Madwoman's Attic: In The Attic

Arrival at Shakespeare and Co

So, after sixteen some-odd hours of journey time, I have arrived in the Birkshires.  The flights went as well as can be expected and some fun times with humanity ensued.  But the final journey in was the best.  Of course, to a west-coast bred girl, this part of the country looks like something off a backlot where a Hallmark movie is being shot.  I kept thinking "Do people really LIVE in these houses?? With these clapboards and bright colors and shutters against the snow?"  Weird. 

Anyway, I'm now happily situation in my dorm room at the Shakespeare and Co campus.  This week will probably settle those Whitworth yearnings I've had from time to time over the last few years.  I had to re-learn how to walk on snow and ice.  There are cute buildings and trees everywhere.  No pinecones, though. 

Anyway, I've been up much longer than my body likes to be, so I'm going to get a couple hours of shuteye and then go officially register.  Then I get to hike my booty a half a mile uphill to get something to eat ( I wish I could say it was in both directions, but i cannot).  I will very likely lose ten pounds by the end of this week (with any luck!). 

Will likely write more after hearing Tina Packer speak this evening.  Fun!

Jane Austen Evening 09

In the top left corner there should be a mini-album of shots from the Jane Austen Evening 2009 that Rebecca, Kat (not Cat), Angela and I attended on the 17th.  There will be more shots on my facebook page since typepad is being slow about uploading right now. 

I'm frantically getting ready for my trip to Lenox, Mass for the STAA (Shakespeare Theatre Association of America) training and conference next week.  I'll be blissfully listening to the thoughts and ideas of others more experienced than I in theatrical production for a whole week.  La!  I'm staying on the Shakespeare and Company campus which provides free wi-fi so I'll do my best to update a few times during the week.  If I'm not too exhausted! 

I've had to choose 4-6 lines of text from Shakespeare that I have a "personal connection" to for some of the text workshops.  This was a tough one for me since I tend to think in terms of story rather than individual pieces of text.  But I finally settled on this segment from one of Portia's speeches in "The Merchant of Venice":

Myself, and what is mine, to you and yours

Is now converted.  But now I was the lord

Of this fair mansion, master of my servants,

Queen o'er myself; and even now, but now,

This house, these servants, and this same myself

Are yours-- my lord's!

The whole speech is a moving testament to fully committing yourself to someone or something-- even when you are rather happy being on your own.  These lines in particular are what goes through my head when I commit to directing a show-- or now, to working with Woodward Shakespeare.  It's a marriage of sorts, a life in the arts. 

The speech, though, continues like this:

I give them with this ring,

Which when you part from, lose, or give away,

Let it presage the ruin of your love,

And be my vantage to exclaim on you. 

Which basically means, "fuck it up and I'll kill you". 

Yeah, that's a marriage to art right there.  "I'll give my everything to you, but if you fuck it up, I'll kill you. "

And on that note, here's one of my favorite photos from the Jane Austen Evening-- Kat and Rebecca: