Express Update

There’s a great deal of movement occurring in the office/studio @ TMTP and TSTS, from laptops under fingers while gulping coffee on the couch before leaving home for work/rehearsals, meetings, theatregoings, etc. Things seem right now to be unfolding swiftly, with some effort but not too much pain, and with a thankful understanding of an end-date. At the moment some very particular things are occupying me (or preoccupying me) more than others, with priority being only a small factor in the distinction of these. In no particular order, they are:

– Getting the footage from the last seven days of rehearsals/actor interviews uploaded to my hard drive so that I can view (transcribe, shape, notate, tear my hair out over) more easily.

– Understanding the very, very different perspectives that people of different ethnic and social backgrounds have on the experience of racial discrimination.

– Preparing for a week of MAPD (Multicultural Arts Professional Development Course) five-day intensive. Starting tomorrow. Complete with lectures, assignments and accreditations (insert panic here).

– Strangeland from the current Arts House program. Sadly now closed. Short seasons(!); I know that my position on this one is not all that popular (well, only from conversations I’ve had/heard), but I really loved it. The problem is not being able to fully articulate why I loved the piece. The other problem, well thing-with-which-I-am-grappling, is to not become jaded by the opinions of others. I am not as strong about this as I would like to make out. I can feel quite inadequate sometimes when my take on a work differs dramatically from the pack. This is the honest truth.

– Not reading reviews. I am trying to not read reviews for shows. In general. ‘Trying’ of course, being the operative word. I’m not doing terribly well. (One of my reasons for doing this relates to my above point on becoming jaded.) It’s an experiment with an aim to discover whether or not its permanent implementation will make life easier or sweeter.

– Pilates. Oh, was that a resounding, “I told you so” I heard ringing from across my extended network of friends and acquaintances? Yes, well. Gym-provided, mat-only at this stage. Reformer will have to wait until I am on a slightly higher pay bracket than ‘nothing at all’. Twice a week, I get forty-five minutes to an hour of pure, focused, strength-building bliss. What’s happening to me?

So, I now take this week to focus (really terrifyingly so) on the cerebral. I hope it all works out okay – I fear that taking my mind away from the room now is dangerous, switching from right-brain to left for an extended period of time. Oh, god. And there is so much theatre to see this week, yes?

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