#3 A Bathroom Shopping Limerick
I'm so tired of tile it's disgusting
Every choice of design I'm mistrusting
I'm thinking that grout
Should just be left out
If my brain was a pipe it'd be rusting
#2 Absurdity of Water
I didn't notice the rain
As it cascaded down windows
and turned sidewalks into shattered mirrors.
City lights glistened
I assume they glistened
As city lights often do in rainstorms.
I didn't see.
I didn't notice the lovers
Huddled under a shared coat
Leaping over puddles and laughing at the absurdity of water.
I didn't see these things.
I only saw you
My favorite storm.
#1 Snow in April
I was going to write a poem
About the weather in Chicago
How it snowed in April, then got warm, then snowed again.
It shouldn't be surprising
Snow in April
It happens every year.
But I still feel hurt by this spring snow.
I was going to write this poem
After walking my dog.
We slept in a bit, then stared reluctantly out the window
at the dreary day.
We always walk North, towards Buena (which means nice...good...)
But he pulled me South
It shouldn't be surprising
but it was.
And while we walked South
Someone was shot on Buena (which means nice...good...)
Someone was shot in the chest
And the shooters got away.
I didn't hear the shots
But I saw lights and heard sirens
As I closed the gate behind us
And fed the dog
And found out it was a shooting
And sat down to write a poem
About snow in April
But found that I couldn't
write that poem
at all.
A Poem A Day
Many many people have embarked on one of these "do this thing every day for a year" kicks, and I'm jumping on the bandwagon. Hoping to gain a little inspiration, force myself to write a bit, even if it's as short as a haiku, every single day. Thanks for reading!
2015!!! A Retrospective.
Hello everyone! I am late writing this, but 2015 was a big year for me personally and for the Hypocrites...
2015 started out with the second half of our Gilbert & Sullivan Rep at the Hypocrites' Heath MainStage at the Den Theater. Yes, we were crazy enough to perform Pirates of Penzance, the Mikado, and HMS Pinafore in rep, with our incredible stage crew switching out the set from performance to performance. It was a crazy but exciting time for us.
Soon after, we took the Mikado to Boston to A.R.T.'s Oberon for a limited engagement run. It was so nice being hosted by those amazing folks again. They know how to take care of us ragtag Chicagoans.
Around the same time, I booked a couple spring/summer McDonald's voiceovers (link on my voiceover page) which is always a nice bonus. The producers of the spots are also so kind, and we recorded in the same office where my hubs works!
Once summer came, it was back to All Our Tragic--a remount of the show we premiered in the summer of 2014. Sadly, our dear friend and colleague Erin Myers (aka Odd-Job Alice) passed away before the rehearsal process begin after a battle with cancer. The show, which deals with such a range of human emotions and experiences, was particularly poignant for those of us in the cast after her death. Erin's presence was missed every second, and we can only hope that she would be proud of the work we did in this remount. She was a feisty, brilliant, insanely talented woman, whose soaring soprano voice permeated the room. She is and will always be dearly missed.
Fall came and with it the Jeff Awards (Chicago's infinitely less-televised version of the Tony's) and All Our Tragic won in nearly every category in which we were nominated, including Best Ensemble! So, because I was part of that Ensemble, I guess you can call me a Jeff Award Winner. Wahoo!
Late fall we began rehearsals for HMS Pinafore once again, and took it to Actors Theatre of Louisville for a 5 week run. Hoo-boy they know how to treat some folks in KY! Their apprentice program means a community of built-in enthusiastic audience members hungry to learn, and new friends (and new bourbons) abounded! During that time, I also did over 50 pet portrait drawings, both for my job and independently. Christmas Bonus!
We closed Pinafore mid-December and I went home to NC for just over three weeks, which was unbelievably fun. I spent quality time with my parents and old friends and dog, and my hubs was able to come join me for most of it, getting almost two weeks in vacation himself! We closed out the year in Charleston, SC, seeing a dear friend Matt Bivins play a 10-year reunion New Year's concert with Jump, Little Children, a band I used to go see as a teenager. It was a blast!
2016 is shaping up to be an exciting year filled with music and travel and theater and life! I'll keep you posted :-)