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August 29, 2005
It Has Been a Good Day
Mind you, it started off with me waking up at 5:30am realizing that I had a physical scheduled for 9:30am and trying to remember whether I had stopped eating at 11:30 like I needed to. (Since I was in bed by 11 last night, I was okay.)
But I had a big conversation with my doctor about my current emotional state and my frustrations that are specific to being an actor in this little, tiny, isolated town. And she said 1) that I actually appeared to be pretty emotionally healthy and 2) that it sounded to her like I was experiencing a grief reaction.
Well, duh. Why didn't I figure that out myself? It makes so much sense. My life is changed completely from what it was this time last year. I've lost my student status, many of my friends have gone, and I'm mourning lost opportunities. So it's perfectly okay and even understandable for me to be feeling this way. What a relief.
And then she told my my blood pressure was 110/70, and that made life even better.
I had been thinking, as well, about something a woman who graduated from the program two years before I did told me last week. She said she had felt pretty adrift herself the first year out of school. This is just not a good town in which to be a professional theatre person. It's one of the reasons she started training for a marathon. To give herself something to do. (I'm writing a novel. Clearly, the instinct is a healthy one.) The other thing she did was to say yes to things that came along, even if they weren't her ideal.
Because that's been bouncing around in my head all week, I called the new Artistic Director of IRTY this morning when I got home and told him that I would indeed do the 1000 Cranes tour this fall, even though they could only pay $30/show. It's something to do.
And then I checked my email, and the teacher I assisted last spring in Intermediate Theatre had written to ask if I would sub for her for two classes she teaches at a college in Lewiston. I may actually get paid for this, like a guest instructor stipend, which would make it official. I said yes to her too.
Then I went to the University to turn in an overdue library book and to check and see whether they know the date for the OSF auditions yet. And when I walked into the theatre building, Dave's playwriting class was just getting out. When the instructor saw me, he said "I was just talking about you. Are you interested in this Native Voices project?"
Let me explain about the Native Voices project. It's a class (that I don't have to take) helping students from the Tribal School in Coeur d'Alene write one-act plays. We work with them for two weeks, and then a group of Native American film and theatre actors from L.A. comes up and rehearses with them (and us if we want to be involved in the performances) for a day and then there is an evening of staged readings of the works. The UI people basically act as mentors and readers during the development phase of the project, but we can also act, as I understand it.
I have wanted to be involved in this project since I first heard about it, but I'm no longer a student and I figured they'd want students to get first crack at it. Well, they don't have enough, and while the instructor was talking to Dave about the project, he suddenly asked if I might be interested. I said yes to him too.
And the new Artistic Director of IRT asked me a couple of weeks ago to stop by his office to chat. So, since I was in the building, I did. And I have a meeting with him later this week. I still have no earthly idea what he wants to chat about, but I will be taking a headshot and resume with me.
Then I went to One World and wrote another eight pages of The Great American Novel, which is the working title for my book. So far, for the number of days I've written, I'm way, way over the total number of words I need to achieve. And I haven't finished typing all the stuff I wrote today. Mind you, though it has some promising moments, it's very clearly a first novel being written at high speed. Uneven is an excellent term for what I have so far. But I'm fine with that, as it turns out. At least I'm getting words on paper.
So, as I said above, it has been a good day.
Posted by sally at August 29, 2005 08:21 PM
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