2003-06-18 - 10:21 p.m.
8am- Wake up and get ready to rehearse.
9am-Noon- Rehearse "You Can't Take It With You." Today we block the scene where I knock down a 60 year old man with a waistlock takeover and pin him to the floor. It's kind of odd, sitting on another man's big pot belly and trying to pretend that I'm happy about the situation. Somewhere in the middle of this I try to call someone I know like BT or Christine, just to hear a friendly voice, but no one is ever home.
12:10-12:40- Promotional appearance for the festival. I get dressed up in a gay green vest and a gay purple coat and meet and greet with strangers, begging them to come to the festival. Luckily it's not too humid out. Somewhere in the middle I grab a quick bite and try to memorize a few lines.
1-4- I either rehearse "Greater Tuna" or I work with Dumb and Dumber in the scene shop, building platforms and stuff like that. These two are so retarded they don't know which way to turn a screw to loosen it and which way tightens it. Despite my insistence that I can work faster and better (not to mention safer, since these platforms are supposed to actually have people standing on them at some point) I am saddled with the moron twins for the entire time. I make the most of the situation- I do all the playing with the power drill, while Beavis and Butthead get to hold and lift all the heavy lumber. I'd feel bad, but, although I am a shitty carpenter, I'm frickin' Bob Villa or Jesus compared to these guys. So fuck 'em.
4-6- Dinner break. Time to buy a pair of sandals to wear in the shower and
avoid walking barefoot through other men's still draining shower water, because the dorms at UW River Falls are so ghetto they make the quads at Ripon look good, renew my allegra prescription, get some food, and memorize some more lines.
6-9- Musical rehearsal for "State Fair." Funny story- although I've studied music since I was 8, I never bothered learning to read music in bass clef. I finally get around to having a professional determine my vocal range- all bass, baby. Guess who can't read the music he's supposed to sing. In a way, I suppose it's ok- I sing like shit even when I'm hitting the correct notes (even when I'm in the shower) so if I'm off-key, no one really notices. There's fifty people in the cast for this piece of garbage, all of whom have had formal singing instruction. There's a 12 year old boy that sings soprano better than the girls in the chorus. The cast is filled with annoying high school boys who sing like angels and couldn't act their way out of a wet paper bag, and there's a lot of high school and middle school kids. I have to rein in my mouth a lot so as to avoid potential backlash from the parents of these kids. Behaving takes it's toll.
Dancing rehearsals start next week.
After this is done, I head home, try to unwind a bit by dicking around on Joe's guitar and unsuccessfully hitting on some of the female core company actors. Also I try to memorize some more lines until bedtime and do it all over again.
I'm having a lot of fun, though. The people up here are a lot of fun, and the rehearsals are pretty enjoyable- just tiring. There's a two-dollar movie theatre in town, and there's a chance I might meet Sam Shepard at a local cafe. I'd almost consider doing this for free, if I had that kind of time and money. As it is, I feel like I'm cheating them out of their $1500. Plus I'm dropping weight by the ounce, as all I do is work all day, and very rarely do I have time for anything other than a PBJ sandwich for a meal. I might actually stop being a fat bastard by the end of the summer.
Anyone with my cel number, feel free to call anytime after 9pm WI time. No one I call ever seems to be home, but it'd be nice to talk to some folk once in a while. It does get a bit lonely here at times.
Speaking of which, it's time for the obligatory depressing song of the night.
Take these chains from my heart and set me free
You've grown cold and no longer care for me
All my faith in you is gone, but the heartache still lives on
Take these chains from my heart and set me free
Take these tears from my eyes and let me see
Just a spark of the love that used to be
If you love somebody new, let me find a new love too
Take these chains from my heart and set me free
Give my heart just a word of sympathy
Be as fair to my heart as you can be
Then if you no longer care for the love that's beating there
Take these chains from my heart and set me free
Take it easy, fuckers.
Ken
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