kcactf: part ii

Hello again!
Just continuing where we left off yesterday. :) Read ahead for the first rehearsal experience and my identity as a city girl :) Part I was a little long, so I'm splitting up my second day at the festival into more than one part. Look for tomorrow's post about the workshops I attended, the challenges I had watching a certain production, and the comfort that comes with sincere and earnest prayer.

February 15, 2013

Dear Journal,

Second day of KCACTF was just as busy as yesterday! Once again, after six hours of sleep, I got ready for a full day of rehearsals and workshops. We held our first read through and rehearsal for “The Shoelace” at 8am until 10am with Noelle and Dillon. After a crazy debacle with the hotel internet and getting the script to everyone, we finally sat down to digest and analyze the script!

Carol is such a natural at directing. (As I found out later, she’s also a playwright—therefore, she understands how important words are and how much this play means to me—AH SO LUCKY).

In the first line, Emily asks Mitch about a song he’s playing on his guitar, “Is that a new song?” Carol stopped Noelle and asked her why she’s saying it. Noelle paused and said, “Well, I think I’ve heard all of his songs before and I’m shocked I haven’t heard this one. It’s different and I don’t know what that means. Like what it means for us.” Carol encouraged her in her thought process and I was completely blown away! THEY GOT IT. They understood!!!! The whole two hours were just like that—Each line Carol took the time to poke and prod out of Dillon and Noelle what they were thinking while speaking the lines. Sometimes, she even asked me for clarification and for rewrites in the script (which I took note of throughout the rehearsal).

After rehearsal, Dillon and Noelle talked with me about the script and how it came about (as they suspected it was autobiographical haha). I told them, “Yeah, it’s my life you’re reading…It changed my life in the best way possible. He’s doing really well for himself and we’re still good friends.” Dillon and Noelle took in what I said and the amount of love they had for me was…palpable. In that moment, I knew our friendship was completely solid (or more solid as Noelle and I go to BYU together :]).

I had an hour for breakfast, so Noelle and I met up with other BYU friends to go to Crepe Express. I ate my second ever crepe! Strawberries with Nutella. Yum! Then, I had to run through downtown LA to my first workshop in the Los Angeles Theatre Center (LATC).  While rushing across crosswalks, glancing at little shops, and watching pigeons fly up as I ran by I realized I’m a city girl. Buildings all around, cars whizzing by, hobos in the street (maybe not so much) and the constant go—an incessant need to further yourself. It’s quite the rush and it slammed into me that the future life I could live was happening now. I am pursuing my dreams, in a competitive and cut-throat city of opportunity. Wow.

Note: I didn't take these pictures while running to the LATC for workshops. haha We got to LA a day before the festival started and I enjoyed the company of some amazing girls as we marched around downtown.

Noelle and I at Crepe Express!