In Which John Gets a Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Theater Program

On Friday night, I watched a really crappy 80's horror movie on Aussie TV called "The Cold" (although IMDB calls it "The Game"). This movie is begging for an MST3K'ing. We should find this movie and riff it when I come back to America.

On Saturday, I "rehearsed" for the upcoming play. It was very informal, and not all of the actors were there, so hopefully future rehearsals will be more productive.

Afterward, I stayed at the theater so I could help manage the candy booth during the musical. I burned my hand with the hot water machine. That's it. I was basically in the lobby during the whole show, but fortunately the cast uses the lobby as a backstage area, so I was not bored.

I really learned a lot about the dynamics of this group of people. When I first met everyone at the welcome picnic, they all seemed like a close family. And I suppose they still are. But as with every group, there is always talking behind the backs of others. That night I learned who the socially awkward members are, who is jealous of who, and, conversely, who the nicest people are. I had seen most of these people only at during the show, so learning that they aren't like their characters was quite a shock. For example, one of the main domineering villains is actually a meek, quiet person.

Once the show was over, the cast stuck around because they had to come in the next day for filming all day (a lot of Australians commute to campus, so it made sense to sleep over in the theater). I stuck around for the huge dance session, where the pit band just continued playing songs. Then, we were preparing to watch a movie, but we got caught up in one guys never-ending guitar jam/storytelling session. It was made up on the spot, and I was surprised that he managed to hold our attention for over an hour.

Then, I decided to go home, and in some weird twist of fate, I ended up having an epic online conversation with some girl that I had never met. See, I still keep in touch with Allison, and her friend from school is also studying abroad in Australia. I haven't met her friend face to face, but we've been keeping in touch during our time in Australia. Then last night, her roommate was using her computer, so when I started talking, she just kept the conversation going. Turns out neither of us like to end conversations. So we got really deep and philosophical about our life views. That was a weird once-in-a-lifetime experience. We're probably going to get married.

Today, after a lot of procrastination, I finally did my first two homework assignments. Everyone here loves using Blackboard. I was having trouble keeping track of everything, and had no luck finding the actual rules for one of the assignments. I ended up posting something that I'm sure is viewable by my whole class as opposed to just the teacher.

Since the DDK cast was filming all day, I decided to stop by the theater and see how things were going. I'm not sure exactly what they all think of me at the moment, seeing as how I'm always around yet not involved in the show. But fortuantely, I've made enough friends to justify my existance.

While there, I heard that the first Cabaret rehearsal was on Monday night. Again, I've heard from multiple sources that I am in the cast, but nothing official yet. I didn't not receive notice about this rehearsal. It conflicts with my LING lecture, and originally I was going to go to class because I had told my other play's director that I would not be free for that play's rehearsal due to class. But, Cabaret weighs more importantly than the other play in my mind. And it definitely weighs more than LING lecture, which should just be called "What An Adverb Is 101." I can afford to miss one lecture, right?