Well there it went. Labor Day Weekend 2008. As always, we joke with each other - "How is Summer over already?". Yeah. I am asking the same question. What's funny is that every year we end up asking ourselves this, but while Summer is slipping by we hardly take umbrage. When it is early July, it seems like September is FOREVER away. September is not even a thought. How does it happen so fast?
And what have you done with your Summer? We also ask ourselves these silly questions. We put so much pressure on a season that it can never be what we expect of it. When we were young in school our first assignment back in class was usually an essay in which we had to explain what we did with our Summer.
It is a mystical and magical time of year when we all seem to be happier to be alive. Happy to enjoy the sun, and do activities outdoors. Happy to go and get an ice cream cone and not feel guilty about the calories. Happy to grill out and have outdoor picnics. Happy to be content in doing absolutely nothing.
Happy.
Even as August begins, the long and sprawling month of 31 days of dead heated Summer air seems endless. It stretches out and blurs like the horizon of a hot asphalt road.
Then you wake up one day and start to make Labor Day Weekend plans, and before you hang up the phone it hits you. Labor Day.
Where has it gone?
Well for me the Summer has been spent mainly at work. I started working at Alexandria Tanning Salon in May, and also was teaching at Arts Adventure camp in July, plus working my usual Ticket Place job, and also juggling my cabaret, Insomnieoke that ran 4 performances in July and August. Oh, and making candles.
My time spent performing this past Summer is shorter than i would have liked it to be, as I did not have a show to do this Summer. But instead I had many other opportunities that were all different from each other.
I spent the beginning half of the Summer having panic attacks over my cabaret. What to do in it, how to make it funnier. How to conceptualize it. I got so sick of thinking about it. In the end, it came out how it came out. I was not totally happy with it but it was what it was. People seemed to enjoy it.
Then there was the Signature Theatre Open House. That whirlwind of a day that is always a manic rush of a good time. I had a blast and think I liked the Imrov Show hosted by James Gardiner and Evan Casey the most. I don't want to have to wait a year to see and do that again! It was too much fun!
Then the Kensington Arts Theatre Gala last week,which was fantastic and a big success for the company. Matt and I were happy to be able to perform there, and LOVED the chance to see our friends Brad Oscar and Diego Prieto.
And finally this past Monday I had the pleasure of singing in "Where Does East Begin?" a Musical Journey by Matt Conner at the Millenium Stage of the Kennedy Center.
I have sung for the Kennedy Center's Page to Stage Festival, which this was a part of, every Labor Day for the past 4 years. I am always happy to do it, and love the opportunity to sing my partner's gorgeous music. New material was featured from 3 shows that he is working on: Crossing, Senior Moments, and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. It went very well, and I think was our best showing at the Page to Stage yet.
And in closing, this is what I did for my Summer. At least part of it. I will continue to update with Summer recaps through the week.
Sorry I have been blog silent of late, but I have been working non stop and when my time is free obsessing over the DNC or RNC, depending on the night.
Talk soon,
SGS
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