el fin de la semana

Dear Devoted Freshly Squeezed Blog Readers,
You are about to embark in a reading of my epic weekend. It was full of hard work, relaxation, and even more hard work. Still, it felt like a true weekend, which I’ve been deprived of for some time. Last weekend, I was traveling to and from Sioux Falls to get a new driver’s license. Now my friends can no longer make fun of my 9th grade mug shot.

FRIDAY
I spent my Friday afternoon and evening in the theatre building for five hours. The first three were devoted to The Comedy of Errors rehearsal. We successfully ran through the entire production for the first time. The run was complete with daggers, rubber chickens, golden chains, mistaken identity, and all of the standard comedic Shakespearean elements.

The only way to witness rubber chickens and iambic pentameter in the same room is to attend one of the shows. The performances are on October 18, 19, 20, and 21. The first three performances being at 7:30 p.m., and the 21 production starts at 2:00 p.m.

After working on Shakespeare, I chomped on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and headed off to an Into the Woods rehearsal. I’ve never sung so many songs that seem to include over 50 infinitive verbs. Stephen Sondheim must have a strange attraction to them. Here’s an example of the lyrics I have to memorize one of these days:

Into the Woods to lift the spell, into the Woods to lose the longing, into the Wood to have the child, to wed the prince, to get the money, to save the house, to kill the wolf, to find the father, to conquer the kingdom, to have, to wed, to get, to save, to kill, to keep, to go to the Festival! Into the Woods….

I’m not sure how Mr. Sondheim can get away with lyrics comprised of only infinitive verbs. I digress.

After the long hours of rehearsal (which were certainly fun, but it was Friday night), a couple of friends and I went to Across the Universe. This movie, written and directed by Julie Taymor, was phenomenal. I could probably gush about this film at length, but I’ll spare the details. Taymor managed to blend dozens of Beatles hits into an unconventional movie musical. It’s much like Moulin Rouge; although, I think I like this version much better. Everyone should see Across the Universe.

Saturday
I was unable to sleep in, but it’s all for the art of theatre. In my Stagecraft class, we need 30 hours of work in the scene shop. That means Saturday morning painting! I don’t mind it so much. We painted a white drop that morning. It will serve as the “storybook page” show drop for Into the Woods.

I then returned to my apartment and did some therapeutic and relaxing cleaning. It doesn’t make sense. Perhaps it was the unseasonably humid October weather. Perhaps I was exposed to the paint for too long. I’m not sure, but I actually enjoyed cleaning up around my room and in the apartment. I’m convinced it’s a fluke. I hope my parents don’t read too much into this and expect much when I return home for Christmas.

Later on, I met up with some friends at Dunn Bros Coffee. We like to hang out there and do homework occasionally. I was able to finish some reading of Chushingura, a popular kabuki theatre play. It contains love affairs, ritual suicide, and 47 samurai charging onstage to behead the character Mononao.

That evening, I did some more reading on the art of becoming a master actor in the Noh tradition, which is another style of ancient Japanese theatre. The western sensibilities with theatre and storytelling will not do a person any good in attempting to understand it all.

The rest of the night was devoted to eating Little Caesar’s Pizza and drinking Leinengkugel’s Honey Weiss. I can’t think of a better combination at that moment in time.

SUNDAY
Sunday consisted of more rehearsals. I will save the details at the expense of ruining any more surprises for the audience. Afterwards, I met with my group for Script Analysis. We’re planning a theoretical production of Heiner Muller’s Hamletmachine. It’s grotesque stuff.

Exhausted, I finally drove back to my apartment. Sat down on the couch and watched Julie Taymor’s production of Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex Oratorio. Anyone who may be even the slightest interested in such a production should find a copy of the DVD. It’s an epic production with sweeping music, powerful singing, and a riveting visual feast. Albeit, it wasn’t the most relaxing way to end a busy weekend, it was good to sit down, breath and witness other creative works rather than solely participating in them.