Houston Day 276 - It's a boy!

We have been in Houston nine months today.  And - in the language suggested to me by a conversation many months ago with the inimitable Janet McLeod - about the time we're birthing our Houston baby.  See one day (I think it was in July last year), I was Skyping J-Mac, whining about homesickness and not feeling comfy in Houston (although now I realise no-one feels comfy in Houston in July).  She reminded me that international relocation is quite the massive life-change, and compared it to another massive life-change, having a baby.  You've got nine months to grow that change.  It made me remember one of my sisters saying to me while pregnant that she appreciated all those months to get used to the idea of having a new person in her family, and that give or take a few weeks, the baby came at the right time, when she was really getting over being pregnant.

So let me introduce you to my Houston baby.  I call him Kevin.

• A large part of feeling at home has been having a job that I love.  Things got off to a little bit of a false start for the first month or so, but Express Theatre has given me a place to belong, and enough challenges to keep me growing without challenging me so much I lose my mind.  Freedom Train is the third show in a row I've done with them over the last five months.  I have played both Tom Sawyer and his girlfriend, an ambitious reindeer, some instruments of racial oppression and a German.  And, according to Shemica in yesterday's question time, I have been credited with freeing the slaves.
• I have become acclimatised to the sights and sounds of the city, to the point where I don't notice things that used to surprise me or surprise our Aussie guests.  Today while watching the special features on Lucas' Lord of the Rings DVDs, I also realised I'm losing my ability to tell the difference between an Aussie and a Kiwi accent.  End thet's just tirrible.  Houston for the most part is not an attractive city, but I can forgive Kevin for that.  I live in a nice bit of it, and there are other nice bits, but I have come to terms with it not being a street-front culture and designed for people to enjoy walking around it.  A lot of the time you just travel from inside to inside, and the rest is purely functional.  It's also really flat, so when we drive out toward Austin or visit Idaho we feast our eyes on the sight of hills like we've been starving. 
• Our marriage has definitely grown through this experience.  When we were almost the only people we knew here, we still (fortunately) really enjoyed each other's company.  It was so good for our relationship to start again from scratch and have no other commitments to clog up the time together! We have a shared sense of adventure, and Lucas' support of me through my bad homesick days has been just beautiful.  Now we are at an interesting juncture: we have enough of a life here that if we want to, we can stop clinging to each other for dear life.  We both enjoy our separate and very different jobs, have some different friends, etc: some of our Houston baby is shared, and some of it isn't...ok the metaphor breaks down there...but the challenge now is to love each other the best we can in this new phase of feeling at home here.

• I really treasure my half-day a week at Hope Stone and the opportunity to be creative and loving in a slightly different way to just me being on stage.  It looks like my responsibility (although not my hours) will increase there in the fall - I'm so glad!
• A pleasant discovery has been that I still like my in-laws when I see them more regularly than once every two years.  We've taken three trips to Idaho so far, and each time I've really enjoyed spending time with my brothers- and parents-in-law.
• One journey that I am really enjoying, but that I am definitely still wanting to work on, is my spiritual journey.  It was convenient enough for me to make a clean break from Christianity and church at the same time as moving countries, and I have found my hypothesis that you can meet God and "do church" outside of church to be true - I wanted to find God more organically than that, with friends, with Lucas, reading and meditating by myself, in the creative process - and it has happened over and over again.  However, without a structure, I feel my spirituality losing depth, and I really miss Stone Soup especially.  We enjoy talking and reading sacred writings with James and Aria (who unfortunately I don't have a photo of), and there are other friendships that are feeding me spiritually; we've talked about joining a more formal community but haven't found one that really rings the bells yet.  Watch this space.



Nick



Leslie



Derrick

• Friendships are a huge part of the emotional landscape.  Before we moved here I knew I'd meet new soulmates, but I didn't know what their names would be or what they'd look like....photos of some of them are on this page!

  

  Maggie (don't have a photo of her husband Scott, but he's also important)

Bekah (yes, I did just pull her headshot off the internet, but I promise you she is really my friend...)

 

Benito

Houston Day 274 - my friend Mikhail Bakunin

Continuing the trend of sharing quotes, and because it's in my head right now:

I met my Grandma at the turn road.

She snuck me ice-cream, she snuck me cake,

She snuck me home with a belly-ache.

I said, "Mama, Mama, I'm so sick,

"Call the master, quick, quick, quick!"

Master say, "You'd better not die,

"Cuz cotton's cheap, and slaves is high."

("I Just Wanna Be Free" from Freedom Train)

I'm currently celebrating my freedom by having the afternoon off work, and sitting and drinking root beer (if we ever leave America, root beer is going to be the new Milo and I'm going to need it to be shipped to me).  We had a great show this morning, although a little slow because a) the audience were very little children and we wanted to make sure they kept up and b) it was early and we were all really tired from yesterday's performance (Derrick), not enough sleep (me and Brandon) or partying all last night in Galveston (Shemica).

The Coast of Utopia Part Two was excellent on Saturday night, although I didn't enjoy it as much as Part One.  I'm mildly concerned that the character in the trilogy who I most resonate with is the one who everyone, including the playwright, thinks is laughable and destructively childish.  Mikhail Bakunin, 1814-1876, revolutionary-at-large and the father of anarchism.  In the first play he reads philosophers, is swayed to their theories, and picks up new professions like a new suit of clothes.  Every time he comes on stage he's got a different worldview, and can't wait to tell everyone about it; he's in love with his friends with whom he can discuss philosophy (and also a little too in love with his younger sister).  He's always advising his sisters on their lives, with the result that many of their lives are almost ruined.  In the second play he's almost like a travelling mercenary, leading and joining in on revolutions all over Europe during the Springtime of the People in 1848 (I gather it was a little like Europe's version of the current Arab Spring).  He never has any money, and is always begging from his friends or whatever government will help him out, promising them that it's the last thing he'll ever ask of them, which it never is.

Here's the thing, though: he's alive.  He's swept up in something bigger than himself, and he passionately, unreservedly gives of himself to it.  He's a man of action, while his friends are more moderate men of words.  He is what he is sincerely, without pretense or hesitation.  On Saturday night the joy just bubbled off him and got me all riled up.  I want to be a person of action, not just of words; perhaps also I am a bit of a child...

Houston Day 272

On Monday when we went out for drinks after Shakespeare class we found ourselves talking about what happens spiritually when you do theatre (kind of inevitable when you let me guide the topic of conversation).  There are occasions as an actor when I feel that what is being communicated is incredibly important, and that it reaches something deep and transcendent in me, the other cast members, and/or the audience.  And the others in this conversation mentioned related things....that something funny happens with time when you're onstage, and how rewarding it is to be so committed to something that costs you, that you are chained to and so invested in that it feels like your child.
Then there are the write-off days, where very little is achieved, and I am acutely aware of how fine the line is between being an actor and simply behaving like an idiot in front of crowds of strangers.  We had a show like that yesterday afternoon.  I won't go into the reasons but it was certainly a disappointing show for all of us.  Brandon was actually punching things, he was so angry.
But today's show felt great.  We were in our own space, and we got Derrick back, and it went almost entirely without a hitch.  An older black woman in the audience spoke to us in the Q & A afterwards about how meaningful it was for her, and how proud she was to take her great-grandchildren to learn about their ancestors' history in this way.  And I love it when the kids in the audience ask thorny questions about the details of the history (the one we got today was why it was Africans that were chosen to be slaves), because that means they were engaged in the show and they're thinking about it.
And the fun theatre experiences continue tonight.  Tonight a bunch of us are going to the second part of the Tom Stoppard trilogy The Coast of Utopia at Main Street Theater.  And then going out for drinks afterwards to help each other figure out what the hell it was about.  The trilogy is centred around four historical Russian characters - Alexander Herzen, Mikhail Bakunin, Ivan Turgenev, and Vissarion Belinsky - who I'm not very familiar with, and there's a lot of philosophical stuff in it that is beyond me as well.  But I love going to theatre that confuses me and just letting it wash over me, grabbing the moments I enjoy and figuring out some more of it later.  And Main Street is my new favourite company.  I can't wait to work for them come May!

Houston Day 270 - meet a few of my Hope Stone teens

Meet Amelia and Elizabeth *names changed for privacy* from the Hope Stone Kid's Play project.

Why do you come to Kid's Play?
E: Because I like lots of different types of art.  And Kid's Play offers lots of different types of art.
A: And it's also a very open environment so you can come at all different levels and still have fun.

What are you looking forward to at Hope Stone between now and the summer?
E: The show!
A: And specifically playing at the gala (coz I understand that drum pattern).

What is your favourite subject at school?
E: Dance.  But if you mean a real subject, English.
A: History.

How long have you been coming to Kid's Play?
E: Second year for both of us.

And are you guys actually related or do you just look similar?
E: We don't think we look alike.  We're not related.

If you could have dinner with anyone alive or dead, what would you eat?
E: I would have crepes with Jimmy Fallon.  Because he's awesome.  He's probably the best person in the world.  He's famous.
A:  Can I specify a time? Cherry pie with Coco Chanel right after her husband died.
E: Why?
A: Right after then I think her designs changed a lot and I want to see what she was thinking.
A & E:....long conversation about cherry pie I didn't keep up with...

Anything you'd like to say to my friends and family in Australia?
E: I think they should know that Amelia has triple citizenship.

Meet Hulk *name changed at his request*

Why do you come to Kid's Play?
For the fun.

What are you looking forward to at Hope Stone between now and the summer?
Skateboarding.  Oh, I thought you meant in general.  Having fun with everyone at Hope Stone.

What's your favourite subject at school?
Gym.

How long have you been coming to Kid's Play?
I don't know, I forgot.

Were you born in Jamaica or are you just of Jamaican origin?
I was born here.

If you could have dinner with anyone alive or dead, what would you eat?
Amelia and Elizabeth.  And I would eat what they chose.

Anything you want to say to my friends and family in Australia?
I like kangaroos.  I've seen Kangaroo Jack and I've seen them on Animal Planet and Discovery Channel and I saw on the news about how that kid got beat up by a kangaroo.  It's sad, but she recovered.

Houston Day 269

"Americans are a very modern people, of course.  They are a very open people too.  They wear their hearts on their sleeves.  They don't stand on ceremony.  They take people as they are. They make no distinction about a man's background, his parentage, his education.  They say what they mean and there is a vivid muscularity about the way they say it.  They admire everything about them without reserve or pretence of scholarship.  They are always the first to put their hands in their pockets.  They press you to visit them in their own home the moment they meet you, and are irrepressibly goodhumoured, ambitious, and brimming with self-confidence in any company.  Apart from all that I've got nothing against them."  (New-Found-Land by Tom Stoppard)

Play-by-play of the last few days:

• Saturday: Wake up, have a "reading breakfast" at the Down House with Lucas (a breakfast where we take our books and read, stopping to read the fun bits to each other.  Lucas I think brought Dostoyevsky [I seriously just made about eight attempts at spelling that] or maybe John Eldredge and I brought Tom Stoppard).
• Regular Saturday show at Express, with three people again as Derrick is still interstate.  (I'm not mad at him, I'm not mad at him, I'm not mad at him...)
• Fly to Idaho via Phoenix with Lucas.  Arrive 11.10pm.  Go to bed while Lucas takes a smoke and a walk with his brother Scott.
• Sunday: Go to church with Lucas' dad & his (now) wife Barbara.  Feel slightly uncomfortable in the kind of church I haven't been to in a while.
• Attend Mark & Barbara's wedding in Mark's backyard.
• Have a celebratory lunch with Mark & Barbara and family.
• Go back to Mark's place & enjoy a drink with Carol.
• Go with Lucas and Carol to Dave & Shannon's place.
• Hang out and eat pizza.
• Sleep.
• Monday: get picked up by Robin (Lucas' mom) and go to the airport.
• Say goodbye to Robin.
• Forget I left a full bottle of water in my bag.  Get escorted out of security, enjoy about five minutes of "girl-time" with Robin, empty my bottle, say goodbye to Robin again and go through security (again).
• Fly to Houston via Denver.  Enjoy lunch and a beverage at Denver.  Very respectable airport.
• Arrive back in Houston, go straight to my last Shakespeare class.  Take big risks with my Ophelia monologue and show all kinds of crazy hysterical feminine vulnerability.  Feel pleased with self.
• Go out for drinks with Shakespeare teacher & students.
• Tuesday: Leave house on little sleep and no organisation and running late.  Traces of tornado behind me.  Question wisdom of driving all the way to Austin and back in one day.
• Drive to Austin.
• Audition for an industrial video, somewhat mediocrely.
• Catch up with Morgan, a friend from Houston City Dance summer school, who goes to UT in Austin.
• Check out Mozart's, an excellent coffee house on a lake.
• Drive back to Houston.
• Freak out at phone's having no battery.  (Phone is only source of map.)
• Question wisdom of driving all the way to Austin and back in one day.
• Get home just in time to check email and find out voice-over recording has been rescheduled to Wednesday.
• Clean up traces of tornado left by the morning's disorganised exit.
• Enjoy episode of "Firefly" with a cup of tea and husband.
• Continue current obsession with Tom Stoppard and take Jumpers to read in bed.
• Wednesday: Freedom Train performance with Miss Shirley filling in for Derrick (the powers that be have decided this is better than the three-person version).
• Come home, enjoy episode of "Scrubs" while blogging, take afternoon off.

Love to all who read.  xo

(I mean, who read my blog.  Although, if you read Tom Stoppard, love to you too.)

Houston Day 264

Today's favourite music theatre quote (from Frogs, by Stephen Sondheim):

Hercules: You know, some people can't wear lion.  You can.
Dionysus: Yes, and I like what it's saying.  It says "I'm a warrior...and I make my own clothes."  How do I look, Xantheus?
Xantheus: Like the circle of life has stopped.

Life here is going pretty well.  I pretty much feel like I belong here, and all the various things I'm working on are fabulous.  The kids at Hope Stone are preparing for their performance and we're creating a very funny theatre piece together.  They also enjoy me testing out different accents I'm practising on them.  The drumming is fun, and we had a magical music class last night where the teacher pushed everyone pretty hard coz he was stressed and on the artists' diet (no time for food between multiple jobs), but it had this cool result that everyone worked hard and were really pleased with the results.  Plus there's something just excellently viscerally pleasing about bashing on a drum in funky rhythms.
Last night I recorded some voice-overs for...well, I'm not really sure what it was for.  I think it was audio resources for a textbook preparing people for the International English Language Testing System.  It was written by someone who clearly wasn't a native English speaker, so we had to go ahead anyway and read some questionable grammar.  But what really disturbed me was one time I got in the booth, started recording, in my natural voice, and the director stopped me and said "Amy, this needs to be in an Australian accent.  Start again.  Lose the American."
Freedom Train is picking up more bookings, and we're settling into a good rhythm.  I love Express, and I'm sad that I think this will be my last show there for a little while (got cast for another show at another theatre...check the auditions page and I'll tell you more next time).  We had to do a different version of the show today, because we lost one of our actors for a week to interstate auditions and a trip to New Orleans he'd forgotten he'd booked (? I fail to understand.)  But the show went ok; not quite as sparkling as it can with four people all giving their energy to it.
Anyway, I should stop blogging and do some work.  I gotta rehearse the Shakespeare monologue I'm working on in class.  Tonight we're off to James & Aria's place for devotional/prayer night (only been once before, it was pretty good), and tomorrow after my show we're flying to Idaho for Lucas' dad's wedding.

Houston Day 255 - from slavery to prostitution

Theatre continues to educate me about the history of some of Texas' more abominable institutions.  Today in preparation for an audition I find myself looking up a wiki article entitled "History of Vice in Texas".  Yes, the time has come, that day about which I was so excited before I left Melbourne.  This weekend I plan to go and audition for The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas..... in Texas.
Here's the thing, though.  I just don't know if I can do it.  I don't know if I want to be a smiling, happy prostitute dancing around in my underwear singing about how "there's nothing dirty going on".  Because there's not much that gets my hackles up more than objectification.  BUT bless my sheltered little life, I've never actually had a conversation with a prostitute.  I'm sure prostitution is more complicated than I think it is, and I know the moral issues of theatre are very complicated (e.g., I have a callback audition the day after the Whorehouse auditions for Cabaret and Chicago, and I wouldn't have a problem dancing around in my underwear for those shows).  And it's going to be dead interesting to see how Texans respond to this musical.  Will they see themselves in it at all? E.g., the biggest production number is a dance scene by a chorus of football players from Texas A & M, a very big Houston university.
Anyhoo, I'm off to the library where apparently they have the libretto so I can do some more thinking.  Meanwhile, today's performance of Freedom Train got rescheduled so I don't have to get the whip (or the fabulous big poofy Southern belle skirt, a recent addition to the costumes) out until tomorrow.  But thanks for the good wishes, everyone!