Day 85

Back to the grind of LUTAF updates.

Next up: Constellation Minuet!

This was the one show I was involved with that I was the most skeptical about in the very beginning stages. It was one of the two dramas involved in the whole one-acts, and all I knew about it was that it involved a balloon. I also knew that it was written by the same playwright who wrote a show I was in back in the day of my first RROAPS, so I was curious to see how it would turn out. Little did I know how great of an experience it would be.

The show consists of two female characters, one a little girl and the other an older woman. The first 2/3rds of the show is just monologues given by the characters. The little girl is beaten by someone, and is fighting to stay optimistic about the world around her. She finds a friend in a red balloon floating on the beach. She tells the balloon her wishes and desires about life and who she hopes to become. Then there is the older woman, who is beaten by what life has given to her. She was just dumped by the love of her life, and the rest of it is crashing down around her. She tries to go back to when she was ignorant and happy, which is brought on by seeing the balloon again after a long absence. She can't get over everything that has happened, so she attempts to destroy that one constant in her life (the balloon) until she runs into the little girl. At the end of the play, they both find a sort of acceptance with the life they have, and possibly a new hope for what things could be.

That's one crazy show! It took a good while for me to fully grasp everything that is going on during the show and with my character, the older woman. There are so many layers to the role, and everything she says has a double meaning. It definitely was one of the more challenging roles that I have had to date. Trying to materialize some of the images and feelings that I felt was an uphill battle. But thankfully, our director was perfect for this show. He knew what questions to ask and what to analyze deeper in the script. It's such a watercolor show, and it could have gone sour and Lifetime movie of the week, but I think me and my other actress did it justice.

One aspect of the show that is interesting, or at least I found interesting, is that I am so similar to the Woman, it's scary. Not really at the moment that I was portraying her, but there was one moment in my life, fairly recently, where I was at that exact place. I was happily ignorant in my life, and then my world was shattered with a breakup. After that, everything seemed to be falling apart. I was in a such a dark place, but thankfully I got out of it. For the role, I had to go back to that time and sort of open a lot of scars that had healed (if not completely). It was a strange myriad of emotions, and it wasn't a fun time going through everything at the very beginning. I had to learn how to harness certain emotions and when to use it and when not to. I finally got control, thankfully, in time for the performances. I think it turned out very well. I'm always saying how grateful I am when I get a chance to do a dramatic role, because a lot of people want to pigeon-hole me into comedy. While I like both, it feels good to show people Hey! I can do this too!