Forgot to do a Final Blog

Hi guys. This might be too late, but I kinda forgot to do a final blog right after the fourth performance, and I just remembered, so here it is. I would just like to say that this was the best intensive ever (which is a completely true statement considering that I had math and French as my intensives last year). I really enjoyed everyday of the three weeks and all of the performance as well. Even though we all had the points where we messed up during a performance, it's nothing to worry about and we did absolutely amazing. The audiences were a lot bigger than I expected, and I am super grateful to have this experience. Thanks so much everybody!!!!

THE LAST MELON

Well, 3 weeks and 4 performances later- we are done! Looking back, all the days seem just to blur together. Although, I feel this is often the case with these intensives. I'm exceedingly happy that I was able to become part of this unit of the Laramie Project. I feel like we really created a family in our short time together.
Part of me, still feels as if I could've done better. As an actor, I guess I really feed off the audience, and in Laramie this is really important because you are telling your story directly to the audience. screw, the fourth wall. "WE ARE LIKE THIS" I mean for much of the performance the audience is your scene partner, and I think that is, in part, what makes Laramie so effective in getting its message across.
I wanted this experience to see how I would work in a real life senario i f I am to become an actor. Quite honestly, this was so exhausting it almost makes me second guess myself. But then I see the impact that I had on people. My proudest moment was seeing Dayne tearing up. I never thought that I could effect someone so earnestly.

I think that is why I'm drawn to acting. Acting, for me, is way to get a message across- be it happiness or love or the boundaries we draw (i.e. with gay message). There is so little happiness in this world that it's exceedingly important to loose yourself in someone else. It's very refreshing for me not to be me for even a little bit.
But the thing is that I want to do something meaningful with my life and even though I love acting, like loosing myself in a good book. I do not know if it's what I want to do with my life.

But, in the end, I don't really think that I ever will really know. I'm a strange duck, and I know that and before I die, I hope to EVERYTHING. It's a tall order, but there it is. I just never want to stop. Basically, I hope to be the Energizer Bunny personified. Though I'm already failing at this. I just want to be fulfilled in my life. No regrets and all that.

Gosh, this has gotten awfully deep--fast. But, there it is.

DJ SHADOW OUT

last post!

I am so grateful that this was my intensive and that I had the chance to be in such an amazing play. You all did an amazing job! And I think that everyone who saw the show was blown away by the fact that we were able to pull something like this together in only 14 days. That was not a small feat by any means. Of course we all made mistakes and there were things that we could have changed, worked on, and perfected had we had the time, but overall I think it was amazing.

I am really glad that I was able to meet and become friends with so many new people. This was truly a great bunch of people and I'm really gonna miss not seeing all of you every day.

I think that being in this show and dealing with the many messages that are in it has made me much more aware (about ignorant or "harmless" statements, the lack of governmental support, etc). I find myself noticing when people accidentally say hurtful things and seeing how harmful those seemingly inconsequential statements can be. I don't really know what else to say without sounding like a preachy asshole, but I would like to thank everyone in the intensive for making this one of the best experiences in my life.

wrapping it all up

hi everyone! these last 3 weeks have been a whirlwind for me. I feel like I bonded with everyone at different times, and I feel closer to everyone in the cast. I want to thank everyone for their hard work and dedication, and I want to thank Mr. L and Tock for everything they did to help us. I feel like we pulled off something incredible, that was thought to be impossible by people at school until they came to see it and were proved wrong with a piece that I believed moved and affected a lot of people. This is unlike anything I've ever experienced, and I'm glad that I got to have this unforgettable experience. Happy a nice and relaxing break everyone!

Final Thoughts

Hey guys. So, I really don't know how to sum up how I feel about this whole thing..it's been quite a ride. I'm very grateful that I got to be a part of this experience..it's something I'm going to always remember (corny, but true.) A theatre adventure unlike any other. I really did become closer to a lot of people, so that was quite rewarding. And as for the Laramie Project itself, it really did affect me. It made me contemplate issues of morality, it made me want to learn more about what happened, it made me cry when I got home (which doesn't happen too often), it made me aware, and it made me want to do something. And I think a first step in doing this is giving our donations from the dessert buffet to the Matthew Shepard Foundation. I think it's really cool that we chose to do that.

I liked how we all had equal amounts of dialogue (more or less), and how there weren't really any "main characters." Because, after all, that's not important in this play. It's not about the biggest part or the most lines. Its purpose is to tell a story, something that really happened. I feel really accomplished with our performances, I really do believe that we got the message across. We need to remember incidents like this and we need to realize and accept that such things still occur. Only then will we be able to prevent them in the future.

Lastly, I just wanted to say thank you again to the cast, Mr. L, Tock, and everyone involved. Mr. Weiskopf said something that fits perfectly how I feel: You guys make me proud to be a part of this place.

I'm so glad that we were able to do this. Thank you.

show

soooo, I thought the show went great overall. We all had problems with our lines, but the audience didn't notice. Act 2 went a little slow. My hope is that we will still have that same emotion or better for today's show.

The Show's Message

Okay, so I also watched Caroline's video and I think that it is really important that we all watch this, because like Victoria and Caroline said, it really helps to hit home the fact that Matthew was a real person, not some detached figure that we talk about in a play. He was real, and I think (again repeating what Victoria said) that it is great to watch this because it brings back the intensity and the emotion that we had the first week. Here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=matthew+shepard+video&oq=matthew+shepard+video&aq=f&aqi=g1&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=40l840l0l980l7l6l0l4l4l0l132l214l1.1l2l0

Also, I was looking at a bunch of the comments that people had posted to this video, and it kind of reminded me about how Matthew's death is still on many people's minds, even though it happened thirteen years ago. There are some extremely distateful, ugly and downright immoral comments posted on the video, and it brings to mind Justin's line about how words can be the seed of violence. After looking at those comments, I realized that this statement is very, very true. This is why it is important to do this show: The Laramie Project is a peaceful message that advocates for a world not controlled by hate, which is what many of those Youtube comments represent.

Anyways, I feel really good about the performance tomorrow and the run in general. I know everyone is going to do great, and I think that we are really going to surprise some people tomorrow night with the amount of work that we accomplished and the powerful message of the play. Good luck everybody and break a leg!!!!!