A quick update on a few blog posts from earlier this year. Those of you who read my post about being a female theatre artist- I am pleased to invite you to come see The Bridge Initiative’s capstone project of their symposium: Anatomy of a Hug. It runs June 19-21 and we will have the playwright in town from NYC the first two days of the run and a talkback with her the evening of the 20th. It has been a privilege and a new adventure for me to work on this production. As you may have guessed from the “bardolatry” B in this year’s resolutions… I mostly deal with Shakespeare or other classical authors, or even once in a while an “American Classic” which is what I would consider How I Learned to Drive. I have learned a lot tackling a new piece and I feel lucky to do it with such a hard working cast and creative team. I am especially thankful for a playwright who has been open to having a dialogue about her work and the process we are both going through as well as the tireless effort of our producers. Their entire symposium begins TOMORROW with a kickoff of “snippets” from some of the top plays from the 102 submitted to be this year’s playwright of the year. The project is a great way to start a conversation about the lack of representation for women in the theatrical community and for theatremakers of all kinds to come together and make connections to continue to talk about and work on this problem. As for the show I’m directing- we load in a week from today and open a week from Friday, so crunch time is upon us and I’m still prepping three more shows. You know what helps me with all four of these theatrical endeavors? Breathing.

Here’s a poster for the programming for the entire symposium. It’s going to be a great 2 weeks!

If I don’t actively breathe in the rehearsal room, I can’t listen as well to my actors and help them tell a clearer story. If I don’t take time out to breathe during the busy times, I get writers block like none other or I may end up cutting something from the script I’m working on that I find leaves the story not making sense later. I hinted in previous posts that something that helps me breathe through the crazy is setting aside time to sip espresso or drink a cup of tea. Taking time to blog is a great use of what little time I can scrape together because it helps me focus and breathe and is relaxing but keeps me active (as opposed to something passive like TV which doesn’t recharge me recently, just makes me more tired. so if you were wondering why I can’t seem to catch up on Game of Thrones recently… that’s why.) I am so excited about this word of the month.

Driving back and forth from where I live to the East Valley means spending a lot of time on the road. I’ve been listening to a lot of CDs (I know, how vintage of me) and particularly the mix CDs I had friends make me when I graduated from undergrad. It’s shocking how many times the themes or lyrics of breathing and letting go come up. Apparently I needed to hear the same things ten that I need to hear now. And while a lot of self care doesn’t get done to the level I’d like (I miss going to barre class!), I can always find a few minutes to listen to calming music or sip come coffee and breathe. There’s always that.

Stay tuned later this week to hear about how my love affair with Linklater voice worked helped me feel ready for marriage. (Yes, it’s a true story!)