Another Opening, Another Show!

Opening night went really well - I am so proud of my cast! I heard snatches of conversations around me - the set is great, the acting is great, the cutting of the script was well-done. I have a couple of actors who really struggled with the language and lines, but those few performed their lines wonderfully. I don't think I've ever been as proud of a show as this one.

Summer is almost over. Sigh. I have, officially, three weeks left before the fun-filled professional developments begin, but I have 4 or 5 days within those three weeks that I have to go to meetings, freshman orientation and training (but I'm getting paid extra for the training, which is a plus). I'm really looking forward to this year because it'll be my first year ever that I'm not teaching a new piece of literature. I finally get to reuse and tweak all of my lessons. The problem that I face, however, is that I have to rearrange the order of the books to create flow and thematic links with the summer reading. Normally I teach "Animal Farm" second semester to my honor kids, but I have to teach it right away since their summer book dealt with the Russian Revolution. That bums me out because I like to use "Jane Eyre" as the first novel because of how beautifully it's written. Instead I have to start with satire, propaganda, allegory instead of focusing on language, diction and syntax. I could do a bit with "Animal Farm," but "Jane Eyre" is so much better with which to start.

Oh, well.

Now I'm rambling. I'm going to enjoy this next week - I hope to finish one novel, also finish "The Shack," which I started before summer school and put aside, and then "Eat, Pray, Love," which I've been wanting to read for a while. If I can read those three books in the following week, then I can begin on the books for the history classes I'm taking in the fall.

Time to go. I tripped going down some stairs at the theatre last night (rushing to open the audience curtains prior to intermission) and I flew, landing on my right knee (yes, the same knee I banged up 3 years ago). It's swollen and a pretty blue-ish purple, so I'm going back to the couch, prop it up and read.

Cheers!

Summertime... Ups and a Big Down

Wow. What a summer this has been! I have been blessed, cursed and everything in between.

The play is absolutely wonderful and I am extremely proud of my cast. I do believe I am prouder than this show than any other show I've been in (except Sweeney Todd - nothing can top that). And I'm actually not even in this play. My first foray into directing a community theatre production, and a Shakespeare one at that, has been full of ups and downs. Working with a large cast can be difficult with scheduling timing conflicts but they were wonderful when building the set and putting the final bits together.

I taught summer school, with classes ending today. I struggled a bit in the beginning. I'm a pretty good teacher, but I normally teach 9th graders and this summer I taught 12th grade. Luckily it's British literature, which means lots of talking of British history, but then I also had to teach short stories, plays, poems and novels I've never taught before (some I've never read before). Teaching 12th grade this summer actually taught me lessons; my 12th graders didn't know a lot of things that I normally teach 9th grade. Some told me they had never written a research project, they didn't know what mood and tone is, etc. I drill my kids with those things - and these didn't know them! So this year, I'm going to make extra care that important things stick, important things that they need to know when they move up the grade levels.

My birthday was last week - what a year this has been! This time last year I was at the Folger Shakespeare Library, immersed in Shakespeare with teachers from all over the country. This summer I'm putting my learning into play with the play.

The thing that will probably resonate with me, however, happened a few days after my birthday. A piece of me died; I discovered that someone I thought was truly a good person is not. And I did what I had to do - I cut that person out of my life. This person brought out the worst in me - self-doubt, confusion, tears. This person used to bring laughter, smiles and good times, but the worst has finally overpowered the good. He did something that, as of now, I will probably never forgive - and that's saying a lot. People who know me, know that I am easily forgiving and I have great patience and care for people. This person knew that - I had forgiven him many times, more times than I should have (and he has even said, "How have you not hit me over the head yet?" and "How have you put up with me?" and "I'm embarrassed with the way I've treated you. God knows you haven't deserved it"). I try to find the good in everyone, but the evil in this person has finally so overpowered the good that I must stay away for my future happiness and sanity. Instead of good times, I see his lies, his manipulations, his failures masked by charm, wit and a large vocabulary. He's a good writer, and a good speaker, but it is rehearsed, planned, and set for his own purposes without thinking of the consequences.

The worst part of this is that he made me doubt my life, question my surroundings, question those close to me. I protected his ways, made excuses when my friends and family told me that they didn't trust him, tried to make him better than he actually was. And then he made me out to be fool when he was double-dealing and probably laughing about it with another - since they both knew and I didn't.

Luckily, no permanent harm is done. I've suffered losses before, and I've survived. One less friend just means I have more care to give the others. And in the long run, he wasn't so special. I am more successful in everything I've done than he has and probably ever will, and he has proven himself a villain.

"Rich gives wax poor when givers prove unkind." Hamlet, III-I.