Dickens Fair Workshops Day 1 - The Better Day
If anyone has been reading this journal knows, I have been undergoing no small amount of stress these last few months. Last week, when I returned from my final trip to New Mexico, I decided I wanted to do something for fun to give me something to feel better. Even better if it could be something that made me feel sexy. So, I spontaneously decided to try to do the Dickens Fair. They're a very flirtatious bunch, generally, and there are fun things to try for that might fit the sexy bill. I get the missives, so I knew I had missed many of the auditions since I'd been out of town. But the auditions for the Saucy French Postcards were this weekend, as well as a few others, so I thought I'd give it a try.
Saturday began with a general meeting where the main organizers were introduced and announcements made. Then workshops began. Now the way Dickens works is you must find a group to work with at the event. Even if I got into the postcards, I still needed to have a group to be associated with at the Fair to justify my being there. It's very odd coming from a traditional theater background. No auditions into a clear structure - no you have to find the structure and then see if you fit. I listened to see who was looking for people, and most of them needed men. It also seems that one must have done a fair amount of research first in order to know what to do or what you want. For instance, I considered doing a character part, and touched base with the fabulous Thalassa about this. But you have to really know the Dickens books well and what character you'd like to be. I've been watching Nicholas Nickleby, but I don't know that I could feel confident about creating a character from this brief watching. Mind you, I love Dickens' books. I can remember when I was a teenager we went on a cruise to the Caribbean and I spent most of the cruise reading him, which my father found endlessly amusing. But I haven't read them all. I can work on it, but they are not the breeze through sort. Really that's missing the pleasure of reading him.
Next, I thought I'd love to join Siamsa (sp?), the Irish/Scottish dance group. But I am not presently a dancer of this style. I spoke briefly with the person in charge of them, but then it was harder to find her again to see if this was realistic. I might like to aim for that for next year. Maybe learn to play the bones too??
The third option was to hang out in the Green Man Tavern where DJ and Buffalo will be. And hoorah, the person representing them said they were looking for people. I wanted to try other things, so I'm finding my way not being dependent on DJ to find a place, but this was a good alternative. Buffalo pointed across the room at me when this was announced, bless his heart.
On to workshops. First, to hedge my bets in getting into the postcards and possibly the Dark Garden window, I decided to be very decadent and spontaneously bought a Dark Garden corset. I've wanted one for years, and have been wanting to do something decadent for myself after all this family stress. And it fits beautifully. But this meant I was a bit late for the first workshop. I went to Victorian Dance I. Physical learning always comes slower to me than intellectual learning, so I struggled a bit, but it was fun. But then the spinning dizzyness came, and I decided to sit that out. I went over to the Folklore workshop and learned some fascinating things. Next I went to the Irish/Scottish language workshop which was great. I, once again, got in touch with the war within my very genes between the working Irish and the colonizing Brits.
Then off the Postcards auditions. Buffalo had made a great suggestion to me about the postcards. They were looking for someone to play Mary, the maid serving the couple who's conversation frames the postcard images. He and DJ both thought I'd be perfect for the part. They said this to Diana the director, and she thought it could work too. This meant I wasn't going to be doing the sexy bit, however, but it would still be a lovely visible role at Dickens. The auditions essentially came down to stripping down and getting your photograph taken and having Diana appraise your body. I said I'd do this too, to hedge my bets, in case Mary didn't work out. But as everyone stripped down and stood on a long line, I shyly sat dressed writing dates into the 09 calendar I'd bought. I texted Medusa during this saying "I may not be as much of an exhibitionist as I thought". I had no desire to take my clothes off and was feeling my psyche screaming "Boundaries!!!" I noticed that a couple people had their corset on, so I thought I could do that. So eventually, I put that on and someone helped lace me in. Well, I'm a smart girl. When I finally got up to Diana, she thought it looked so good on me that they might try to fit me into a tableau. She also said no one else had said they were interested in Mary, so I have a part. Woo Hoo! Script in hand, I left Dickens, feeling very high and very excited and maybe even a touch sexy. I think I was even giving out that vibe, cause I went a grabbed a bite at Whole Foods after and even caught a couple of people's eyes. It's all in the attitude.
All in all, Day one was pretty good. But then there's Day Two.
Saturday began with a general meeting where the main organizers were introduced and announcements made. Then workshops began. Now the way Dickens works is you must find a group to work with at the event. Even if I got into the postcards, I still needed to have a group to be associated with at the Fair to justify my being there. It's very odd coming from a traditional theater background. No auditions into a clear structure - no you have to find the structure and then see if you fit. I listened to see who was looking for people, and most of them needed men. It also seems that one must have done a fair amount of research first in order to know what to do or what you want. For instance, I considered doing a character part, and touched base with the fabulous Thalassa about this. But you have to really know the Dickens books well and what character you'd like to be. I've been watching Nicholas Nickleby, but I don't know that I could feel confident about creating a character from this brief watching. Mind you, I love Dickens' books. I can remember when I was a teenager we went on a cruise to the Caribbean and I spent most of the cruise reading him, which my father found endlessly amusing. But I haven't read them all. I can work on it, but they are not the breeze through sort. Really that's missing the pleasure of reading him.
Next, I thought I'd love to join Siamsa (sp?), the Irish/Scottish dance group. But I am not presently a dancer of this style. I spoke briefly with the person in charge of them, but then it was harder to find her again to see if this was realistic. I might like to aim for that for next year. Maybe learn to play the bones too??
The third option was to hang out in the Green Man Tavern where DJ and Buffalo will be. And hoorah, the person representing them said they were looking for people. I wanted to try other things, so I'm finding my way not being dependent on DJ to find a place, but this was a good alternative. Buffalo pointed across the room at me when this was announced, bless his heart.
On to workshops. First, to hedge my bets in getting into the postcards and possibly the Dark Garden window, I decided to be very decadent and spontaneously bought a Dark Garden corset. I've wanted one for years, and have been wanting to do something decadent for myself after all this family stress. And it fits beautifully. But this meant I was a bit late for the first workshop. I went to Victorian Dance I. Physical learning always comes slower to me than intellectual learning, so I struggled a bit, but it was fun. But then the spinning dizzyness came, and I decided to sit that out. I went over to the Folklore workshop and learned some fascinating things. Next I went to the Irish/Scottish language workshop which was great. I, once again, got in touch with the war within my very genes between the working Irish and the colonizing Brits.
Then off the Postcards auditions. Buffalo had made a great suggestion to me about the postcards. They were looking for someone to play Mary, the maid serving the couple who's conversation frames the postcard images. He and DJ both thought I'd be perfect for the part. They said this to Diana the director, and she thought it could work too. This meant I wasn't going to be doing the sexy bit, however, but it would still be a lovely visible role at Dickens. The auditions essentially came down to stripping down and getting your photograph taken and having Diana appraise your body. I said I'd do this too, to hedge my bets, in case Mary didn't work out. But as everyone stripped down and stood on a long line, I shyly sat dressed writing dates into the 09 calendar I'd bought. I texted Medusa during this saying "I may not be as much of an exhibitionist as I thought". I had no desire to take my clothes off and was feeling my psyche screaming "Boundaries!!!" I noticed that a couple people had their corset on, so I thought I could do that. So eventually, I put that on and someone helped lace me in. Well, I'm a smart girl. When I finally got up to Diana, she thought it looked so good on me that they might try to fit me into a tableau. She also said no one else had said they were interested in Mary, so I have a part. Woo Hoo! Script in hand, I left Dickens, feeling very high and very excited and maybe even a touch sexy. I think I was even giving out that vibe, cause I went a grabbed a bite at Whole Foods after and even caught a couple of people's eyes. It's all in the attitude.
All in all, Day one was pretty good. But then there's Day Two.