i'm reading again. . .

on a regular basis. it's wonderful! I'm re-reading Anne Bogart's A Director Prepares: Seven Essays on Art and Theatre. There are two many choice quotes, insights, and pieces of advice to write them all down, I'll just have to hope my tiny brain absorbs as many as possible! But here are a few I found in just the first few pages.

One has only to read, to look, to listen, to remember

(Virginia Woolf)

"Reality depends upon our choices of what and how we choose to observe."

Examine for a moment an ordinary mind on an ordinary day. The mind receives a myriad impressions -- trivial, fantastic, evanescent, or engraved with the sharpness of steel. From all sides they come, an incessant shower of innumerable atoms; and as they fall, as they shape themselves into the life of Monday or Tuesday, the accent falls differently from of old; the moment of importance came not here but there.

(Virginia Woolf)

. . . . and more to come!

Janis

Un-pop-cultured as I am, until about a month ago I knew next to nothing about Janis Joplin. Then my lovely director, Brenda Sparks, for this summer's Nashville Shakespeare Festival production of Taming of the Shrew, mentioned that she was seeing Kate as sort of a Janis Joplin to Bianca's Goldie Hawn (we're setting it in the late sixties). So off I set to embark on some research of Janis. And, honestly, she's kind of knocked the wind out of me. I just finished a biography of her called Sweet Scars of Paradise by Alice Echols which, DESPITE IT'S CLICHE TITLE, was absolutely engrossing. Janis's complexity was not diminished in anyway (and if you think she wasn't complex, think again, 'cause we all are). I identified with Janis, admired Janis, hated Janis, rooted for Janis, misunderstood Janis. It would be hard for any young woman NOT to identify with Janis, she was one of the first female celebrities who didn't mask her issues, but instead bared and sometimes flaunted them. She was so insecure, worrying until the day she died that one day everyone would find out she was an imposter, that she couldn't sing. She fucked right and left in her manic desire to be loved and accepted, despite her not-so-great looks. She felt lonely even in the midst of huge success and acknowledgement of her talent. I just couldn't believe how much I related to her, how I found myself thinking, "i've done that! I do that! It's fucked up but it's not just me!"

Suffice it to say, she is providing a lot of inspiration for me this summer, both personally and "in the world of the play" as they say :) And this version of "Cry Baby" kicks ass.