Time To Study

I am working on memorizing my lines this morning for a play I will be in soon.  Some of my scenes are now at a point of being “thought perfect” as we used to call it in my bible quizzing days. For example, I just said, “The Bacon-Cateses didn’t invite me for Madame Pompadore.”  It is actually “never invited me”.  

Not that big of a deal, but on stage that kind of flub sets off the lizard part of my brain that starts screaming at me that I made a mistake and it wants to address it… NOW!  It wants to figure out what the actual words should have been.  At which point an internal dialogue starts where I am trying to tell that part of my brain to shut the #$%^ up and that we can deal with this when I am off stage in a few minutes.  I do this while another part of my brain continues with the scene.

One would think that moving beyond thought perfect to word perfect would be enough.  But it isn’t.  You have to go further. I remember watching an interview with the music artist Mylon Lefevre.  He talked about rehearsing beyond getting it right to the point where it is difficult to get it wrong.

I love every part of a show- the rehearsing, the conversations, getting to know the cast, setting up, the production… but not the memorizing.  It gets so tedious.  I get to the point I would rather do ANYTHING than pick up that script again.

But this is a life lesson I learn again and again.  Pretty much anything worthwhile requires work.  Be it mental health, physical health, relationships, career building, education… there are parts that just aren’t going to be cookies and rainbows. 

So, if I want the payoff of all of the good times the memorizing is going to produce…

It is time for me to get back to my script.

So Long, 2010!

2010 was a year filled with joy, but there was a lot of sadness as well. So I look on it with smiles but also some relief that it is over. In any case, I am excited to be entering into 2011.

No big trips this year, but lots of fun little ones. That is the nice thing about living in Utah... you are never far away from a vacation spot. We have been in Utah for just over 6 years now. It is incredible to me, looking back, that we made the move from Michigan... however, I never hesitate to think that this was the best move for our family.

One of the greatest treasures we discovered in moving out here was becoming involved with the South Jordan Community Theater. Kathryn led the way, and we have come to love the people in this community like family. We have participated, in some capacity, in 5 shows during 2010. Each one was tons of fun. My parents have even jumped into the fray when they visit.

Our neighborhood in South Jordan is an excellent place to be. Jacob is involved with Boy Scouts.  Kathryn is busy with middle school. She will be a teenager in 2011.... sigh..... I only got to do one movie in the park behind our house this summer; I am determined to do a better run this year.

2010 was definitely a year of spiritual transitions for us. I think we did a lot of clarifying of who we are not. Perhaps in 2011, we will determine who we are.

Thanks to all of you who read and chime in on this blog!  I hope you have a wonderful New Year!

SJCT's A Midsummer's Night Dream

Our show opens August 6! If you are in the SLC Valley area, come see the show! Tickets available at www.sjtheatre.org

I am Oberon! King of the Woodland Faeries! Jacob is part of my train, and Kathryn is part of Titania's.

Annie Opens this Friday!

This Friday, the South Jordan Community Theater production of Annie will hit the stage. My daughter is the orphan Tessie, and I will be singing and dancing in the Hooverville scene (got Man 2 lines there also), various Warbucks mansion scenes, NYC, and playing the soundman in the radio scene.

It occured to me the other night while doing a sound check, as I was singing out a few lines from the stage, the strange twists and turns my life has taken these past few years. My politics & faith have taken a sharp Left turn, I am live in Utah after being a life long Michigander, and I have been in 3 musicals this past year (never did theater before) ... heck, I even sang a solo in one of them!

Curious to see what is going to happen next....

Getting ready for Joseph!

Tomorrow I get to start my rehearsals for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. I will be playing the part of Rueben, which I think will have me doing a solo at some point. My two munchkins will be part of the children's choir. I love that my kids and I get to do this stuff together.

This is Kathryn's 5th production, Jacob's 2nd, and my 2nd. South Jordan Community Theater has been a lot of fun and a blessing to our family. Kathryn had to speak in front of a few hundred people recently and she spoke with confidence and animation. I knew that was due in large part to her SJCT experience.

Go, Go, Go, JOE!!

Artistocats Next Week

My son and daughter will be in a production of the Aristocats starting next week with the South Jordan Community Theater. Kathryn is the mother cat, Duchess. Jake is part of the dog troop. This is Kathryn's 4th production with the company; Jake is hitting the stage for the first time.

It has been fun for me to watch both my kids so excited and involved in something together. In fact, Jake demonstrated his seriousness about the production. Last week, the director mentioned that the dogs needed to keep their bangs under their hat, or cut their bangs. Jake seemed to only grasp the second part. He didn't believe my wife when she told him keeping his bangs under his hat was enough; so he snuck upstairs and quietly took care of his bangs with scissors.

I've Been Busy

Teach - Rehearse - Sleep - Repeat.....

That has been my routine for the past couple of weeks. So blog reading and blog writing has been a little sparse.

Tonight was our last full run rehearsal and tomorrow we open Peter Pan for the South Jordan Community Theatre. I am the pirate Cecco. I sing and dance a lot, have a few lines here and there, and die a horrible death. I was also recruited to fly Peter, Wendy, and Tink at various parts when I am not pirating.

My daughter is the cutest lost boy out there and she gets to do a lot of singing and dancing too. It is funny that I originally got into this to spend time with her, but actually, we did very little together - other than drive to rehearsal. :)

Looking forward to tomorrow night.... this has been a blast!

Peter Pan Approaches

Toward the end of November, I will be in a local production of Peter Pan. My daughter has been in two previous productions with the South Jordan Community Theatre. Since I was driving her to most of her rehearsals, and because she was enjoying it so much, I decided to try out for this latest production. I liked the idea that this was something she and I could do together.

Boy-oh-boy, did I underestimate the level of commitment that is involved in a theater production. I did 7 hours of dancing, singing, and "Arrgghh"ing today (I am the pirate Cecco). I had a blast and am really enjoying getting to know all my fellow pirates, but my feet sure are sore.

I am so glad for the opportunity my daughter and all the other young people are getting though this play. They are learning so many skills and being so productive with their time (I think I was pretty useless at their age).

We walked though most of Act 2 today. It was neat to see all of the pieces coming together. I am highly looking forward to opening night!