Words of Wisdom...

"You don't do theatre to please your mother!" - Paul Thompson - Father of Collective Theatre in Canada

Tonight I had the pleasure of being present for a lecture from Paul Thompson. He came to tonight's VCP rehearsal to impart some wisdom on our company with relation to collective theatre....the Improv Company applied this wisdom by rehearsing at the Absinthe Pub following the talk.

So at one point, Paul utters the quote I've placed above and it got me thinking: it's true we don't do theatre to make our mothers happy....but that's the key! Not just with theatre but with any choice in life. We all strive to please our parents...but I think there is a key difference between those who let that guide their path and those who put their own desires first. As much as I yearn to please my parents and seek their approval, I always put my own dreams first. So just a you don't do theatre to please your mother, we should also note there are many other things we don't do to please our mothers and when it comes down to it we SHOULDN'T!

I do what makes me happy and rather than worrying, I just hold on to hope that when I do it and am successful at it and my mother sees this, she'll be happy.

Spring Awakening...

Ok so this post is inevitable, it was just a question of when...well the answer is now because I need to get these thoughts out.

I was first presented the music for Spring Awakening, a new musical, at the beginning of the year. My friend Shayna was raving about this new musical she'd heard, I let her put it on one night while driving her home and though I could barely here it....I felt a need to keep listening. So I borrowed the CD and listened to it whenever I was in the car. Naturally, a second listen before I really heard the music and I quickly realized I was listening to something brilliant. It wasn't like other musicals, I felt like I was listening to a pop group, not a cast performing numbers usually seen on stage. I was inspired, I sought out as much information as I could...it was definitely helpful that I was taking a musical theatre seminar and there were three of us in the class who just kept relating everything back to this show....which none of us had seen!

So long story short....I NEEDED to see this show...I spread the soundtrack out to 3 more friends and we all kept talking about needing to see the show....we spent all summer NEEDING to see this show!

At the end of the summer I signed up for the Spring Awakening Fan Club which was just getting started....turns out so did Shayna. So at this point Shayna and I had planned to meet up after our first Thursday class at the beginning of September and book a trip based on when we could miss a Thursday because time was ticking, we needed to see the original cast and we couldn't wait much longer. As luck would have it, a day after signing up for the fan club, I'm sitting at an Improv rehearsal for the orientation show I was stage managing and my phone starts vibrating. It was Shayna and I had a funny feeling I needed to answer the phone....turns out I was right! Shayna had just checked her email and by some process that was very foggy to her at that moment she was staring at an offer to purchase 2 tickets on stage in row CC for a show on October 5th...and in the most spontaneous act ever...I told Shayna that even though we didn't know where we were staying, how we were getting there, and possibly how we were paying for it....BUY THE TICKETS! ...and she did....$1000 later I finally went to NYC for the first time in my life and got to see my new favourite musical.

Shayna and I took an early morning flight to New York, went shopping, took a nap, went for dinner....which was the fastest nice meal I've ever had, I was crazy nervous for some reason, it was really odd...I'm a dork!

So the entire trip was pretty much shopping and theatre. In addition to Spring Awakening, we also saw Forbidden Broadway's Rude Awakening and a fantastic off-broadway show - Altar Boyz. I highly recommend both if you're in the area. That's all that will be said about the rest of my trip...it was amazing, I love New York (what I've seen) and I need to live there for a year or 5 - this will probably be the topic of a future post.

Now I'll try to put my Spring Awakening experience in to words. We saw the show twice...we woke up early Sunday morning and spent our morning in line for rush tickets....we knew the second the lights went down on the first show that we would have to do this. This show was a whole new experience, one that I think everyone needs to have. There was something magical about sitting on stage and something mesmerizing about the performance. I know this is corny, but it's the only way I can describe it. I didn't want to leave my seat when it was over, I didn't want the show to be over....I wanted to be a part of it!
The show is revolutionary...as I told Jonathan Groff (the amazing actor who plays Melchior, the male lead) at the stage door...I want to bare the children of the lighting designer and the director is my new G-d...just to note this doesn't make any statement on my actual beliefs in G-d, it's just a saying....So the lighting design is like nothing I've ever seen and it's amazing! Whomever's decision it was to place audience on stage was a genius and the show itself was touching....(no pun intended for those who know the show) It was funny and sad and innocent (this should be added into the curriculum of world's of childhood) and ultimately just beautiful!

I could probably talk in circles about this show for a very long time, but I won't. Instead, I invite anyone who desires to start conversations about this with me. For now, I'll just leave this post as a simple representation of the feelings and thoughts that come up with regards to this show.

I don't care if I'm a dork, I promise I'm not as obsessed as it may seem. This show makes me happy and what's wrong with that? It feels good to get these thoughts down in words, and I'm not sorry if it's weird.

Beginnings...

I sit here on my bed riding a wave of inspiration. In reading...or in a particular case watching...some other blogs, I've felt an urge to write. Why not? I already speak everything as I think it, maybe it would be helpful to express thoughts in writing on occasion. Like some others out there, I don't like the concepts of journals or diaries, but I do find there is some great satisfaction writing the happenings of my life down for others to read. DON'T look for proper grammar here....I'm writing what I think as I think it.

So enough behind why....to get things started I'll share my present, my recent past, and my foreseen future.

The present:
I am a month and a half through my 5th year of my undergraduate degree at York University. I study communication studies and religious studies with a focus on Jewish studies. Communications because I was afraid about not having a job upon graduation...turns out it won't make a difference because I just don't care about the field enough. Religious studies because communications couldn't be done alone and in my second year I decided that I was passionate about Judaism and Israel and might as well do something I knew I liked, in order to finish my degree. By means of manipulating the system to work for me, I WILL graduate in June.

I am busier then I think I ever could have imagined being at this time.
After progressing through the ranks of stage management to production manager last year, this year I have given myself the title Director of Promotions & Events for Vanier College Productions. This is a position that happens to pay...unfortunately it's the equivalent work of at least a part time job and pays much less.
This year I am the Communications and Publicity chair on the Hillel @ York board. I also work reception for them once a week.
I am taking 3 full year classes, 2 of which are independent studies and require extensive reading...something I've managed to avoid in the first 4 years of university. I am a SLOW reader!...but working on this.
I just agreed to stage manage Hillel's upcoming production of Anything Goes....David Ashwal (Hillel staff) asked whether I was going to kill myself now or during....this is a joke...but I do believe my need for a stressful lifestyle has reached a new level with this decision.

For the first time I find myself putting my social life second...but this is happening at the best time. My closest friends are either very understanding that the situation will be remedied soon enough or are living too far away to be directly affected by my lack of time.
So now the question you should ask...why am I allowing myself to be so busy? I have to!
At this point, I am learning more valuable experience from my work at Hillel and VCP then class. However, class is still important, it is important to me to earn my bachelor degree and be able to move on to graduate studies. Therefore I sacrifice sleep and freedom and the ability to have a job, but I really believe what I'm gaining makes it worthwhile.

So that's the present...or at least a glimpse of it....so where have I been?

Or at least where have I been recently?

2 years ago I was in Israel at the University of Haifa....I can't believe it's been that long. You can read about this journey in my first blog Ari's Random Thoughts arisrandomthoughts.blogspot.com

This past summer I had two amazing experiences:
I participated on the Hillel Leadership Trip to Kiryat Moshe - this took me back to Israel for 5 amazing weeks. We lived in the middle of nowhere...seriously....otherwise known as Kfar Gvirol a community in Rechovot. While there we traveled on weekends and spent weekdays volunteering with children in Kiryat Moshe, a mostly Ethiopian community, nearby. I got very sick on this trip and I'm still trying to get back to full health.
After returning to Toronto, I began an internship. It was titled the Kohn Summer Internship and I was placed at JVS Toronto and the Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre. I worked on Fundraising and Development for both organizations 4 days a week and the 5th was spent meeting and speaking with community leaders who shared valuable information and experiences relevant to working the Jewish community.

At the end of the summer I visited Chicago for the first time and two weeks ago I went to New York City for yet another first time. Chicago was to give my friend Jenn company on her way back home. New York was titled "Arielle and Shayna Do Broadway!" but probably should have been called "Arielle and Shayna Do Spring Awakening!" and I will post about this another time.

Finally, that we can see where I've been, what am I working towards?

In November, I will be attending the UJC GA in Nashville, Tennesse.
In December, I will hopefully go back to NYC.
In February, I will apply for the Jewish Campus Service Corps Fellowship. I will hopefully be accepted to this program and spend next year working for Hillel on a campus somewhere in North America.
After next year, I will apply for a master's degree....by then I will hopefully know what that will be in but it could be Jewish Professional Leadership, Public Administration, Fundraising, or maybe even Arts Administration....hmmm....

So that's it...that is the background for all that is to come. I look forward to writing out my thoughts and sharing my perspective....I hope you're inspired to read. Leave me comments when you want...I thrive off interaction.