The Mother of All Updates (Installment #2 - Turkey Break and The Naked Show)

So PhD has been pestering me to update and to be fair, I finally "published" installment one a few minutes ago even though I wrote it ages ago. So here we go for #2 and perhaps #3 as well.

It is now December 22 and I am sitting at my father's desk, waiting for family to arrive for the holidays, and enjoying the last remnants of peace and quiet before the masses descend upon us.

Anyway, Turkey Break and The Naked Show are the topics of this installment and I guess I should get to it!

Well, the day after returning home from Jamaica (relieved and a little wealthier, thank you very much), I returned to my Alexander class and had lunch with Coach P. at a sweet little Thai place in town. It was fun to catch up with Coach and hear all the latest . . . now that we weren't running together, I had to hear the news. After lunch, I heard from some friends in Chicago who decided to join me for Turkey Day . . . so I was off like a crazy lady cleaning and grocery shopping for the big feast. I also got a call for a phone interview at Wyoming! FOR THE NEXT DAY (what IS it about schools doing that to me?).

The next day I baked a little and then prepped for my interview. It was short and sweet . . . I believed a good interview . . . but I had a lot on my plate for the next day and had to get busy so I let go of the phone call and moved forward.

The next day was Turkey Day and my friends arrived about noon. We enjoyed catching up and some wine and ate a late dinner. It was a nice visit.

The following morning, they took off for home and I got another call from Wyoming . . . this time from the department chair, a man I worked with in Virginia professionally. He was hoping to chat with me as well. So I called him back and we proceeded to have an interview on the spot! Again, short and sweet and I thought went well.

Whew! I decided to chill out for a day on Saturday - hell, I deserved it, right?

Well, the next day I checked my e-mail and lo and behold Alabama had sent an e-mail looking to set up a phone interview! Woot! But when? I have classes all day . . . so I took a morning off from Alexander and had my HOUR LONG conversation (very one-sided I might say, which was fine by me 'cause it was the other side doing most of the talking) with the department chair. It felt pretty good, but I was less convinced that one went well.

The next thing I know, Wyoming is calling and e-mailing trying to set up an on-campus interview - which is GREAT but I had a show to do (see The Naked Show below)! So, I set it up for Finals Week - for them and me. And that will be the topic of another installment.

So, as I wrote way back in September, I was cast in a University production as a faculty artist in a show where I needed to appear "mostly" naked. At the time, the director thought I'd be barely covered, but as the time wore on and the more we rehearsed, the more it became clear the only way to be true to the story and the character was to be NAKED - completely.

As I am a professional and pretty free spirited (no comments from the peanut gallery), I didn't have any problems with that. And come to find out, I wasn't the only one that needed to be naked! A young, very attractive, male in the show was also going buff for a short portion of a scene. Nakedness loves company!

Rehearsals were, for the most part, fun . . . but challenging. All of my instincts worked against who this character was and there was a point in the process that I really thought I was the weakest link in the show. That's a terrible feeling to have when you are TEACHING those around you!

It got so bad, I finally sought out the director. I was so frustrated! Before Thanksgiving break, I had a huge breakthrough, but upon my return it was like it never happened. What I had found, I had lost in that time away from the process. UGH. Anyway, I tapped on the office door of the director, sat down, and in my frustration burst into tears. Fortunately, the director is a cool chick and understood the tears weren't a sign of weakness . . . 'cause believe me, the last thing I wanted to do in front of her was freakin' cry!

She chatted with me and in a director's mysterious way, found something to say that relieved me of my frustrations and fears, and grounded me back in the character. Amazing.

So, the two weeks after Thanksgiving break were MADNESS. I was going into tech and performance for the show, I had one phone interview and was madly trying to set up an on-campus interview in freakin' LARAMIE on top of going to class in Urbana, teaching classes here, dealing with student assessments, and trying to grade the stack of papers that were up to my knees. YIKES.

Surprisingly, I managed and we had our 10/12 on a very snowy Saturday. The next day, naked boy and I decided, would be our first naked rehearsal (we had been wearing less and less over the rehearsal period). So, first tech run we dropped the robes and did it. And it was FINE. We had two dress rehearsals (or no dress as the case may be - ha ha) and those went well, too. Finally, it was OPENING. Thank heavens!

Opening night was sold out and many of my colleagues and students were there. I was nervous, of course, 'cause of all that was at stake, but felt pretty good after the show was over.

The next day, a colleague who is very hard please stopped by my office and congratulated me. Gave me some high praise, for which I was extremely grateful, and went on his merry way.

The day after that, another colleague sent an e-mail to the director, the school director, and me extolling the show and calling me "AWESOME". Now that was pretty satisfying, I have to say. I knew then the school director would see it (a small vindication). I was just sorry it hadn't been copied to the entire faculty.

In the end, most of my colleagues had very nice things to say to me and even the Wicked Witch of the Midwest, in her ungracious manner, congratulated me. So, I didn't suck. WHEW!

Of course, all good things must come to an end, and this one more quickly than I would have liked. When the director came down to the dressing room on closing to give us all hugs, I cried again. Only this time it was because I once again am an actor without a show and don't know when my next trod across the boards will be. Naked or not.

And I am sad.