“No Day But Today…”

"No Day but Today!"
These are the finishing words of RENT, a show that many say changed the face of musical theater for generations to come. The show is daring and candid, raw and irreverent at times, but it's over arching message is one of hope, love and belief in the power of community above all else. Its use of rhetoric in the infamous song, "how do you measure a year?" asks us all to evaluate how and where we spend our time and energy – what does one consider to be the currency of their life…
I fully admit to having a deep love for this show – I've loved it since high school, and I've seen it several times (on both coasts) and sung belted the score for what seems the better part of my angst-y teenage years. It's become an old friend, and I couldn't believe that I had made it into the show when I got the call. In so many ways it was a dream finally realized! I couldn't believe it!
Looking back now, having finished the show several months ago, it's come around full circle. Once again, my life became consumed with RENT and the lyrics took on new meaning with this new stage of life that I find myself in. I realized new value and depth in words I'd only glossed over before. It's like I was falling in love all over again (cue sappy music).
The rehearsal and production schedule was intense - rehearsals five days a week, five hours a night, and once the show went up, we had five shows a weekend for five weeks. I lived and breathed the theater – it turned my life upside down – but I wouldn't change it for anything.
So here are some pictures chronicling the rehearsals and the performances.


The Rehearsal Stills:

 

The Production Stills:



Pictures by Eric Chazankin

Catching Up…

I've had a few issues both with finding time to blog, and the fact that for whatever reason, my blogger account seems to be picky about allowing me to ACTUALLY blog. Reading the blogs, no problem. Writing them? Not happening. So, fortunately I've happened upon the lovely feature of blogging through Microsoft Word – which I admit, I am still skeptical about – but nonetheless, willing to give it a try!

So! I have a quite a bit of catching up to do and the next few posts will be full of past going's on and lots of pictures. J

And so it begins!

OMG!

Tonight is final dress rehearsal for RENT and then tomorrow we move into preview shows, and then we open on Friday night!
I can't EVEN tell you how BEYOND excited I am!
I PROMISE to post pictures of this week.

OMG OMG OMG! :)

Get with the Program!

Today I am feeling grateful.

Recently there have been events that I felt had the potential to change the course of our 'plan.' I say 'plan' simply because I am well acquainted enough with life to know that the adages are true, that
a) God laughs when we make plans and
b) Life IS what happens when you're busy making other plans.
Regardless of that fact, I have found that I now refer to our plans as 'general outlines' but it still remains they are plans and that I get nervous when I spot an apparent monkey wrench on the horizon.

So when I saw an impending wrench on the horizon, I began to get anxious. I could feel the anxiety rising and even more, consuming all my thoughts. Eventually it led to an outburst and then to a realization: Everything would be okay.

Anticlimactic, right?

Perhaps, yet the fact remains I realized something incredibly important. On the day that I married Matt, we said to each other, and have continued to say to each other, that as long as we have each other, it will be alright. And while I wholeheartedly believed those words each time I said them, the truth of that statement became real for me this week.

I genuinely believe that moments like I've had this week are in our lives, not just to give us premature grey hair, or five pounds from stress eating and Icee consumption, but to cement the foundations of our faith and trust in the ones we love and to pull into sharp focus our real priorities - what truly matters in the grand scheme of things.

Therefore, while it is still hard to say, I am grateful for this experience, and what it has taught me about myself. I am grateful for my husband and his support and understanding, and I am grateful to God, that while I know these 'teaching moments' may continue (much to my stress eating dismay) that they make life better, not worse, because He's given me a partner - a helpmate - and the wherewithal to not only handle it, but to enjoy the ride.

Happy Birthday!

We interrupt our newly announced series to bring you the celebration of the birth of my beloved....Matthew!

Happy birthday my love, I cherish you!

Here are some pictures from Matt's birthday celebration at Pt. Reyes Station, CA. We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day! :)

Matt & I

Racing down the hill...(and back up again!)

Matt, in action :)

Matt, as a hieroglyph

Now that's some birthday love!

I thank God every day for you!

Good Friday

"Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed."
- I Peter, 11:24

***

Today is Good Friday.
While many would look at the atrocity of Jesus’ crucifixion as being anything BUT good, today marks the deliverance from sin and into salvation.

"We may say that on the first Good Friday afternoon was completed that great act by which light conquered darkness and goodness conquered sin. That is the wonder of our Savior’s crucifixion."

- Phillips Brooks

". . . when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor's stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backwards."
- Aslan the Lion, from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Maundy Thursday

Today is Maundy Thursday; maundy meaning 'commandment.'

On this Thursday before Easter we remember the night that Jesus took the disciples to the upper room and together they had their last supper. We remember and reflect upon the commandments set out for us that evening as Jesus washed the feet of his disciples and broke bread and drank wine declaring a new covenant...our salvation in his death and resurrection.

For me, Holy Week has become a time of reconnection and recommital in my relationship with God. Maundy Thursday, in particular, illustrates the intimacy possible in a relationship with God...and paints a picture of grace: "the freely given, unmerited favor and love of God." {link}

My heart aches when I think how bittersweet those moments in the upper room must have been for Jesus, knowing all that was to come in the hours ahead.

***
"After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, "Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them."

John 13:12-16
link {here}