It has been a delight to start rehearsals for As You Like It This week! I am extra excited about this show because it will be performed for FREE in a lovely outdoor amphitheater in downtown Glendale. Continue reading
directing
November Goals and October Re-Cap! (POWERSHEETS ARE HERE! )
WOW, So October really flew by between rehearsals and the launch of the 2019 Dated PowerSheets Intentional Goal Planner and Halloween celebrations… I kind of can’t believe we are several days into November! Here’s a quick recap of how my October goals went as well as what’s on my tending list for November. Continue reading
Much Ado About Directing Much Ado
I have had the joy of spending most of the past month co-directing Much Ado About Nothing with my husband. As we move toward tech week and opening night, I wanted to share a few things about what it’s been like to direct this play, in this time, particularly with someone I love so much by my side for the process. Continue reading
Bardology: Gender and The Tempest Cross Post
A week or two ago, one of my blog posts was shared on the Brelby blog to help their audience understand some of what I was going through as a female theatre artist working while bringing my baby to the theatre. Today, I am sharing a blog post my husband and I wrote for their blog. And because that’s the only blogging I had time for since the move… that’s what you get cross posted. here. Here’s my favorite excerpt:
There are many fantastically talented women in our local theatrical community and we don’t want to contribute to the frustrating statistics of how women are underrepresented in this business. We are trusting that the audience has enough imagination to accept that the actress playing Prospero is playing a man just as they are willing to accept that the actress playing Prospero is playing someone who has magical powers. So we aren’t changing the gender of the characters to match the gender of the actors.
Becoming the Change I Want to See: On Being a Female Theatre Artist Revisted
This is a bit of a follow up to the post I wrote in January. And since yesterday was national Women’s Equality Day (though I’m not convinced we’ve quite achieved that yet…at least if we are talking about equal treatment…) it felt like as good a time as any to give an update of sorts. Continue reading
8 Parenting Lessons from my Life in the Theatre
Monday we started camp at the studio I’ve been working with for half a decade. I love teaching this camp each year but this year I know it is going to be a little trickier because I am bringing my son with me. I was a little worried at how he would do with all the commotion and wondering if we had maybe made a mistake trying to bring him with us, but so far it has been great. It has also been a lot more work, so last night and early this morning I started brainstorming for a post I mentioned I wanted to write a while back- I want to talk about just a few of the ways theatre has helped prepare me to be a parent, or even made me a better parent than I would have been: Continue reading
Theatre and Parenthood: Why I didn’t quit one for the other
So, I made it through tech week! And opened and closed a show! Anatomy of a Hug is now over. And if you missed it, you missed something beautiful.
A production shot from Anatomy of a Hug. Picture by Brenda Jean Foley
Follow Your Bliss
See what I mean? Perfect ocean peace… no mention of riptides or sharks…
There’s a very popular saying of “Follow Your Bliss” that comes up a lot especially on Pinterest, in hand lettering, and in self help books or life classes. And while I’m pretty sure I agree with the spirit of the saying- that your passions will lead you to your vocation, I don’t love this Continue reading
Baking #17: Stress baking & chocolate chip muffins
“You should have a muffin. They’re really good and they’ll help you.”
I originally got into baking in college because it made me feel good when I was stressed. Instead of stress eating, I could bake and enjoy the smells of the treats in the oven and then know that I could easily give it away by just walking down to the callboard hallway and offering it to a ton of other stressed out exhausted theatre majors who had probably forgotten to eat most of the day after going from class to rehearsal to another rehearsal and back again. (In a lot of ways being a theatre major really prepared me for parenthood….) I actually started baking so much due to stress my senior year of undergrad that people started making jokes about the Grey’s Anatomy character Izzy Stevens- Continue reading
BLOOM where you’re planted
Bloom where you’re planted… a beautiful phrase I’m going to talk about this post but one I’d also like to amend- because most of the people I know have been transplanted at least once, if not a half dozen times in as many years at some point in their lives. So at the risk of killing the garden metaphor- I’m going to just say bloom where you are. Because maybe you aren’t planted yet. Maybe you’re in a window box or one of those little plastic containers being transported to an eventual garden- that’s ok, bloom and blossom and bring joy right where you are!
This month has flown by and I’ve blogged less than I’d like. Things have come up like travel, illness, and my computer being out of commission due to a blown charger. Things have come up like accepting another show to direct as part of my Director of the Year award from The Bridge Initiative. All that to say that good/bad and between, I blogged less than I’d have liked but I’m proud I still managed to blog as much as I did- I’ve just been busy blooming. And I wanted to be sure to get in this last post before we move into May.
Many of my artist friends were surprised that my husband and I chose to move to Arizona. Arizona has a pretty sad track record when it comes to funding and support for both education and the arts. It was also coming up a lot at the time for some seemingly crazytown bills and news stories. Aside from the fact that I feel miserable during the winter and love the Arizona sunshine, as well as the fact that I have family here, we told our incredulous friends that the lack of support and funding and the insanity- of both perceived and true variations- were exactly why we were moving here. Arizona needs artists. Bloom where you’re planted- you don’t have to go somewhere crazy or exotic to make a difference. You can do it right w
here you are. You can make someone’s day better right here, right now, with whoever surrounds you and comes in contact with you during your day. Your Community needs you.
As I head into my next year of life, I am going to continue to keep this phrase in mind as I cultivate my garden of friends, family, and community. I want to spread kindness and compassion and thoughtfulness and joy. May’s theme: BLISS. May is my favorite month. May is like a nonstop celebration: my birthday, many family birthdays including that of my son, Mother’s Day (and speaking of mothers, the whole month is known as Mary’s month), graduations, and my anniversary. Lots to bliss out about and I hope to make time to share all about it.
Alphabet Resolutions 