Somuchtodosolittletime....

The summer is nearing, and the school year is ending.
That means soooooooooooo many things for the Maynard household.
-Junia is graduating on the 17th, so we are attempting to get things ready for that day and all its celebratory needs.
-The drama club's yard sale fundraiser is fast approaching, which means I must attempt to sift through all of my personal crap and weed out the uselessness.
-The recital is soooooooooooooo close!!
I officially hate Beauty and the Beast and cannot wait for the 16th.
-Junia's last Cabaret is this Friday.
-The RTP banquet is coming up on the 13th.
-The May Board meeting will be next Monday, and, GOD WILLING, we will finally vote on next year's season, including the summer show, which, GOOOOOD WILLING, will be my kid's show I submitted.
In this household, Summer also means Shakespeare in the Park!!!!
Several trips up to Schiller Park for picnics and plays!!!
I already warned Josh that we would be attending soooo many shows in the next few months.
He seemed okay with that.
lol

For this week, I am focused on finalizing choreography for Be Our Guest on Thursday, going to see Little Shop of Horrors (Or, for Danielle's sake HArrors) with Josh on Friday, and PR's Cabaret on Saturday.
Somewhere in there I will attempt to continue weeding out my stuff and fit in time with Madison and Grace.
*SIGH*

Theatre Theatre Theatre.....

Last night, I was transformed into a giant teapot.
Yes, the freaking Mrs. Potts costume.
Ugh.
Tonight is the studio photo shoot.
ARGH.
Not only do I have to dress up and look snazzy, but I have to put on that ridiculous costume.
Don't get me wrong, it's a cute costume, and the kids liked it.
BUT, after taking it off, I found myself COVERED in tiny gold glitter, and, as we all know, glitter is the herpes of craft supplies.
Because I have been under the weather all week, I couldn't sing.
I sounded like a croaking frog, slowly dying...
Luckily, the kids all have their inanimate object costumes as well, and Sean and Jake have their Lumiere and Beast costumes, and all of the Belle dresses are done, so we will have a nice cast picture.
Now, if I could just figure out the rest of the choreography for Be Our Guest....

Tomorrow, Josh and I will be joining Danielle to watch Emerald City Players' Cliffhanger, whatever that may be.
I've never heard of this production, but I always try to remain optimistic.
Last weekend, mom and I went to see Bread and Circus' The Chalk Garden, which was really good.
The great thing about doing these reviews is that I get to see all these obscure and unknown productions, stuff of which I've never heard.
AND I get to write about said shows.
Fabulous.
I'm really pumped because NEXT weekend is PR's Cabaret AKA Junia's LAST Show Choir Cabaret EVER.
Then Josh and I are going to see Westerville High School's Production of Little Shop of Horrors on Saturday.
AGH!
I have always wanted to see a stage version of Little Shop, so I'm really pumped.
I am going to get me some theatre this month!
The following Monday is the next board meeting, in which I am sorely hoping we vote on next year's season, if not just the summer show.
That way I can start telling kids and parents alike to get ready and I can start organizing what we need.
*SIGH*
So much theatre.....
I love it.

Watch out world... We've just fueled the fire...

Last night, the fabulous Josh and I ventured up I-270 yesterday evening to watch Bread and Circus Theatre Company's production of Macbeth.
My dearest friends Danielle and Manny (From Lear) played the insatiable and insane Macbeth's.
The play was set in the deep south Bayou country, in the 1920's.
The majority of the cast did a really great job using their skill of cajun and creole accents to go along with the story.
FABULOUS because I find that accent to be quite attractive when coming from the right lips.
Apparently, part of the director's vision was to accentuate the weird sisters' presence in the production, which I can respect.
But, I was slightly disappointed by two things where these characters were concerned.
1.) I found their presence onstage to be a bit...
excessive?
They were onstage moreso than I am personally used to....
2.) The Voodoo sisters were... white.
As in Caucasian...
I was expecting a bit more realistic voodoo soul....
Call me a purist...
I will say they did a good job at their roles and worked off of each other well.
And Kudos to the director, Mony, for thinking outside the box.

"Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." Macbeth Quote (Act V, Scene V).

Yes, Virginia, it is the holiday season. Now leave me alone...

Reading Danielle's last blog, I realized Thanksgiving is six days away.
UGH.
Now, to be fair, I do enjoy this time of the year for what it is.
I love cooking and baking and eating.
I love singing and dancing to Christmas carols.
I LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE decorating the trees.
Every year, I put a theme to the living room tree.
Usually it's a color scheme.
Last year it was Santas and Nutcrackers.
THIS year it is going to be birds.
I've purchased a ton of bird ornaments for it.
AGH!
It's my favorite.
I host a christmas party for my friends every year and that has me stoked as well.
I really used to hate this time of year.
Why?
Well, to help me sum it all up is this poem I wrote years ago that really embodies how I felt back then.....

Candy canes, Mistletoe.
White, soft, gentle snow.
Carols, A Christmas tree.
A red and green stocking for me.
All these and more are what people will say
when asked what reminds them of Christmas Day.
Not me though.
Oh, nonononononono....
Not stockings or mistletoe.
All these things may be great
But they aren't what reminds me of Christmas Day.
I envision spoiled children
and their poor tired parents,
The bitter cold
and the constant straining errands.
Loved ones trying to top last year's gift..
these things and more really get me miffed.
Give me the presents
but keep family away!
Or up in my bedroom is where I'll stay.
I can't stand the rush
of the idiot shoppers
who always make such a scene,
it's a really show stopper.
Or the department store santas
with their fake white beards.
Instead of looking Jolly,
they look really weird.
That's my version of Christmas...
It's sad, but it's true.
And with that
MERRY CHRISTMAS
and Happy New Year too.

Be careful of what you do before the lie becomes the truth....

Tears for Fears' song "Mad world" is randomly going through my head right now...
Just thought I'd share that.

As I sit here drinking the remains of my fourth glasses of Arbor Mist, I realized something....
I didn't get but five minutes from the rest of the cast before the depressive mood set in.
You know, that sad longing and realization that it is all over...
Our last production was tonight.
We tore down the set.
We gathered up the props and costumes.
We rode back to Groveport.
We kissed and hugged.
We all went our separate ways...
I felt alone.
Abandoned.
Without a home to call my own.
Well...
Part of me does.
The other part of me is happy to get back to my version of a normal life.
I'm glad to get back to have free evenings and whatnot, but, honestly, I'll still go through withdrawal.
I'm left with a void.
Ugh.
I hate this feeling.
Luckily, I have my sights set on auditions for "Little Johnny Jones" within the next month, and I'll be able to go see a couple of shows before then, so I'll be able to satify part of my need for theatre.
PART of it....
Sweet Rick Moore is in LTOB's production of "Blithe Spirit" and Danielle, who played Goneril, will be in Raconteur's "Mom and Pop."
YAY!
Plus, I'm preparing for my "Treasure Island" adventure which starts in January.
I can't believe it is only a few months away.
Time flies so fast when one isn't paying attention....

Still, I shall miss my friends and cast members of "Lear."
I think we all learned a lot about each other and ourselves with this production.
I know I learned a great deal about this production, especially since I knew little to nothing about it when I first auditioned for it....
Now I feel like somewhat of an expert, having gone over and through it so many times.
Man.
What a great show.
We received such great feedback from audience members.
We had a great show.
A great cast.
A great director.
And we all shared a great understanding for the show itself.
Looking back, we really were great together...
Onstage, stage that is....
Not everyone got along during rehearsals and backstage, but I think that THAT actually just added to the show.
*SIGH*
I personally think it was the best production in which I had ever performed.
I shall miss it dearly...
Luckily, I made friends and connections in this productions that shall not be forgotten or severed for a long time...
Whether those involved like it or not.


And now...
I leave you with the words of one of my favorite songs...

When I find myself in times of trouble, mother Mary comes to me, speaking words of wisdom, let it be. And in my hour of darkness she is standing right in front of me, speaking words of wisdom, let it be. Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be. Whisper words of wisdom, let it be. And when the broken hearted people living in the world agree, there will be an answer, let it be. For though they may be parted there is still a chance that they will see, there will be an answer. let it be. Let it be, let it be, ..... And when the night is cloudy, there is still a light, that shines on me, shine until tomorrow, let it be. I wake up to the sound of music, mother Mary comes to me, speaking words of wisdom, let it be. Let it be, let it be, .....

Did you see me breathing?

I have a rant, but I'll hold off just long enough to tell you of an interesting story....
After the play tonight we the cast went over to Little Italy, as usual.
We had a marvelous time laughing, eating, and drinking.
After a while, we all went our separate ways.
As we were walking to our separate vehicles, Garison hissed at Lynn, Manny, and I to quickly move to where he was standing, which was behind the van next to Manny's car.
As we did so, he pointed out a young woman several yards ahead of us in the parking lot.
To our shock, this young woman was... urinating in the parking lot up against a truck.
I lie not.
She was in a squatting position, and was quite... bare.....
It was special.
A few minutes later, Danielle calls me to tell me of her fun tale.
As SHE was making her way to her vehicle, an apparently drunken old man presented her with the proposition of sexual intercourse...
Of course, he used much more colorful language and slurred a lot.
I believe his opening statement to her was, "I could just totally F#@% you right now...."
CLASSY.
Groveport's finest certainly does love to flaunt its charms afterhours...

Now for my rant.
*AHEM*
In this production, Danielle and I are dragged out on blankets in the last scene.
And we're "dead."
This is the first time I've ever had to... for lack of better terms "play dead," so I've been kinda playing with it, trying to control my breathing, and, for the most part, I thought I had done a pretty good job.
Then I asked mom last Saturday, after the performance, "Did you see me breathing?"
She said, "I could tell you were trying to control it."
AKA yes, yes I did.
Thanks to this conversation, plus one of my many BFs with Danielle (BF is Bitch fit, for those of you who haven't seen White Girls), I realized something.
We're in a play.
We are actors.
We are pretending to be these people.
I'm not really Regan.
Danielle and Aaron don't really go off stage and do the bad thing.
Doug isn't really going crazy.
Harlow doesn't really gouge out Keith's eyes with his bare hands.
I don't really KILL anyone.
Therefore, I don't really die.
AKA who the heck cares if I'm laying there breathing????
Seriously.
I mean, as long as I'm laying there, not moving, not scratching my nose or laughing at the other actor's lines, or laughing at Danielle, I'm obviously portraying the fact that Regan is dead.
There you go.
That's all that needs to be done.
It's acting.
Ha.
Laurence Olivier once looked at Dustin Hoffman and said, "Dear boy, why don't you try acting? It's so much easier."
Of course, the reason why Sir Laurence said that was because Dustin H. was torturing himself as a.... *SHUDDER* method actor.
Method actors....
UGH.
That's another rant in and of itself.
My point in bringing that up is that it's acting.
IF you are an actor, act.
It's not that hard.

I don't really know how to end this so I'm just going to say good night now.
I am tired and do not wish to type any longer.
Night.