Godspell

Okay, as I mentioned before, Centre Stage's Godspell was this past weekend. It was absolutely amazing. So amazing, in fact, that I just have to use up an entire post just for it.

It's no secret that I love Centre Stage. I found Centre Stage through Juliette and Alison who run the dance program, and they are two of the most incredible people I know. I shouldn't have been surprised to find that everyone in their dance company was also incredibly incredible, but I'm not sure it's possible to ever be prepared for the level of incredible that Centre Stage is at. It's just beyond expected human capabilities.

So I go to all of their shows, schedule willing. Godspell was no different; I went Saturday night, ready for another incredibly Centre Stage production. What I got, however, was far from what I expected.

The show was already "in progress" as the audience members found their seats and skimmed their programs. There aren't any curtains in this particular "theatre" (it's actually a church chapel), so you could see the coffee house set right away, along with the actors on stage doing ordinary things like arguing on cell phones; chatting; typing on laptops; playing ping-pong; battling each other on the Wii; or (my favourite) walking into the audience, hugging you, and sitting down to talk.

The word "Godspell" means "good story"; Godspell, however, was much more than just a good story. From the initial intimacy and "real" feel established from before the house lights even dimmed, Godspell was not just a performance, but an interaction, a conversation. As the patrons of the coffee shop journeyed and learned their individual lessons, so did the audience. The anxieties, hopes, fears, dreams, and emotions of the characters were shared by everyone in the theatre.

These kids weren't acting though. There were no characters, just real people with real emotions. The penultimate scenes were excruciating for the "characters", actors, and audience alike. It was horrifyingly painful. I was angry. I didn't come to watch this misery; it was like watching all hope just burned away to nothingness. I felt empty.

I can't remember what the last scene was like, really. I was so torn up from the scenes before that, despite the sort of "happy ending" that Godspell has, it didn't leave me feeling bubbly. Instead, I felt stronger. Hurt, beaten up, and aching, but stronger. Like after a really good run, when your body is exhausted, but it's a good kind of exhausted; you're becoming stronger, faster. My heart was exhausted, but it was a good kind of exhaustion.

I've never seen any other version of Godspell before, but it was the best I've seen from Centre Stage so far. Each production they do seems to only be an improvement from the last. The pick good shows to begin with, and then the direction, the choreography, the sets, the lighting, the costumes, the acting, and the sheer volume of dedication that is obviously put into their productions all make for incredible shows.

I'd rather see a Centre Stage performance than a Broadway performance.

Late Monday

As mentioned yesterday, I'm sick. I've been a groggy mess, but I plan to be back to normal, including regular 5AM PST blog posts, by tomorrow. Anyway, onto our regularly scheduled Monday stuff:

First, last week's riddle hasn't been solved yet, so go here to read it and see if you can solve it. The prize is still the same: "an unreleased (even to my closest friends and family) free-verse poem called "Step," hand-written, decorated, and signed on plain 8.5" by 11" paper."

So as far as updates go, I'm going over to PHS on Wednesday to start setting dates and reserving the theatre for auditions, rehearsals, and eventually performance of Where the Wild Berries Grow and work out some some fiscal concerns. Assuming all goes well, I'll be ordering cast scripts quite soon.

In other news, my band is recording music (nothing too terribly fancy; just Garage Band) this week, and we're getting close to deciding on a name, which means photos, Myspace page, website, etc. And which all means we're that much closer to trying to get some shows booked.

Speaking of shows, I highly suggest that if you're in or anywhere near L.A. County, you go to see Centre Stage's production of Godspell. I've only seen one of the numbers in the show, but Centre Stage has never disappointed me before. Despite being "children's" theatre, Centre Stage never fails to put on professional shows. In fact, Centre Stage's productions even go beyond what other "professional" theatres do. Godspell is only around this weekend, and then it's gone, so don't miss out!

And that concludes my update. (First week of college was great, by the way!) Have a wonderful week and see you at our regular time tomorrow morning!

Another show closed and put away. Wow. The Music Man (with Centre Stage) was a great show and a great experience.

I ended up on props, making sure everyone had their props and everyone gave them back. And boy, did I make sure. We had two prop tables, so I kept one nice and as-empty-as-possible for current props. And as the Wells Fargo wagon was rolling out just before intermission, I'd get everything from Act I stashed away in its home (after checking each one back in on my checklist), and all of Act II ready on the neater table. Props falling apart? No problem. The poor books for the Library scene and Pick-a-Littles were getting destroyed, so I ended up hot gluing almost every book back together. Poor, poor books. I'm also a professional Pinwheel Repair Person now. That's going on my resume.

All in all though, it really was just great to be there. Everyone involved with Centre Stage is great; they're all friendly, helpful, hard-working, and just great to work with. I came to help because I had worked with their choreographers before, and I thought I'd see if they could use any help. Turned out that there was much to be done, and in the weeks I spent working with all these strangers, I quickly joined the wonderful family they've built over the past ten years.

I want that. When I think about ISS, I see a group of people like those at Centre Stage. Heck, I see Centre Stage sometimes when I'm imagining. Before Centre Stage, I only knew that I wished for a way to do the things I see ISS doing. But now? Shoot, now I can see it's all possible and actually reasonable. Because the people who run Centre Stage and make it all happen? They've got homes, cars, food, comfortable lives. I may dream of the poetry of the life of a starving artist sometimes, but really, I want to have enough to give freely much more than I want my life to feel like some sad but beautiful story of love and passion and a bunch of silly nonsense.

It's crazy to me that I am very much living out my dreams already, at only 18-years-old. Shouldn't I have to wait until I'm at least a few years out of college minimum for this? The answer, of course, is no way. I should have been living out my dreams for years. And I was, as a young kid, until I got it in my head that life was supposed to be hard and miserable. Boy, that was a weird phase.

Speaking of dreams, I've finally gotten "Without Direction" published (order via me here or through Lulu.com here), and am working on getting it sold. There are some local bookstores I'm going to try, as well as trying to get schools anywhere in the world to put it on. How awesome would it be to have my play put on by someone else?

Yeah, like I said, living the dream.