Showcase Saturday

There is never a dull moment in NYC.  Even on the weekends.

This morning, I woke up naturally at 8:00 a.m. because my biological clock hates me.  It doesn't matter that I went to bed at two in the morning.  I am cursed to rise early.  

It has it's advantages, though.

I love that my homework is singing a song, but unfortunately belting in my room like I used to would probably cause my entire floor and the ones above and below me to hate me.  So, when I woke up so early this morning, I made the walk to campus and took advantage of on of the dozens of practice rooms located on several floors of the building, all completely empty due to the weekend.

Note for the future: most sane college students don't go to school when they don't have to.  This is the perfect time to get things done!

My Personal Favorite Practice Room

 When I left the building and walked into the crisp November air, I noticed that the leaves on the trees had finally turned a different color.  The entire reason that Fall is my favorite season is that the leaves turn all different shades of orange, red, and brown, so I thought I'd capture the moment.

When I returned to the Strat, some girls I knew were getting ready to go to one of the Fourth Semester Musical Showcases, which happen very frequently throughout the semester, and since it was free, I decided to tag along.

It's amazing how much talent and skill can be cultivated in only four short semesters at AMDA.  The showcases are basically a mishmash of about twenty songs, all from different musicals, that are fitted together in such a way that they actually tell a new story.  The show we saw was called "The Right to Remain Silent," and it was basically a prison theme.  The Fourth Semesters were fantastic, and the whole experience got me so excited for my own showcase in a couple of years.

After that, I went home to work on our current etude with my scene partner for a bit, and I hope this time we came up with a situation that will satisfy our overly picky instructor who never really seems to know what she wants from us.

Finally, I went to work.  It was four hours of listening to both musical showcases over the intercom backstage while we sorted through every piece of clothing imaginable and tried to find a spot for them to live.  Not nearly as easy as it sounds.

The job included a lot of climbing up and down a ladder into the loft area, where all of the costumes  and props are kept.  As with everything in New York, storage includes stacking.  This loft is located in the backstage area of the theatre.

A Glimpse Backstage at the Ansonia Theatre

If you look behind the chairs that are stacked on the walls, you can see the dresses hanging behind them.  That is only a small portion of the loft in which the costumes and props are kept.

And now I'm here, sitting in the hallway by the elevators on my floor in the Strat as people walk past me, sending me odd looks.

It's the only place I can connect to the WiFi, stop judging me!

Love,
Little Me