Now I can get to next week...

Had a great lunch/meeting with AM about life and our Fringe show. We are on track. I got there 1/2 an hour early and that gave me time to look at the script and make some really good notes for where it needs to go. I shall work on that tonight, tomorrow and Saturday. I am excited about ideas that came up for the script both from my head and from suggestions from AM. It is a good place to be.

Also, got the email about schedules for next week for A Little Night Music - YAY! I only rehearse Tuesday next week (which means I have to cancel one other item and decline another - sigh), so I can look at planning with the Fringe Team for a read through of the script. May should be a reading and re-writing month with June getting busier, so hopefully I will get more schedule information from ALNM and then I can plan with my team. I know that I will have Monday nights free... I can also use those.

Anyhow, I am in a better place now than I was earlier. I even got some more done on that Character Study thing.

Behind Again... and here I am Blogging...

Yesterday was demolished by errands and cyberspace. I have to get a computer that is not linked to the internet so I don't waste so much time on Facebook and Twitter. My great writing push from earlier in the week did not extend into yesterday and today has been tied up with errands, Store work (payday tomorrow!), and a lunch date. Hopefully I will get something done this afternoon. There is tomorrow, but I plan to be napping after the wedding. Yes, I am planning on watching. I am hoping it takes my mind off the election.

Tonight I have my one-on-one for A Little Night Music. I haven't finished my Character Study, but I have done a bit on it. It feels weird to do it when I haven't done anything but a read-through on the show. I am really adverse to making definitive choices for my character until I work with the text aloud and with the other actors. I know, it sounds like excuses, but those of you who have worked with me as a Director, you know that I work very intensively with the text for many, many, many hours of rehearsal before I start pushing for more concrete choices. I just don't know what to expect from this one-on-one and I worry it will be a waste of time after we get it on it's feet and start hearing and speaking the words. sigh. I also want a schedule for next week and after sooner rather than later. I can only hold those days open for so long. It will burn my butt if I save them and find out last minute that we aren't rehearsing. I have three other shows on the go, so time is valuable for me. I messaged the Director yesterday and she said we should be getting a schedule asap, but it has not showed up in my in-box yet. Frustrating. I will ask tonight at the one-on-one. I just need to know so that I can plan my life and the rest of the stuff I have to get scheduled.

On a more positive note - I will be seeing Into the Woods (ELOPE) and Boygroove (Impulse Theatre) this weekend. Two musicals, very different, in one weekend. Should be fun!

This I like... not my riding however...

On Twitter someone posted a link to youtube where the Edmonton Journal interviewed the candidates in at least 2 ridings about specific policies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeIw-MxyIvs&feature=relmfu

There are interviews with the Strathcona Riding candidates as well as the Edmonton Centre Ridings. It is a cool way to compare the 4 candidates in each riding as well as the parties themselves since the questions are policy related. Each is given a chance to answer the question, and the set-up is respectful and clear. I am searching to see if something similar was done in my Riding. I am not a person to blindly vote for the party. I have mentioned before that no one party fits me, so the individual candidate is important to me too. Anyhow, check this out. It is a nice way to look at the issues.

If You Don't Like It... Don't Read it...

I am trying live by that motto now. I am avoiding anything that looks like it is going to get me riled up and I think that might just work...

On the up side... I just got home from a lovely brunch at the Petroleum Club, hosted by Ma and Pa Strand and with Matt and Mel and their children in attendance. After the meal, the 4 kids went downstairs for Easter crafts and more crap to eat. The grown-ups stayed upstairs and chatted. It was lovely. I fully expect Gibson to crash from the chocolate he has eaten and that won't be pretty, but so far he seems pretty cheerful. The boys are playing the Wii and getting along splendidly. I am going to continue with the laundry and then get back to the writing I started yesterday. My kitchen needs cleaning, but I am saving that for Tuesday when I am home alone and can't leave because of the Alarm Company coming by to do some maintenance.

It is a lovely Spring day, the sun is shining, and all is well.

Why I Hate Elections...

Everyone gets just so very hateful. I like my friends and family (which include people of all political points of view) so much better when they are not spouting what they believe is such a hateful way. I think it is great that we live here in Canada. I am confident that the result of the election will be the result of the election, and that we don't have to worry about voting fraud. I think that the great thing about the country is that people can believe what they want to, AND I believe that they are not necessarily EVIL if they don't agree with me. I have been most disappointed by my friends on the left. Compared to the righties I know, they have been awful. Maybe it is because I am so firmly in the middle, that I feel all the attacks, because while I agree with some NDP, some Liberal, some Green and some Conservative policies - I do not agree wholeheartedly with any of them. Maybe it is because I follow more people on the left on Twitter and FB. Compared to the everyday people, the actual politicians have been behaving with decorum. The majority of the Hate Ads have been coming from my friends and right now, I don't like them very much.

A Little Downtime... How unusual...

So the show closed this weekend. It was a fabulous experience. I know, if it wasn't great to do it, you wouldn't put all that time in for free. But beyond the usual greatness of doing a show, this particular experience was even better. The cast and crew really bonded and the show itself grew because of that. I personally had a great time and felt that I grew a bit through the experience. The show is not typical of musical theatre. How could it be? It's freaking Brecht and Weill! I found this the toughest music I have ever had to learn. It isn't stuff you can hum at home on your own unless you have listened to it over and over and over again. I can hum a few songs now (not my own though). The show is not nice and pretty, neither is the music, but it is funny and sharp and cynical and rude and a bit crude. We had fantastic costumes and an amazing set and wonderful musicians and I feel like I made many good friends through it. I know not all my friends who came to see it liked it. Not their kind of show. Only a few let that show... Most really seemed to get it and enjoy it for what it was. The houses were big and except for one strangely quiet night, they were very responsive. Now we are done and I move on to my next, count 'em, 4 projects. From Cradle to Stage is first up. From our Production Meeting yesterday things are well under way and I don't have much to do until I can start painting. Village of Idiots should be cast now. I am waiting on a cast list. I am also waiting to meet with people about the set construction/drafting. We can't start the actual build until June, but I also have to get to work on props. I also have the next two weeks to re-write my Fringe show, Pieces. I want to start scheduling but I don't know my schedule on my last project, A Little Night Music. I got the part of Charlotte!!! Yay! I have to do a Character Study - not so yay... I don't typically do those anymore (like not for about 15 years) as I tend to approach my acting from an objectives/reaction kind of process... knowing the favorite food of my character is really unimportant to me onstage. Anyhow, I will get it done, it just feels like homework and for a hobby I would rather not have homework. I would rather use the time to learn lines and the music, but whatevs... We had the first read-through yesterday and I think we have a nice strong cast (some were missing, I will assume they are as good as those who were there). The really nice thing is that over the next 2 weeks I have only 2 scheduled things, so I feel so incredibly free right now! Yay!

Audition - A Little Night Music

I had my callback for A Little Night Music tonight. It went well for me and I am happy with what I did. It went well for the other actress up for the same role, too. So, I think they can go either way. I will be cool with that. It would be different if I was obviously better and didn't get it. I think they will have a hard decision to make and I am glad I do not have to make it. I love the part though, and the song (Every Day A Little Death) so I will keep my fingers crossed. Also, I know a lot of great people in the cast or up for roles, so it would be nice to play with them. I wish my life weren't so busy, because then I would have opened myself up for more options int he show, but it is jam packed already so a cameo is about all I can handle at this point. I will keep you posted!