Spring Break!
Spring Break is upon us, just one more week for studying and those pesky mid-terms. This semester has been wonderfully busy so far. While I write I have my major declaration forms in front of me ready to be filled out and turned in. I will officially be a double major in English with a concentration in creative writing, and history. I am looking forward to declaring my majors — knowing that it is official.
The musical Violet has already come so far! We are officially on the 8-foot rake! For those of you who aren’t theater savvy and don’t know, a rake is a gradual incline, like a drive way. So our rake at the very top is eight feet and then it steadily declines as you go down stage towards the audience. The stage is really amazing; it forces the actors to make interesting choices. There are several more surprises coming in the set alone. I am really excited for this week’s rehearsals because we will be running all of Act II for the first time. We have reached the point in the show that all of the bits and pieces of work are starting to come together and make sense.
I have also had fun acting this semester! Heidi’s thesis, “The Smell of the Kill,” is coming along great. While we are only able to rehearse on Saturdays, we have come very far in our rehearsals. Also, we are almost off book for the first half of the play — which is amazing considering we are not rehearsing every day. We have production meetings on Fridays and hearing how the other aspects of the show are growing and expanding makes me want to work even harder. Heidi has gathered an amazing and talented group of women around her. The heads of the publicity have also made a blog for “The Smell of the Kill.” When the blog is up and running I will share a link, so you all can follow our process!
While the theater has been slowly but surely claiming more of my days I have also had a very fun semester so far academically. This semester is expanding my horizons. On a small scale I have stepped out of my American History comfort zone and I am taking a class on the Ancient Greeks. I hope that I will eventually get all of the names straight; however, even with the confusing Greek names I am enjoying this new field of study. On a larger scale I am taking a science class this semester. I will say that while science is all Greek to me, I am having fun learning about the way women are differently affected in health issues. For instance did you know that heart diseases are the number one killer of women, and that detecting a heart attack is different for women than it is for men? I found this fact to be very interesting especially when I found out that for a long time the medical research was only being performed on white males. Now the research has been opened cross-race and gender, and scientists are finding out interesting and life saving facts about the differences between men and women.
Well, that should be enough procrastination for me. I should now get back to studying so this Thursday I can fly back home for break!