Holidays at NYUAD

Today is Halloween, a holiday primarily celebrated in the US and Canada (at least with what I traditionally consider Halloween), and again, our dining hall is decked out in cobwebs, spiders, and gourds masquerading as pumpkins.

It is fairly over-the-top.

But it's also really nice, because it reminds me of home.

The fact that the dining hall had turkey reminded me that it is fall at home - that time is moving.

Things can feel stagnant here. These reminders of home really help. I think that is why, for all major holidays, regardless of culture, the dining hall works to decorate and alter the menu to include things from our homes - it helps us remember where we come from.

<3

Awkward

I have an aversion to improv.

I also try to avoid situations that put me in the center of attention, as well as anything that is too embarrassing.

Yet for some reason, I agreed to be in a contest called So You Know You Can't Dance.

Which was basically an improv dance face-off where you don't know the song beforehand, and you attempt to be as awkward as possible.

It was awkward, to say the least. But also really fun.

And although I did not make it past the first round (my competitor made it to semi-finals!), I have glow-in-the-dark stars.

They will make up for the lack of visible stars in the sky here.

Yay awkward dancing! 

<3

 

Beautifully Flawed

The other day during a tech rehearsal for A Dream Play, this song was being sung:

And a strange, but remarkable, thing happened. While they were singing, I could see the actors, who are becoming like family, as whole, and beautifully flawed, human beings.

I could see past struggles, and the beauty inherent in that, and humanness.

I don't think we see that often. And I wonder if it is because we are moving too fast, and not really seeing people - instead we witness them as their functions, or let an initial judgment color everything, or we see them as they were, or as their adjectives. Not as complete beings.

Our eyes are clouded, dusty. And it's in the moments when they clear that we truly see. Those moments stick, and become important, even if they emerge out of the most mundane.

I am trying to see in a clearer way. In a more open, and honest, way.

A way that shows truths of humans. One of which I knew intellectually, but didn't see, didn't know in my heart, until yesterday, where, in and for an instant, my eyes were clear.

We are flawed. But beautifully so.

<3

Theater Major Survival Tips

But really, I mean tech week survival tips. I am one of the assistant directors for the professional production that is in Abu Dhabi this fall, and we move into tech this next week.

Before that craziness starts, here are some of the tips and tricks I have accumulated.

#1. Figure out a system that works for you, notes/script/notebook wise. For me:

      Notebook - a marble composition book for ideas/personal notes/to-do-list/etc

      Script - a ring binder, with sleeves for images on the front and back, divided into scenes with sticky notes. Because I am a lefty, for this production I decided to experiment with a 'left-handed script'. It is working really well. Basically, I flip the binder upside down, so that the pages turn from left to right, as in Arabic (Arabic writing from right-to-left was one of the few things from that class that really clicked with me). This makes it so I can take notes quickly without the rings getting in the way, as they would if the script were the 'right' way.

(see what I did there?)

#2. Food and Caffeine

      Tech week means late nights. There is a perilous balance between not enough caffeine and too much. Find it, and keep it.

      I am trying something I like to call 'Tech Week Gorp'

Sidenote: Gorp stands for 'good old raisins and peanuts

      'Tech Week Gorp' will include things like crasins, mixed nuts, dried pineapple, cracker bits, and whatever else I have to throw in. This gorp was made possible by a well-placed care package from my mom.

#3. Sleep. This will be compromised. Try to plan ahead to minimize the long/all nighters, work wise.

#4. Enjoy the chaos. Tech is where the magic of a piece starts to shine through - all the pieces fall into place, and the moments of beauty and creation shine through. 

#5. Appreciate your stage manager, director, collaborators, actors, everyone involved. Enough said.

<3