Midsummer Night's Dream- First Day of Interpretation

Thursday: almost everyone arrived at Shakespeare with a good will, and excitement and anticipation in hearts and minds. Mrs. Harvigson, who (along with Shakespeare's input in his plays)is genrally the one mostly in charge of the set design, showed us how to make a canvas out of sheets, and offered anyone who wanted to help paint the scenery to do so- nearly everyone volunteered:)

Then Mrs. Ward came, and we ran through Act I, Scene I of the play... in which Theseus, Hippolyta, Hermia, Egeus, Helena, Demetrius, Lysander and- well, anyone else who was in that scene was introduced. Along with the conflict. And the poetry.

Those afore mentioned then went outside and "re-wrote" the scene in modern day English (just for fun, not for the performance), and came back in and put the scene on for us- which, I can tell you, was tons of fun to watch, and even more so to do, I'm sure.

"It takes as much courage to have tried and failed as it does to have tried and succeded."

-Anne Morrow Lindebergh

Time is of the Essence

"Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore,
So do our minutes hasten to their end;
Each changing place with that which goes before,
In sequent toil all forwards do contend.
Nativity, once in the main of light,
Crawls to maturity, wherewith being crown'd,
Crooked elipses 'gainst his glory fight,
And Time that gave doth now his gift confound.
Time doth transfix the flourish set on youth
And delves the parallels in beauty's brow,
Feeds on the rarities of nature's truth,
And nothing stands but for his scythe to mow:
And yet to times in hope my verse shall stand,
Praising thy worth, despite his cruel hand."

-Sonnet Sixty

Just found this: "Be happy in this moment, this moment is your life!"

So... here are some happiness moments with my girlfriends:)

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Yesterday: Midsummer Night's Dream auditions! Yay! We will get the results within the next few days... can't wait!

The Huntington Library

Thursday of last week devoted itself to the fieldtrip of our Shakespearian group to go to... (drum roll, please)
.... The Huntington Library!

There, we saw some of Shakespeare's first published scripts, and a beautiful, life-like, statue of Puck. We also saw the original painting of the famous actress, Sarah Siddons, who was famous for playing Hamlet, and all the leading roles in Shakespeare's plays (not with him, of course). The "Library" was owned by Henry Huntington, and covered with his relics for 207 acres. We visited the Shakespeare garden, which was placed right outside of the main estate, which is now used as the showroom for the art gallery. I will be posting the main pictures later.

School with Veritas Press starts up again on Monday. I'm actually rather excited... we get to read our Anglo-Saxon riddles (see below), and others get to guess what they are. Yay!

Happy New Year!!! Does anyone have any New Year's Resolutions that they would like to post?

I am interested in modeling, photography, acting of course, and set myself a goal to release a Christmas CD of my piano playing by next Christmas.

Hope everyone has a wonderful beginning of the year:-)