Catching Up On What's Old

I must shamelessly admit that I like my blog. Having let more than two months lapse since my last post, I had to review where I left off, and found myself entertained. I hope that you are entertained as well. This particular post will not be terribly entertaining as it is more a sloppy attempt to catch up than a work of genius.

The great quandary that I face as I try to jump back into this is how to change Bad Cop's name. He has managed to play a greater role in this blog than I anticipated when I named him Bad Cop back in the beginning. I thought about calling him "Joe" or something equally generic, but nobody here has real names so that would be just lazy...so today I am changing him from Bad Cop to Good Cop and abbreviating that to GC. So there. Sheesh.

Back before the 10 Minute Play auditions, GC sent out an email update on current projects he was working on. One of the projects was a 10 minute play he had written and submitted to a play writing competition. It had been selected as a winner and was to be performed at the 4th annual Very Short Play Festival in Northfield, MN. He would be directing it there and was looking to cast it. I asked if I could read the script. It was a fun script that had me thinking "Twilight Zone"- waiting the whole time for a twist of some sort. It did not disappoint. I expressed interest in being cast...and was given the honor.

The weekend of the VSPF IV happened to be the on the same weekend that we were to start shooting the short film. So on that Saturday, I was up at 2:30 AM to be in Bloomington by 4 where we filmed until noon. We carpooled to Northfield that afternoon and ran through the show once on stage then went out to dinner before curtain which was at 8. It was a strange experience to only perform the show once for an actual audience, but it was very well received. My husband had come down to see it, and as soon as we were done, he whisked me home to try for some sleep before the 2:30 AM alarm on Sunday "morning". That weekend, I was very tired.

The short film has wrapped and is now in its editing stage. I will devote an entire future post to that whole deal, so that's all I'll say about it now.

Also in May, rehearsals started for the 10 Minute Play Festival in White Bear Lake, MN. I knew that I had been cast in one of the 10MPs as Amy - opposite, of all people, GC in the role of the flirting philandering fiance. What I did not anticipate was the call that came on the Sunday night following auditions from another director offering me the role of God. I had a whole internal moral battle to fight before accepting the role, and I can say absolutely from this side of the experience that it ended up being a good decision...but I think I will save that for another post as well.

The 10MPF ran through the first weekend of June. We performed to sold out audiences at nearly every show. Apparently they add more performances every year because the festival is so popular. The format works well I guess in this ADD age: if you don't like what you're watching now, just grin and bear it because it will be over in just 10 minutes and we'll give you something new. Or a less pessimistic reason for the festival's popularity might be that it's fun to see the variety among ten different writers, directors, and casts all in the span of two or so hours.

And so after two months and four scripts, I am done. For now. I am home sick today because I think my body decided that it was safe to shut down. Unfortunately, my body doesn't realize that I also have a JOB that needs me to be functional for it. My husband, who is amazingly supportive of my crazy dream chasing, is exceedingly glad to have me back all to himself. For now.