So it's been a little while - something like 58 days worth of a little while - since I've written my last post here. Why the extended period of radio silence? Simple answer: I've been pretty busy. Really busy.
It's not just school that's been keeping me busy (though it's certainly helped, don't get me wrong); I've also been balancing a couple of other things, too. Those things are...
1. Endgame: This is a play written by Samuel Beckett. It's quite a mind bender; Beckett has a tendency to be like that, I've learned. It's also Shimer's fall production this year. As our premiere looms closer and closer rehearsals have become more frequent and more intense. However, I've gotta hand it to our director (a great guy named Duncan who's got quite a bit of experience in the Chicago theater community) for keeping things from running out of control. True, there has been more of a sense of tension as time has progressed, but that tension has never succumbed into a "oh-God-our-show's-coming-up-what-are-we-going-to-do?!" sort of insanity. And I think Duncan is responsible for instilling that sense of calm in us. Thanks to his know-how and leadership, I'm feeling pretty ready for this show. (By the by - if you're interested in attending, check out our Facebook event.)
2. Class with the Neo-Futurists: The Neo-Futurists are a theater group that've been here in Chicago for a little over twenty years. They're responsible for the longest running original show in the city, called Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind, which is an ever-evolving attempt to perform 30 plays in 60 minutes. I've been taking a class held by the Neo-Futurists over the past few weeks in a better attempt to understand their aesthetic, which emphasizes speed, brevity, and what I'd colloquially call real-lifeness. That means that within the Neo-Futurist aesthetic, one can't perform as any person other than their self: so no characters, no fourth wall. Needless to say, working within these parameters has, too, been a bit of a mind bender, albeit in a very different way than working with Endgame.
For the past few nights I've found myself entering my dorm for the first time in hours in a state of total exhaustion, my mind having been bended in such a way that would make even a yoga master blush. And don't forget about readings at Shimer - it's rare that I'll have a day where everything I read and hear in class fits within my pre-existing modes of thought. But it's okay. It's actually kind of nice. Picasso probably said it best when he said, "I am exhausted if I don't work."
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