different shades of drama

There are these parallel aspects of this program running alongside each other.... one aspect, the actual working, has taken an upturn; I finally had my first session with our prominent stage director. I spent four sweaty, ecstatic hours working through Ophelie, with a smidge of Juliette at the end - now I need to let it cook, go through my process, work it through mentally. Because it's a scenes program (As opposed to an entire role), the characters can weave in and out of each other and become a story in and of themselves. Juliette will have parallels to Ophelie, as demonstrated in gestures that begin joyful, feminine and graceful - and as they appear in Ophelie, the same gestures become dark, disjointed, ugly - she is a cutter, a suicidal basket case. I've never played with knives before - good fun. Also a nice segue into Lucia....

and then there's the other aspect: our housing situation. Kristin and I were placed with a smoker. Our host is this frenetic, workaholic trial lawyer who appears to never be home - and after the initial awkward mention of the smoke being a problem, she's tried to smoke outside when she thinks we won't be there, etc.... but it's in the walls, carpets, furniture - it hangs in the air when she's been in a room, it's HORRIBLE. I think I'm also very sensitive to nicotine as a stimulant - I have yet to sleep well here. The whole place has a bad energy. She also has no internet access! I've been able to get around it with my Blackberry, but Kristin has been SOL. The list goes on.... she's an incessant talker, so we've taken to hiding in our rooms with the door closed so that she leaves us alone. The kitchen isn't very clean, either. It's just not a good homestay.

We decided tonight, that we can't - and shouldn't have to - take this for 5 more weeks. OSB is contractually required to provide us with a smoke-free house with our own room/bathroom/kitchen, and internet access.

They've said they will work on moving us ASAP, but I'm not looking forward to the drama of having to tell her we're leaving, and then packing up and doing this all over again.

It sucks that it's happening now that we're in the thick of things....for instance, after a grueling session like today, I just want a clean and quiet place to come back to and rest.

Tomorrow morning I'll meet a couple of other singers at the Mission for mass, and then breakfast. We have a very difficult 4 hour rehearsal in the afternoon. And who knows when "the move" will take place....

The next few days should be interesting.....