My father continually asks me, “Stevie, if anyone would have told you in ninth grade what you would be doing right now, would you have believed them?” My response is always, “...Heheh.” Today, I asked myself that question: Would I have believed them? The answer today was a resounding “NO!” which I shouted from about 250 ft. up on the top of a mountain we hiked today overlooking all of Edinburgh. From there I could see the coast, Edinburgh Castle, and the much larger mountains behind me, making me feel simultaneously small and huge. I got the chance to think, atop the mountain, about what got me here and about the people who helped me do it. Sometimes, in the course of duty in the states, when I’m climbing 20 ft. in the air to fix some widget that absolutely must work for the show to go up, I think about the same question in my head. How did I end up here? I don’t think I want to tell you about it though, because I think I’d rather you thought about it yourself. Not about my experiences, of course, but about your own. I don’t want to turn this into some sort of self-help cathartic blog like PostSecret.com or anything, but here is an opportunity for self-reflection. What got you here? Are you happy here? What can you do to get yourself where you want to be? I know that had I not attended school, this opportunity would never have presented itself and I would not have been qualified to take it. I also know that if I want to achieve more in this career, I need to pursue more opportunities. This one has opened my eyes to a lot of possibilities and new experiences, and I am left wondering what new experiences I will find with opportunities in the future.
It’s difficult to believe we’ve only two more performances left! My apologies for not posting more frequently, but frankly I’ve been too tired! I mentioned that the Fringe is no cakewalk and I was not kidding! With over 2,000 individual theatre companies, some bringing more than one show, the audiences here are not in want of more choice. This makes things very difficult when you consider that we are only a four person team with one show. The advertising is never ending! Every day we walk the streets, handing out postcards to people we think might want to come to see our show. Occasionally, I instead install huge numbers of posters in the windows of friendly shop owners. Then, when a review comes out, I revisit every site like a squirrel revisiting it’s acorn cache, and post strips of paper over all of our posters with selections from the review and the number of stars that we received from them. I’ve worked out the numbers recently, and it looks like I’ve been walking approximately 6 miles every day!
Of course, the entire process would have been much easier in the beginning had I had my tools and office supplies available to me. I did not, however, for the first three days as both of my bags were lost somewhere in Amsterdam! So, unfortunately, we opened the show without the essential supplies that I had packed to rig a projection screen in the theatre, and we did what all theatre people seem to have taken coursework in: we improvised. Our wrinkled screen was ironed in the middle of our apartment and took up more floor space than we actually had! A broom handle briefly became a stiffening rod! Finally, three days later, I was reunited with my bags (containing all of my clothes)! And now I’m very tired. Although it is 9:00 PM in Ohio, it is 2:00 AM here. Until next time, Annyounghasseyo!
No comments:
Post a Comment