Cape Cod Journal 03

We made it! Chatham is beautiful! I love it! It's so small and so New England. Had lunch at The Squire Tavern then went to the beach where they don't allow dogs all summer. How upsetting. It's really gorgeous here though. The theatre is on Main St. Chatham and we are all boarding in the two very old little houses next to it. Bunk beds, and broken dressers. Total actor housing, but I'm happy with my light house printed curtains! We'll be working so hard I imagine it will be rare that we notice how crammed in we are. Rehearsal starts tonight after dinner! Fiddler on the Roof is first!

Cape Cod Journal 02

We've done it! Finished one whole year of our Masters in Fine Arts in acting program at Ohio University, and it was rough, to say the least, but certainly fun as well. So now it's time for a true test of heroism; The Monomoy Theatre in Chatham. My classmate Nicole Tuthill and I drove all day long, from Athens, Ohio all the way past Baltimore, past Philadelphia, past New York City, to Stamford, Connecticut where we are staying the night in a cheap hotel before leaving early tomorrow morning for the theatre we are spending the next three months living in, eating in, celebrating in, and acting in. Boy, do we have our work cut out for us. I think I mentioned before that my major roles are, of course, being an ensemble member in The Dining Room, but also being Elvira in Blithe Spirit and Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing. In fact, I'm in everything but The Lion in Winter and The Cherry Orchard. It's going to be an extremely full summer!
The rest of our classmates should be arriving at various times tomorrow. The eight graduate students with the addition of one senior from OU are making up the main acting company at Monomoy, but of course there will be several more artists coming in as professionals and students from other schools to work with us as well!
Nicole and I had a fantastic day, though, despite all the driving. We met this great waitress at a diner in the middle of nowhere Maryland who was so excited about us going to Monomoy. She even told me that she had played Elvira twenty years ago. Which may or may not be true, although as Nicole pointed out, she did seem pretty sincere about it.
More driving tomorrow! Night!

Just a Note: Othello at PICT

The drive from Athens, Ohio to Pittsburgh takes about three and a half hours, but considering that I was getting to see Othello staged for the first time, it was worth it. Not to mention, my acting coach, Shelley Delaney who is playing Emilia, and graduates of the OU MFA in Acting program, Georgia Mallory Guy and Allison McLemore who are doing Bianca and Desdemona.
So a few of my classmates and I braved the three hours happily, embarasingly belting show tunes and folk songs much of the way. Pittsburgh is a beautiful city, or at least it is on a bright May afternoon! To be honest, just getting out of Athens made for a delightful day trip.
It was so exciting to see this masterful work of The Bard. It's truly one of my favorites, and the jealousy, deceit, sex and murder was so fun to see on stage. Also, it made me really proud to see the great work coming out of my program. Georgia Mallory Guy who played Claire in the recent production of Proof I was in, was a lovely Bianca. She was so strong and responsive every moment she was onstage. Allison McLemore, who I don't know personally, also did a fantastic job. Her Desdemona was wonderfully traditional in wilting flower Desdemona fashion.
I had never seen a Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre (PICT) production before either, and I really loved their space. They're location is perfect, its right by University of Pittsburgh which gives the whole neighborhood a very college town feel. Lots of little restaurants, gardens, and statues of dinosaurs. Yes, dinosaurs.
We had dinner at a little Mediterranean place with Shelley and Georgia, and then grabbed some Caribou Coffee and headed back home to Athens. Successful day.

Cape Cod Journal 01

For those of you who haven't heard my summer vacation is not going to be a vacation at all. I'll be working hard with my fellow graduate students as part of the main acting company at The Monomoy Theatre on...drum roll...Cape Cod. And while we're still about five or six weeks away from heading out there to begin our long, hot summer, we received our roles and scripts yesterday, and I thought I would just let you know what all I will be playing: The summer will begin with Fiddler on the Roof (June 22-July3), I'm just a villager in that and very happy about it; next is The Dining Room (July 6-10), this play is made up of an ensemble of several actors of which I am one; while some of the company will be working on The Lion in Winter (July 13-17), I'll move right into playing Elvira in Blithe Spirit (July 20-24); follow that with Lady Rowena in Once Upon a Mattress (July 29-August 7); and then immediately onto the role I'm most excited about, my very first Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing (August 10-14); and finally after other members in the company finish The Cherry Orchard (August 17-21), I will conclude my summer playing Gloria in Three Men on a Horse (August 24-28).
There is much work to be done before I hit the Cape, but you can rest assured that I will blog about my adventures out there every step of the way so I hope you tune in! Oh my gosh, I get to play Beatrice! I'm absolutely thrilled!

Heather Does not Go to the Theatre

I feel already that the title of this post is misleading as every day I do go to the theatre. In fact, I tend to spend all day long at the theatre. The lengthy list of things to do never seems to end; acting class, voice class, movement class, seminar, teach acting, rehearsal for Olympic Village, see a show, read a show, discuss a show, it never ends. So this morning, as I have nothing theatre oriented to do until 4:30, I just took off. It's a beautiful sunny day, and I just drove off in my old pickup truck into rural Ohio. Out past where my cellphone worked, past Stroud's Run, to a tiny, tiny town called Amesville, Ohio that is quite literally nothing but a church, a bank, and a pizzeria. I stopped there, on the fringe of Amesville and hiked my way up a country road. There were butterflies aplenty, the sounds of woodpeckers in the trees, Redwing Blackbirds flitting in and out of the grass stopping only when hawks would pass, and a pair of haggard looking nags lazily grazing by a pond. Rest assured that while I miss Oregon, and I can't wait to get to New York City, the beauty of this middle-American state is not lost on me.

In Memory of My Life Pre-Graduate School

I bought a VOGUE Magazine today. It's an old habit of mine that I haven't indulged in for a while. I simply haven't had time between acting classes, student films, plays, auditions and readings to concern myself with the frivolities Coco and Oscar can offer, but today, today I bought a March VOGUE. While I'm sure I'll very much enjoy the photography, the clothes, the interior design, and whatnot, a stipulation for my purchasing it was that it contained a theater section this month. I can't even look at a fluff magazine without concerning myself with the stage these days.
After an alarmingly difficult second quarter of graduate school, I am taking a few days to myself, spending my time reflecting on my studies, imagining my life and career as an actor, and preparing myself for the challenges ahead. Upon returning to school I will be auditioning for roles at the summer stock on Cape Cod where several of my classmates and I will be acting (I'm very excited to be living and working on the cape this summer). I am also readying myself to play a key role in Olympic Village a new play by David Mitchell Robinson, a third year playwright at Ohio University who's play Carapace won the 2010 Kendeda Graduate Playwriting Competition. Olympic Village will be part of Ohio University's annual spring playwright's festival.
So it's been nearly seven months of constantly eating and breathing acting, taking small breaks to consume organic produce from Athen's ample year round farmer's market, and I cannot say I'm unhappy. Even the days I feel totally overwhelmed, I still am happy to be where I am, learning as much as I am. Of course, someday I look forward to buying a fashion magazine without checking for a theater section.

Show Stills from Proof