Well DAMN! It's about time!

So I very embarrassingly have not posted in almost a year! WAIT! I can explain. My computer went on the fritz, but luckily I've just purchased a lovely new one, and I'm ready to go.

So I completed my first year of grad school at Columbia University (for those of you new to the blog I'm a current MFA Acting student there.) The last semester was intense, to say the least. It definitely kicked my butt, BUT for the better. Although it took a while for me to gain this positive reflection--somewhere within the final two weeks. One of the more amazing classes that an acting student in the first year at Columbia can expect to take in the second semester is called Collaboration and it is taught by none other than Anne Bogart, director and co-founder of SITI Company.

                                                                       Anne Bogart

Okay first: Anne is amazing in her ability to communicate. Let me elaborate--she is able to convey sometimes rather intricate and complicated ideas in a simplified form. Which in my case would result in me thinking "OH! I see what you're asking of me!" So, that in itself is a talent that is very much taken for granted and she is a master of it.

So, Collaboration is a class comprised of first year actors, directors, playwrights, and dramaturgs. The idea is brilliant. Since they're are 6 directors, for 3 separate times in the semester you are put into a group with a playwright, director, dramaturg and actors and you collaborate on short 10 minute (not all of them stuck to this) new works. You present your work (where ever it was in its progress that week), and Anne would give feedback. It was an all day class, so each group got an hour to present and work with Anne. I would say we were able to present our works to the class 3 or 4 times before a final presentation for the public.

Because of this gift of communicating that I mentioned above, almost seamlessly with actors (at least that's what I observed), many key lessons for me as actor happened in a very short span of time. What made it even more remarkable for me, was that I was able to reflect on it in the moment, and decisively use what I had just learned in the next moment. I know this sounds basic, but when you're being told what your bad habits are in front of 50 of your peers, switching on a dime can be--well, difficult. And I had never processed such large thoughts as my habits--I mean, that big bag of bull shit tricks that actors carry around with them that in the end hinder the truth instead of bringing it out--in such a short span of time! And here I was tackling some of my beasts on the spot! I don't why but I was able to rise to the occasion with Anne. And it wasn't always that way from the beginning of class. In the beginning of the semester I was told, and discovered it myself soon after (by that I mean what it felt internally for me when committing the act), that I was dropping my energy every time I stopped speaking. Really basic but I was totally oblivious to this fact.

There were many more lessons learned for me in that class, but I was most proud of this new development in my creative process. I had developed a more efficient way to tackle my problems and use lessons learnt on a future beast (if you will.)

Well, I'm going to leave it there for today. Don't want to lay down a massive thing we can't swallow. But, now that the computer is here--you'll be hearing from me!

1. Nail down an apartment in NYC--CHECK!!!

It's definitely been a while since my last post. But I felt it would be unfair to my "followers", and slightly annoying,  to continually post nonsense when nothing was actually going down (you can reference my status updates on Facebook if you want nonsense.)

SO!
I have been to New York and back! By the way, my brother got married in Lake George, NY while I was there! Mazel tov!

That was Part 1 of my New York adventures. I then took a hellish Megabus from Albany to NYC to start my apartment search. I'm not good at many things--but I'm damn good at apartment hunting. I nailed down a great 1BR on Riverside Drive in the Columbia area (and it's cool with dogs) within 3 days. Needless to say I take great joy in this bit of bragging. Not too shabby, eh?! Only 1 block away from all my classes! I am pleased. Anyway, I foolishly did not take any pictures of the actual building, but I have included a picture of the beautiful walkway across the street from me in Riverside Park.

Right now my apartment in Chicago is simply FILLED with boxes. I thought I would be moving circa around now, but alas it isn't so. So for a month, Bacchus and I will have to navigate the Labyrinth of boxes that is my apartment.

I have to say I take great pleasure in calling Bacchus to dinner ("Bacchus! Din din!") and watching him weave in and out of the boxed pathway in frenzied excitement! Here and there, occasionally skidding on his nails and slamming his pug body gently into a box of books (oh that won't stop him.) It's sort of like watching NASCAR--only I haven't, so I have no idea. You would think lately that I starve my dog. While it's true he's been on a diet, he is actually a healthy weight for a pug. However lately he's taken to eating through the bottoms of garbage bags that are on their short journey to the trash shoot. My only solution to this so far is to double baggy it. I fear that he will soon discover the mystery behind this trick--and then the jig will be up!

But enough about the dog. Lately I have been sitting in bed examining and  memorizing facts and maps about New York City. My goal is to become ridiculously acquainted with the history and geography that is New York by the time classes start. I figure this is the time to do it when I have so much time on my hands. I'm doing most of the fact reading now, and then once I get there I plan on walking the walk. Basically over a series of days and weeks I will take myself to different neighborhoods and become acquainted with their history and street layout. For Instance: did you know that the land that Columbia University now sits on was a hill (still kinda is) in Manhattan. Before the turn of the century it was a French loony house called the Bloomingdale Insane Asylum (apparently they don't just sell hats.) When the now Columbia campus was sold to the then president of the school, Seth Low, part of the purchase deal included that they preserve one of the buildings of the asylum. And it's still there! If you're at Columbia in their famous quad and standing in front of the dome structure known as Low Library (named for Seth Low, for obvious reasons) you will see to the right a building/house that looks slightly out of place. This is the oldest structure on Columbia's campus and was known as the Macy Villa when it was apart of the Bloomingdale Asylum. It's now known as Buell Hall, and I believe the Philosophy Department uses it (hehe, kinda funny.)

Anyway, my next update will be posted from within my new apartment in New York. Until then, have a great summer!

Here we go!

So I thought I would start off my first blog entry with a nostalgic photo from the past. This was recently sent to me by one of the people actually pictured here. Apparently (though I vaguely remember this), the eight 3rd years (senior year status in NOCCA's theatre department) got stuck in the freight elevator at NOCCA (the newer building). On the day of our own graduation, no less! This apparently was taken moments after freeing ourselves. I have no memory of this.

It's amazing that I can remember something so vividly from when I was 8. But high school, even parts of college--a big blank. People will tell me stories about me and it's as if they are talking about an entirely different person. "Me? Surely not!"...

Anyway, to the point of the blog's birth. I recently auditioned for MFA acting programs around the country. For those of you who aren't familiar with this territory, it's a very competitive major, only a few programs are worth your time, and most people who apply don't get in anywhere--at all. Roughly, about 1100 people audition for 11 programs: NYU, Yale, Columbia, Brown, UC San Diego, UC Old Globe, CalArts, A.C.T. (American Conservatory Theatre), and Harvard are a few of them. Each program accepts a very limited amount of students; many of them holding callbacks in their cities after initial auditions held weeks prior. The programs accept different amounts of students: some only 6 or 8 to a class; others 12 or 16. So, I'm very lucky that I was recently accepted into Columbia's MFA acting program. My class size will be somewhere between 16 and 18 (roughly). I'm dying to know who my other classmates will be, but I won't know that for a few more weeks. Sigh.

Till then, I've been wasting time fantasizing (and also trying not to fantasize) about my future life in New York. Which, I've been told by current students, will have a lack of sleep in it. Yay!

I'm also very excited that we have Kristin Linklater and Anne Bogart as full time faculty! How cool is that?!

Anyway, this entry is a short one because the only new news is that I got into this amazing and challenging program. I hope you follow my blog, and track my progress!