Spring, moving, and all that jazz

It's been months since I posted a blog. A lot has been going on and I just haven't had the time or the inclination to sit down and write about it. Today promises to be busy so I will give you the highlights version. If you want details you'll have to email or call me.

The big news is that we have FINALLY moved all of our crap into the house! For those of you who don't know, this is the house in Plano that James grew up in for the most part. We've remodeled the master bathroom, put down wood floors in almost the entire house, and done LOTS of painting. It really looks amazing and feels almost as if we've moved into a new house!

Of course we are still overwhelmed by all the moving boxes. When we moved in, the house was already full of furniture so we've made the living room the temporary storage extra furniture and a place to stack all the boxes. Eventually we'll mix our furniture in with what's already here and take whatever is left over to the Salvation Army. Many of the boxes are full of books (James and I have decided we don't read NEARLY enough!) and we can't unpack them until we get our bookshelves set up back in the game room/office. That's going to be our library and office. I keep saying it's not as bad as it looks but I think James is feeling overwhelmed.

That's the biggest news. The opera season is almost over. Boris Godunov opens April 1 then the season is done. The garden looks great. A few plants survived the freeze and are now flourishing. We have planted parsley, cilantro, two or three kinds of peas, fennel, a few flowers, beats and some lettuces that we hope mature before it gets too hot. The figs and grapevines are waking up. The lemon trees are doing their thing, putting out LOTS of blossoms so we're hoping to have lemons someday. James still wants chickens and I keep trying to change his mind.

That's about it. I have a couple of auditions coming up and a recital or two. Staying busy and trying to keep my head above water!

More to come!

New Years: New Beginnings or the same old sh_t?

It's the third day of 2011 and I'm sitting here wondering what I'm going to do differently this year. My thoughts go first to what needs to be finished that wasn't finished in 2010.

This damn doctorate comes to mind. Other students have begun and finished their doctorates while I have dragged my feet. I think I've taken my time for a lot of reasons. One, this last phase is the most nerve wracking. My course work is mostly done, now I have one more recital to do, then the infamous lecture recital, then writtens and orals. (This last part seems a little redundant seeing as you also write a thesis but no one asked me.)

Two, what I want to do when I grow up has changed. Now, I'm less interested in opera and more interested in musicals, concerts, cabaret, directing and starting a theater company. Opera seems for the most part to be interested in being a living museum. A place where they trot out all the old standards with the same old sets and costumes. The artistic directors, stage directors and performers aren't interested in presenting exciting, living theater set to beautiful music. And most importantly, for me anyway, is that in my experience there is no sense of the company in the opera world. In opera we are not a group of talented, like-minded individuals coming together to create a production. This may just be at Dallas Opera (I hear this is the case.) but it takes the fun away from something that should make us feel like we did when we played dress up as kids. It's all very discouraging and makes me wish I wasn't there.

Three, and this is a big one, I honesty I think I started this degree for the wrong reason. At the time I was working at American Airlines and very, very unhappy but I knew if I left American I had to have something to go to, so I decided to go back to school. I didn't really have an overwhelming desire to be a college professor, I still don't, and in my time at UNT I've been relatively bored. I haven't felt challenged by the course work. In fact, I have discovered that in most cases if you just show up for class you're going to get an A. So much for the challenges of Doctoral programs, at least this one. I have entertained the idea of not finishing but I'm so close I need to just buckle down and get it done.

Now to more positive things! What am I looking forward to in 2011? James and I still talk about starting the theater company and I'm sure this year it will happen. Part of the problem is having the time to do it! Our schedules fill up so quickly. My summer is already filling up as is James'. I'm going back to the Czech Republic and James is going to be working with the Three Redneck Tenors in Branson. Also, we're getting our feet wet on the administration side by working with Ohlook Performing Arts Center. James is now on their board and I want to be on the board, as well. It gives us a good opportunity to learn about running a company and what happens behind the scenes. I think we are getting involved at a good time as they are getting ready to move into a new building. There will be fund-raising to do and new shows to mount. I think this will be a learning experience for both of us.

Also a learning experience is taking our production of [title of show] to the Edinburgh Fringe. So far it's been mostly talk but now things are about to ramp up. We are going to a Fringe Roadshow in NYC this weekend and we're about to start our fund-raising in earnest. We are planning some benefit performances in the next couple of months. My biggest fear is that we'll plan the event, send out the invitations and no one will come. James says it's just a vampire giving me trouble. It stresses me out so I just keep telling myself it will all work out. You just have to stay organized and have faith!

Ok, that's it for now. MOre to come!

Lots of news and happenings

Posting career info on your Facebook page is pretentious. I don't care about what gig you have this week. I don't care about with whom you're performing. I don't care about where you're performing. I don't care to see pictures of the food you've been eating while you're performing in said city. I don't care to hear about the traffic in the city where you're performing. I DON'T CARE! Facebook is a social networking cite. Save career info, photos, etc. for the website you use to promote your career and use Facebook to increase the number of people on your friends list.

Now that that's off my chest I can say that a lot has happened since I last posted. As everyone probably knows, James' mother passed away very suddenly about two or three weeks ago. I saw her on Friday morning of that week as did a couple of the neighbors. James talked to her that same day as did his aunt Alice and she seemed fine other than an upper respiratory infection that was getting better. The next morning, Saturday, her neighbor Jan found her on the floor of her bedroom. It looked like she'd started to get up, like she always did, and was struck by a sudden heart attack. James was in South Carolina with the Tenors and couldn't get back until early sunday morning. My mother was kind enough to let James' brother fly back from Toronto using one of her passes on American Airlines.

Everyone seems to be doing great. James and Johnny have never been the kind of people to wallow in sorrow. They are taking it in stride and doing their best to move forward. They have up and down moments. James said he was in a book store the other day and realized he was looking for books for his mom or he thinks of something he needs to ask his mom.

Also in true McQuillen fashion, the day after the memorial James started making plans to have all the bathrooms in the house remodeled. His grandmother had her house remodeled which his grandfather died and James's mother had a large part of the house redone when James's father died. Having the bathrooms renovated was something James been talking about with his mother so he figured why not go ahead and get it taken care of. The bathrooms haven't been touched since the house was built and are in desperate need of updating. They are decorated in tan, beige, brown, taupe and any other shade or hue of brown you can come up to. It's pretty bad. We are planning to move into the house after the bathrooms are finished. They mortgage on the house is almost paid off so we're going to move into the house when the bathrooms are finished, hopefully around the first of the year.

the other big news is that I recently auditioned for the Metropolitan Opera chorus. I sang well but I have no idea when I'll hear from them. I would be hired as extra chorus which means I might only be in one or two productions. It depends on what they need. We'll wait and see.

that's about it for now. Things are scooting right along. More soon!

New Post!!!!!

It's been ages since I've posted anything. I am finding that I'm not one of these people who blogs constantly. I don't have a thought and then, quick, write in my blog. I also feel as though my day to day life is pretty mundane so I don't feel the need to be writing things like, "I went to the store, I got gas, I paid the electric." They have that feature on Facebook now, which I'm convinced is a government conspiracy created to spy on us civilians, where you can punch in where you are all day long all the time. I don't want folks to know where I'm having dinner or where I'm buying my underwear! That's none of their damn business! Anyway, I shall endeavor to catch my teeny, tiny audience up on what I've been doing lately.

First big thing was that I came down with the flu a couple of weeks ago. It really put me out of commission for a day or two. At first I thought it was just allergies but as it got worse and worse and I started to feel achy I knew it was much more than allergies. It only lasted a day or two but ever since I've had a nasal infection. I finally went to the the fabulous Dr. Presley Mock who gave me some meds for that and also gave me a new prescription for Aciphex which is for my acid reflux.

Things are going well on the vocal front aside from swollen cords caused by drainage from said nasal infection. Other than that I've been singing really well. I'm not sure what happened but late last August something clicked. I realized that I didn't have to "try" to support. Support is a tricky word because it implies that some kind of physical strength is being applied to make something happen so it's probably not the best word to use. All my life I've had a lot of teachers, especially my undergrad teacher, tell me That in order to "support" I had to hold the rib cage open or I had to resist letting the rib cage collapse, I had to feel the sensation of pushing down as I sing as though I'm going to poop, etc. I have been told MANY different things and I've come to the realization that all of them cause TENSION in the THROAT. Any sense of holding or pushing or forcing is going to set up tension because you're trying to make your body do something it's not accustomed to. This manipulation puts tension right into the throat and so the larynx isn't free to do what it needs to do. BIG "ah ha!" moment for me.

So, back in august I decided to just try taking in a comfortable, full, expansive low breath and just let the air out as the voice sounded. Don't get in the way, don't try to keep anything expanded, just let body REACTE to what the voice is doing. Basically, what I was doing is getting out of the way so the voice could do what it needed to do. Ever since then, things have gotten better and better. I have found that the voice goes right into the grove where it can resonate freely and when it's not in that grove I can tell that they air isn't doing what it needs to do. The top 6 notes in my voice, basically from the passaggio to the C, have all gotten MUCH easier to sing. I can leap octaves much easier now, I can start a phrase on a high note without getting tied in knots. Most importantly, I'm not scared of high notes anymore. They stay hooked into the rest of the voice and they stay connected to the body.

I had a lesson the other day where we did 30 minutes of vocalizing and then worked on a couple of demanding english art songs. Things were great! All the high notes were connected, resonant and easy to access, my legato worked and it was actually FUN to work on the songs! At the end of the lesson I felt as fresh and ready to go as I'd felt when I walked in the room.

What's most exciting is how consistent everything has become. I know what the notes are going to feel like, I know how the air needs to react to the voice, and I know how the voice feels when it's resonating correctly and I know how took keep it in the groove so it will keep on resonating. It's all very exciting and makes me want to practice (when I'm not sick) and learn new music!

That's it for now. I have a busy afternoon planned. I want to talk about what's going on with my pottery so more later.

HUGS!

Fall posting. Not much to report.

There's not really much to say right now but I haven't posted in a while so I thought I'd leave an entry.

Fall has fallen, sort of. school is back in session but I have pretty much finished my course work so all I'm registered for right now is voice lessons. I'm finding now that there are lots of odd loose ends to take care of. Quals, writtens and orals, a recital and a lecture recital, foreign language barrier to pass. It's all stuff I have to register for but it doesn't require that I go to a class on a regular basis so it's hard to get motivated. James suggested I make out a "to do" list in chronological order. What needs to be done first, second, third and so on. I can then check things off as I go along and hopefully this damn degree will be finished sooner than later.

Opera chorus has been going full tilt for a few weeks although those of us who aren't in Giovanni have almost three weeks off which is nice but I'd rather get the pay check. We seem to have a nice cast for Anna Bolena and a wonderful director in Steven Lawless. We're back on the Globe Theater set with the addition of some very tall, louvered walls mounted on wheels so they can be pulled into various configurations by supers. It seems to divide the stage into smaller playing areas and I think will be very effective.

I realized recently that I've barely mentioned my pottery! I have been taking new pics of my pots in anticipation of putting some pieces up on etsy. I haven't done it yet because I'm afraid my works not good enough and will be rejected by the etsy shopping community. This is just a vampire, I realize, but it's looming large for me at the moment. I'm sure I'll pluck up the courage soon and put a few pieces up for sale and see what happens. when I do I will let you all know.

I could write more but it's late and I'm ready for bed. More to come, I promise!

nighty night!

START SPREADIN' THE NEWS!!!!!!! (Liza wind up!!!!!!)

This past week James and I hopped a plane and went to NYC for three days. Now that the craziness of our Ohlook summer is over we decided to take advantage of a little down time to get out of town and take in some different scenery. Not that New York is new to us, been there, done that, but the chance to see a few shows and wander through a couple of museums always gets the creative juices flowing again.

Having taken the creativity workshop with Susan Blackwell earlier in the summer, the thought that came to mind during this trip was "grounded, specific and self-expressed". These words come from Susan Blackwell herself and they/it/this phrase has been the theme of my summer, or at least the last half of my summer. Susan Blackwell was a co-writer of [title of show] and as we were going through the rehearsal process for our little production I kept this phrase close by, repeating it to myself whenever I wasn't sure what path to take. Keep it simple! This harder than it sounds. I'm happy to say that our "Little Show" turned out beautifully. James and I were so lucky to get the AMAZING cast we had in Marianne Galloway, Jennifer Pasion, Marshall Warren and John Davenport. From day one their performances were focused, self-aware, and incredibly honest and real. I ran the light bored for all 8 performances of our too brief run and for all 8 I sat there with a huge, gleeful grin on my face! What a wonderful gift to be given this cast and this show. As a result of the wonderful cast and their deep understanding of the characters, we got lots of WONDERFUL comments from our audiences and managed to get a fantastic review from a local critic. Our plan now is to take the show to the Edinburgh International Fringe Festival next summer. We have a lot of money to raise to make that dream a reality but I know we can do it. The cast is totally behind us and I think we'll discover that there are a lot of folks who believe in us and what we want to do. Crossies!

All of this recent activity came to mind during our trip this past week. While in NYC two of the four shows we saw reminded me specifically of Susan Blackwell's words. We FINALLY saw South Pacific at Lincoln Center. We were lucky enough to get to see Kelli O'Hara and Paulo Szot reprise their roles only a week before the show closes. A large number of the original cast were still with the show so it was as though we were seeing it soon after opening. We all know what a hit this show has been so I don't have to tell you that it was STUNNING to look at! Michael Yeargin took advantage of the vast stage of the Vivian Beaumont Theater and created both intimate and wide open spaces within the same production. Most impressive! The show sounded amazing! It was such a refreshing change to see a show that didn't hit you over the head with amplified sound and which had actors who SING OUT with big, booming voices! WOW!!!!

But what really impressed me was how REAL Kelli O'Hara and Paulo Szot were in their performances. There were no histrionics, there was no "I'm a big, big star playing an iconic role so I'm going to over-do everything and be self-indulgent" performances. Just real, connected, grounded, specific and self-expressed. Inspiration!

The big surprise of the week and what really brought Susan Blackwell's words home to me in a big way was the off broadway revival of Our Town at the Barrow Street Theater which is also closing soon. This production was performed in a small, makeshift space on a very, VERY intimate thrust stage, so intimate that you could easily, at any time, reach out and touch the actors. Everyone on stage wore only rehearsal clothes and a bare minimum of props and furniture were used. The house lights never went down and, in fact, it seemed as though no stage lights were used although there were times when the lights seemed to get brighter and in the third act the lights were definitely dimmer than in the previous two.

Basically, this is a play about small town life. I have seen it twice before. the words boring, soporific, long, dull, excruciating, inconsequential come to mind. This was anything but! There was such an incredible focus and urgency in the performances, such a depth of understanding and connection between the characters that it was palpable. We, the audience, felt what the characters felt. If they cried, I found myself crying. If they laughed, I laughed. The first and second acts seemed to go by in an instant. They weren't dull or slow or boring at all! I was riveted, hanging in every word.

BUT, the most profound and moving moment came in the third act. Emily has died and is in the graveyard where she encounters the other characters who have also died. She asks the stage manager if she can go back and experience one day from her life. He finally agrees and draws back a curtain that I for one had not really noticed before this moment. After all the rehearsal clothes and rehearsal props, the curtain revealed an amazingly detailed set of a turn of the century kitchen. Emily's mother was fully costumed, hair done, make up on. When she went to cook bacon it sizzled in a VERY hot cast iron skillet! We could smell it! She then scrambled eggs in that same pan. The coffee had steam rising from it. The water pump pumped water! The point was made by Emily and driven home by this moment in the production. As we go through our lives we don't pay attention to what we do on a day to day basis. We don't see and observe. At this moment, after Emily has died, she sees everything clearly.

My question after seeing this production was this: Why aren't we doing this in Dallas? Every production, every performance could be just as immediate, just as moving, just as deeply felt and understood by both the actors and the audience and yet we don't seem to get that here. Instead we are forced to settle for work that doesn't trust it's material, misses the point completely and settles for simply "good enough" rather than "right".

Trust the material! Understand the material and what point it's trying to make! Don't settle for "good enough"!!!

I could not have asked for a better evening!

Things are always busy at Ohlook PAC. I went with James to a 1030am performance of The Secret Garden. It's the children's show. By a mix of kids and adults and for kids. HUGE highschool auditorium but not a huge audience. Then over to Plano to see the garden and out to Grapevine for the opening of Little Shop of Horrors and the late night show of [title of show].

Little Shop has come together much faster than it should have and everything felt as though it waited until the last minute to settle. Tonight was wild. I have stepped in at the last minute to play the voice of Audrey II which is no big deal. I have listened to the cast album since I was about twelve so it's safe to say I am familiar with the part. I have a music stand and a stand light tucked away in the crawl space behind the set but I was not prepared for the doo-wap girls when they also had to be crawling around back there! It's already a tight space and they didn't help! Anyway, I think I finally found a spot to stand that's out of the way but I can do what I have to do.

It's such fun playing this part! It is a role I've never gotten to do and, frankly, never thought I'd get to do. AND there is no pressure because I'm never on stage! I have a freedom I don't usually experience when performing. YAY!!!

As soon as we were done with our Little Shop performance the turn around had to happen so we could do [title of show]. I thought it was going to be a nightmare but amazingly everyone was able to get all the accoutrament including the plants moved out so that our little show could move in. A lot of the Ohlook kids hung around but we had a lot of folks just coming to the show. So much so that the show was sold out!!!!

I had pretty much given up on Alexandra Binfield coming to review the show. She said she might but I hadn't heard anything else from her so I assumed she wasn't coming. Just as I was about to go make the curtain speech Jill came and found me and said, "the critic is here!" I went outside, shook her hand, welcomed her and ushered her into the theater. Of course, she managed to find a seat on the front row where the actors could see her plain as day. I made a point of not telling anyone she was there so they wouldn't be nervous. I gave my curtain speech and we started the show. I noticed that the Ms. Benifield never cracked a smile. Not once! I was later told she chuckled a time or two but I didn't see it.

The audience LOVED the show!!! They didn't just laugh, they HOWLED, and a couple of times there was seriously prolonged laughter. When Jeff asked Hunter if he had his hands down the back of his pants and Hunter replied no I thought the audience would never stop laughing! I think there were three rolls of laughter but it was hard to tell because the audience didn't want to stop! Of course, it was a fantastic performance. How could it not be? What I loved about the show tonight was that it really felt like an event and the actors really rose to the occasion. I must say, I can't imagine doing this show with anyone else. The cast is so connected and is having such fun! I couldn't have asked for more! I hope next weekend goes even better and we have big audiences again!

More to come!