Disorientation

(Me, "Disco", with my classmate, "Two Shots Up", who was trying to hide her hair with my skirt for some reason.)

I just wrote about this on my new blog, but whatever. I'm writing about it here, too. Why? Because I'm just that geeked.

So much information was thrown at me today that my head is spinning a little. I think they should call it Disorientation. It'd be more appropriate.

Today was the All-Student portion of Orientation. The head of the program is a lovely man named Greg. He said that every year, they watch 1200-1500 auditions, and that we are an "incredibly select group of people". I'd like to remind you that my class is 12 people. TWELVE. And the two classes ahead of mine? TEN people, each. 32 people in my entire program, out of like 4000 who have auditioned in the last 3 years. That's NUTS. I can't even wrap my brain around it. Dude, we're AWESOME. You have no idea how fantastic that made me feel. So... VALIDATED.

He looked at us and said, "You guys are the future of the American Theatre -- it's all in this room."

And maybe it's crazy, but I believe him.

I've been elected as one of two representatives for my class (which was really just because I expressed interest in doing it, and most people looked to the floor). Feels just like student council (I was the secretary in middle school, FYI).

I also had a really tremendous revelation...

I know why things happened the way they did with Tony n' Tina's Wedding. I KNOW why I spent all that time learning a character and never went up. I know why I was in a show where I was basically crew.

It was to prepare me for this.

I'm going to be getting understudy assignments for the mainstage, which is a professional, Equity theatre (Equity = the union for actors). There are only three (3!) understudy rehearsals for each show. You have to learn your part by memorizing the script, watching a video of the blocking, and attending as many rehearsals as you can make it to (which isn't many, since you're spending so much time in classes). You might not get to go on at all. And if you do get to go on, you might only get 20 minutes notice. And some students don't take preparation as seriously as they should because they don't think they'll have to go on, and then THEY DO.

TnT worked in a similar fashion. I showed up my first day, and was in the show the same night. I learned the role of Sister Terry by reading a script and watching performances. I never got to rehearse. And I never knew if I was going to go on or not. That was just built in to the process. Even after I knew I wasn't going to be Sister Terry, I still dyed my hair, continued to go over her blocking in my head, and studied her backstory JUST IN CASE there was a chance that I could go on. And no, I never got to be Sister Terry, but I was ready. And you know what? I learned a lot just from preparing for the role.

The 1st year class is also responsible to help with the technical side of the 2nd years' productions (they basically get their own season in their own theatre). I might be Assistant Stage Managing, running crew, costume crew, light board operator... Who knows.

Apparently, a lot of first years are completely worn out by having to go from classes to crew work. And they're not used to the lack of weekends. And they're frustrated by not being able to perform.

But I won't be! I went from my day-job to TnT several days a week. I know I can handle that schedule. I know that I can deal with doing crew instead of performing. And I haven't had a real weekend since April!

Thanks to the experiences I've had in the last few months, I'm more than ready to handle this. Heck, I'm BUILT for this! I've TRAINED for this! I am the Olympic-freakin-CHAMPION of this!

At one point, we were getting some speeches about being serious in our classwork, and I started getting nervous.

And then I wrote this in my notebook: "Angela, calm down."

Why? Because I forget that I was a good student.

I wasn't always... High school was hard for me before I was diagnosed with ADHD. But as soon as I was diagnosed and medicated? I became a straight-A student for the first time in my life. My first couple of years of college weren't easy, but that probably has to do with the fact that I changed majors about 18 times. My last three semesters, I was a Theatre major (and ONLY a theatre major, having dropped my other majors and minors). And you know what happened? I made Dean's List all three semesters.

I love theatre. I'm good at theatre. And when I'm studying something I love? It doesn't really seem like studying at all. I know that I can rock it

I'm not afraid. Bring it on, baby.


May you know that you can handle whatever life throws at you.

~A~