Hi again everyone! I think this picture of me best depicts how crazy this week has been:
Tonight I'm driving to San Diego with Patrick Kelly for Spring Break (WOO)! It's going to be a nice little break from the wonderful workathon Soroya and I have been in since we got back in February. And while I have plenty to accomplish while I'm away- I'm really looking forward to at least a couple of days of nothing. I'm going to make sure I get it too.
So what did we do this week? Well first, Patrick Kelly came to visit! It's amazing what his presense does for my mood, my morale, and my heart in general. I know, I know, gross. But I am happy that he keeps coming out and wants to be a part of this residency as much as possible. Here he is not posing in a picture with me (again):
He's been here since last Friday and has eaten at least 3 hotdogs from the Dog House on campus. He will likely have another one today. The man loves his hot dogs. Read into that what you will.
Anyway, moving on. As Soroya had shared in her last blog, we participated in "Night of the Open Door" on Saturday with a reading of her new blues musical "No Place Like Home". What she didn't mention was that it was raining buckets on us the entire day. Which is very weird for AZ, but honestly despite being soaking wet for the majority of the day, it was nice to hear the rain and see the little green in AZ flourish because of it.
After her successful reading on Saturday we had to get the cast of "Red Planet Respite" ready for our own community reading that took place last night at the Lyceum Theatre. Every time Circle develops a new production we host at least one reading for the community and a couple of additional guests to provide us with feedback on the piece we've developed, and essentially give us their blessing to move forward with the show. In Community-Based Theatre there is always the potential that the work you develop on a community may make them feel more vulnerable than they had realized. If this happens you HAVE to respect this reaction and make the piece something that protects those emotions.
In my experience in developing these pieces, I've never had a community tell me to scrap a piece. I've definitely had to rewrite, rework, and re-visualize a play- but I've never had to start over (knock on wood).
Despite my great track record in making collaborative communities happy, I'm ALWAYS afraid of this. I think it's some sort of defense mechanism in my crazy head that prepares me for the worst.
So that was the majority of my week, feeling that concern for "Red Planet Respite" and the future development of the script.
But how could I be so concerned with this wonderful group? Here they are staging the reading and preparing for it to begin (sorry for my crappy cell phone shots):
This cast and the not-pictured crew and designers have made this experience for Soroya and I. They are just so ready and committed, and excited about the work. They are also all so kind. I will always say, I prefer a nice person to work with over a "talented" jerk. Lucky for me this group is both nice and talented, and I can't wait to get back to them after the break.
So how did the reading go?
Well. It went great. Except that only 4 people showed up.
Didn't expect that, did yah? Well neither did nervous, freaked out Katie either. We sent out invites to all of our interviewees, the staff involved in the production, facebook friends and more. In San Diego, these readings are usually packed! But apparently when it's midterms at ASU people just can't make it.
This won’t mean that I won’t get the feedback that the piece needs. I've sent the script out to our community collaborators, I've also gotten extensive feedback from our Astrophysicist Dramaturg Patrick Young....but you know...it would have been nice to have more attendees at this event that I spent the entire day sweating uncontrollably about.
But- that's just how it goes! Community-Based Theatre can be really unpredictable, and apparently our energy would have served us better elsewhere. We had a wonderful time working with our cast this week, and I appreciate what good has happened with the script because of their incredible input.
But we gotta work on our Arizona Marketing! (: We will.
Well friends, that's all I have to report today. There is a good chance that I will be taking Spring Break (WOO!) off from blogging, but I promise more is coming soon. Including Soroya's adventures in filming Deimos- our Futuristic Flight Attendant character that she created for the piece! That's going to rock your socks off.
Have a great week all!