I'm so tired...

It's the end of term 2, and boy am I exhausted. We've been working extremely hard to pull together an in-house presentation for the first-years, with our melodramas and various chorus pieces we've worked on over the course of the term. I'm in three pieces, two melodramas as musician and a big chorus that supports an excerpt from Mein Kampf.

I guess I should explain exactly what these territories are. Melodrama, or epic story, is about the struggle of an individual to make a difficult choice against a background of political and/or social upheaval. I'm still involved in the post-WWII story about a womens' de-Nazification camp, and I'm also doing the music for a group that's dealing with a strike and subsequent fatal collapse of a mine in the southern US. I really like being the musician, and I think I'm good at it: being a foley artist is lots of fun, and it requires a precise timing that's really gratifying when you get it right. These pieces have required the most "standard" theater approach that we've used so far at LISPA, that is having actors, a director, writers, etc., and it's been interesting going back to such a segmented approach after having devised freely for so long. It's hard to tell whether either or both of these pieces will "work", since we radically changed the structure of one piece today (two days before the presentation) and I haven't had a chance to rehearse with the other group yet. We'll see how that goes.

The choruses are really interesting as well, and I'm really excited about the one I'm in, which really goes to the dark place that dealing with Hitler requires. We have dim light, shadows on the wall, blood, dismemberment, stomping ritual circles, and more: it's one of those pieces that is (I hope) deeply discomforting to watch and really really fun to do.

I'm flying to Texas on Saturday morning, but at this point that flight feels like it will never come. LISPA is all-consuming, and my classmates and I are running on fumes toward the finish line. Wish us luck!

Term II: my un-melodramatic adventures in un-tragedy

We're in the territory of melodrama (where you try to make the audience cry), fast approaching tragedy, and (surprisingly perhaps) I feel great! For some reason, constructing and playing these sad things is a lot more fun than it sounds. I'm currently part of a piece about the "silence camps" run by the Russians after WWII, where they tried to "de-nazify" the Nazis. One of my group-mates had a great-aunt that was actually in one of these camps, and we're working with a highly fictionalized version of that story. I get to be the musician, which means I'm get to move gravel around in a box with a spoon to make the sound of grave-digging, and also play (hopefully) heart-rending tunes on my classmate's violin. I picked up that instrument for the first time in about eight years with much apprehension, but I'm re-discovering a kind of love for it. I wish you could all see our piece, I think it's going to be quite good.

In domestic news, the new apartment continues to be absolutely wonderful, especially now that we have a shower curtain! I also signed up to receive organic fruit and vegetable boxes every week, and it's really nice to get carrots that still have the dirt on them, and strange vegetables like fennel that force me to broaden my palate. My housemates are wonderful, and I can utter a genuine sigh of relief getting home to my cosy little room. It's heavenly.

Tonight I saw a play by the master director Peter Brook, and it was a good opportunity to reflect on how much I've learned over the past year and a half. When I first got to London and started seeing shows, I had a vague notion if any of what was good and bad in theater, and no real sense of how to describe what I liked or didn't like, or why. Now, I'm able to look at a work, and not only comment on it, but describe the particular things that didn't work, and even think of ways that they could be made better. In a program that prides itself on constantly pushing the limits of what we can do, it's easy to lose sight of how far we've come, and it's nice to have a reminder now and then.

(In case you were wondering, the Peter Brook piece was beautifully staged, and the actors all had good presence, but the rhythm was very flat, and a lot was explained that, I think, should have been shown through action. Plus the story wasn't interesting on a gut level. But that's just my opinion.)

On the threshold of term 2

Tomorrow I start the second term of my second year of LISPA, which will be an adventure. I'll write about that when it happens.

Today, I'm looking back on the break I just had at home, which was one of the happiest times of the past few years. It was really nice to see family and friends, work just enough that I didn't feel guilty for not doing anything productive, knit things for loved ones and their loved ones, and of course spend time with my dear fellow coot-partner. It was also nice to be home, fall back into old patterns, and yet not feel like I was falling back into my old self. I got to cook for my family, watch way too much Gilmore Girls, wander around Boston in the freezing cold, see my grandfather, eat out at my favorite restaurants, play board games with everyone, and much more, all with a sense of being in the right place at the right time, utterly content. I would stay in that break forever if I could.

But all good things end, so here I am, back in London, fortunately in a lovely apartment with lovely housemates. I spent the better part of yesterday decorating my rooms, driving myriad nails into the walls, which is definitely not allowed on our lease (massive spackle attack in like 7 months!), and now it really feels like home again.

Today I saw Avatar and really liked it. The plot was Pocahontas with blue folks (no really: http://www.buzzfeed.com/reddit/james-camerons-pocohontas-err-avatar), not really worth mentioning, but my goodness, the world they created is phenomenal! So much bioluminescence... If you can see it in IMAX 3D, do: this is one of the first movies in a long time where I would have been willing to spend the 15 bucks to see it in the best possible quality. The only thing I wished they'd done differently was that the Na'vi were pretty clearly human beings, elongated and painted blue with some cat features. I would have loved to see what they would have looked like if they'd actually been back-engineered (not the right word, but you get the idea) from actual big cats, like as if the sentient beings on this planet had evolved not from monkeys but from cats. That would have been cool.

And then I went home and butchered a raw chicken for the first time. I kind of thought it would be harder than it was, and I'm definitely doing this from now on. I mean, a whole small chicken costs around 3 pounds or less, and if you want an equivalent amount of meat pre-packaged, it would probably run you about 5 or 6 pounds. Incredible.

And now I'm off to find a recipe for something decadent and chocolate that goes with raspberries. Don't you all wish you were visiting me in London? ;)

In da house!

We've moved, over a long and stressful weekend, from 2 Henniker to a lovely little apartment just a few minutes away from West Ham station. My room is itsy bitsy and ever so cute, and thankfully I now have a somewhat rickity but very useful bed with storage underneath. There is no internet as of yet, so I'm stealing some from Three Mills.

And in short, why this new apartment is much much better than our old house:

-Adequate heat

-Actual tiling in the bathroom and kitchen

-No mold in the cupboards

-A living room

-A covered place to put our bikes

-Lots and lots of locks between us and the great outdoors (and consequentially lots of keys, which is exciting!)

-Space to store stuff

-Plenty of space in the kitchen

-And the list goes on...

And even with all of that, it's cheaper than 2 Henniker!

In LISPA news, none of my pieces have made it to be shown to the first years this Thursday, so I'll be helping with moving set pieces and being an outside eye. The pieces that will be shown are really wonderful, and it's great to be part of the class that made them. Of course part of me is disappointed not to be performing, but there will be lots of time for that later.

Also, I'm flying home this Sunday, and guess when the British Airways strike is scheduled to start? Monday! I'm counting my lucky stars, and will be very grateful to get home for the holidays.

December in LISPA-land

And it's suddenly week 6. My goodness, how did that happen? Much has happened since my last update, so here's the news:

We've been working on Commedia dell'Arte in class, which basically means getting in touch with the "healthy selfishness" inside all of us, stealing things, murdering people, having lots of stage sex, yelling and screaming and swearing and having a fabulous time. It's felt really good to explore those baser parts of humanity, going to a place beyond all societal norms: once you've been there, it's a lot cooler to pull it back and explore "normal" stuff, but with all the richness of the dark side.

Our end of term presentation is coming up, so we as a group have to decide what we're going to show to the first years. It's both wonderful and frustrating to sit in a group of thirty-five people and try to decide on, well, anything at all. I can say for certain that if we hadn't gone through an entire year of LISPA we would not be able to do this, but after a very long meeting on Monday we decided on which platform and commedia pieces we would think about presenting next Thursday. Both of my pieces got voted out, but I'm working on a new six-person piece about lovers in a hotel, and if it works it might get shown next Thursday. But the great thing is that even if that new piece doesn't work and I'm not performing in anything, it doesn't matter, because those of us who don't perform will help the other groups by being outside eyes, getting props and costumes, being set-movers during the performance, and basically chipping in to something that is more about our group than any of us individually, and that feels really good.

On the non-school front, the move to a new house is finally happening! About two weeks ago I found a three-bedroom flat that happened to be cheaper than 2 Henniker, closer to school, and much nicer (there's actual tiling in the bathroom and a common space! hooray!). So Frank, Gaidig, her boyfriend Damien and I put down a deposit, and we're getting the keys tomorrow! My stuff is mostly packed up, but I still can't believe I'm actually leaving this house, where I've lived for more than a year now. Jill and Ana are already gone to their new place, and the house feels quite big and empty with all their stuff gone. It feels right to have a new house for a new year of LISPA, and I'm happy to be living with wonderful LISPA-folk, but I will miss the good time we had in this house.

Year Two

Hey folks, just checking in from the land of biking through 36 degrees Fahrenheit, 100 percent humidity at 9:30pm. The second year of LISPA has started, and I am immersed in a schedule of going to school anywhere from 12:30 to 4:45pm and leaving school anywhere from 8:30 to 10pm. It's a perfect schedule for night owls such as myself, but the early birds among us are suffering quite a bit.

We've dived right into classes and creation, and while this year it feels like we actually know what's going on, that certainly doesn't make it any easier to get stuff done.

Current list of assignments:

-Creation project: tell an epic story on a 6x3ft platform with five other people. My group is doing The Princess Bride.

-Make a Commedia dell'Arte style half mask.

-Make a "dynamic mask" based on a Commedia dell'Arte character

-Write about my definition of an artist and my dream life as an artist.

That might not sound like a lot, but it sure feels like it, especially when you don't really know how to do it (ie mask-making). It's also interesting to see the first-years getting accustomed to LISPA, and remembering this time last year when I was as thoroughly confused as they seem to be. Good times...

On the non-school front, things are quite happily domestic. I've been enjoying cooking as much as ever (beef stew and turkey pie have been on the menu lately, with roast chicken to come), working a shift or two at the Picturehouse on Sundays, our only class-less day, and knitting fingerless gloves for my classmates. I really do enjoy this life, and it's a good thing too, 'cause with this kind of weather, anything less than a thoroughly fulfilling pursuit would be rather torturous, and I'd be tempted to just pack up and go home. You know how they say it's not the heat, it's the humidity? Well, that principle works for cold too. Just so you know. :)

Austin, TX

Today I slept until 2:30pm, thanks to continuing jet lag from Austin. Thanks, Austin.

But seriously, Austin is one cool city! Of course its major charm at the moment is being the dwelling-place of my significant other, but it's also pretty awesome on its own merits. Coming into the airport and being greeted by country music, barbeque shops, and giant decorated guitars definitely was a big ol' "Welcome to Texas", and it was nice to be somewhere where I could go outside and want to take off my sweatshirt instead of wanting to put three more on. They call it the "live music capital of the world", I think, and I do feel rather bad that I'll be living there next year completely unappreciative of all this amazing music, while hundreds of hipsters are writhing in their skinny jeans with envy. But it sounds like there's also a thriving theater scene, many yoga studios, and enough folks with similar sensibilities to mine that I should be able to find a crowd to hang with.

But that's all in the future. Cool things we did on this particular visit included:

-Seeing thousands upon thousands of bats streaming out from under a particularly stinky bridge in central Austin as though fired by a giant inexhaustible bat-gun.

-Seeing Master Pancake Theater at the Alamo Drafthouse: basically, a live version of Mystery Science Theater 3000, with awesome food and booze.

-Going out to eat at various wonderful places, including the cheapest and best Mexican place ever, Amy's ice cream, where I swear they screen for insanity and only hire the crazy people, some great pho places, and one of my favorites, a barbeque place where the soundtrack in the bathroom was "How to speak Southern".

The inhabitants of the city also seem to be a really nice and diverse mix who somehow live in relative harmony without killing each other: we saw plenty of "Texans for Obama" bumper stickers as well as some folks at the university who displayed a sandwich board with an Obama-Hitler image, and then asked us how we'd like to go to Mars (...?). There's yoga studios next to Whattaburgers, and everyone seems to come together and bring their kids to see those famous bats. Basically, I'm really excited that this is the city I'll be living in for the foreseeable future after LISPA.

And speaking of LISPA, due to various administrative things (accreditation, visas, etc.) school got pushed back a week, which means that we don't start until... November. Which is insane. So we all still have two weeks to try to earn (and put on) those last few pounds before we get swept up in the exhausting, exhilarating, frustrating, wonderful whirlwind that the second year promises to be. Until then! :)