Taming of the Shrew

As my regular readers know (lol, regular readers), I've been missing in action for almost a month and a half now. I've been taking part in my alma mater's production of Taming of the Shrew, which was certainly an experience (I'm not naming the college because I don't want this turned up in search engines... though obviously the school can be uncovered rather easily)

I graduated from in the spring of 2008, meaning that kids that came in as freshmen during my senior year graduated last spring, spring 2011. After first realizing how freaking old that made me feel, I sat back and took stock of the theatre department: It's almost exactly the same, for better and for worse.

The better: the department is still strong. Very strong. You have a wide variety of "types" in the department. There is a wealth of very good young actors. You have students clearly buying into what various professors are teaching. You have a department that when it comes together, puts on damn good productions. But even with all that, the negatives are still there. I won't get into specifics, but there is a rift in the department that always tended to make the rehearsal process borderline miserable, a characteristic today's department still has. It's disappointing, really, but I'd have a hard time envisioning a scenario where it wasn't always going to be the case.

In the end, however, the actual performances of the show righted all rehearsal wrongs. I can honestly say I was miserable leading up the weekend performances... but when I left campus on Sunday, I did so with a heavy heart. I never would have thought I'd say this a week ago, but I am very glad I took part in the production.

Also, one last note... I learned that stereotypes exist because, well, they are real. When I went to school, a number of the students fit into a number of typical theater stereotypes. All those students are now gone... replaced by more stereotypes. In several cases, I could look at certain people and find a 1-to-1 correlation with a classmate. I even found someone that reminded me of myself. I was accordingly freaked out.

But now, it's back to my regular schedule of TV, movies and theatre watching. Escapist entertainment, I've missed you.