Busy, Busy, Busy!!!

School

Just finished my second week. I've got a couple of projects in my Analysis class due soon, so I am hard at work on those. We start discussion on "The Cherry Orchard" by Anton Chekov tomorrow in Analysis, as well.
After studio auditions, I still did not get cast in anything, but the Director of the first mainstage show, "Women's Minyan", approached me on Friday to perform a vocal role in her show. The play's cast is all women except for a male voice at the beginning of the first and second acts, so....that's me! I was a bit bummed at not getting cast in any other shows( and to an extent I still feel like the department was just throwing me a bone ). That's not say that I'm very grateful and pleased to be a part of "Women's Minyan", though. I think it is an important cultural show. Actually, since it is a smaller part, I'll have more time to spend on my school work. I did talk with a few of the directors and got some feedback on my callbacks. I'm glad I did too, because they have given me a couple of specific things I can work on for the next round of auditions for next semester. Namely, exploring the extremes of roles to show the directors that I can go there.
I will possibly have the opportunity to do some choreography work too. The head of the acting program sent my info to a director at a smaller college in nearby Jacksonville( about an hour away). They need someone to come down and choreograph a fight for a production they're doing. If it works out, it will be a paying gig, but I'm working out some of the details before I commit to the project.
My other classes are going well, but still lots of reading to do. I'm excited about learning so much, and getting the chance to throw around ideas with my classmates. Speaking of which, I don't believe I've introduced them yet. There are five actors, including myself, three directors, and one designer in our first year class. Of the actors, Rick and Nicole are from the Milwaukee area, Chad is from a little town south of Joliet, Illinois, and Caitlyn is from Freedonia, New York. The three directors include Craig and Zach, I can't remember where they're from, and Sandra who is from Chihuahua, Mexico. Cindy is the designer, but we only have Analysis with her, so I haven't really had a chance find out much about her. Cindy is the oldest, in her late thirties - early forties, but then I'm the second oldest. Craig is 26 or 27, I'm not sure how old Zach is, but I think he is around my age, then the other actors are only 22 or 23. Some interesting dynamics in any case, and certainly a fun group.

Work

Jen is doing alright at work. She had to miss a couple of days at the end of the week, because she wasn't feeling well again. Any time one of the teachers gets ill, they immediatley get sent home. Her boss and co-workers have told her that it might take a while for her to build up a tolerance to some of the "bugs" the kids pass around at the daycare. Of course, this has become a bit of a frustration, but we're doing what we can for both of us to stay healthy.
Actually, Jen was able to get a membership to the recreational center on campus and we have started working out. Jen has "taken the bull by the horns" and is also going to get a fitness test, and attend some of the free classes they give in the evenings and on the weekend. Eric, of course, meets up with her when he can, but is also starting to work out during the day. The rec. center has great machines called Treadclimbers that burn almost twice the calories as a regular treadmill, in the same amount of time. We're really excited about getting fit and losing the weight.
Jen has also started looking into getting involved with events in the community, and is finding some things she might volunteer for. Again, Macomb is a really small town, so Jen is scrounging for things to keep her busy. Some fun possibilities, though, and we'll keep you posted.

In Other News

The annual Macomb Balloon Festival was this weekend. We got to see some of the hot air balloons take off from a field next to campus on Friday, but unfortunately flights were grounded Saturday afternoon and evening due to approaching weather. We'll look forward to the next festival, though, and hopefully post some great pics.

Oh, and there was a funny thing we saw. There is a show on MTV called "Busted" that's kinda like COPS, but for college kids. We had heard from Chad that he saw a member of the show's crew earlier that day around campus. We dismissed it, though, thinking that they wouldn't come out to Macomb, Illinois. However, we were heading home Saturday night from dinner and decided to cruise down the party strip next to campus to checkout what was going on. WIU is a party school( if you're an undergraduate ) and there are parties going on almost every night around campus. We like to cruise from time to time to be entertained. Anyway, we were getting toward the end of the strip when we saw that a cop had pulled someone over. As we got closer to the vehicles we saw there was a cameraman filming a guy the police had cuffed, sitting on the curb. "Busted" in Macomb!! Needless to say, we got a good laugh out of that.

More to come next week, so stay tuned!!