14 terribly difficult credits. I'm not a math person by any stretch of the imagination so taking chemistry and biology in the same semester is a death sentence for me. The plan so far is to stay at home as much as humanly possible in order to pass these classes with nothing but flying colors. Since I'll be finished with my nursing pre-reqs by January, I'll have free reign over my schedule for spring semester. I don't know what I'm going to do quite yet. I could get a certificate in Native American history in one semester, but what good is that? I could study abroad, which would be fantastic. There are no French study abroad options, only Spanish which is fine but I'd really like to continue with my French somehow. There's a Spanish study abroad option in the spring to go to Costa Rica for 6 months. I'll look into it if I have the cash. Or, I could get back into theater and get a theater arts certificate in one semester.
I love theater, I always have. Since the age of four, I've said I was going to be an actress someday. Being a comic is acting, sure, but it's definitely not the same as a constructed, thought-out play. I was involved in high school theater all four years and I adored it.
I got to the U, tried to get involved there but I constantly felt alienated because I wasn't doing it for a career, I was doing it because it's a hobby of mine. The theater kids at the U didn't take me seriously because I'm a nursing student, not an artsy kind of student. That deterred me the entire time I was at the U. MCTC is a fresh start on all levels. Another thing that's kept me away from it is the fact that the theater crowd in Minneapolis is extremely tight knit. I had done tech for a little theater production company called "Theory/Chaos" a few years in a row for the Fringe Festival. About 2 years ago, I stage managed 2 shows for the Emigrant Theater Company and it was the worst experience of my life. The director never liked me - if I had an idea for a scene she was struggling with, she'd snap at me, yelling "I'm the director for this play, you're the stage manager - shut your mouth and take notes!" Without mincing words, she was a condescending bitch to me and took nearly every opportunity to make me feel both ostracized and neglected. Looking at their website, I'm not even mentioned as the stage manager for either play that I worked with while other plays listed have the SM right up there with the director and the assistant director. I'm offended, really. Granted, I wasn't the absolute best SM, but I tried my damndest to make it a decent production. My duties included but weren't limited to operating lights and sound, lugging a ton (literally) of sand on and off a set, digging through the trash for props and keeping my mouth shut. I fucked up my cues a number of times and I regret that, but they really shouldn't have given me lights and sound at the same time - they should have relegated one of the two to someone else. It's hard enough to memorize cues for lights let alone for sound as well.
In anycase, my point is that the theater community here in Minneapolis is tight knit and since I fucked up royally with this Emigrant play I've most likely been bad mouthed throughout the city as a shitty SM and someone not to be hired or associated with in terms of theater. It makes me sad, guilty, angry and ashamed of myself really. My options are thus: I could either let the theater world go forever or I could clean up my name and become someone worth working with again.
Swallowing your pride is a very difficult thing to do, but starting this Fall I'm going to try to get back into it without caring too much what the Emigrant Theater Company or any of the other theater snobs think.
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