Hey. This is your outreach officer Mei Mei. I just got back along with our whole peetown cast and some more from Nationals in Lincoln, Nebraska! I have to tell you, I didn't actually mind Nebraska so much. I like humidity, it makes my hair super curly and shiny. I did sweat a lot though, but that's what deodorant is for. Lincoln was quiet and peaceful, well, besides all the high school drama geeks who flooded the campus of Lincoln University. We are a pretty loud breed of people. It was great, even if you and this fellow thespian were COMPLETE opposites otherwise, you could still talk about theatre. Unifying! There was some awesome talent and work from other schools, and even watching the not so awesome talent reminded me of what is necessary to create a quality piece of work. After seeing a not so great show, I wrote in my summer journal about the performances I am proud of and the ones I'm not proud of. I concluded with three rules for myself that, if I forget them (which I do if I'm not careful), will result with a piece of work I'm not proud of.
Excerpted from my 2010 summer journal:
Rules for the Mei Mei Actor
1. Take your time! Live in the moment onstage and let things develop.
2. Levels. Find the complexity in the text and character, even though it takes more work.
3. Play for objective not emotion.
Also, it helps to have lots of vitamin c and cough drops before a performance, especially since I always get phlegm in my throat. It clears out your voice and keeps you bright eyed even in the most stressful circumstances.
Performing at Nationals was phenomenal!!! What a buzz!!! Our whole cast was just buzzing like bees during and after those performances of peetown. The audiences were huge and SO responsive. We were so in tune with each other, the audience and us, everyone was so engaged, we were communicating with this huge group of high schoolers! Wow. Too much light was fun too, we had some baby mess ups, but overall it went great. I'm sad that I'm finally leaving such wonderful projects behind after growing up in them, hopefully senior year has the same great work and ensemble in store! Finally, college auditions. They were good. Finally, I'm excited for college and finally I know what I want in a college. Well, for the most part. In your college search, I strongly suggest you look at SCAD: Savannah College of Art and Design. I learned about them at nationals, and ever since I have been in love, spending hours on their website and hours daydreaming about that school. It's exactly what I want in a school; really I made a list of what I want, and that college has all of it! I have a crush on SCAD. It might be love. You should check it out because they're awesome. Kay, have an awesome summer. Happy July 4th (in 6 days).
Love Love Love, Mei Mei