NYC

So this is my final project for Ideas In Performance.  I’m incredibly proud of the work I did on it.  Especially since I lost it all and had to rebuild the project.  My deepest deepest thanks goes to the IT staff (especially Mike and Jim), Gregg, Jon, and Ms. Desi in Financial Aide.  I hope you enjoy it! You should comment if you watch it.  CLICK TO PLAY  Click to Play This is a better resolution than the other one.  This video was originally shared on blip.tv by dwebe8pl with a No license (All rights reserved) license.

As you probably know by now, we are sitting on the side of the road.  Well, in actuality we are sitting on the bus on the side of the road.  Just waiting by for the tire on the bus to get fixed. We’ve been sitting here for about an hour now.  Its not really that bad except I’m so very hungry.  The only thing I really ate today was pizza from lunchh.  I can’t wait for dinner.  However, I have no idea what it will be. I have about 10 posts which need to be published.  I just need to sit down and edit them.  I’m ridiculous.  

The tornado is over and the world is going back to black and white.  I can’t say I’m too terribly excited for break being over and returning to Fredericksburg.  Like Dorothy and her trip to Oz, this trip to New York has changed me.  I sit here on the DC2NY bus thinking about the experiences of the last week.  I got lost (numerous times) and figured out exactly where I needed to go.  I was only late once during the entire trip.  A new world of possibilites opened up to me.  I’m realizing where I want to go and what I want to do.  Mainly I have realized the power of self-reliance.  I am the only person in this world that can live my life.

We are always waiting for our real lives to begin.  What is going on while we’re waiting for that time?  I cannot wait for my real life to begin.  My real life is now.  In the present.  Well Dorothy, I hope Kansas treats me as well as it treats you.

I am moving to NYC after graduation. This is what I have decided and I hope no one minds.

I am either going to live in:

• Harlem
• Brooklyn
• The Bronx
• Greenwich
• Lower Eastside

I just had the most amazing interview with Christopher McEleron of The Classical Theatre of Harlem. However most of the time, I was cursing not borrowing a recording device or remembering to check with Sully if she could come. Chris is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of The Classical Theatre of Harlem. I wanted the meeting to last for forever but I was running out of questions to ask (which seems to be my problem at the moment judging by both of my interview today). Chris founded his company 10 years ago and is still running it. It grew from having a budget of $8,000 to 1 million over the last ten years. Started out of a class he taught with Alfred Preisser at the Harlem School Of The Arts, CTH was founded in 1999. Listening to him talk about CTH reminded me of a parent talking about their child. I aksed Chris why he felt this was an important theatre to have and he responded back very simply because we serve the community. Many of the people that go to performances at CTH are not the people that normally go to theatre productions. During its first year 95% of patrons were from Harlem and now people come up from downtown to see productions. He always came back the mission of the theatre during our meeting. The mission of CTH verbatim from their website is

The Mission of CTH is:

• To maintain a professional theatre company dedicated to returning the “classics” to the stages of Harlem;

• To create employment and educational outreach opportunities in the theatre arts;

• To create and nurture a new, young, and culturally diverse audience for the “classics”; and

• To heighten the awareness of theatre and of great art in Harlem

He told me of how when CTH was in its infancy, they would knock on doors telling people about their production and asking the resident to come to it. People came simply because they were asked to. I asked him how he finds the motivation to run such a large operation with only four core people and he said because this is the only thing I want to do. Recently, the company went to New Orleans and performed Waiting for Godot. Over 10,000 people showed to see the production and only 6,000 able to see it. When they left the area, they donated $5,000 to help Katrina victims. Also all of the productions have educational programs that run with them. For example when they produced Romeo and Juliet, they had programs for students on stage combat and other such things. It was such an amazing conversation that I really, really wish I had recorded.

Also, I really, really, really, really wish I would have discovered 520 8^th Avenue before Thursday. This building is filled with offices of not-for-profit theatres. FILLED with them.