some january stuff

January, like most of the winter, was pretty variable in its weather. So we played each day by ear - staying inside on the cold days and taking advantage of the warm days when we had them. We were able to go to the zoo on a warm Saturday, went to Watkins Regional park when my grandparents were in town visiting, and even went out for frozen yogurt as a family. Jed had received $10 from his grandmother, with the directive that he had to use it to do something nice for someone else. So he took us out for frozen yogurt, which was thoroughly enjoyed by all!

We got to see Bei Bei, the new baby panda!

We spent a lot of time inside on the cold days - cooking, building with blocks, train tracks, and magnets, reading, taking things apart (old laptops), and playing at friends' houses.

I started rehearsals for the Spring MFA in Dance Thesis project in January. I was originally supposed to do just one of the pieces, but the other stage manager had to leave the project so I ended up taking on the second one as well. Here are the materials I used to tape out the set in the rehearsal room:

Also in January, I was able to go on a trip organized by Cary Gillett for her SM students to New York City. I was invited to go even though I'm not a student, because I was working on the spring thesis show. We left early on Tuesday morning the 12th and returned home late that night - it was a full day! We arrived in the city in plenty of time to grab some lunch before the plans began. We started with a workshop given by the SM team of Wicked on Broadway, which was amazing! I learned a lot about how Broadway works, which was very interesting - though I don't have any particular plans to ever work on Broadway myself. But it is a completely different animal from professional theatre anywhere else!

After the workshop, we went our separate ways to get some food and go to our various shows. We had each been assigned a different Broadway musical to shadow the stage manager during, and I was lucky enough to be assigned to Michelle Heller, a very very dear friend of mine! She is one of the stage managers for Les Miserables, and I was beyond thrilled to be able to see the show and see Michelle! It was a wonderful, magical night!