Eve's Blog

Like I’ve been told, write when busy to avoid falling behind and confusing the readers…

Well, our first rehearsal of Anne Frank was last night in the actor’s studio in Upton Hall. We sat around and talked about our process, what was expected of us, introductions of who was playing what character, and then a read through. I’m thrilled to be acting with a good hand full of people who’ve i’ve never acted with before. The energy in the room was incredible… I watched and listened as everyone read their parts and saw how their own energy and personality was fitting to their character. Exploring our characters will be very personal… very close to home… it’s us, with different names.

I’m sitting in our library… downstairs in the study quad. It’s open for 24 hours…and yes I’ve definitely stayed up here all night and into the next day for a 36+ hour day. It sucks. Avoid it. Unless you go to breakfast in the morning with another exhausted friend.

Right now finishing up some research for Anne. It’s not the most uplifting thing i’ve done lately… a lot of it is learning about the concentration camps, pain, torture… etc etc. However sometimes I come across quicktime videos of the oak tree she use to stare out at, and even the only video of her looking down on a newlywed couple from her window. The photographs that I found of Anne and her family are just mind blowing… Thinking about being young again, 12-14, reminds me of my best friend Cara. She’s been my ‘oldest bestest friend’ since second grade. I called her tonight.

It’s scary how much i’m enjoying acting. It had to grow on me. I’m not going to lie, at first I wasnt sold on it, but now it’s so challenging and rewarding that I absolutely love it. The story telling is what I thrive on the most, second - the research. All of a sudden I’m flipping through really old photos of my me and my family when I was 4… my best school buds in school, stuffed animals, music, artwork, poetry… anything that brings me closer to Anne. I’m all over it.

I have two tests thursday and i’ve been studying… and studying. This is a break i’m taking from studying. I handed in some papers for studying abroad today and tomorrow I have to ask for one more recommendation and a review of my statement.

Tomorrow we have a holocaust survivor coming to visit and talk with us.

Posted by Eve at 08:51 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

At the moment I am sitting in Grover Cleveland where I work as a student assistant. I do a lot of my homework here and enjoy the company of the awesome administration on the 5th floor. They’re just super. The office I work (entertain) in is the VP of finance and management. The VP, Dr. K, was one of my profs for HON301 and asked if i wanted to be the student assistant there fall 05, and i’ma still here! Dr. K is ridiculously cool and is one of the most influential professors i’ve had on this campus… i’ve had a fair share of them too. We have dedicated, fun profs here.

It is friday and I’m happy this week is ending. Although I received great news on monday about landing the part of Anne Frank, reality kicked me in the face with two exams - one for Medieval art FAR369, the other for my Honors natural science sem. - HON102. Medieval art is taught by Dr. Blitzer, an extremely engaging and brilliant professor who challenges you ALL THE TIME. It’s heavy material. Both classes happen MWF one right after the other so basically by 2pm my brain feels like it’s been pounded with a meat tenderizer. Let me say that the Honors 101-102 courses are not as simple as you may think 101/102 courses are… HON101 focused on early literature like Chaucer. We had about 5 novels for that class. HON102 is awesome though since it’s on a subject i rarely get involved with because it’s totally seperate from my two majors. We talk about everything that is happening with the environment today, bringing in newspaper, magazine, and online articles, or talking about what was on the news or radio. There’s no set curriculum, topics come up as we move along in class and Dr. Ed fills us in on whats behind the news. We have a page of topics and terms after each class that will be used on the next exam. It’s a little mind boggling, but it’s beneficial to learn this stuff. My good friend, Heather, and I turn Honors into “Honors-lite” as we add funny stories and crack some jokes… learning doesn’t have to be abbrasive.

Being a double major, doing shows, keeping above a 3.5 GPA, and then having a social life is intense. I’ll say it’s hard work, but it’s fun, and the only thing you get from doing hard work is more hard work… why fight it? For instance: It’s still early in the semester, I just had two tests and in studying for these harder classes I also had to work on my monologue for the audition and keep up with any other work for my other three classes. Throw a Dr’s appointment in there, eating and sleeping… there’s very little time to be alone and chill. Yeah one reading - one thorough reading - out of a textbook can last four hours easy! If you have 50+ pages have a sit down at your favorite cafe that gives free refills and give it hell.

The work load won’t get to me… i’ll almost have a breaking point, but i like all of my classes. Besides Medieval art and HON102 I am taking Advanced Voice (a theatre class), theatre history: ancient to the renaissance, and American Art I.

It’s guaranteed that balancing work and Anne Frank will be a stretch. It’ll work though - i’ll become an expert at time management skills or just not sleep. I’m so damn excited about rehearsals! Being involved in a production schedules your entire day and i like that. also the team work along with the art - love it. i love the success and i love the frustration. It will be a good semester…. and at the end i’ll be off to Italy for the spring semester. Now that will be another blog entirely. Until that point i’ll be filling in all the details about life as a theatre student… woo!

Posted by Eve at 11:31 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack