2013 Lists

Books/Plays Read:

~The Great Gatsby
~-play script-The Righteous and Very Real Housewives of Utah County
~Wildwood
~The Righteous and Very Real Housewives of Utah County

Productions (seen, not acted in) & (titles in bold are those the girls saw with us):

~Lend Me a Tenor-Hale Center Theater, Orem
~The Philadelphia Story-Pioneer Theatre Company
~The Voice of the Prairie-The Grand Theatre
~Adam and Steve and the Empty Sea-Plan-B Theatre Company
~Clybourne Park-Pioneer Theatre Company
~The Eccentrics-U of U Department of Theatre
~How to Make a Rope Swing-Salt Lake Acting Company
~Assassins-Dark Horse Company Theatre
~Death of a Salesman-The Grand Theatre
~Cheat-Pygmalion Productions
~Eric(a)-Plan-B Theatre Company
~A Night with the Family-Pygmalion Productions
~La Cage Aux Folles-The Grand Theatre

Anticipated (a wish list of sorts--but there will be lots more):

June:

• Urinetown 
• The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen's Guild Dramatic Society's Production of Macbeth
• Much Ado About Nothing
• Reykjavik (staged reading)

July:

• Love's Labour's Lost
• Peter and the Starcatcher
• The Tempest
• Anything Goes
• King John
• Guys and Dolls

August:

• Peter Pan
• Ghosts (staged reading)

September:

• Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
• The Soldier's Tale

October:

• In the Heights
• Richard II

November:

• Other Desert Cities
• Love Alone
• Next to Normal
• Love Person

December:

• Radio Hour: Fairyana
• Elf, the Musical

Movies (titles in bold are those the girls saw with us):

~Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol
~The Bourne Legacy
~Brave
~Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
~Land of the Lost
~The Perks of Being a Wallflower
~Warm Bodies
~Iron Jawed Angels
~Beautiful Creatures
~Pitch Perfect
~Skyfall
~Argo

2012 by the #s

Resolutions fulfilled: None. This was an unbelievably difficult year. We are making some transitions in our life that I've been having a hard time adjusting to. I think I've come out the other side. See below.

Plays read: 4. My favorite: I can't even answer that. Sure, The Winter's Tale is a perennial favorite, but the new ones I read...I guess I don't feel like I can talk about them yet. One of them I'm about to start working on, the other two I'm still processing and awaiting some casting information. So.

Books read: 9. My favorite: Of Mice and Men.

Productions attended: 50. The girls saw 27 with us, plus the ones we participated in together and individually. My favorites: The Crucible (The Grand Theatre), Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Plan-B Theatre Company), Les Miserables (Utah Shakespeare Festival), The Adding Machine (U of U Theatre Department), In the Heights (Pioneer Theatre Company), Titus Andronicus (Utah Shakespeare Festival), The 39 Steps (Hale Center Theater, Orem), and War Horse (US National touring company). My favorite performance: Impossible. Maybe a 3-way tie between my husband in The Scarlet Letter, and Aaron Swenson and Latoya Rhodes in Hedwig and the Angry Inch (all with Plan-B Theatre Company).

Productions performed in: 1 (plus 2 one-night stands).

Movies seen: 33. My favorite: Moonrise Kingdom.

Full lists are here.


2013 resolutions. More of the same. Exactly the same. I need a do-over.

1. Read more, watch less.
2. Do more, sit less.
3. Eat less, but higher quality food.
4. Save/pay off more, spend less.
5. Give more, expect less.
6. Be less afraid.

2012 Lists

Books/Plays:

~The Book Thief

~The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
~The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
~The Winter's Tale -play script-
~War Horse
~Pie
~The One and Only Ivan
~Of Mice and Men
~Cutting for Stone
~Life of Pi
~Nothing Personal -play script-
~3 -play script-
~Suffrage -play script-

Productions (seen, not acted in) & (titles in bold are those the girls saw with us):

~Student SLAM-Theatre Arts Conservatory
~The 39 Steps-Hale Center Theater, Orem
~Find and Sign-Pioneer Theatre Company
~The Adding Machine-U of U Department of Theatre

~Educating Rita-Pinnacle Acting Company

~Miss Evers' Boys-The Grand Theatre

~The Big Bad Musical-Woodstock Elementary w/Murray Arts (the girls were in this one)
~Dottie: The Sister Lives On-Salt Lake Acting Company
~Red-Salt Lake Acting Company
~Seven-Pygmalion Productions
~Emma-Pioneer Theatre Company
~The Crucible-The Grand Theatre (x3)
~The Third Crossing-Plan-B Theatre Company

~Rare Bird-U of U Department of Theatre

~Xanadu-Hale Center Theater, Orem

~The Scarlet Letter-Plan-B Theatre Company (x2)

~Script-in-Hand Lab Recital-Meat & Potato Theatre w/Plan-B Theatre Company

~Course 86b in the Catalogue-Salt Lake Acting Company

~Betrayal-Pinnacle Acting Company

~In the Next Room (or the Vibrator Play)-Pygmalion Productions (x2)

~Chapter Two-Wasatch Theatre Company

~The Secret Garden-Hale Center Theater, Orem

~Aliens (the Puppet Musical)-Meat & Potato Theatre
~War Horse-National Theatre of Great Britain, touring production
~Hedwig and the Angry Inch-Plan-B Theatre Company
~To Kill a Mockingbird-Utah Shakespeare Festival
~The Merry Wives of Windsor-Utah Shakespeare Festival
~Mary Stuart-Utah Shakespeare Festival
~Les Miserables-Utah Shakespeare Festival
~Titus Andronicus-Utah Shakespeare Festival
~Annie-Herriman Arts Council
~Comedy of Errors-Salt Lake Shakespeare
~Innovation-Pinnacle Acting Company with Westminster College
~The Rose Exposed-companies working at The Rose Wagner Theatre
~Arsenic and Old Lace-Hale Center Theater, Orem
~A Winter's Tale-The Sting & Honey Company
~In the Heights-Pioneer Theatre Company
~Vernon God Little-U of U Department of Theatre
~Antigone-Classical Greek Theatre Festival
~Theatre Arts Conservatory Shakespeare Competition Showcase
~Geography Club-U of U Department of Theatre
~Into the Woods-The Grand Theatre
~The Lion in Winter-Pinnacle Acting Company
~Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson-Salt Lake Acting Company
~Mulan Jr.-Bonneville Junior High School
~'Tis Pity She's a Whore-U of U Department of Theatre
~Seussical Jr.-Providence Hall Charter School
~South Pacific-Hale Center Theater, Orem
~Senses 5-The Leonardo
~A Christmas Carol: the Musical-Pioneer Theatre Company

Movies (titles in bold are those the girls saw with us):

The Adventures of Tintin

Fright Night

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (can I say I saw this? I think I slept through 75% of it)

The Descendants

The Ides of March

The Lorax
The Hunger Games

Midnight in Paris

Titanic 3D

The Avengers

My Week with Marilyn

Men in Black III
Journey 2: The Mysterious Island
Moonrise Kingdom 
The Dark Knight Rises
The Amazing Spider-Man
The Pirates
The Lucky One 
The Cabin in the Woods
Dark Shadows
Cowboys & Aliens
Frankenweenie
Looper
Drive
Safety Not Guaranteed
Wreck-It Ralph
Prometheus
The Queen of Versailles
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
ParaNorman
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Seeking a Friend for the End of the World
Les Miserables

2011 by the #'s

Resolutions fulfilled: Some. But I'm thinking specific resolutions are not the way to go for me. See below.

Plays read: 9. My favorite: Sarah Ruhl's In the Next Room or The Vibrator Play. And yeah, I'm still pretty devastated that I didn't get cast. But it is one of the plays I'm most looking forward to seeing this year.

Books read: 8. My favorite: Catching Fire.

Productions attended: 57! The girls saw 24 with us, plus the 2 I was in--and they were in 2 themselves, plus there was one production that all of us were involved in. I saw so many great productions this year, it's pretty impossible to pick my favorite, so I'm going to mention my top 5: Spring Awakening (touring), The Glass Menagerie (Grand Theatre), The Diary of Anne Frank (Pioneer Theatre Company), The Drowsy Chaperone (Hale Center Theater, Orem), Les Miserables (touring). My favorite performance: Teresa Sanderson in Gypsy (Dark Horse Company Theatre).

Productions performed in: 3 (plus 1 one-night stand).

Movies seen: 32. I saw 8 of those in an actual cinema. My favorite: Hugo.

2011 was another wonderful year. So full and so busy, which is just the way I like it.

Full lists are here.


On to 2012! In which I make resolutions in a different way.

1. Make friends with 5:30 AM.
2. Read more, watch less.
   
3. Do more, sit less.
4. Eat less, but higher quality food.
   
5. Save/pay off more, spend less.
6. Give more, expect less.
7. Be less afraid.

I Fall in Love Too Easily

Me too, Frank.

Which can make life complicated for an actor. But not in the way you're thinking. I fall in non-romantic love with just about everyone I work with on stage. I love getting to know them in the intense and intimate circumstances of rehearsal. I love having them around. I love being onstage with them and navigating our way through the run of a show together. I love spending time with them offstage. They become like family to me. And then the show ends. And we go our separate ways. A necessary part of the process--there's always another project to move on to, life to get back to. We always declare our intentions to stay in contact, to not let too much time pass before seeing each other again, or better yet, working together again. But, life gets in the way and promises are rarely kept, on my side too. These separations are so acute in the beginning, they feel like breakups. I find myself pining over my lost loves and wonder if I'm the only one that goes through it. And then I wonder what on earth I'm doing in this profession. And then I, too, move on to the next thing and fall in love again. With somebody new. Or with a different aspect of an actor I've worked with before.

Actually, as I think about it, maybe this belongs in the tally of things that are amazing about the actor's life. I get to be reminded, on a regular basis, of what it's like to fall in love. I get to find incredible new friends and deepen older friendships. Hi-diddle-dee-dee, an actor's life for me! Thanks for listening and helping me work through that.

More blogging elsewhere

clicky on the picture

Lessons Learned 4

Macbeth--There ARE some new things that can be done with Shakespeare. Also--not necessarily in reaction to the performance, just some things it made me think about--Lady Macbeth is the boss of that marriage. For a while. There is a point at which Macbeth actually becomes what she seems to want him to be and at that point he becomes scary. She loses her power then. And goes a little crazy (?). Maybe because the situation is completely out of her control, where she's used to having everything well-in-hand (?).

Sunset Boulevard--It's possible to be a completely fabulous leading lady and still be humble and gracious. Not that I'll ever have occasion to take a curtain call like that one, but still. A good thing to remember.

Proof--Someday I'm going to be old. And I'm going to have to give up acting. I fear the performance that will make me realize it's time to let it go.

The Odyssey--I will never be as good of an actor as mr. is. Not a chance.

Lessons Learned 3

Anne Frank--An audience doesn't need a character to be what they expect. If the character is played with truth and actions are supported by the script, there's no reason not to challenge their expectations.

Equus--Sometimes naked just makes more sense. It just does.

Borderlands--It is strange to watch someone play a role you've played. It's different if it's a role hundreds of actors have played. When it's one only the two of you have played, it's just odd. Not good or bad, but odd. And there's more to be learned by that process than I can say in just a couple of sentences.

Hairspray--Just keep going. Mic problem, sound issue, whatever. Enthusiasm and energy will keep the audience with you no matter what.

Circle Mirror Transformation--Watching actors perform theatre games is ALMOST as uncomfortable for me as doing them myself. Why? Why do I despise theatre games so much? It's what made me realize I could never be an acting teacher. But I don't think that's why I hate them.