Pay Attention!

Okay, kids... let's talk about television.

TV lies.

I know I've already told you that you can't believe everything you see on TV, but it goes deeper than just knowing that you're seeing actors with bloodpacks and special effects.

We have now entered the abyss that is "Reality TV". It started off as a benign collection of shows like "Survivor" and "Big Brother" and vomited all over our programming in the forms of "16 and Pregnant" and "Keeping up with the Kardashians".

I will tell you right now that this is NOT real life, kids.

In real life, people cannot afford to buy $1500.00 boots to match the $4000.00 blouse they bought the day before. In real life people put their $175.00 utility bill on their credit card because they have no cash until payday - two weeks away. In real life when a girl gets pregnant at 16, she rends her family relationships, gets kicked out of her house, and becomes a statistic.

Instead of continuing my diatribe that you can't believe everything you see, I'm changing it up. Now, you can't believe MOST of what you see on TV. Including the news!! Seriously. Think of the pretty girl from your Sophomore English class... the one who was pretty much dumb as nails with a solid C-average GPA. Or the cute and perky girl in your science lab who got you marked down a grade on your partnered project because she insisted on dotting all of the 'i's with little hearts. Or the guy who got 'pantsed' in the 7th grade because he wore glasses and belonged to the chess club. THOSE are your future local newscasters, kids. THAT is who you'll be listening to for your "facts".

I'm not saying that all newscasters are dumb. Just that they are every bit as fallible as any other human out there. Some of them still don't know where Afghanistan is on a map - and others, when reading from the teleprompter, will still pronounce that poor guy's name "Joe-Say". You get me, here?

If I can impart any wisdom about media and television, it is this:

Television is entertainment. All of it.

(Except the "Emergency Broadcast System" - which no one really pays attention to because we've yet to face nuclear disaster or a zombie apocalypse.)

While television is all entertainment, it isn't all GOOD entertainment.
It's brain candy.
It's designed to keep you watching.
Market analysts and writers and producers and directors love to perfect the psychological nuance of their audience and cater to it. The television shows you watch say a LOT about you, your psychology, your personality and your convictions. Don't just mindlessly watch the tube. Ask yourself why you're watching what you are. What are you getting out of it? Are you learning anything?

Not to say that I don't completely 'veg out' in front of the television from time to time. Everybody deserves a mental and physical break. But if you aren't honing your current skills or expanding your mind or learning a new craft, be careful that you aren't wasting more time than you are using productively. Like all things, television should be consumed in moderation.

To REALLY know what is going on in your world, you have to get out there and become a part of it.
Step outside your front door. See the world. Not just your hometown or home state. Collect your own facts. The TV cannot give you the experience of smelling flowers in Hawaii or the 360-degree sight and sound orgy that is Times Square. The television cannot fill your lungs with the cold air of a snowy morning in a foreign country. It cannot tease your tongue with fresh sugar cane off a plantation in Barbados. It cannot reproduce the feeling of solidarity when protesting injustice.

Those things are 'reality'. And they will always be more moving, thought-provoking, and inspirational in person than they will ever be on television or in photos.

Believe what you see with your own eyes and touch with your own hands and hear with your own ears. Do not adopt TV personalities or characters as your mentors and role models. Choose the people you know - the ones you learn from - the ones who love and support and encourage you. Don't waste time with the lives or opinions of the rest. They do not have to be a part of your reality.

We are all consumers. But if you make the attempt to create and/or produce as much as you consume in life, you'll do fine.

But pay attention. There will be plenty of people in this world who will try to tell you what the world is like. Cosmo's "Affordable $140.00 boots" is not a true statement in all realities. Before you get down on yourself because you can't keep up with the Kardashians, just remember that somewhere out there someone would trade places with you in a heartbeat.

I'd like to think that I represent the antithesis of 'Reality TV' with my passion for live theatre and dialogue-heavy screen entertainment.
So if there ever comes a time that I'm gone and you question how to best honor my legacy... Dump the TV and go see a live musical.

Places!!

We're heading into the closing weekend for 'Next Fall' and I'm so very sad to see this production come to a close.
It has been an amazing run, an incredible experience, and a shitload of fun and laughs. Seriously, this entire cast and crew is HILARIOUS!!
We had some whacky times (both on and off stage) and shared a few laughs, a few tears, and some great stories.
At the end of the day, however, I'm most proud of the sincerity with which we tell our story. I'll admit it. I'm proud of this cast, this crew, and what we've all accomplished together.

As we head into our last three performances, I figured I'd share a little 'tradition' that I/We started.
Because we all have cameras on our phones nowadays, I started snapping pictures of myself and/or whichever cast member was closest when 'Places' was being called. (We'll call it my way of "rehearsing the joy".)

What resulted was a fun little pictorial... and so I present our 'Places' photos for the first two weeks of the run.



None of us got along... but we muddled through somehow... between musicals, melodrama, and fits of laughter.



And I am once again reminded... as we journey through the story of Luke and Adam... that the people I work with are amazing and beautiful.




Clearly, I'm the luckiest girl in the world.