Yeah... so, I actually got back from NHSI (Theater "Camp") about a week and a half ago, but I haven't bothered updating my Xanga until today. Sorry :)

Well... um... it was AWESOME! Seriously, I can't even begin to describe how cool it was. Like, probably the best five weeks of my life. There was a lot of physical activity... we did yoga, pilates, tai chi, etc... and at first, it kind of tired me out... but after a while, I kind of got to like that ow-I'm-doing-strenous-physical-activity feeling. You know, how uber-athletes always talk about "feeling the burn!", and non-uber-athletes are left standing there like, "What?"... it's kind of like that, lol :)

It's hard to even say how much I learned... I just know I learned a lot. Oh, some cool things though. The guy who taught my Voice and Movement class? Yeah, he's a NINJA. Like, seriously, he knows Ninjitsu, lol. He was really secretive about it, though... oh well.

Let's see... for those of you who are interested, I'll break down the day for you... if you're not, skip the next few paragraphs :) Weekdays always started with 3 hours of "Core" classes: 80 minutes of Voice/Movement and 80 minutes of Acting, with 10 minute passing periods. Lucky for me, my Acting class was THE FARTHEST class from my V/M class, so we ran there every day. Our Faculty Associate, Therese, gave our core the nickname "The Hustlers", because we had to hustle so that we wouldn't be late. Twas great fun :) Acting, ironically, was more yoga and pilates than actual acting skills... but we still learned a lot. And Voice and Movement (taught by the ninja) dealt largely with a European movement technique called the Plastiques (sp?), which are isolation excercises. Also, he developed our "visceral awareness"... which I think means being aware of EVERYTHING that's going on around you. Sounds nina-esque to me :)

After that, what we did depended on whether or not it was an A day or a B day. On A days, I had Costume Crew, where I learned how to sew. It was really cool... honestly, there's something therapeutic about hand-sewing, lol. After crew (which took up two blocks/hours), I had Text Analysis. We mainly analyzed Henry IV... which was suprisingly not painful. After that, I had Playwriting, which was DEFINITELY my favorite class. For one thing, the teacher, Laura Schellheardt, was incredible... and nice, and funny, and AMAZINGLY COOL. By the way, you know the "****** For Dummies" series? If you ever see the "Screenwriting For Dummies" book... she wrote that! Isn't that nuts? I think so.

Our B days had different classes in the afternoon. By the way, EVERY student had a different schedule and took different classes; you picked at the beginning of the summer what you wanted to take. Anyway, on B days, I had Performance Theory first. Basically, we learned about different types of theater (Brechtian, Absurd, etc.) and different mechanisms performers use to get messages across. Then I had Accents and Dialects, which was a great class... however, my teacher, Jeffrey, had THE MOST soothing voice in the world. It was, like, something you might put on a tape that someone should listen to while they're sleeping that is designed to not wake them up. As a result, although I loved Jeffrey and what he was teaching, my eyelids kept doing that thing where they start to close, and then you snap them back open, but they just won't stay, you know? I'm sure he caught me with my eyes closed at least once. I felt bad, because I really liked him and what he was teaching was interesting... but I just couldn't help it, lol. After Accents and Dialects, I had a free period, during which I usually slept. Or did laundry, because it's a pain to try to find an open machine at night, when EVERYONE does their laundry. After that, I had Longform Improvisation with Kate Mulligan... who is THE FUNNIEST person I've ever met. That class was a blast. We learned The Harrold, a longform game. Longform, in case you don't know, is a style of improv which originated in Chicago. It differs from "Whose Line is it Anway"-esque improv in that, instead of creating short skits from many suggestions, a 30 to 45 minute performance is created off of a single word. It's SO COOL! but really hard.

From 5 to 6:30 we ate dinner, and from 6:30 to 10:00 we had practice for out show. All 162 of us were divided into 10 ensemble casts, each cast doing a different show. I did Thieves' Carnival, a French farce. It was pretty funny, I think. And there was a lot of swing dancing, so that was fun to learn. And our director, Michael Fosberg, was SO cool. Apparently a year or two ago he did a play that took place in a car... like, a real car. The audience consisted of four people at a time, and they would sit in the back seat. Fosberg told the audience that neither he nor his costar in the front seat would acknowledge the passengers' existences, and the play started. It was about some deal that he and his partner were taking part in, and they had to pick up a white duffel bag or something... but the point is, they had to drive around some of the less-friendly neighborhoods in Chicago to put on this play, and had to improvise when cops stopped them, or driveby shootings occurred... which they did, lol. So... I don't know where I was going with that. But, yeah... Fosberg is a cool guy.

On the weekends, we did various other things, like go see shows. We went and saw "Dave DaVinci Saves the Universe", which was AWESEOME. I mean, it was so cool. It was by a group called the House Theater or something like that, and it was great. We also saw a production of Uncle Vanya... a Chekhov play. Now, I fundamentally disagree with Chekhov... with realism, actually. But this particular Chekhov play was so boring. I'm kind of sad I'll never get those two and a half hours of my life back, actually. I thought they performed it well enough (others disagree), but... wow, there was something way wrong with it. There were also dances. Those were fun, except I can't really dance... but it was fun to try. It was a small room to dance in though, and the walls were literally dripping with sweat. So, that was gross... but they were fun. :) 

Well I could probably go on typing for a couple hours... but unfortunately, I don't really have time. But, just know that my time spent and Northwestern was amazing, and if you are younger than me and interested in Theater, I would highly recommend doing it between your Junior and Senior year. Okay. Bye!

- James

Hey all! Ok... so, I'm updating this from Northwestern University. For those of you that don't know, that's where I am for five weeks this summer, and I'm SO EXCITED! It is a theater camp (or "rigorous academic institution", as they call it), and it is hardcore theater for five straight weeks. Like, hardcore as in we wake up at 7 AM for breakfast and go to bed at 10 PM, with breaks for meals and an hour of freetime every other day (and sunday mornings and an occasional morning off). It's going to be hard... but already it's SO MUCH FUN! Most everyone I've met has been so nice, and... holy cow, SO talented. Like... I thought I could sort of act... but today, all 162 theater students did a minute and a half monologue (we watched every single one... my butt hurts), and... yeah, I was wrong, lol. Everyone is... so amazing... and I'm so excited that I get to spend five whole weeks with them!

I've gotta go... I'll update more later! Bye!

By the way... sorry if this post sounds like I'm bragging or anything... It's not supposed to. I'm just SO EXCITED!

- James

WOOOOT!!! Today is my first official day of summer vacation (I'm not counting the weekend, because I would have had it off anyway ), and... wow, I can't believe it, lol. I remember getting out of school on Friday and thinking, "Wait... it's over? This year is finally over?" Seriously, Junior year for me was about 10x as hard as Freshman and Sophmore year combined. Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating a little bit, but it was still really freaking hard. Any soon-to-be Juniors out there... you have my condolences.

LOL, I have to admit, the AP classes really payed off in the end though. Not because I'll get college credit for them (I think I will for U.S. History, but I'd be shocked if I passed the Chem test), but because the teachers of those classes said that we'd studied enough for the AP tests, so they weren't going to give us finals in their respective classes... well, written finals anyway. We had a small project to do in History, and a lab final to do in Chem. Speaking of that lab, I learned a valuable lesson during it: if you are working with chemicals under a fume hood, the hood isn't making noise, and you begin to smell something, THE FUME HOOD MIGHT NOT BE ON! I wish someone had told ME that before I had stood there inhaling toxic NO and NO2 like an idiot, lol. Apparently its not THAT toxic though, because I'm not dead yet .

I went swing dancing last night... and it was AWESOME! I'm really pretty awful -- I know a small handful of moves, and I can't always keep the beat while doing them -- but it was a lot of fun, nonetheless. Some of those guys who have been doing it for a long time are simply amazing. They do swing, but then throw in a little bit of break dancing, and some latin, and whatever else they feel like -- all seemingly without effort. If I had any confidence in my (lack of) dancing abilities, I would probably attempt to learn how to dance like that. They were AMAZING.

Well, that's enough for now. Later!

- James

Hi all,

Thought I'd make a quick entry before I went to bed, since I haven't in nearly a month, lol.

Annie went great! Well, I thought so, anyway. Personally, I really enjoyed the show... more than Seuss, actually. ... blasphemy, I know. But seriously, even though Seussical was probably a more enjoyable show to watch, I really enjoyed being in Annie a lot more; I'm not even sure why, lol.

School is winding down! Well, winding up, actually. With two weeks of school left, teachers are making EVERYTHING due this week, and it's a PAIN IN THE BUTT! And certain Honors Biology teachers are making things EXTREMELY difficult in a subject that already makes little enough sense. But then next week are finals, and I'M DONE!

Let's see, what else is going on? Hm... well, nothing that I can think of at the moment. Oh! Today during Jazz Band, Mr. McKay was very cool and a) brought us donuts and b) let us play ultimate frisbee outside. Even though I normally abstain from any sort of physical activity, I thought I'd give it a shot... and what do you know, I actually had fun! Maybe I should excercise more often... hm.... no thanks. I'm pasty, weak, and PROUD!

So... I guess that's all I have (time) to say. But I thought I'd update quickly anyway. Now I have to go finish some Pre-calculus homework... mathematical induction... ew. I'm just SO GLAD I'm taking stats next year. Later!

- James 

Hi all!

So, today was pretty good. I went to rehearsal this morning for Annie, and I must say, it's looking pretty darn good. We did Act 2 runthroughs today, and it looks like it's going to be a good show; I'm excited. Oh -- and Katie Marr (our Annie) is AMAZING... but you probably either already knew that or you don't know her, lol. She's easily the most talented 11-year old I've ever met. And Claire (our Lilly) is SO FUNNY! This is her first CYT show, and she plays the part so well. Danny (Daddy Warbucks) has a fantastic voice... it goes along with Katie's so well... and Kristen's (Grace's) voice too... which is also terriffic. Everyone's doing great... but those are the people that I really noticed. So... come see Annie!

Oh, and of course, seeing how dress rehearsal week is so close, I'm getting sick... of course! You know, that whole your-throat-feels-like-its-being-clawed-to-death-by-rabid-clawed-barracudas feeling? I have it. So, instead of working on my Sun Also Rises essay, I think I'm going to go to bed. By the way, don't read that book. Well, I mean, you could, I guess. It's about a group of expatriates (disillusioned Americans who tried to live it up in Europe after WWI but whose lives end up lacking meaning). It's really brilliantly written... but only in the sense that I truly felt like an expatriate every second I was reading the book; I felt as though my life lacked meaning during those moments, lol. You see, Hemmingway (the author) felt that an effective mechanism to illustrate the overall lack of direction in the life of an expatriate would be to make the book, itself, lacking in direction... he purposefully did not give the book a plot! Argh!!! So frustrating... and now I get to write an essay on it. Oh, and for those of you that are concerned... my life didn't lack meaning for too long; it's a twenty chapter book and I've read Spark Notes since chapter eight, lol. The thing is though, I NEVER read Sparknotes... which is just a testament to the dullness of the book. The characters are interesting though. Not interesting enough to make up for the plot (or lack thereof), but interesting nonetheless.

Well, I really have to go to bed... later!

- James