Happy Festival!

Somewhere in the wilds of Western Massachusetts this weekend, hundreds of teenagers are gathering to cheer, cry, shout, sigh, and whoo-hoo with all the passion of an audience at a rock concert. Which means it's time again for the Fall Festival of Shakespeare, which opened last night with a performance of Twelfth Night followed by a Hamlet. Four days. Ten productions. Ten high schools. No competition.

My own production of Much Ado About Nothing (that's it in the picture) doesn't go on until Saturday, so in the meantime I'm working assignments in tech and front of house for the other productions. The generosity and enthusiasm of the kids towards each other's performances is really stunning and heartening, proving once again that while most of us are stuck with the competitive model for theater, kids are actually eager and delighted to put that aside and whole-heartedly cheer for the success of kids they've never met. Out in the lobby after shows they congratulate each other (and promise to friend one another of Facebook, of course). It's the perfect antidote to my six years of having to be involved in theater competitions.

It's also amazing that we've arrived at the 20th Fall Festival, since I was participating as a high school student in festivals 1-3. Apparently there is a picture of me in the rotating slide show in the lobby. I haven't seen it yet, but my kids did, and they were weirded out to think that I was ever their age. I don't know--I still feel 17 most of the time.

In the lobby last night I also had my first sighting of Trish, and we had a mini NITS reunion right there. Kevin was wandering the lobby in a tuxedo and baseball hat and Jenna was beaming after her production of Hamlet came down. Crem is doing The Merchant of Venice this year, set in the 1950's with a largely Latino cast. It is a green world here.

So this goes out with well-wishes to you all for your productions and your kids and yourselves.

It's opening night

And last night at final dress, my SM and one of my leads were sick, so I had a second playing the lead and an ASM calling cues, and it worked amazingly well, all considered.

Yay!

Checking in?

Hi all! It's been quite some time since I've been on this thing to see what is up with everyone. Feeling the need for a NITS reunion?? Perhaps in Texas?

That's the big news on my front: I'm moving to Austin in June! I'm also in a production of Alls Well That Ends Well in SF as Diana right now, and loving that outlet, but it definitely brings up memories of Caesar. Maybe some day we can reenact that....

Good thoughts going out to all, all over this country on the brink of change!

Rachael

Checking In

Hi. My name is Amanda and today I feel... maroon with vertical stripes of blue.

I started a new job hunt this weekend. My current job is... frustrating? Infuriating? Totally against creativity being exhibited by me or my students?

Which is annoying. I knew I was going into a school/district that is Title-1, high-risk, on academic watch, etc. What I didn't know is that they were hiring a new superintendent after they hired me, who came in and made some sweeping policy changes that I don't agree with. That they brought in a new curriculum coach who thinks that "novels are a waste of time." That the money they swore to give me so I could start a drama program "isn't available this year". And so on. If you saw the venting on my blog from last week, well, you have a pretty good idea of what's going on on the classroom level, too.

In any case, I started the job hunting process over again. Because I know that it was right for me to be in Denver right now, but this job sure isn't right for me. Which makes the whole moving thing a bit perplexing for people who don't understand that sometimes you make choices because you're listening for the harmonies in life when everyone is singing along to the melody. You know?

So, to sum up. Hi! I'm Amanda and today I feel anxious and I could really use some reminders that green places do exist in public schools, please.

And I pass it to Craig.

I love my job

I love my job.

I'm in the middle of beg. tech theatre and my set is almost ready to paint and life is grand.

This is all in opposition, of course, to my breakup with Tyler.

Medea

I'm cutting 45 minute version of Medea, to be produced in my Advanced Drama class a'la Julius Caesar. Let me know if you want a copy.