Mood: a-ok
Now Playing: Eli's "Now the News"
on Saturday morning, Kelly and I made the journey up to Nashville to join our Ripple team members. despite reports that it would take longer, it only took us two and a half hours to get there (thank-you Smyrna!). the way up consisted of music provided by Sara Groves and Jars of Clay (via our CD player, we couldn't fit them all in the backseat as had been the plan). i read to Kelly her book of the week, "My Sister's Keeper," which was actually really interesting, i'm going to have to go find myself a copy of it. it's about a girl who was born, more or less, to provide organs and blood for her leukemic sister. very intriguing, very funny, very sad, very well written.
we get to Nashville and assemble at the Madison church. once all the actors arrive (all five of us) we go through a very simple practice of the play. then we chill out, are fed an exquisite meal, and prepare to act. 6pm hits, curtains raise, and the improv begins. that's not to say we don't have a script to go by, we just choose not to. at least that's my story. i think the other actors fear their scenes with me, as they have no idea what i'm going to pull. Sunday night's performance, for example, involved me going into the front row and stealing a pitcher of water from an audience member and drinking out of it and crunching ice throughout the rest of the scene (did i mention it was a dinner theatre performance? it was.). the show goes well, despite some botched lines (as writer, i claim any "botched lines, changed lines, or forgotten lines" are simply mid-performance re-writes).
after the show we go see "The Island," which i thoroughly enjoyed, despite Bobby's complaints of wasting two hours of sleep "on that?!" the film elicits conversation for the next twenty-four hours.
Sunday morning Kelly and i give ourselves a tour of Vanderbilt, which is the most beautiful campus i have ever seen. we take dozens of pictures (some of which i'll post once i download them off Kelly's camera) and talk excitedly about the possibility of Kelly going to Vandy.
second performance of "That You May Believe" goes better than the first, with more ad-libs but fewer mid-performance re-writes.
Rachel, Kelly, and i jump into Kelly's car, find melted chocolate in it (how many times can a guy say he's sorry?), and peel outta Nashville. we make it back to Chattanooga in just over two hours (thank you, Tennessee police, for your blind eye or your thunderous sponsorship of Krispy Kreme).
back at work and ready for the next project.
-whew!- that should be everything. for now anyway. talk at ya' later!