“Lucky” from Ciara Ayala

So I’ve been up here in Oregon for about a week, and it is everything I wanted it to be and more. I wasn’t nervous, I was excited, which is not a foreign emotion for this girl 🙂 The past 4 years I’ve been saying “I’m so excited for the rest of my life!” day in and day out. There were moments when you wouldn’t hear those words for months at a time…but let’s be real, sophomore year is no easy feat. Now that chapter of my life is over, I am so incredibly grateful for the education I have earned. I owe so much to those who made me feel confident and comfortable going into one of the largest regional theatres in the nation.

I wanted to tell everyone the second I got here how absolutely overjoyed I was. Now that I’ve been here a week, I am still just as elated with every step I take. I have wanted to work with this theatre company since I was a freshman in college. With my first application, I was accepted with a job immediately following graduation. As if that wasn’t enough, I was put to work on COMEDY OF ERRORS set in the Harlem Renaissance (awesome, right?!). This is already such a fun, enriching project. Most are aware that a strong mission of OSF is cultural diversity and inclusion. Well, I couldn’t be happier. As I’ve gone from one experience to the next, I’ve realized how blissfully unaware I’ve been to race, or gender, my entire life. I truly never see the difference in someone until it’s addressed by themselves or another. We are all human, we are all capable. It’s beautiful to see such an array of body types, ethnicities, and equal representation of genders in the theatre. I’m so thankful to be in an industry that is constantly (at least attempting) to push the envelope. Not to mention how proud I am to be a part of a season that is primarily female playwrights!…aside from Billy Shakes… Well, enough of that for now. In short, I am absurdly lucky.

I will leave you with a Naomi Wallace quote relayed to the company via Artistic Director Bill Rauch:

“When we cross boundaries, when we violate our own skin to know the heartbreak or hope or resistance of another, what we come closer to, surprisingly, is ourselves. Because through imaginative empathy, we revive our own humanity. So, to put it simply, we must be where we are not, because if we look down we will see that we are already there, here, among those that we are encouraged to believe are strangers. Who suddenly are no longer strangers.”

Happy 2014, y’all

It’s Getting Interesting… from Azalea Micketti

I am so fascinated by the daily change in the rehearsal room. Some days it is smooth as butter, easy as making tea. Everything clicks, everyone is in sync, it’s quick, efficient, and organized. Other days it is like wading through a bog. Nothing lines up, words don’t make sense, time moves slowly and talking is painful. It is at these times that you truly see the nature of our human experience. Everyone reacts differently, experiences differently, copes differently. I have learned so much all ready, not just about theatre, but about being an adult. About letting go, not taking things personally, knowing when to hold your tongue, and understanding that someone else’s bad day doesn’t have to effect yours. Emotions run so high and it is so important to be respectful of the individual’s process as well as the collective exploration that takes place.

More than anything, this internship has only increased my desire to be an actor, a writer, and even a director. I want to continue to experience life through theatre, and share that with others. But more than that, it has begun to teach me what sort of person I want to be, what sort of art I want to create, and what sort of relationships I want to cultivate. I think it is so important to maintain artistic integrity in everything you do, no matter how ridiculous it is. For the first time I actually like The Taming of the Shrew, and I attribute a lot of that to the attention to detail and the importance of story that has been beautifully encouraged by the director and incredibly well manifested by the entire company.