Into the West

The last week of the Intensive was Monologue Week. Which made things a lot more relaxing. No scenes to find, no plays to read, recording every detail that may pertain to your character, no rehearsals with your scene partner, no character work-- because I've already done it all. All of my monologues were prepared, which made my life a lot easier.

Monday I did Henry VI for Larry and Jennifer. It went alright, but it needs some work for sure. Jennifer was definitely harder on it than Larry was.

Tuesday I did Summer and Smoke for Larry and Daniel. Larry loved it. He thought I'd played the role before and when I said I hadn't he was surprised and said "well you've definitely done your homework very well. You know her." Also "you know how to turn the poetry of Tennessee Williams into beautiful conversation." He didn't really have anything negative to say, and I felt really really great. Later that day I did it for Daniel, and he was not so complimentary. Daniel scares me. Still. Again, he's the one that auditions us in February so that definitely makes him intimidating. But he knows his stuff, watching him coach other people's monologues that was clear. He's clear, concise, knows what he wants, and most of the time I totally agreed with the changes he made. I hope I responded well to coaching, it was kind of terrifying to be up there, and I felt like crap afterwards, but I at least hope I showed that I take direction.

Wednesday I did Grey's Anatomy for Jennifer and she liked it a lot. She told me she might steal it for someone, which I don't like so much, but it is complimentary.

Thursday I did Grey's Anatomy for Larry, who thought it was great. I felt good about it and decided to use this piece for the showcase. It's fun, doesn't really require much effort, just that I have fun with it.

We also had an audition class with Daniel this week where he told us exactly what we should do, moment to moment, when we audition for him. That's pretty awesome. If only I had that for all the schools.

Viewpoints was also this week. Fun stuff. As with most of the classes, I wish we had more time!

Our last day of Trapeze was this week and someone fell off! It was the very last thing we were doing, and pretty simple. Reggie (who is probably the most muscular guy in the class, and he's been one of the best on trapeze) and I were the last couple to do the swing we were working on, and his hands slipped and he fell, head first to the floor. I think his hair cushioned him, but he couldn't remember how he'd gotten onto the floor. A little scary. Class ended with a bang, but Reggie just had a concussion and was fine the next day.

Our last day of class, I went to the Market to get a muffin for lunch. I have loved the Market. It's delicious and has a lovely atmosphere. If you ever go to Denver, eat here for sure! It's on Larimer Square, easy to find. Bakery and cafe in front, farther in the back, LOTS of choices for real food. Here are a few pictures:





I wasn't nervous for the showcase on Friday afternoon until I got there and sensed everyone else's nerves. I think if Daniel hadn't been there I wouldn't have been nervous. And it turned out I had to go second to last which Sucked! Then I could spend the rest of the showcase just getting more nervous. I wish I could have gone earlier. But it was fun to see the work of the other class, since we've never gotten to see them act.


My class, the Sullivans. The other class is definitely more spastic than we are. They're more musical theatre. Not all of them, and we have crazy moments too, but collectively, they're just crazier than we are. I'm glad I was a Sullivan.

After the showcase (which was in the Jones Theatre, a nice little intimate theatre), they provided champagne for us. We toasted, mingled, and headed home to pack before our festivities of the night. Larry gave everyone a kiss on the cheek, I just love him. I would want to come back to this program just for him.


Here are two especially friends. We all lived by ourselves, so we bonded and spent many nights hanging out together. I got them hooked on SYTYCD? Vanessa on the left, Erin on the right. Vanessa lived right across the hall from me. Everyone who'd gotten drunk on the champagne became sober again in time to head back out to the bars and drink again. Here are Vanessa and Erin with Baby Guinesses. And we're sitting at the bar, for my first time. Other nights at the bar have been around tables, so I insisted we sit at the bar since it was just us. There are some interesting shots out there, this experience included Chocolate Cake shots (you drink it and then bite into a sugared lemon slice and it supposedly tastes like you're biting into chocolate cake, crazy), the Baby Guinnesses, which apparently look like Guinness but taste good, and Red Headed Sluts which have cranberry juice? grapefruit juice? I don't remember. They're pinkish red from something. I've learned a lot about different alcoholic drinks and bar culture during my time here, I've asked many questions. Then, at 10:30, we headed to Mynt. Laurence, who was our Hip Hop teacher, works at this club so he said he would get the couple of underage students in and provide drinks for all. Lucky me. This was the big group party, most of the students were there. It was also my first time clubbing. It was kind of crazy, but more fun than I expected.

And yesterday was the long drive westward. I made it to Amy's before the sun set, which was my goal. I listened to the 6th Harry Potter book the whole way, and missed the watermelon which I'd had on the way there. It was also less pretty. Probably just because I'd seen it before so it wasn't new. But very uneventful, which was great. It took 8 hours to get from my apartment to Amy's house. And despite the long drive, I preferred 8 hours driving to a few hours in the airport/on the plane.

Oh yeah, yesterday morning I drove Amber home, who'd slept over. She lives in a house in a neighborhood of Denver and it was so cute. If I ever move to Denver, I would love to live there. The houses were all different, which is so nice to see after Utah where every house in a neighborhood look exactly the same.

Conclusion: I'm so glad I went. I learned so much and met some awesome people. It was a really different experience than anything else I've done. I love Denver Center, I love the program, I love the teachers. The teachers are so good; they're smart, passionate, great teachers, active in their fields. I especially love Larry and Hillary. I love how they coach pieces, emotion isn't the most important, that will come if you're communicating the words that are given to you and really actively pursuing your objective and playing your actions. The program is so intelligent. And it includes theatre history and theory which I love. I love that trapeze is part of the program. I feel like this program is so well rounded. I feel like the people there are really working to create the kind of theatre here in America and for America that I have seen and loved in London. I loved living and working with the diverse group of people I was with. It was challenging, uncomfortable at times, but I feel like I learned a lot through the experience. And it was really enjoyable to be around such a diverse group of people who had theatre at their heart. I also learned a lot just living outside of Utah for a while. I feel like I have learned so much in the last month not only about acting but about life, myself, and interaction.

I can't wait to write my report for the grant BYU gave me. I recommend this program whole heartedly.