So things have been CRAZY….

Saturday night I went to see Windy City at the Walnut Street Theatre, one of the many amazing equity theaters here in Philadelphia. It was really fun and I loved the fact that the two male leads were both Broadway actors who I know and love. I then had to rush to the computer to write all my opinions about it for my voice for musical theater class before I forgot all the details of the performance! My acting studio teacher is directing another show at the Walnut, so that’s pretty cool! And the production of 42nd Street coming this fall has some UArts musical theater majors in it!

Today we had one thing that makes UArts theater program so cool. The Merriam Theater, which is the UArts equity theater, is currently home to Twelve Angry Men starring Richard Thomas (from ”The Waltons”) and George Wendt (from “Cheers”) We basically got a master class/chat session with them today. It was really great to talk to professionals in the business. I stole a program! woo hoo! I am hoping to be able to catch the show, but it’s only here for a few days, so we’ll see. I have a lot of work….I’m going home next weekend and I don’t want to be doing work when I’m home, so I’m working hard to get ahead! The next thing coming to the Merriam is SPELLING BEE. That I HAVE to see as that show=love.

 This is what a sleep-deprived person who loves theater looks like.

My classes are going well. I’ve never been so happy to do homework. This is better than physics!
Here Melissa and I are before scene and lighting design class today.

I can’t believe how long I have been here. It seems like I just got here! Everyone is nice and energetic…..This program is very intense, but it’s so thrilling to be studying exactly what I want to study. yay for musical theater!

But I probably should go finish some homework so I can enjoy Project Runway to the fullest haha!

Till next time…..
Serena

Howdy! As usual, things are busy here, but busy is not a bad thing! I love being busy. It’s much better than sitting around being bored. I can’t believe I’ve been here 4 weeks now! This is insane! I am 1/8 finished with my freshman year if you look at it that way. That actually is a little intimidating because midterms are in a month. Ah well. I’ll worry about them later hehe!

This past week has been crazy because I have been reading plays non-stop for my Survey of Theater Arts class. In fact, I just finished reading Raisin in the Sun for my class. Yay for reading great theatrical literature.

Over the weekend there was another UArts play through the school of theater arts. This time it was a one-man show based on Sherlock Holmes performed by a UArts voice and speech faculty member. It was so great! I was just so impressed with the performing and I hope I get a chance to work with this professor.

Charlie, the head of our musical theater program, showed us how the computer systems at UArts work. It’s actually really cool because UArts has a computer system with tons and tons of piano accompaniment, which is awesome for practicing. They have it set-up so you can change the key, tempo, etc. It’s going to be so helpful when I’m assigned tons of repertoire from my voice teacher.

So yeah, there has been lots of homework.

But every so often, we get silly on our floor!
      

Then we remember we have homework haha.

So yeah, that’s about it here…..until next time….
Serena

Life here at UArts continues to be great! Since my last post, I have been to two birthday parties. Last Thursday, Michelle and I decided that we would ditch homework and make Ashley a birthday cake (haha we didn’t ACTUALLY ditch homework). It was really fun and a lot of people ended up coming over last-minute to eat yummy cake. Here I am with Michelle.

Friday was my usual crazy day. I have a lot of classes on Fridays, but it just went by crazy quickly! On Fridays I have Voice for Musical Theater Lab, Voice for Musical Theater Class, Freshman English, Jazz, and Survey of Theater Arts, which is a dramatic literature/theater history type class.

Over the weekend, Michelle and I walked around Philadelphia and did a lot of grocery shopping. We both did have a lot of work, so we did have to get back to do that. Haha. That evening, SOTA had this optional workshop called Fabrizio Comedia, which was all about these Italian masks. It was so cool and I learned so much from it. It was just such a great extra thing for UArts to have. I had so much fun!

Sunday was more homework and another birthday party. Jenna, a sophmore MT, had organized a surprise birthday party for Mel, one of the freshman MTs. It was so fun! There was way too much food and I’m sure I gained a million pounds, but we had a lot of fun! That evening, I went with my two favorite acting majors, Melissa and Marianne, to see a show at the Philly Fringe Festival. We saw this show called Dog Art. It was a one-woman show that the woman wrote and performed in all about destroying a dog collection. It was really great! Again, it was really a great reminder about how much there is to do in Philadelphia, especially as someone interested in theater. Here I am with the two of them. We took this picture ourselves. It was a challenge fitting us all in haha.

Yesterday was another busy day with classes. I had Piano lab, Music Theory, Tap, my first private voice lesson, and acting studio. Some Mondays I will also have Voice for Musical Theater master classes. But I love it! I’m not complaining at all! It’s a great life! My first voice lesson went really well and I’m really looking forward to working more with my teacher! Our acting studio class is so great as well. Since I am a typical musical theater girl, I have not had much straight drama experience, so I’m anxious to get back to acting studio and become a much better serious actor. I’m very good at the over-the-top types of roles and I want to explore my abilities in much more subtle theater.

Hmm. I guess that’s it around here. Lots of work, but things are good. It’s getting cold in Philly…..eeek.

Till next time…
Serena

So it’s been almost a week and I’m definitely so much more adjusted to the glorious life at UArts than I was a week ago! While I do miss New York Pizza (it’s not the same in Philly!), things are pretty great here!

So last Thursday, my friend Michael and I went to the rush at The Lion King, which is playing in Philadelphia for a few more days. We were able to get fairly inexpensive, last-minute, and not the best seats for it, but it was totally worth it! The show was identical to the Broadway production, but it’s absolutely fabulous. We had a great time and I was so proud of myself for taking advantage of Philadelphia so soon. I’m so excited for some of the other shows that are headed to Philadelphia really soon. The coolest thing was how the theater where The Lion King was playing is about a block away from my dorm at UArts. I have never lived THAT close to a theater before, so it was the first time that I got home from a show at a reasonable hour. Here is a picture of Michael and me standing outside The Lion King after we got our rush tickets.

I’m really excited because I know a lot more shows are in my future. As part of assignments for my Voice for Musical Theater class, my Survey of Theater Arts class, and my Freshman English class, I am REQUIRED to go see shows in Philadelphia. Such torture, huh? hahaha! I have never been so excited to do my homework. I love going to shows so much. This week and next week is the Philadelphia Fringe Festival where there are all these new shows going on. It’s pretty cool. My voice for musical theater lab (different than voice for musical theater CLASS) teacher assistant directed one of the shows, so I am anxious to see that as well as many others. Lucky that the tickets for all these shows are either free or $10!

My other classes have been really good. They are extremely demanding, but it’s so much better than high school where I sometimes felt like I was taking courses in things that didn’t really have much to do with my life. These courses totally relate to my career path and it’s all pretty exciting. I think the course I am the most nervous about is my Scene and Lighting Tech class. I only know very basic things about designing scenery, so I’m hoping this course doesn’t kill me too much. I am excited to learn about it, though. It’s another dimension of theater that I really haven’t been exposed to that much. We are going to be very hands-on in that class, so I am pumped!

It’s good because I’m finally figuring my way around things. I’m getting a better sense of the area around me and I definitely feel more at home.

It’s also really fun making friends who live so close by. Here is a picture of me with my friends Jess and Ashley. .

Hmmm. So I guess that’s all I have to report! I gotta go do some homework and then there’s a building activity that the RAs organized with….you guessed it….free food!!

Until next time…..
Serena