Mothballs

The first week of March was Michigan's spring break, which meant that Aidan got to come up for a whole week! Of course, that turned out to be the week of the MCC performances at AND the week I started with A.R.T./New York (seriously? Break couldn't have fallen during all those weeks of unemployment?). He managed to fill up the time while I was at work though, both with job interviews and a dance intensive at the Paul Taylor Dance Company. We still managed to fit in lots of mini-adventures too, like going to The Moth Mainstage with our friend Meagan, who was also visiting that week. This series of shows is held at a variety of locations around NYC, and at each event people get up on stage karaoke style and, well, tell a story. There's always a theme to the evening (at the show we saw it was "The Distance") but you'd be amazed at all the different ways people incorporate it. And each story (5 minutes or less) is judged by several random groups around the room on presentation, content, and how well it relates to the theme - an aspect that adds a nice competitive flavor to the whole thing. A really fun time (even worth the freezing cold trek to Brooklyn and the wait to get in!). You can also listen to their podcast online - definitely recommended!

Later on that week, we explored some other parts of lower Manhattan that I hadn't really been to yet, like Battery Park, Ground Zero, and the Financial District. There was a lot to take in, but I was most fascinated by the beautiful Trinity Church at the intersection of Broadway and Wall Street. It's history dates back over 300 years and is full of interesting tidbits: It served as the British Headquarters during the Revolutionary War, Alexander Hamilton is buried in the cemetery next door, and the beautiful sculpture in its courtyard (that we're standing under in the picture) is made from the branches of a giant sycamore tree that was downed during the 9/11 attacks. It was pretty amazing to read about how much it's been through.

All in all, it was a great visit. It was so nice to see Meagan, and of course I loved seeing Aidan for more than a long weekend. It made it hard to say goodbye again, but I got some great news the next week that helped to cheer me up: I got a second internship! I had applied on a whim late one night, and was shocked to find an interview request in my inbox the very next morning. I wasn't familiar with the company - all I knew about the place was that it was a theatrical producing organization - but it sounded interesting (and it paid!) so I went in for an interview before heading to A.R.T./New York for the day. Turns out that the position entailed working on projects for two separate companies: the New York branch of Ambassador Theatre Group (one of the largest producing entities in the U.K.) and Rock of Ages Broadway. Needless to say, I was pretty stoked. After spending so much time in the non-profit world, I'd been very curious about the commercial side of things, and this was the perfect opportunity. They offered me the internship the next day, and with that added on to my A.R.T./New York work, I suddenly went back to a 40 hour work week.

Life was good. Not only was I fully employed again, but my roommate Stephanie was also back in town for the Brooklyn leg of the tour she was working (she was on the road from January - March with the children's musical "Frog and Toad"). We got to hang out a bit, catch up, exchange crazy stories. And I also began rehearsals for the staged reading of "Hearting Linds" I was going to direct in the coming weeks.

Not a bad way to welcome Spring to the city.