Conversations with Prima AND Seconda

Seconda: Mom, what's a soap opera?

Me: It's a dramatic TV show. People have very dramatic relationships and everything that happens is...dramatic. They call them soap operas because soap makers used to advertise during them.

Prima: Ooooahhhhh! I thought it was an opera about soap.

Prima and Seconda: *operatic singing about washing your hands and face*

This may be the one subject Mister Rogers didn't write an opera about. He should have. My kids could have consulted on the libretto. Speaking of which, will someone PLEASE get on putting together a DVD of all of Mister Rogers' operas?! PLEASE?!

All in the Family

So, our summer turned out to be a little different than we expected. mr. is performing the lead role in Macbeth with Salt Lake Shakespeare.


Aaaaannnddd...Prima is in it with him, making her theatre debut! She is playing an Apparition, a Macduff child, and a guest at the banquet (for those not intimately familiar with the play...the banquet is significant). She's having a wonderful time and doing a great job. She was the first one in the cast to be memorized (she has just one line, but it is long and full of big words and parentheticals), she is well-behaved at rehearsals, and she gets to do a little stage combat (thankfully she's in the trusted hands of an incredible fight choreographer and a careful actor).


She keeps a little notebook in her rehearsal bag and makes sure to write down changes in her blocking or other notes. I think it's in her blood.

They open next Thursday, July 23, and play through August 1 (the exact schedule is a little scattered, so message me if you want to see it and I'll let you know specific days). Speaking of which, remember that one time when mr. was in Henry V with Salt Lake Shakespeare and some of you missed it? And you've regretted it ever since?


Don't let that happen again. Two Fossens for the price of one!

Meanwhile, I have just started rehearsing for Pinnacle Acting Company's production of Three Days of Rain. A beautiful play that I am thrilled to be working on. One of my three very gifted brothers is designing the set (and maybe if I direct people to his blog, he'll post on it more frequently :)). Please come see this one as well. We preview Aug. 20 and play through Sept. 5.

Of course, all of this theatre-making means we've had a little less time for theatre-going this summer. We certainly see our share of plays (17 so far this year--sadly, only 6 of those were ones we took the girls to see with us), but there were/are some particular productions this summer that involved friends of ours and were family-friendly that we were really hoping to see. Hopefully those friends will be understanding about our absence.

Next up...who knows, maybe we'll take a break for a week or so before one of us starts another project. Oh, right, I already have one scheduled for mid-September. More on that later.

Home Recital

Prima had her first piano recital with her new teacher this week. Mark wasn't able to be there because of rehearsal, so she did a home recital for him. Seconda wanted to perform as well. She was almost part of the recital. She started lessons with this new teacher at the same time Prima did. But after a few weeks she displayed some...attitude problems, so we took her out. We hope to start her again next Spring. She'll be a year older and (hopefully) a year more able to handle practicing.

So, here's their home recital. Seconda first and then Prima. With a special appearance by our new puppy, Mac (the dog who will eat anything, including bits of dust from the floor).

A View

This is the view from my desk. There are 8 different kinds of trees in this picture. And at least one more that is just out of frame. Sometimes it's like living in a forest. With paved roads. And a grocery store 3 minutes away. Perfect.

Questions Answered

For those with whom I've been out of touch for a long time (and anyone else) who has asked me: What the hell are you doing in UTAH?! (or some variation of that question)...

It has nothing to do with skiing.

It has every thing to do with this:

Seconda meditating on a rock in American Fork canyon surrounded by 3 of her best boy cousins doing...boy things.

Here's the thing: I was a different kind of parent when we lived in Pennsylvania. I had a wonderful group of mommy friends that my husband and some of his daddy counterparts affectionately dubbed "The Overprotective Mommy Club". And I was probably the most overprotective of the bunch. If we had stayed there, both girls would likely still be girly princesses who never went outside without being padded from head to toe. They still like pink and have more than their share of Barbies, don't get me wrong. We moved to Utah to be close to family, and one of the unexpected benefits of that decision is that our girls have been exposed to BOYS in all their glory. They have learned to wrestle (hit back when hit) and climb rocks (or at least try). Prima is now asking for a skateboard and on this particular picnicking trip, she lost a tooth (eating a s'more of all things) and spit blood like a champ.


And do we like it, now that we're here? Yes. For lots of reasons that may seem obvious: affordable housing, breathtakingly beautiful landscape, proximity to family. But the real surprise has been the discovery of a theatre community that is thriving. The culture here in Utah (and in Salt Lake, in particular) is alive with friction caused by conservatives and liberals rubbing elbows and backyards and trying to figure out how to live with each other. I think that friction creates incredible creative energy. And some smart theatre companies like:

Plan-B Theatre Company

Salt Lake Acting Company

Meat and Potato Theatre

Stephen Brown Dance

have tapped into that energy by devoting at least a portion of their resources to developing new works right here in the thick of it. This is the thing that will keep us here. I think. I hope.



And on a more intimate note, for those who've asked: I am not having a hysterectomy after all. I saw a different doctor who thought that solution was somewhat akin to cutting off one's nose...you know how it goes. We are trying a different solution to my problems. I'm optimistic.

My Year With Will

Last year at this time, I had just been cast in the Sundance Summer Theatre production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. It was the first Shakespeare I had done since understudying Macbeth at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in 1996 (*aside* Berkeley Rep just closed a production of The Lieutenant of Inishmore with Jim Carpenter....WHAAAATT!!...did somebody videotape it for me?!). 12 years. Nothing like being thrown in the deep end after a 12 year absence. My theatre year then proceeded like this:

May-August--Titania/Hippolyta in A Midsummer Night's Dream
September-October--Nurse in Romeo and Juliet
March-May--Duchess (Duke Ferdinand) in As You Like It

I love working on Shakespeare. There is a bottomless well of stuff. So much to be mined. And it is so gratifying when audience members talk to you afterwards and say things like, "I didn't think I would understand what was going on, but I understood everything." See, it's not difficult. The language is heightened, but the ideas are universal. All you have to do is listen.

It's been a good year working with that language again. I hope I don't have to wait another 12.

You're Never Fully Dressed...

Dear Seconda,

You should know that no matter how scraggly your teeth get (or have been), your smile will always do the same thing it always has done: make other people smile.

Love,

Mommy


Of all the smiles in the world, the 6-year old gap-toothed smile is, by far, my favorite.