Weekend To-Do List
wake up early
remember to make a list
cross things off list
do them first
wash dishes
do laundry
paint some stuff
write some stuff
do lesson-plans
see shows
call someone I haven’t talked to in a while
realize I don’t have their number
mail package
just kinda sit and be content
achieve world peace
do some online stuff, but not too much
get to bed early
custard
Woody Allen movies
coffee flavored anything (including coffee)
diamonds
…
are appreciated, enjoyed, loved, and desired by many
but
not
by
me
nothankspassrathernot
But please, you just go right ahead.
When I first moved to Chicago, a friend told me about a theater that performed “What No one Else Produces.” I was immediately intrigued. A little over a year later, I was fortunate enough to become an ensemble member of that company–WNEP Theater. We do about one or two big projects a year. It’s made up of some amazingly talented writers, performers, and directors. And if you haven’t checked out a WNEP show, I hope you will. Any company that can successfully pull-off a Dadaist take on Christmas or a beautiful theatrical exploration of Edward Hopper paintings is something folks should see. Our next big production will be after the holidays. WNEP is bringing back its acclaimed improvisational performance, Postmortem, a documentary based on an obituary from the day’s newspaper. Until then, WNEP fans can satisfy their appetites once a month at our Frequency show on Chicago’s north side. And if you’re a performer, please contact us to get a spot for your piece! (More info on WNEP’s Frequency and the next show on November 20th can be found by clicking here). Oh! And if you’re on facebook, please become a fan of WNEP Theater and/or of our monthly shows at Transistor!
Dave Goss, managing director for WNEP and friend asked all of the company members to answer two pretty big questions. Below are the questions and my answers. Please check out the site for more company members’ profiles!
1) List ten things a person would have to do to understand you as an artist.
Read my teaching notes.
Find the connections in everything.
Play with the audience.
See both the show I did in the aged turret in Switzerland and in the beer tent at the Kentucky State Fair and observe the similarities.
Paint with calm impatience.
Turn an agonizingly long primal yell into a funny story.
Taste words.
Be affected by what you think the world is trying to tell you.
Journal about it, sleep on it, and then make it into a show.
Make up a song about fruit and perform it for your plants.
2) List ten things a person would have to do to understand you as a person.
Accidentally move to a new city. Then live there for several years.
Become vegan–or at least vegetarian.
Be tormented and bullied by a cruel caste system in grade school and then blessed and honored with amazing friends thereafter.
Journey alone to Ruby Beach.
Recycle. Even if you live in a city that doesn’t make it easy. Sigh.
Walk. A lot.
Allow yourself an uncontrollable laughing fit (30 minutes or more) now and again.
Work no less than twelve ridiculous jobs while you follow your dream.
Feel guilty that you’re not doing more.
Feel bad that you made yourself feel guilty. Take a nap. Then start the cycle over again.
There HAS to be a fantastic guy out there for me, right?
Sometimes, I wonder…..
Lord help me. I’m ’bout to blog about online dating. I am officially livin’ in the future. Where is my flying car?
So, the online dating site that I’m on has this handy little system wherein one can answer questions. On a question by question basis, I am given the option to allow my answers to be “public,” which means that if someone else did the same, we can see each others answers. You can sort the questions by “ethics” or “sex” or “religion”… You can even sort them by answers that you and the other person disagree on. And herein lies my problem.
I have discovered that this is the quickest way to find out that the guy I’m reading about is a loser. Maybe I sound harsh. But please, hear me out. Look at some of the questions (and the answers that guys have put down) below:
Would you rather that, when you meet your partner, he/she is complete and happy without you so you can be complete together, or would you rather they were incomplete so that you can come along and complete them? When a guy responds with “I want to complete them.” I don’t need to know anything else about him. This might be a goal for an insecure school-boy, but a man in his thirties, looking for half of a person, really?
Do you litter? When a guy responds with “Yes” or “Sometimes” I cry with my tribal friend by the roadside.
Could you marry someone for a reason other than love (e.g. money, citizenship, sex, fame)? Okay, I know. I’m a romantic. But is that weird? Am I the odd duck out? Did I just use the phrase, “odd duck out?” When a guy answers this with a “yes” or a “maybe I’m not sure” forget about it! Actually, I think the “I’m not sure” answer is worse. I mean, if you’re gonna be shallow, at least own it.
Should evolution and creationism be taught side-by-side in public schools? A surprisingly large number of guys actually put down, “Yes, students should hear both sides.” To which I reply (and by “reply” I mean that I speak aloud to the computer–I do not send them a message), “Oh, really? You think there’s only one creation myth? Back up the truck, boys. Dump everything in there–the cow who came forth from Ginnungagap, the water monster, beaver flesh, and so on… Beep! Beep! Beep!”
Do you ever want to punch people you don’t know, right in the face, for superficial reasons (the way they grin, their clothes, their voice,etc)? When a guy responds with anything except “Never” I’ve lost all interest. One guy even put down “Everyday.” Wow. Am I being unreasonable? Are there women out there who lower their standards to the guy who fantasizes about punching the sales clerk, the waitress, the street musician, et al.?
“The best days of my life” are: To complete this sentence, the multiple choice answer that fits best for yours truly is, “right now.” But when a guy chooses “in the past” or “in the future,” it’s just depressing. I can’t be the only one who sees both of those answers as incredibly tragic. Can I?
Ugh.
If all this means I have high standards, then so be it. I cringe to think of what would become of me if I didn’t. (Of course, I know of at least one thing that’s not happening because I do).
Sheeesh.
Today I was paging through my notes from directing and coaching improvisational theatre. Here are some phrases that stood out to me. Perhaps one could apply them to more than improv….
Stay Connected
Be Affected
trust that we can just be birds
Be either off or on–not in between.
Be REAL.
If it doesn’t matter to you, why should it matter to us?
Let IT be what IT wants to be.
Support each other.
Say “yes” to yourself, dammit!
Have fun with each other!
Get to it.
Make discoveries from the inside, not decisions from the outside.
Open Up.
Always wear comfy clothes.
breathe
Trust your own impulses.
connected…..invested…..affected
Don’t make people crazy. Join them.
PLAY
Less thinking and more being.
fantastic spinning
It’s going to be pretty hard to do anything if no one likes each other.
It was great when Hercules was affected.
Give some space.
your funny talk about sacks got funnier when you were affected by each other
Have something that matters to you.
Sometimes I don’t feel like I’m doing enough as an artist.
Okay, so I am aware that I can oft be a wee hard on myself. Because of that, I figured I’d sit down and list out what really is going on. You know, to find out if I really have something to worry about here or if I’m fine. Sheesh.
I’m in the middle of booking a performance of The Good, the Bad, and the Monkey in Louisville, KY for a yet-to-be-determined August date.
I’m applying to the New Orleans Fringe Festival.
I’m in rehearsals for What if They Held a Peace Rally and Nobody Came? (the show I’m directing as part of Joe Janes’ 365 Sketches Project).
I’m trying to keep my apartment habitable (read: cool) with a series of skilled fan positions and ice cube placements.
I’m in rehearsals for Polka-Dots and Moonbeams, another show in the 365 Sketches Project. Jen Ellison is directing this one.
I’m getting my apartment all ready for a delightful out-of-town guest this weekend. My niece is coming! Yay!
I’m in rehearsals for a sketch show directed by Cholley Kuhaneck as part of her final project for the directing program at Second City. We preview this Friday at 7:30 in the De Maat Theatre.
I’m directing the delightful improvisers in FrankenReagan every week, and am so proud of the work they’ve been doing.
I’m watching my bean plants, kale, and cute little flowers growing in my window boxes!
And I’m procrastinating a little bit. Instead of folding laundry or cleaning off my kitchen table, I’m composing a blog about what I’ve got going on… Probably to make myself feel better about not cleaning off the table.
Wow. I’m so transparent. I can see right through me. But I do feel a little better about what I’m accomplishing. So that’s something. Now to post this, so that I can clean….
