Year 3 Week 23-26: February 26-March 4; March 5-11, 12-18, 19-21, 2018

Spring Break, Final Callback Weekend, Shakespeare, My Birthday!

​I have a lot of catching up to do! I had a lovely spring break last February 26-March 11. I stayed in New York City and balanced catching up with friends and family with doing some homework (yes we still had homework to do over spring break).

Maharlika - A Filipino restaurant in the East Village. Photo by David Rosenberg

I also was able to catch up on my Netflix binge-watching. There are three new shows on Netflix whose first season I finished over the break: David Chang's "Ugly Delicious," "Queer Eye" and "The Imposters."

I love David Chang's "Ugly Delicious," - a Netflix Original Documentary about food but it's more than that! The conversations about the cultural history behind the food we eat and how we perceive food from other cultures straight from the mouths of the different people who belong to those cultures (Mexican, Korean, Chinese, Italian, Vietnamese, different parts of America, etc.) are enlightening and thought-provoking.

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I don't recall following any "makeover TV shows" growing up. I perceive local TV hosts from the Philippines to adapt a kind of deprecating humor that I find counter-productive to self-improvement. That is probably where I have begun to carry a bias against makeover shows that works from an angle of seeing what is wrong and lacking from a person and then proceed to "transform" them - as if what was originally there was insufficient in itself. I love "Queer Eye" (the new one) because the "Fab 5" (Karamo - culture, Antoni - food & wine, Tan - fashion, Bobby - design and Jonathan - grooming) work from a place of seeing the potential that is already there in the person and then digging to see what direction that person wants to take his life next and what may be blocking the person from blossoming into this full potential. The Fab 5 are so generous, gracious, entertaining, kind and talented! I would love for them to makeover my father! (hi Dad)

The last TV series that I paid attention to over the break was "The Imposters." I watch it mainly because one my favorite actresses in the Juilliard Drama Division, Marianne Rendon (Group 45) is in this show and I am so proud of her! In the trailer below she's in the last clip that you'll see.

Final Callback Weekend

Over the spring break, I signed up to work for the Juilliard Drama Final Callback Weekend to find the next 18 people to comprise Group 51. I was lucky enough to be assigned to work at the check-in table during the first day as well as to work as their monologue room monitor - so I was able to meet all 50 candidates.

Welcome to Juilliard, beauties! :)

Romeo and Juliet

Rehearsals began for Romeo & Juliet and Richard II last March 12, 2018. I am cast as Lady Capulet, Lady Montague, among others in Romeo & Juliet which is set to run from May 1-9 at the Stephanie McClelland Drama Theater. A theme I have discovered consistent in my third year of training is that I have been cast in no less than three characters in each show in all of the productions (Top Girls, Queens Boulevard, Romeo & Juliet). Below are snapshots of costume sketches by our costume designers: Jessica Wegener for Romeo & Juliet and Andrea Hood for Richard II.

Birthday!

It was my 29th birthday yesterday! I was determined to set the conditions to make this year's birthday into a better birthday than last year (one of the worst but I can laugh about it now). I finished a lot of life errands last weekend and Monday (which included cleaning, laundry, cooking, tax stuff, etc.) so that I can chill out a bit on March 20, Tuesday. I was released from rehearsals early, got to celebrate with a friend (I got a plant!) and went home to my apartment to find a red velvet cupcake from Magnolia Bakery from my new roommates so a lot of things were already a step up from last year!