Never in my life have I been so insanely busy. Never.
The Scarlet Pimpernel is still performing at the Empress Theatre in Magna for one more week. So Mondays, Fridays, and Saturdays I'm there from 6-10:30 p.m. Big rehearsals are at the Empress from 6:30-10 p.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays and 9 a.m.- 2 p.m. on Saturdays. I am up for work at 6 a.m. Monday through Friday and often don't get out of the airport until almost 4 p.m. I have to leave my house by quarter after five to pick up my Scarlet Pimpernel friend Chrissy. When I say that I live at the theater, I'm not exaggerating. I'm usually not home before 11, and the only day of the week I see my roommates is Sunday. I have a whole new appreciation for the phrase "day of rest." Thank goodness for one o'clock church!
The Scarlet Pimpernel has been playing to sold out shows and getting great reviews. I don't even want to think about it ending on Saturday. I'm nowhere near ready to say goodbye. I am completely in love with my castmates, this show, the whole experience. Our cast is so cohesive...we've overcome more than one obstacle to make this show succeed, and it has only made us stronger. We are there for each other. I have made so many friends-- I can't believe that these amazingly talented people are okay with hanging out with me and putting up with my weirdness, but I am grateful that they are. All my love.
I will be playing Susan Lawrence in Big: the Musical next month. I've never been a musical lead before. I am excited and terrified and stressed and happy all at the same time. The cast is great, I love the music, and the dancing is fun; now it's time to see if I can get my act together and perform a choreographed solo! I'm glad to have such a supportive director in Becky Walk and a very understanding choreographer in Chalese Craig. They make my stress levels go down.
Being in two shows at once is exhausting in the best possible way. These shows ARE my life right now. I am bone tired and ready to collapse at any given moment, but I'm doing what I'm passionate about. What good is energy if I am not using it every drop of it? I certainly wish that I was getting more sleep, but something's gotta give, and sleep is the first thing to go.
One of the pros about such a frantic schedule is that it forces me to prioritize. If something is not one of the top three or four things on my list, it isn't getting done. I don't have time to waste time!
In other news-- I greatly enjoyed the new Hobbit movie, although I'm still not sold on the whole making-it-into-a-trilogy thing. The snow we've gotten is much prettier now that the roads are fairly clear. (One night it took me over an hour to get home from Magna, a drive that usually takes around twenty minutes.) I have decided my spirit animal is a sad cow. That's not necessarily a negative thing; I just discovered that I'm really good at making sad cow noises.
Life is confusing and hilarious and tiring and good.
