea what I'm going to be doing, no laid out plans at all. I should think of something, but what? As long as I dont explode, cease to exist, or wind up lynched I consider it a good night, so I'm generally very easy to please. Generally, cause I have been known to bite...

Looking back at the year it seems to have gone by in the blink of an eye, it honestly does. I remember last year on my birthday I dressed up as a pirate with a huge crier bell and I terrorized the local shopping mall. I had a feathered hat and great big M.C. Hammer typeish pants, it was great fun. I even got paid to do it to, more then enough to pay for the Christmas gifts to the family that year. It was tonnes of fun, I chatted with Santa, talked with some elfs, and made a lot of peoples night... it was a good night, all around.

So what will this year bring me? Who knows. It just better involve M.C. Hammer typeish pants damnit. (That or, you know, some good olde fun...in bed... small text, booya!)

After Laramie

The Laramie Project is complete and wow, what an incredible experience. I've never seen so many people in the theatre and apparently neither has anyone else in the cast for a very long time. We had a full house for every single show, it was incredible. The audience was filled with really great energy, they wanted to enjoy the show and they got really into the play. The talkback sessions afterward were nothing short of amazing. Many people took something from the show or identified with it in a very personal way and it feels great to have been apart of that, this is the first show I've ever done that tackles some very serious contemporary issues in our society such as discrimination and homophobia. It’s also the first thing I’ve done that’s carried some political weight with it as gay and lesbian societies in the university have used the show to spearhead some new agendas and programs, all of them for good causes.

But the audience, oh my god, the audience was incredible. The show was incredibly well received, we even had two shows where the cast had to come out again and give an encore bow. Now that is something I’ve never ever done in my life. People really identified with what they were shown and it got them talking, it was fantastic! The talkback were amazing, parents were opening up and sharing stories about their gay children and issues that the play brought up were discussed. We even talked about issues in the play that weren’t put fully into the spotlight, like the roles of drugs and alcohol and how they lead to violence. It was such an incredible experience to listen to all of this, people were really opening up their personal lives for others to listen, and I felt so privileged to have been there. What was a surprise for me was listening to some of the discussions raised by the high school students. I found they where the ones who asked some of the most provocative and personal questions out any of most of the talkbacks. I had forgotten how intelligent some of these kids are, and how they are surrounded by these hateful messages in their daily lives and in school.

It was a privilege to be apart of this show, but now its over. What I do is very ephemeral... those words I say are no longer mine, if they ever were. During the last production of any show there is a great sense of release as you let go everything that you have forged and have represented over the coarse of the production. But I’m glad, presenting this show and seeing how it has connected and meant so much to so many people was for me an utterly exhilarating life experience. I can now say that I got the chance to work on something important and meaningful like this at least once in my career, and I’m very proud of that.

Thank you to everyone who came out, performing is more fun when you have someone in the audience and I wuv you all. Its also a lot more terrifying, but, you know, meh… It really has been an incredible experience working on Laramie, people laughed, cried, opened up, and learned. And seeing this happen in people was nothing short of spectacular.


And now that I've vacuumed myself up a bit, and with Pyramid Song stuck in my head, I will now go off and catch up on all my homework, at last.

“All my lovers were there with me
All my past and futures
And we all went to heaven in a little row boat
There was nothing to fear and nothing to doubt”
Radiohead, Pyramid Song

Current Thoughts

If I hate bananas, then how could I ever be a monkey? I'll have to take up smoking, oh, and learn to roller-skate... finally an excuse! I suppose there is just no other choice for me. All that I can hope for now is that I look good in a tiny pinstriped suite, I guess I'll get used to not wearing any shoes. Damn.

My life needs to be vacuumed before I press forward.

The Big M

I walk into my dressing room and unload all my lovables on the counter. I find a place to store my make up, good luck charms, and candy. I turn around to grab my costume when suddenly, and without warning, I spot a pair of beat up sneakers sitting right next to my costume shoes. But what I noticed about those sneakers turned out to be a real shocker, for sitting right beside my costume, placed right behind my mirror were a pair of shoes that held a brand name, which now more then anyone could have ever intended seethed irony. Located on the back of those old beat up sneakers was one special brand name… Macbeth.

I don't know about you but I think lady lucks on my side, because I know she loves irony.
;-)

Happy November / The Laramie Project

The Laramie Project is opening tonight at the university. It will be very interesting to see how the audience will react to a piece of work like this which highlights some real and sensitive contemporary issues. Even in the city I'm in right now the message of the play carries a weight that could be measured in the tones. I just can't wait to finally be able to get an audience, and if your reading this I encourage you to come out and see the show, and if your a student here you will get in for FREE! So yeah, why not come out and see a play - its a great place to show that special girlfriend or boyfriend that yes, you are infact intune with some culture... and I did mention that it is going to FREE! for students here right?... ... ... FREE!

(Note: Me and grammar are going through a tough divorce at the moment, and I would just like to say a big "thank you" to everyone who has given me their support through this difficult period I'm my life. And a special thanks to Dorthy, the fruitcake was spectacular.)

This afternoon we will be performing for a full house comprised entirely of high school students from the surrounding area. Once again, I'm interested in seeing how they will react. Should be fun. The following evening will be the official opening night open to everyone, certified fans, stragglers on the street, everyone!

I survived my midterms and it was honestly the hardest week of university I have ever had to endure, but I survived and now it's done so I can relax a bit... lies, all lies... In English yesterday we got a sheet outlining the several different topics we could choose for the final essay assignment, which will be worth a teenie weenie bit of our final mark. Well, when we saw a topic that said we could write our essay on how we would stage a Shakespearian scene the class just flipped. Then we found out that he would only let certified theatre majors choose that topic, suddenly it was only I that flipped. Seriously, I dropped my highlighter in shock, it was great...

November... something tells me their will be a portion of this month that I wont be able to remember... remember remember the 25th of November...

Happy November
(cant sleep, high school students will eat me)