What a week it was Down Under. I was so busy my brain is still spinning, but it was also the greatest week I have had in Australia so far! I spent most of the week in rehearsal or in shows. My rehearsals for the monkey play, “Words, Words, Words” continued to bring incredible amounts of laughter to my days. We had a rehearsal on Monday that went for about 4 hours. I think that maybe a little over an hour of that included actual rehearsing. We laughed. We did yoga. We dressed up as Australian school children (I got to wear a primary school jumper!). We recorded ridiculous 12 minute long videos which no one else in the world will ever find funny. It was perfect.
On Tuesday I attempted to work on the psychology essay that is looming over my head and threatening to ruin my mid-semester break if I don’t finish it off right now. Afterwards I headed to the theatre for a long night, 6pm – 2am. We had our bump-in, tech run, and dress rehearsal which are generally held on 3 different nights all in one so it was quite busy and long. We all left slightly delirious, but feeling better about where our shows were at. As you may imagine we also had a bit of fun in those 8 hours spent in the small theatre. I have made so many friends through 1.5 spot. It’s especially great because so many of them are Australians. I’ve found that it’s often hard to meet Australians as an exchange student simply because Mac Uni is such an international campus.
On Wednesday I had 6 hours of classes! It is my longest day, but it passed fairly quickly with the promise of Preview that night. Preview is not really opening night because no paying customers attend. It is a show only for other Dramac members. They give notes to the actors and directors after the show and it is our last chance to perfect our work and to get an outsider’s opinion. Preview was the first night that we had props for either play so it was quite the change. I went from playing with air in between my lines in “Words” to playing on a trampoline, with a hoola hoop, drawing on a block, typing on a laptop, eating bananas, ect… Needless to say we were all a little distracted! It was a good thing that it was only Preview is about all I can say about the experience. My other show “Princely and Damsela” actually went quite well on Preview night. The audience really sympathized with my “cute/stupid/submissive” character who ends up falling in love in the play. Mostly, I was happy that I remembered my lines that I had learned two days before!
Thursday was OPENING NIGHT! I spent the day slaving over my essay so that I could really enjoy the rest of the 1.5 Spot weekend. The show went amazingly well. “Words” was the best that we’ve ever done it and we had such a blast. “Princely” also went well and we had a good, responsive audience. After the show we went to Uni Bar (yes, we have a bar on campus…how crazy is that!) for Super Hero night. None of us were actually dressed up except for my friend Steff who plays one of the other monkeys. She still had a mustache that I drew on her in the play on as well as a beret, a real Frenchman! We played the greatest game with that mustache. People kept telling her how great it was and she pretended that she didn’t know that it was there or that Jane and I had told her that we washed it off. It was brilliant. We fooled about 12 drunk people. They found it quite hilarious, thankfully. We had a great time on the dance floor acting like crazy theatre people amongst the crowds of people trying to show off for the members of the opposite sex as much as they possibly could. We got a lot of attention for our crazy moves! After the Uni Bar, Steff and Jane came over to my place for a bit of a sleepover J We went to the petrol station by my apartment and bought junk food before coming home to stay up way too late and sit around my room laughing way too hard! Great times!
Jane and Steff both slept through the majority of their classes on Friday, but eventually headed to Uni for a bit while I worked on my essay a little longer. I was really trying to get productive this week! After 2 solid pages of work I went over to Mac Centre to meet Steff for some grocery shopping and some impromptu clothing purchases. We bought stuff for dinner and came back to my place for a cast meal before heading over to the theatre for night number 2! The show was great once again. We had a really wonderful audience which helped to move us along. Afterward we all went home to crash in preparation for the next day.
Saturday we did both a matinee and an evening show, which was fun but meant we were at the theatre from about noon until 4am! The matinee was just okay. We had both a small audience and not a very responsive audience which is never a very good combination. In between shows Steff and I went out for dinner where we had bagel sandwiches. I have not had a bagel in ages because they aren’t very common in Oz except in specialty shoppes like the one we were in. After bagels we had the most delicious invention…Fruit Flow. There is an ice cream shoppe called New Zealand natural that is really quite nice. But their most wonderful treat is the Fruit Flow. You blend a frozen yoghurt with fresh fruit of your choice to make your own personalized Fro-Yo! I had mango-passion yoghurt with passion fruit and raspberries mixed it. It was perfect! After dinner we went back for our last show L Abby, Carly, and Kim all came to this show. It was really nice to have my friends there to support me. After we finished, it was really bitter sweet. I am so sad that I don’t get to run around acting like the silly girl monkey, Kafka anymore. The show was heaps of fun. I basically just got to mess around and act like a little girl. I’m really going to miss it. I also really enjoyed being in my last minute play. I got to be a part of a completely different cast which was really rewarding and allowed me to make even more new friends.
After closing night there is always a big Dramac Party at the theatre. The night starts off with presentations in which directors give their cast members little gifts and say a few words about them and the cast does the same for their director. Jane gave each of us a stuffed monkey as well as our cast picture with a note on the back. Shannon, my other director, made us all these funny looking sock puppets that matched our characters. After awards the party started. However, I went on an adventure in the next town over, Epping, with 4 other girls straight away. We were on a massive food search. We had SO much success. Madi spotted a Freddo ice cream cake. Freddo is a type of Cadbury chocolate that is shaped like a frog and filled with different fun things. This cake was green, yellow, and pink ice cream with sprinkles and mini Freddo’s throughout. It was the greatest thing I’ve ever eaten. We devoured the whole cake in under 10 minutes and then hit the dance floor. We spent the night dancing and laughing until we couldn’t keep our eyes open any longer. Steff came back to my place where we both fell asleep straight away!
Sunday morning was spent back at the theatre doing a bit of cleaning before I headed off to the beach with Abby, Carly, and Kim. We went to Dee Why again because they were having music by the beach for the day. It was absolutely a perfect day. The temperature was perfect, the company was perfect, and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. It is amazing that the weather has held out for us. I was taking to my landlord the other day, Sam (who is hilarious), and he was telling me that this time last year everyone was already wearing long pants and jumpers (sweaters). I feel so lucky to still have the summer like weather so that the beach can be as wonderful as it was this weekend. After I went for a beach run, aka: the best kind of run there is, Abby and I went for a swim. After we ate peanut butter sandwiches and listened to the bands play classic oldies. We also read our books to the soundtrack of the crashing waves and took naps under the wonderfully warm Aussie sunshine. I don’t think that it’s possible for a day to get much better that that! But it did…We came home in time to cook dinner at our place and watch So You Think You Can Dance Australia. Carly and Kim came bearing gifts: an appetizer of Doritos and a dessert of FREDDO CAKE! I was in shock. I have now eaten massive amounts of this amazing cake 2 days in a row and I couldn’t be happier about it. Now, this is the really great part of the story. Prepare yourselves. You may actually need to sit down because screaming will be involved… Carly and Kim had to come over to watch the show because on Friday, 3 April, 2009 the four of us will be attending SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE AUSTRALIA. I WON TICKETS!!! This is apparently quite the difficult feat, but I got them on the 2nd try. I had to write in 25 words why I deserved the tickets and apparently my poetic words about my love for dance came through! YAYAYAYAYAYAY! So we are all totally psyched as you might imagine. There will be much more to come about the show!
It really has been the best week ever in Oz. I have had more fun that I can explain. I have laughed more often that I actually thought possible. I have met new people who I know I’ll form lifelong friendships with. I have learned a lot about myself. I have reentered the theatre after a 2 year leave. I’ve had a blast.
This week I was thinking about all of the people that I’ve talked to who have studied abroad. Everyone comes back talking about it being the time of their lives and experiencing life changing moments. I always thought that this had already happened to me, but after this past week I realize that the answer isn’t that simple. There is no one moment that makes this change come. It is all the little moments pilled together. It is stepping off the plane and not knowing anything about what the future holds. It is opening your mind. It is letting yourself be brave enough to fall on your face and fail. It is being even braver and standing back up, tall and proud. It is making new friends. It is laughing your ass off. It is welcoming opportunity. It is saying yest to the things that scare you. It is this past week. It is the week to come. It is realizing that this is exactly where I’m meant to be right now. It is all of the journey. I don’t need a single moment to make this trip worthwhile. But, if I had to pick one, this past week would pretty much sum it up. Thank you Dramac! Thank you Jane! Thank you to all my new friends!
Well there’s the synopsis of the BEST WEEK EVER! I know that there will be so many more amazing stories to come as I work on Caberet and audition for the next set of Dramac shows, as I go on adventures with my new friends, and as I explore this country. I hope that all is well back home. I’m missing you all and sending you some of this glorious Aussie sunshine to brighten your days.
Love you,
Anna
I did a section of 'Words' as an acting class project when I was in school- all three characters! I wish I could have seen it!
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