Ok, well at this point in my life all I have to worry about is graduating. It is quite possibly one of the most amazing feelings. The last time I posted was after the first week of the run of the show. I realize how long ago that was but lets put some things into perspective. So we had the show first of all (by now you all have seen how much time that can take out of your day), and then there is school (also a big committment), I saw three shows in DC during and right after the show ended (at least 5 to 6 hour long trips there and back), I had to worry about JRB meetings and hearings, SCHB stuff, JRB was doing a video taping for freshman orientation which I sadly could not be a part of because of the show, I had my job in the department, and I also was doing my law school applications and personal statement for law school. I’m sure I am forgetting a few things but needless to say I was quite busy these last few weeks, but now it’s over! I celebrated by going to Las Vegas with my roommate Stephanie for a few days which I think is acceptable because I have been working so hard these past few weeks and needed to unwind before I went crazy… So I did and it was amazing, such a wonderful place. Las Vegas was just so beyond what I had expected I can’t really describe it other than saying just go there and you’ll see.
So anyway, my thoughts after the show has closed. It’s sad! I will never again be on stage as a performer (barring some strange turn of events), I have to close this chapter in my life so I can concentrate on my career and where I want to go with a law degree (lets hope one of these schools lets me in). R &J was truly a great show to end my time as a performer at Mary Washington. I was so satisfied with the outcome. I was speaking to Jenna the other day as we drove back from DC after seeing Gem of the Ocean at Arena, and we were talking about how strange it is that performing is not only a talent some are born with but also a skill you need to learn. I realize I might be breaking the misnomer that I am a modest person (hah) by saying that when I came to Mary Washington and first auditioned I thought I was really good I thought I was one of the best in fact I now realize I was dead wrong. I have learned so much about how to perform here I am not sure what the specifics to it are. However, I do know that I did not know how to do what I can now before I came to Mary Washington. I was not truly proud of the work I did on stage until I became Smudge in Forever Plaid a year before the run of R & J. Something finally clicked and I thought “this is fun, I can do this and do it well.” Now some might think that I didn’t do it well, I for one thought I could have maybe sung a little better or been able to do the choreography a little more accurately, however, I really thought that I was doing well which is what matters. R & J taught me that this is one of the most important things you can do. Believe in yourself and oftentimes the results will be that much better. Obviously, many have heard this before but believing it and actually doing it are two different things. I do not believe that I could not have done better. That would be really foolish but rather that I am very happy with what I did and that it was the best that I could have done at the time, which is what really matters. None of this would have been possible though without all the help and direction from Gregg and Jenna. It was very hard for me to take direction from Jenna at times not only because we are close friends but also because she is a peer and I think of her level of expertise the same as mine, however, because she was part of the process I got to see even more how important an outside opinion is. I have always known that what you think you are doing can be completely opposite to what you are actually doing and getting a second opinion is often the best way to improve. So, Jenna, if you read this I would like to say thank you and that if I seemed a little grudging at times it was only because I hold you in the same esteem I hold myself. I cannot begin to describe how indebted I am to Gregg. Gregg if you are reading this I am not prying for a good grade on my senior project I really mean this. I can not even begin to descibe how much he has taught me. Lessons in theatre often reflect lessons in life. If theatre truly represents the most important moments in a persons life than the lessons I learned through working with Gregg have been lessons on understanding the most important moments in life. Now truly is there a more perfect subject matter for someone to learn. It is just so hard to describe what he has taught me. However, if you had an opportunity to see Les Liaisons Dangereuses and R & J four years later you might get somewhat of an idea. You learn so much as an actor. The reason for this is because not only do you need to know yourself inside and out but also know a completely different person on the same level. I have found that the role of the director is to guide the actor along that journey and he did exactly that. I really am indebted to Gregg for the opportunity to play Student #1, not only because I got to play Romeo who was and is my all time favorite role to perform, but also because I got a lesson into who I am. Which I needed at this point in my life. It is time to move on once again after I graduate. I don’t know where yet but I am prepaired. R & J was a great expirience and I want to thank everyone involved from the bottom of my heart for letting my career as a performer go out with such a bang. Thanks for listening once again and I will be back with updates until the end of the semester.
             Peter
 Well, I must begin by appologizing for not creating a post when I said I would. Now that it is a week later and the show is about to go up again for the next four days I am back with a fair amount to share with all of you. To everyone that commented on my blog, thank you, and I am sorry that I did not respond sooner. It seems like once the show opened I would have more free time… I was very wrong. School caught up with me and I had a fair amount to accomplish for my classes. This is not an excuse, because I did take a few moments to breathe now and then, but I just wanted to let everyone know where I’ve been. Along with school I’ve been cracking away at my law school applications which are proving to be a little more difficult than I expected… Especially the personal statement. For those of you that know me personally I never have trouble talking about myself but the personal statement has been tough. I’m not sure what to write about, I always feel like I’m selling myself when I have to write them and can never some up with a short statement that best describes why I am right for the school or what is unique about myself. I just have to keep telling myself once I get into law school I won’t ever have to do academic applications again (I hope).
The show went really well. I am very proud of the work we produced. I think this next weekend will be even better as well. Opening night was great we had a nice size house and the audience seemed to really respond to the work. It is strange because I have had so many opening nights that one would think I would be used to the influence the audience has over a performance but I haven’t. The energy that comes from a theatre full of expectant people is amazing. It is almost a palpable thing. I really love what that can do to the show, it often puts life in instances where there wasn’t as much in rehearsal. It can also help us to discover so many new and interesting things about the show we did not see before.
Friday was a busy day of classes and I was exhausted for most of the day but seemed to wake up right before the show started. This show must have energy and I think it can almost pull it out of me when the time is right because I was so tired after having school for so long that day but it didn’t matter once we marched on stage at the top of the show. I was ready and willing to let my adrenaline rush take wherever it needed. The other amazing thing about Friday was that I got to go out to a party after the show and actually get back a little of the social life I lost due to the hours and hours we worked on the show.
Saturday was a really great day, I got to sleep in which had not happened in like a month. I didn’t wake up until pm! At five I came to school and spoke to some prospective students from Fairfax High School with Jon, Donna, Helena, and Andrew. I think it was a worthwhile expirience for all. We got the opportunity to reflect on what it was like getting ready to apply for undergrad (oddly just as nerve wracking as applying to law school) and the high schoolers got to get a first hand recounting of our journeys to Mary Washington. This group of students and parents also came to the show Saturday night. The show that night went great as all the other nights did, even though I feel like I was a little off for the first act. The students stayed for a question and answer session after the show. They had really interesting questions to ask and I really appreciated the time they took to come see the show. My friends Tori Miller and Kat Mernin came to see the show Saturday night. They had to drive back up to DC that night so I didn’t get to see them but I’m gald they got to come. They both graduated from Mary Washington. Kat two years ago and Tori last year. I am so glad that they got to come. Saturday night I went home and did some laundry that desperatly needed to be done and went to be early because we had a show the next morning.
Sunday morning was tough, I couldn’t fall asleep for the longest time Saturday night so I didn’t get as much sleep as I would have liked but oh well. I got to the show a little groggey but woke up in time for the top of the show. My mom came to see the show Sunday and I’m really glad she got to see it. This is the last time I will be on stage at Mary Washington so it meant a lot that she came to see it. I only got to see her for a few minutes after the show because we had afterwords directly following the show. Afterwords is a program the department offers to the audience where some of the actors and production staff are available to answer questions from the audience. There were really great questions and a group of girls from William and Mary that had done the show their with an all female cast came to see the show that day. They had some very interesting thoughts and gave me some interesting things to think about.
After Sunday was over and done with we had a three day break which was amazing. I had hearings Monday night and a show to goto in DC on Tuesday but last night I had all to myself! The week was busy with school work but at least it is getting a little back to normal now that I don’t have rehearsal. I am really sorry I didn’t keep up with blogging but hopefully this post will make up for it. The show is almost over and law school applications are almost due so once it’s all over I can devote all my time to school work (or at least try to) I’m hoping to make this semester the one with the best grades I have ever recieved. Alright, thanks for listening!
Peter
In about 35 minutes I will be heading down to the dressing room to get ready for the show! I’m not normally nervous before opening but now I’m getting a little anxious… I know everything will go great, however, the lead up is getting to me. Alright, I’ll be back later tonight to give you a run down on how everything went.
Peter
Well we didn’t have school today. So we had rehearsal all day instead, which was good. We got a lot accomplished today. And now I am really exceited for the show. It is a message that needs to be sent, hopefully it will be well received. We may encounter some discomfort amongst our audience because two men kiss on stage, being one of those men I have struggled with the fact that we have to do it in front of an audience of people. It has gotten to the point in rehearsal where I don’t even notice anymore, but we’ll see what happens in performance. I think the challenges we make on the relationships between men are important and it is not a message about homosexuality but rather stretching the limits of the constraints on society. So I have a lot of information to add to the page for static pages, however, I may have to wait to upload them until the run. This is not exactly how I would have liked it to go but time has been hard to come by so this it how it’s going to be. I am so happy to be playing Romeo, this is an opportunity I have wanted for the longest time. I get to play one of the worlds most renowned tragic heroes from any story ever told. What a great show to end my career in theatre. This is the last time I will ever be on stage and I am glad that this is the role I go out on. Once the show is over life will be a little more relaxed. And I will finally be able to concentrate just on getting out of school with grades I am proud of and getting into a law school I want. Alright, I’m going to try and get some rest tonight so that I can hopefully feel a little better tomorrow for opening. Thanks for listening!
Peter
So I’ve been sick and busy and have had absolutly no time to get around to blogging. But here I am! So I believe the last time you heard from me was thursday… Well friday was much nicer than I had thought it would be. I had class all day which was alright and then I went home for an hour and then came back for level set at 5. In an awsome turn of events we got out at 6 and I got to go home and get some rest for the day that went on for ever. That night I got home and did a few more LSAT questions and went to bed at 10pm. Saturday, the longest day of my life… I woke up at 4am because I went to bed so early and was wide awake and ready to get the LSATs done! Well I had to wait till 7:30am to leave for school. I was ready this time. I was wide awake, confident, and knew what was going on this time. I got into the test and did my absolute best and walked out feeling like I had aced it. We’ll find out in about three weeks but hopefully this one will be a lot better. Once the test was over to got to come home and eat lunch, and then it was rehearsal till the end of time. We went from 3pm to 10pm that day which ended up being sooooo long because I was up at 4am. Oh, I forgot to mention when I woke up I felt like I had swallowed a piece of glass. The worst possible time for me to get sick and I did. So I go to bed that night hoping that I would feel better in the morning. Unfortunatly I woke up feeling worse. It was rehearsal time once again sunday at noon. We went until 6pm and finally completed the show all the way to the end. Then it was paper time. I had a 9 page book report due for Dr. Kramer that I just had had no time to get done before sunday night. I never ever do this any more I normally have papers done days in advance but this time LSATs, the show, and school just got in the way. I did my outline for the paper from 7pm to 12am and then wrote from midnight till 5am. I woke up monday morning and just gave into the sickness and slept in missing all my classes except for Dr. Kramers at 2pm because I had to turn in the paper I wrote the night before. After turning in the paper and going to class Gregg let me go home for a bit to eat dinner before rehearsal. Then we had the first dress monday night. We got through the show from start to finish without any big problems. I felt a lot better after the show. It is true that we needed more work but it was at least we got through it. Today was a better day I felt a little better, in the afternoon. I went to work for a few hours and then got my hair cut. We had the second tech tonight and I think it was really beneficial because we got to work through the first act and got to go really in depth because we could stop and start. I have really high hopes for the show now. I feel like we’re going to have a great show now and I didn’t before last night and tonight. The weather was crazy after rehearsal tonight. There was ice everywhere. I’m hoping and thinking that we won’t have school tomorrow, but we’ll see. Anyway, I have to get some static pages done but maybe not tonight… Life has been breezing by lately but hopefully it will slow down soon. Law school applications are coming up soon so I’ve got to consider those too. Well I will be back tomorrow and hopefully with those static pages I have been promising. Anyway, thanks for listening I’ll be back tomorrow.
Peter
Well, as I thought last night, today was another busy day. It was pretty normal and uneventful really. Classes went fine and I had an hour of work got to come home for what I am now calling linner, since I don’t have time for lunch or dinner. I seem to be having two big meals every day one in the afternoon and one after rehearsal. Rehearsal went well tonight, we got to listen to some of the music for the show and it sounds great. I was impressed with Ryan (the sound designer) during The Shape of Things a few years ago and I am very happy he is designing R & J. Rehearsal was tough tonight for the rest of the evening. Opening is coming up quickly and we have a long way to go before we get there. Tonights rehearsal was interesting in a way because I really felt like progress was made, not to say that we hadn’t made any before but I think the play has lived within us for long enough now that we are starting to be able to give a lot more to the process. One of my biggest fears of this show is that I will end up dissappointed in my performance and since it is the last show I will ever do it has to be the best I have ever done… High hopes but I think once I take the LSATs on Saturday I will have a lot less on my mind and will be able to commit even more. I know it’s kind of late to be holding back still but I’m so worried about taking the LSATs again it is hard to stop thinking about it. Saturday sort of deceides the rest of my life, or at least which school I get in to which in effect determines where I get a job which is kind of like the rest of my life. So it’s an important day. Alright, I need to get some other work done, and I didn’t get the rest of the page up and running but I am hoping to get some of that done tomorrow. Alright, till next time!
          Peter
Well hello again. I didn’t quite have time to mess around with my blog today because it got a little busier than I thought it would be. I had work for four hours this morning and got a fair amount accomplished which I am happy about. Now that the semester is underway I have a lot less on my plate with regard to my job with the department. Once work was over I got to come home for a while and attempt to get some work done and eat. I then had to run back to school for an APO meeting at 5pm. Rehearsal began shortly after that at 6pm. We worked for an hour and I got to leave rehearsal for half an hour to run to my musical theatre performance class so I could present my first workshop piece. I don’t know why, but for some reason I can’t get over being so over ridingly nervous when I sing in front of people and I’m not on stage. I think there is something far more personal in singing as yourself rather than singing as a character on stage. I think the piece when alright, however, I could not take my eyes off of my music. The weird part is I know the song like the back of my hand and yet I just couldn’t help myself. It’s over now and I shouldn’t worry about it and the class is to help me get better so this is a great place to start with regards to that… Rehearsal tonight went well, we still seem to be moving rather slowly but hopefully it will come a little quicker in these next few days. I am currently having issues with getting what Gregg wants into my head. Its strange how we can read these lines and assume one reading and never attempt to stray from that reading. I am finding more and more that I need to be pushed to come up with something different to give. I also came to the realization that the last straight show I did with Gregg was Les Liaisons Dangereuses and I had forgotten what it was like. The two shows previous to R & J that I did with Gregg were Forever Plaid and Bat Boy: The Musical. The interesting thing about straight shows is that, they’re hard! I’m not saying that the musicals are easy but we don’t have any of the beautiful songs or choreography to fall back on. In a way that might make the process easier but I think its even harder and at least to me a little more meaningful. I think a show like R & J can be more personal than a flashy show like Bat Boy, at least for me. Another thing I am struggling with is playing Romeo, or as Gregg put it the other day, possibly one of the greatest tragic characters of all time. Now if that isn’t something to live up to I don’t know what is. It’s also tough because I’m not just playing Romeo am also playing Student #1 as well. I think I can honestly say this show is my biggest challenge on stage as of this point in my life. Since this is the last time I will be on stage I think it’s oddly appropriate. I am very happy for the opportunity to play Romeo it is just an extremely daunting task. It’s going to come, I just don’t know when and hopefully it will sooner rather than later. Tomorrow will be another busy day as most days are but I’m just going to have to power through for a few more weeks and it’ll be clear sailing from there. The show will have closed, LSATs will be over and done with, and my law school applications will be finished and sent out. Alright, I have to appologize for not getting my act together for not getting my features up and running but I will get there soon. Hopefully tomorrow will see at least a header that I am happy with and we’ll see what else after that is up and running. Thanks for listening! Till tomorrow.
Peter
As I promised, here is a post from later today. I wasn’t anticipating being up this late, but such is the life of a college senior I guess. Who knew this last year would be so hard… Anyway, I thought I might write about my day somewhat breifly. I began this monday much like any other monday… 9am came way to early with the terrible sound of my alarm. I then went to Great Masterworks at 10am and History of Theatre II at 11am. I had to meet my roommate Stephanie outside of Monroe Hall at noon because I left a book I needed at home and she was nice enough to bring it to me. I then took an hour to read up on a chapter that I needed to have read for my Politics of Soviet Successor States class. At 1pm I went the Theories of International Relations and then at 2pm to the Successor States class I just mentioned. I really am blessed with having two majors. While it may have been a lot of work these last four years I have enjoyed most if not all of the classes I have had to take for the majors. Mary Washington has been endowed with a great group of faculty the professors in all my classes are not only great teachers but seem to be very genuine about their passion for their subjects. Just something I notice every so often and am very appreciative for (if any professors of mine read this I’m not just fishing for an A I really mean it). Anyway, once my meeting was over I went to work in duPont Hall for a while which is where I found out that Martha had finished setting up this blog and when I posted my first post. Once work was over I went to an Alpha Psi Omega meeting (the honorary theatre fraternity at Mary Wash) for an hour. After the meeting I ran home for about 20 minutes to change and eat before rehearsal. Once I got back to school for rehearsal we began the nights work with running lines with Jenna (the Assistant to the Director) and the management team (Donna, Megan, and Jen). I can’t even begin to explain how helpful these little sessions with the girls have been. Learning lines for this show has been tough so any help I can get it appreciated. If any of the four of you girls are readying this (especially you Donna) thanks so much for the time to go over the lines, it has really helped me. Once the time for line rehearsal was over we began the rehearsal for Act I. Gregg had some important things to say at the beginning of rehearsal today that I hope will stick with me. Nothing new or profound, but important none the less. I really need to keep thinking about how theatre is glimpses into the most important moments of our lives because I think if I can keep that in my head at all times the energy and urgency with which this show is built on might come through. It might sound a little silly and a simple thing to remember but for some reason I think we forget that when so many other things are going on at once around us. I think the run went well tonight, we still have a long way to go but I keep finding new things, and I don’t think that will stop, but these new instances make the show that much more fun to rehearse. I also think we have a great cast, the guys are a lot of fun to be around and we all get along so great together. I am very thankful for that. And since it is 1:47am I think I might end here. I hopefully will spend some time tomorrow getting more and more used to this new blog and hopefully will have some of the new features up an running before the next post. Thanks for reading and until next time.
       Peter
