This is it.

The final party at Joe's Garage was a lot of fun. Everyone talks about it, but the Minnesota Fringe has an amazing sense of community that isn't to be found at any other Fringe Festival in the world. We're all out to support each other here, not compete. I mean, everyone hopes that their show will be the best-selling, runaway hit that they know it deserves to be, but most of us are ok with being the Best of the Fringe That Nobody Saw. Well, not Nobody. A lot of really smart Somebodies saw our show and I can't thank them enough for all the honest feedback they've given us.

So the party was fun. I talked with people I knew, I talked with people I just met for the first time. I had mashed potatoes. I shivered in the cool wind until Kiseung gave me his sweater (so chivalrous). I hugged lots of people. I was hugged by lots of people. I tried to remain nonchalant when I saw Fringe photographers out of the corner of my eyes. I saw Shundreya!

And now it's over. I'm too busy to really miss it, but I think I do, just a little, way down deep. And I can see why people try to be a part of it every year: it's addictive, that working for free and creating art. Highly addictive.

And now I really must sleep, something I didn't do a lot of during the Fringe. I have another shoot in the morning at 8 am. Also working for free creating art. Yes!

(This may very well be my last 'Jordan' entry for some time, if ever. I'm hoping this project does grow, but until then, au revior. Read my other blog if you absolutely must have more of me. :))

Some kind of summary...

Well, we're done. Our last show was last night. Both of my last shows were last night, as a matter of fact. I can't help but feel a sense of relief that it's over. It's not that I won't miss performing the shows, but I always felt like I was going to throw up in the hours before we went on for "Jordan." And I won't miss that anxiety.

I will miss seeing my girls every single day. I think there's been one or two days in the last 90 when I haven't seen Corissa, and on those days, I called her. We'll all see each other tonight at the closing party, but after today... I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I'm sure I'll go through Christiana/Corissa withdrawal, but maybe shooting the film will help dissipate some of that loneliness.

I feel like I should do one of those blog memes with the numbers and whatnot. Lessee...

9: number of Fringe shows seen (much less than I thought it would be)
5: number of pounds gained
5: number of selfless parents who sacrificed time with their daughters to the Fringe
8: gallons of water that ended up on the stage during tech
5: consecutive nights with less than 4 hours sleep
????: money spent on this production
4000: number of postcards not given away (they shall have a purpose! I refuse to waste them!)
2: friendships strengthened for the long haul

My coffee's getting cold...

Jordan, Live at the Minnesota Fringe Festival!

Jordan
at Red Eye Collaboration Theatre
Friday, August 4 @ 8:30 pm
Saturday, August 5 @ 4:00 pm
Tuesday, August 8 @ 5:30 pm
Thursday, August 10 @ 10:00 pm
Saturday, August 12 @ 8:30 pm

I'm all choked up.

My heart is full of love for Chris Kidder, and for all of our reviewers, really. Thank you to all of you for taking the time to tell us what you thought of our work. We really appreciate it. It's heartening to know that someone out there is thinking and chewing on what we created.

Thank you.

Some Photos

Neither of these is from our show, Jordan, however, I figured they're still great pictures, so why not link 'em?

Christiana in "Tape"

Me in "At Arms' Length"(I'm on the right side of the frame)

Any press is good press.

Our show screams "Theatre Grad Students!" Maybe we should add that in somewhere. Maybe in my poem.

In all seriousness, thanks for the mention, Carolyn!

Pioneer Press Fringeville Blogs

We open tomorrow! Come see us!

We opted not to fully rehearse tomorrow. It was a good decision. It would be like trying to make bread without yeast: there's no action because the yeast is the catalyst. An audience will be the catalyst for the next phase of our show.

I'm excited for people to see it. I'm nervous because I'm not objective about the process yet. We (the cast) discussed how, previously, if we were in a show and people didn't like it we could say, "Hey, I don't care. I didn't write it. As long as they thought I did a good job." Now we have to contend with the insecurity of both of those positions: we did write it, and we still hope people think we as actors are doing a good job. I think I'm the most nervous, but my castmates have been rocks and assure me that what we have is great and people should see it.

So now it's just a waiting game. Yeah...waiting. I've never really been good at that.

Don't forget to listen to me on KFAI tomorrow morning at 11:00!

Sleepy

We rehearsed on a deck outside today. Fortunately it was cool and comfortable. My feet are green now, though. Man, the things you do for art.

The Last Week

Last night we teched. Unfortunately I missed two hours of it so I can't give you a very detailed account of what transpired. Nonetheless, I believe it went something like this:

Corissa: So I do this here -
Christiana: And I do this here.
Corissa: Right, and Adia does this here.
Technicians: Ok, how about light like this?
Corissa: Ok, that's cool. But it needs more color. Can we have more blue?
Technicians: Sure.

Something like that.

I was late because I had to teach until 4pm. Sucky. My voice was tired after yelling at children, and then I had to jump in and guess what the lights would be like for each scene as there wasn't time to go through them before we ran the show.

The main surprise of the evening - and the fatal flaw in our plans - was not trying out how much water we'd need in the buckets. Yesterday, there was too much water. Waaaaaay too much water. It sloshed all over the place and we couldn't dance for fear of slipping and falling on our butts or faces. (I discovered this morning, when I woke to a stiff and swollen joint, that I'd wrenched my knee trying to stop myself from falling. Good times.) The water all over the stage worked well for certain parts of the show, but definitely not others. It's something we'll have to look at when we rehearse this week.

It was eye-opening to be in the venue and listen to the way the show sounds in there. It sounds very different than in the Chapel or Sunroom at the Center for Performing Arts. And because of that difference I feel that we'll need to rework some bits. Unfortunately we can't change too much because we've given our technicians our script and they've lit the show accordingly. I want to change certain things very badly, though.

Man, now I know why most playwrights just write the show then forget about it, let someone else stage and design it, then they come opening night to see what it's turned into. It's too hard to watch the process and not want to rush in and change things you feel don't work. It's like trying to untie a really hideous knot: you can keep twisting and looping and tugging here and there, but eventually you just might have to let it be knotted.