One Wonderful Thing After Another Prt II

So Alex told me that she wouldn't get in until Wednesday morning, which meant I had another day alone in the apartment trying to find things to do to keep me sane.

~March 25th~

I had another very very late morning so there wasn't much of day left to try to find things to do. But I did go out to find myself dinner and found an Asian food place, got something for take away, and settled back at the flat to watch Layer Cake.

It was getting close to the end of the film when I heard keys in the front door.
Orlando had finally come back.
I had texted him warning him that I had to stay another day because of Alex's situation but his phone was dead all weekend.
I assured him that after I picked her up from Paddington station I'd be out of his hair and that Alex and I would be checking into a hostel, but he insisted that we save the money and stay with him.

Needless to say, it was absolutely AWESOME of him!

That night we went out to the local pub, the Queen Bodicea, to have some pints and dinner and catch up.



Apparently he had been gone all weekend at home cuz he was offered some work for a few days that he simply couldn't turn down.
Along with being an actor and musician, Orlando does some modeling on the side. And that weekend he helped out and modeled at a shoot for Jack Wills...which is basically the Abercrombie & Fitch of England.

I also found out that he had auditioned for the role of Cedric Diggory for the 4th Harry Potter movie...and he was among the top four candidates for the role! It all came down to him, two other guys, and Robert Pattinson (who is now starring in the film adaptation of the first installment of the Twilight series, which my friends and I are borderline obsessed with-- *swoon*).

~March 26th~

The next day I checked online to see the progress of Alex's flight and it said that it was delayed 2 hours. So, I got a little extra sleep time in.

I went to Paddington station to pick her up from the express train from Heathrow. I couldn't find her anywhere so I concluded that her train hadn't come in yet.
As I stood there waiting for the trains, I heard a voice behind me go, "Gell?"

I was so so so happy to see Alex! But then she told me she'd been waiting there for 2 hours and then I felt bad...but then confused because the Air India website blatantly said that her flight was delayed. She told me that that's what they told her too so she totally understood why I was late.

We then headed back to the flat where she met Orlando, and he and I made her drink tea cuz that's what you do in England.
Orlando had to take off to help paint the school.
Alex and I cancelled our hostel reservation and,Alice, a friend from Birmingham Uni was in town and wanted to meet up for lunch.

That night, Isabel invited Orlando, Alex, and me to hers for tea and cakes. By the time we got back from lunch, however, Alex was exhausted and we thought it best she stayed at Orlando's to sleep off her jet lag.

Isabel's building is straight out of West Side Story- it's a brick complex with a nice green courtyard and there are balconies and laundry draped on the clotheslines-- you couldn't not break into song.

We were at Isabel's for a good 6 hours, but the time just flew by. I can't accurately recount what we chatted about. I found out a lot about Isabel though-- she's a great storyteller. I can't wait to see one of her shows.


In Isabel's kitchen with Joe and Isabel

I really quite liked this mug:


Isabel and Joe joined us on our walk back cuz Joe's flat was in the same direction.
We stopped at Sam's favorite kebab place for some "dinner".



When we got back to the flat, Alex had just woken up.
Before going to bed we watched Waiting for Guffman.

~March 27th~

We had another late start in the morning (and I definitely got a hard time about it from Orlando) and the three of us went out for brunch at a local place called The Breakfast Club.
I was daring and had waffles topped with bananas and bacon. Not bad.

Alex and I then made our way to the V&A museum where we checked out the History of Fashion exhibit among many others.




I finally got a picture of me in a phone booth!

That evening my friend, Reece, who lives just outside London, wanted to take us out so we met him and his friend, Matt, in Covent Garden and had a good Italian meal.
Afterwards we walked to Leicester Square where Alex and I actually crossed paths with an acquaintance of ours from Santa Barbara in the drama department! CRAZY!!

We then said bye, and headed home...but not before taking a picture of Alex in front of the location of London Ink, which is a branch off of the Tattoo parlor reality shows like Miami Ink and L.A. Ink.



~March 28th~

It was day of wandering, starting at Leicester Square to get day student tickets for History Boys, and then lunch at Wagamama's (an Asian noodle place), a walk through the markets, tea and croissants at Patisserie Valerie, and then a walk to Trafalgar Square, Tower of London, and we then walked across Tower Bridge.









We eventually made it to the Wyndham Theatre for the show, and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. It the last run of the show with it's last cast.





We had one understudy but he still did a very good job. Alex and I fell helplessly in love with the boy who played Scripps and we accidentally (honestly) ended up kind of stalking him afterwards. See what happened was we were just standing outside the theatre trying to figure out what to do next and he came out and we were all "Oh my god look look look he's right there" and ended up kind of staring. We then debated whether or not we should approach him before he slipped back into the theatre. We then waited outside hoping he'd reappear and when he did we still just stood there, befuddled and ultimately decided we should just take off back to Angel. But when we turned for the station, he did the same with an older man who we assumed was his father so then it really looked like we were following him.
We then passed him and as I was descending the steps to the underground Alex stopped me and said, "Some sluts Ugg boots just asked for a picture with him!"
We then decided to go back to just cooly say hello and congratulate him. He seems like a sweetheart. Hello, Future Husband #(I dunno what...twenty something?)!

When we were back in Angel, Orlando had gone back home, so we had the place to ourselves.

Exterior of L'Auberge Boheme


Before retiring completely we decided to get a drink at The Queen, which I had been dying to show her.

~March 29th~

After a quick run through Sainsbury's to buy some last minutes gifts, I went with Alex to Paddington Station and said goodbye.

I was pretty depressed for the rest of the day. Eventually I bucked up and called my OSF seminar friend, Dan, who was still in London. We had dinner at his and watched this crazy show called I'd Do Anything where a bunch of crazy actors compete for the roles of Oliver on Nancy for a new production of Oliver! on the West End.

Orlando came back that night with his girlfriend, Emily, who is an absolute sweetheart and the three of us watched Empire Records.

~March 30th~

I decided it was the day to go back to Birmingham to get started on work.
So after lunch with Orlando, I did just that.



It was an amazing week- made it really hard to go back to Brum. :(

One Wonderful Thing After Another Prt I

So after saying bye to Zarah, I settled myself at Sam's for the weekend, planning to leave Tuesday morning after Alex flew in, then she and I were gonna catch a train to Birmingham where she would sleep off her jet lag in my glorious bed, the next day I was gonna show her around my Brum stomping grounds and then we were going to head back to London (cuz that's where the V&A Museum is and that was her second to main objective- the first seeing me) where we would settle in a hostel we reserved.

Of course things change, and so some improvising had to be done.
But first my time with Sam:

~March 22nd~

Sam and I got up relatively late and she thought, "Hey let's take a day trip to Sussex."

Before I met Sam at the OSF Seminar, she had spent a term abroad in Sussex and so had some old friends there that were home for the Easter holidays. She had not seen them in four years and of course want to take advantage of their being home. I was very excited to come along.

For brunch we went to the cafe where Sam works. It's a snug place called The Curved Angel tucked away just at the foot of the steps of a church. It was very relaxed; you could just ask for something to eat and grab a drink from the fridge whenever and when you paid you just had to remember what you had and tell the person at the till. Sam's friend, Maude, a lovely French woman, was pretty much running the place that day.
Sam's friends from Drama Centre, Isabel, in the directing program, and her boyfriend, Joe, in the acting program, joined us. Joe had recently auditioned for and got into the 24 Hour Theatre Festival that was happening at the Old Vic Theatre, run by Kevin Spacey. He had had a workshop the other day so the actors could test their voices in the space, etc. and he had been sitting next to Mr. Spacey during a group discussion/banter.
I'm jealous.

Afterwards Sam and I gathered up more layers at her flat before heading for the Waterloo train station. At the station we met up with a friend of hers, Peter, in the third year at Drama Centre, who was also making his way to East Grinstead, so we thought we'd all take the train together.
It was a quiet trip on my part. I spent most of it staring at Peter's face. Only when he was speaking, of course, so it looked like I was just listening to him while he and Sam played catchup.
He's gorgeous. That's all I'm gonna say.
That and when we parted ways he gave a smile that made my knees give way a bit.

"So, did you like my friend?" Sam asked me as we walked away.
"'Like' is an understatement," I replied.

We then made our way to the buses to get to the village where her friends lived...and then it started snowing. We had moved from Spring in Angel:



...to Winter in Sussex within a matter of hours:



Sam's friends were lovely. We met at a pizza joint in a quaint little village and then gradually moved the party to a pub next door.
After a few hours we had to say bye and called a cab to go back to the station and from Waterloo we walked back home...making a stop at Sam's favorite kebab place along the way.

~March 23rd~

Orlando had left the previous day and this morning, Peter and Sophie took off for their Easter holidays. So Sam and I had the flat to ourselves.
We mainly lounged around...and I would read while Sam packed up her things for her flight home the next morning. She insisted I stay at the flat while I waited for Alex to fly in on Tuesday.

That evening we went over to her friend, Rachel's, for dinner. Rachel, who's from Ohio, is a first year at the Drama Centre. She had just got back from visiting her boyfriend in Paris, so naturally she was in need of some company and she wanted to feed us the good cheeses and wine she brought back.
As a thank you I wanted to make some kind of contribution...but all I could offer was Easter chocolate and more wine.



So that was my Easter!

Sam and I waddled the short walk back to her house pretty late, but not too late. We stayed up chatting and before we realized it, it was 1 and Sam had to take off around 5 for her flight and she said, "You know I might as well stay up the rest of the night."
"I'll stay up with you," I decided.

My sleeping schedule has been out of whack ever since.
But it was worth it I think; I got some extra time with Sam and got to see her off. I would've hated to have been half asleep when she left.

~March 24th~

The next day I woke up to an empty London flat and had no idea what to do with myself.
Orlando said he was gonna be back by Monday, but he never showed up. I woke up relatively late and wasted away in front of Sam's computer and my book before I realized it was dinner time.
I got myself a sandwich from a Pret A Manger nearby and watched Manhattan from Sam's Woody Allen collection.
And then I discovered one of Sam's Polaroid cameras and decided to leave her a picture and letter for when she got back.



That night I got an email from my Alex entitled "EEK".
Alex was visiting some family in New York before she came to see me.
On her last day there, the NY underground was apparently going berserk.
As a result she missed her plane and her airline, Air India, only has one flight that goes out of New York into London each day. Fortunately, she was able to get a place on the plane going out the next evening.
However, that meant that our day in Birmingham was off the itinerary.

And so began my lovely extended stay at l'auberge boheme.

To be continued...

Reunion with Zarah!

Everyone in Birmingham loves Zarah, and she loves them and so for her Spring Break (wootwoot) she flew over to the UK so we could all love each other!

March 17th-21st

After my Alexander Technique assessment (which went AMAZING by the way, my group rocked it) I met up with (ex-blonde-now-ginger) Zarah after our Adam picked her up from the trains.
It was so great to see her and we both felt like we were picking up right where we left off.
It was our finals week which made it difficult to plan things with other friends she wanted to catch up with, but we made it work.
But the fact that it was finals week also meant that there was work to be done...and it unbelievably did not exclude Zarah. The Theatre Praxis class that Zarah attended with me in Fall term had a Journal assignment that was due (for some reason) at the end of Spring term that week, so she and I had to whip up 1,500 words before Wednesday.

So Tuesday we were going to devote our whole day to writing and in the evening we were going to the Guild Awards (an awards ceremony for all the student-organized events and societies). This event was "Rainbow Formal" which meant we had to wear something nice and colorful. Neither of us had anything to wear so we had planned to go shopping for something the day of.

After we wrote our journals, we didn't have much time left to shop, but we went anyways taking the train to the Bullring (the main Birmingham shopping area). There we ran into an H&M and after 10 minutes we left with outfits. It was probably the speediest shopping trip in my life.
And we sure looked good and colorful!







The awards were very nice: we had two of the most charming hosts anyone could ever ask for (both theatre kids) and if you have facebook, you can see their cute opening speech here. But I think the most exciting moment for us theatre people by far was WatchThis' win for "Most Innovative Society" for producing student written work.



James Blakey, my director from Oleanna, is president of the society so he got to make the acceptance speech.



After the ceremonies, we took the party to the guild where special guest, Zane Lowe of Radio1 came to DJ for the after party. Everyone was all very excited about his appearance whereas us Americans were rather confused: "Zane who??!!"





On Wednesday, we took Zarah out to Snobs, a club where several friends and I have spent far too many Wednesday nights this last term.

Thursday Zarah spent the day with David and in the afternoon we went out to Selly Oak to watch the Solo Monologue class assessment (which was my second choice to Alexander Technique for my practical course that term).
In the evening Zarah was invited to watch the last rehearsal for musical, Slice of Saturday Night before the holidays. Since Zarah was going to miss the show in summer term, the director, Katie, wanted her to at least see a rough run through of it.

Friday: Zarah, our friend, Reece, and I all headed down to London. Reece was going home for the holidays, Zarah was going to see her friend Taj before she flew out Saturday morning, and I was going to see my friend Samantha and then pick up my Summer 07 partner in crime, Alex Hoffman, who was coming to visit me from Santa Barbara.


Reece and Zarah

It was lovely to see Zarah again and, as she goes to school in LA, it will a comfort to know that she won't be far away when I go back to Santa Barbara. We both got very attached to Birmingham and it will be nice to be within driving distance of someone whom you got know abroad.

New Installment of My "Go Ask Alice" Adaptation

I just got over my month-long writer's block (you'd think with the whole story outlined in a book that wouldn't happen, but meshing everything into a twenty minute play is harder than you think) and here's my most recent installment of "Go Ask Alice" which I started adapting for my Theatre Lab class.
If you haven't read the beginning of it, click here.

Just to warn you, this is a play about a 15 year old on drugs so the subject matter is pretty raunchy. The kids that corrupt her are very vulgar.
Just wanted to warn you so you may shield your eyes now and save yourself should you so choose.

So here it is, installment number 2.
Any input is great!
I just want to give off the vibe of a dark nursery rhyme/ fairy tale.

ANONYMOUS: I keep thinking about our teacher in gym teaching us modern dancing and always saying that it will make our bodies strong and healthy for childbearing, then she harps and harps that everything must be graceful, graceful, graceful.

I can hardly picture sex or having a baby as being graceful.

Jill and Bill let go and stand with their backs to the audience.

ANONYMOUS: December 10th.
Dear Diary, We sold our house today…and I suddenly don’t want to leave!

Anonymous falls forward as if about to hit the ground running but Jill and Bill hold her
back. She struggles through the following.

ANONYMOUS: I’m afraid! I’ve lived in this room all my fifteen years, all my 5,530 days.
I’ve laughed, cried moaned and muttered in this room. I’ve loved people and things and
hated them. Will we ever be the same when we’re closed in by other walls? Will we think
other thoughts and have different emotions? I feel so helpless… I feel so LOST—

Jill and Bill throw her to the ground and exit.

ANONYMOUS: January 6th.
I must leave you, dear diary, and go to school today. Oh I hope I’m not so different
they’ll all stare at me. Oh, how I wish I had a friend!

Offstage [Mother calls out] ***.

ANONYMOUS: But I better paste on the big phony smile, Mother is calling and I must respond with an ‘attitude that will determine my altitude.’

Change in lights.

Anonymous is backlit once again, as in beginning.

ANONYMOUS: 1, 2, 3, and here goes the martyr.

Scene change.

Jill, Bill, and other school kids bring in schooldesks and take up various positions sitting in them or standing around them socializing with one another.

Anonymous enters.

Students take notice, but don’t let it affect their conversation too much.

Anonymous quickly takes empty desk in the center.

School bell rings.

Students take their seats.

TEACHER’S VOICE: Richard Deed?

RICHIE: Here.

TEACHER’S VOICE: William Dunn?

BILL: Here.

TEACHER’S VOICE: Becky White?

BECKY: Here.

TEACHER’S VOICE: Jillian Tweedle?

JILL: Here.

TEACHER’S VOICE: ***?

ANONYMOUS: (shyly) Here.

Students turn and stare at her.

Lights change. Spotlight on Jill.

JILL: Another day, another high, another new kid on the block,

Spotlight on Bill.

BILL: Does she go both ways or does she prefer the rat or the cock?

Spotlight on Richie.

RICHIE: Fuck I care, how am I getting through this fuckin’ week?!

JILL: Rest easy, babe, I got the thing that’ll rest your itchy tweak.

Jill produces a bag of LSD.

Bill and Richie are in awe.

RICHIE: Sweet mother of Christ

BILL: Isn’t—

RICHIE: That—

JILL: Yes.

BILL: Where did you find it?

JILL: I have my source.

RICHIE: How did you pay?

JILL: Cash, of course.

BILL: Where’d you get the cash?

JILL: None of your beeswax.

BILL: You want this to get ugly?

JILL: Dude, sit down. Relax.

RICHIE: So when do we dip in? Tonight? Maybe 8?

JILL: Good things come to those who wait.

I’m thinking the end of the week, with the usual crowd,

My parents will be out so you can be as loud

As your heart desires, and I think for an extra thrill

We’ll bring in a fresh lamb for the sacrificial kill.

Jill, Bill, and Richie perch themselves on their chairs.

Out to the audience:

JILL, BILL, RICHIE: We three babes have nothing to fear,

And neither do you so rest yourself here

With us who enlighten you, guide you through storms.

And show you a world that takes many forms.

JILL: Are you ready?

BILL: Close your eyes, remember to breathe.

RICHIE: Hang on to your hat, kid: 1…

BILL: 2…

JILL: 3.

Lights off of Jill, Bill, and Richie.

Spotlight on Anonymous.

ANONYMOUS: It was so miserable at first. It seemed so lonely and cold…everyone staring at me in a kind of curious, hostile ‘what are you doing here?’ kind of way. Everyone, except Becky that is.

Spotlight on Becky, an easygoing smile on her face.

BECKY: [to audience] My name is Becky White. I’m 15, and prefer books to people.

ANONYMOUS: So do I.

BECKY: My Dad’s a doctor and away from home most of the time.

ANONYMOUS: So’s mine.

BECKY: And my mother nags a lot.

ANONYMOUS: So does mine.

Becky and Anonymous look at each other and smile.

BECKY: Hi.

ANONYMOUS: Hi.

Becky and Anonymous scoot their desks closer to each other to socialize over a book.

Lights up.

Jill, Bill, and Richie surround the kindred spirits.

JILL: What’s up, Becky?

BECKY: Oh, so you decided to speak to me again?

JILL: What are you talking about?

BECKY: Ever since Jack’s party you’ve been treating me like I don’t exist.

JILL: Have I? Well, sorry if I offended you, sweetie. We all have our bad trips, so how ‘bout we let bygones be bygones?

RICHIE: Who’s your friend?

BECKY: Her name’s ***.

RICHIE: ‘Ey. How you doing?

ANONYMOUS: Okay.

JILL: (putting her arm around Becky) Listen Becks, we were thinking of having a little get together later. You want to come? Get the old gang together again?

BECKY: I don’t know…

BILL: C’mon, Becks. We really miss you.

Becky looks up at Bill. Hesitates for bit.

BECKY: Yeah, sure.

JILL: Groovy.

BILL: Oh, and uh, bring your friend.

Jill, Bill, and Richie exit.

ANONYMOUS: What was that all about?

BECKY: You want to go to a party?

ANONYMOUS: (to audience) January 10^th.

Oh, Diary, I’m so happy I could cry! It’s the end of my first week at the school and I’ve made some friends! They’re all so cool and sophisticated and they invited me to come with Becky, so they must think I’m cool and sophisticated as well!

School desks and chairs have been replaced by pillows, blankets and cushions center stage which are brought on by Richie and young ensemble members. Fun, relaxed atmosphere.

Becky enters the space with Anonymous.

ANONYMOUS: The kids at Jill’s were so friendly and relaxed and at ease that I immediately felt at home with them. They accepted me like they’ve known me all our lives and everyone seemed happy and unhurried. I loved the atmosphere. It was so great. Anyway, a little while after I got there…

Jill and Bill enter, Jill holding a tray of red cups.

JILL: Hey, everyone!

Children cheer for Jill and sprawl out on the cushions and blankets.

Bill sets himself next to Anonymous.

JILL: Tonight, we’re playing “Button, Button, Who’s Got the Button?” You know, the game we used to play when we were kids.

BILL: (laughs) Only it’s just too bad that now somebody has to babysit.

He’s looking at Anonymous. Anonymous looks up at him, meets his gaze, and shyly smiles.

Children reach for drinks, Bill grabs two and hands one to Anonymous, who takes a sip.

Everyone slowly begins sipping their drinks, looking around the room at each other, waiting for something to happen.

ANONYMOUS: (to audience) Everyone sipped their drinks slowly, and everyone seemed to be watching everyone else. I kept my eyes on Jill supposing that anything she did I should do.

Lights begin to fade, change color, and psychadelic music begins to rise with a hum.

ANONYMOUS: Suddenly I began to feel something strange inside myself like a storm.

Anonymous rises.

I remember that two or three records had played since we had the drinks, and now everyone was beginning to look at me. The palms of my hands were sweating and I could feel droplets of moisture on my scalp at the back of my neck.

A few more kids have begun feeling similarly, while the rest watch, amused, except perhaps Becky.

Jill rises to mime closing shades upstage.

ANONYMOUS: The room seemed unusually quiet, and as Jill got up to close the window shades completely I thought, “They’re trying to poison me! Why, why would they try to poison me?!”

My whole body was tense at every muscle and a feeling of weird apprehension swept over me, strangled me, suffocated me.

Bill has risen and approached Anonymous from behind, putting his arm around her, trying to calm her.

ANONYMOUS: When I opened my eyes, I realized that is was just Bill who had put his arm around my shoulder.

Overlapping each other:

BILL: Lucky you.

ANONYMOUS: “Lucky you” he was saying in a slow-motioned record on the wrong speed voice.

BILL: But don’t worry, I’ll baby-sit you. This will be a good trip. (sits her down)

Come on, relax, enjoy it, enjoy it.

ANONYMOUS: “Enjoy it.”

Bill begins caressing her face and neck tenderly. Anonymous looks up at him, stoned, focuses in on his mouth.

BILL: Honestly, I won’t let anything bad happen to you.

ANONYMOUS: “Honestly, I won’t let anything bad happen to you.”

BILL: Honestly, I won’t let anything bad happen to you.

ANONYMOUS: “Honestly, I won’t let anything bad happen to you.”

BILL: Honestly, I won’t let anything bad happen—

Anonymous begins laughing wildly, hysterically. This continues for a few moments, and she settles down again when she notices the ceiling. Points up.

ANONYMOUS: Oh look at that. Look at that.

Anonymous tries to rise up, but Bill pulls her down and rests her head in his lap.

ANONYMOUS: Look at the strange, shifting patterns…changing to swirling colors…great fields of reds, blues and yellows….

Everybody look!

BILL: Shhhh…

ANONYMOUS: (chuckles) My words are soggy. Wet. Dripping…tasting of color.

Anonymous pulls herself up and begins walking around the room. Feels a rush.

Children are dancing, intermingling, kissing, Richie has cozied up to Becky.

It’s practically an orgy but not quite.

ANONYMOUS: Oh. I felt a slight chill. A chill that crept inside as well as outside my body.

Soon whole trains of thought started to appear between each word. I had found the perfect and true and original language, used by Adam and Eve, but when I tried to explain, the words I used had little to do with my thinking. I was losing it…

Anonymous falls back, Bill catches her, lays her down parallel to the audience.

ANONYMOUS: …It was slipping out of my grasp, this wonderful and priceless and true thing which must be saved for posterity. I felt terrible, and finally I couldn’t talk at all and closed my eyes and the music began to absorb me physically.

Anonymous closes her eyes for the following.

Bill runs his hands over Anonymous’ body.

ANONYMOUS: I could smell it.

Bill buries his face in her hair and inhales her scent.

ANONYMOUS: And touch it.

Bill brushes her lips with his fingers.

ANONYMOUS: And feel it.

Bill feels her face.

ANONYMOUS: As well as hear it.

Bill whispers something in her ear.

Anonymous giggles.

She opens her eyes and turns her head to the audience.

ANONYMOUS: Never had anything ever been so beautiful.

She sits up, more energized and enthusiastic.

Bill stays with her, continues to caress her.

Intensity of the music and the intermingling of the kids behind her has increased.

ANONYMOUS: I was part of every single instrument in the music, literally a part. Each note had a character, shape and color all its very own and seemed to be entirely separate from the rest of the score so that I could consider its relationship to the whole composition, before the next note sounded. My mind possessed the wisdoms of the ages, and there were no words adequate to describe them.

Anonymous looks up to the ceiling again.

ANONYMOUS: I looked up to the patterns on the ceiling and I could see them in 100 dimensions. It was so beautiful I could not stand the sight of it and closed my eyes.

Anonymous shuts her eyes and begins to collapse.

Bill lifts her up in his arms and twirls her around.

ANONYMOUS: Immediately I was floating into another sphere, another world, another state. Things rushed away from me and at me, taking my breath away like a drop in a fast elevator. I could tell what was real and what was unreal…but it didn’t really matter, for whatever I was, (opens her eyes) I was wonderful.

For the first time that I could remember in my whole life, I was completely uninhibited.

My senses were so up that I could hear someone breathing in the house next door…

Group of kids share an audible breath in and out, and then cease to move.

ANONYMOUS: …And I could smell colors: oranges, reds, and greens.

After what seemed eternities I began to come down…

All in one moment:

Anonymous plops down to the floor, and Jill, who has been regally observing the whole event and is now standing behind Anonymous, Jill mouths her name…

JILL: ***

…And music stops abruptly and lights change to normal upon ***.

Anonymous perks up as if woken from a dream.

ANONYMOUS: (looking up at Jill) Jill! Wha—what just happened?

JILL: Well… 10 out of the 14 cups of coke had LSD in them and, Button Button (pinching Anonymous’ cheeks) no one knew just who would wind up with them. I guess you were one of the lucky ones.

Jill joins Bill and Richie on the pile of cushions as the party gradually starts to break up and exit.

BECKY: Come on, I’ll take you home.

ANONYMOUS: Oh, Becky! Were you one of the lucky ones?

BECKY: No.

ANONYMOUS: Oh. Did you have fun though?

BECKY: I had fun watching you.

ANONYMOUS: Oh, ha ha ha-- ow! (grabs her forehead)

BECKY: Come on, let’s get you to bed.

Becky exits holding Anonymous, leaving Jill, Bill, and Richie on the cushions.

JILL: Everyone came; even Becky but hey, I knew she would.

RICHIE: What a night! My favorite cocktail! I’d have another if I could.

JILL: (to Bill) You sure liked the new girl.

RICHIE: Any new tricks to unfurl?

BILL: No tricks, just more of what’s good.

RICHIE: Speed?

JILL: Pot?

BILL: Maybe cocaine.

JILL: Knowing Bill, probably a trip down Young Lovers’ Lane.

RICHIE: Whatever the thrill,

BILL: She’ll have her kicks.

JILL: And then some.

BILL: 4.

RICHIE: 5.

JILL: 6.

Blackout.

"Beyond" My Expectations

In March, the student-written work I was involved in, Beyond Imagination, was put up at a local student bar called the Bristol Pear. They have an upstairs bar that is often closed off for private parties, open mic nights, and performances.

I was a little worried about how it was all going to turn out because everything was put off to the last minute with run throughs, etc. Some people were even struggling with lines up until the very last minute.

The weekend before the performance we had dress rehearsals and my Oleanna director, James, came in cuz he's the head of the society through which Beyond was being put on. I was really nervous, but he had good things to say in the end and he said that I did a good job of making a graceful last moment with a rather sudden and awkward ending where it is revealed that the imaginary friend of the main boy, my son, is (arguably) the ghost of his miscarried older brother;

Psychiatrist: It's just that Josh seems so attached to Ryan...
Mother: Ryan? Ryan?!
Psychiatrist: Yes, that's his friend's name, didn't he mention-- are you alright, Mrs. Brannigan? You don't look very well.
Mother: You said that Josh's friend was older than him.
Psychiatrist: Yes that's right.
Mother: How much older?
Psychiatrist: Well it wasn't a large amount. Two years, I think. Yes, I believe that's right. Is there something wrong Mrs. Brannigan?
Mother: But-- But how it was two years before Josh was born.
Psychiatrist: What was?
Mother: I-- I had a stillborn baby...and we named him Ryan.

*dun dun DUUUUN*

March 10-12th, 2008

Tech rehearsal action shots:

The School Kids

Mr. and Mrs. Brannigan (Pat Lenny and Me) try to stir up conversation with son, Josh, (Ben Darlington) after his first day of school while Ryan (William Martin) looks on.

By the time tech rolled around (the day OF our opening night), everyone was really anxious and worried, but I got this sudden feeling of calm optimism. "Everything is going to be okay" I thought. And surprisingly enough, it turned out okay.

Here's some behind the scenes footage Will and I decided to make on our final tech before opening night:




Grabbing some grub before the show

Our opening night audience were very responsive (granted they were mostly theatre kids, but you know).
From then on our performances weren't as strong but not bad.
I think the popular consensus was that everyone wished we had more rehearsals or socials together as an entire cast because we only really got to know people we didn't share scenes with that week.

Backstage on closing night:



Penny and Steve Brannigan...with their best "dead inside" smiles (we were a very unhappy family)


The only foundation the makeup artist had was orange so I insisted that I do Pat's makeup the last night (I wanted my husband looking his best)


With a black turtleneck on and a few wrinkles I realized I looked like my mom...

After the show, the bar gave us free cocktails....

I was excited.

So there are my Beyond Imagination chronicles- just wanted to get you up to date before I start writing about the more recent/exciting stuff!

Beyond Imagination Cast