I can never think of good titles

After a busy January and February Laura and I looked forward to a more relaxed March. Of course now March has almost completely filled, and it hasn't even started yet. This being said it was a huge blessing that I did not have to go to Hope College this weekend, giving Laura and I our first free weekend of 2009.
If you have been following the blog you know I was supposed to chaperon one of the U.I. students to an audition at Hope College because his mom was unable to take off the weekend. Don't worry the student still attended the audition, in fact he is there right now, but I didn't have chaperon because Hope College is great. The college said as long as we got him on the plane they would take care of all the rest, so they picked him up from the airport, arranged a college tour, got him to the audition, etc. I know he arrived safely last night, but I have not heard anything about his audition. I will post again any news I hear.
Also updating from last blog I had a wonderful time going back to Muskingum. I had some very encouraging support meetings as well as some unplanned but just as encouraging run-ins. It was wonderful to see so many of my friends I hold so dear and to catch up with the latest in the "Long Magenta Line". I had an eventful night spent at the REAL house (the men's christian house) where I felt right at home. The next day before heading back to Pittsburgh I stopped in on a Fish Out of Water improv rehearsal where it was great to see so many new faces. Laura and I hope to go back soon because one day in Skangum' in never enough.
In other news Laura and I have both been asked to take part in the Pittsburgh SWAN (Support Women Artists Now) festival. SWAN day is an international annual event on the last Saturday of March, Women's History Month. All sorts of activities supporting women artists take place in cities around world. This will be Pittsburgh's first year participating, and No Name Players will present and evening of plays, poetry, dance, music, and film all by local women artists. Laura and I have been asked to act in two of the short plays performed at the event.

PAA Story of the Week

Praise God, this week was a great week in the Performing Arts Academy. The high school students auditioned for the parent's night, the middle school class blew me away with their open scenes, and the elementary kids are starting to catch on to projection and diction. Although each of these classes had some praise worthy moments the story of the week comes from the brand new improv class we just started this week.
The improv class is made up of high school students and is designed to let them have fun playing games while secretly helping them gain confidence and create great public speaking and acting skills. Well... that's what it's supposed to do. So last night we started to play a game called Freeze where a lot of little scenes are created by to actors improving a scene and another troupe member yelling out "Freeze" and replacing one of the actors on stage and beginning a completely new scene. Surprisingly the high schoolers picked up on this really well and created some great little scenes. Everything was going along pretty well, and I was enjoying the scenes.
Then a scene starts with, "Oh no, your the baby's Daddy." and very quickly escalates into nothing comedic but a very loud argument. (Keep in mind I know this is acting because both of the actors on stage are female and are not anyone baby's Daddy). All the students erupt in the room like something off of Jerry Springer a few of them cheering and a few of them yelling "Freeze", but they don't hear them and keep on going. And boy they were really getting into it. All the while I am sitting there watching this partially impressed by the realism in the scene but mostly scared stiff thinking, "Oh God, what do I do with this... We are going to get kicked out of the church... Someone in the lobby is going to call the police... I am going to get fired from being a missionary." Luckily the actors finally froze and I took a moment to teach a brief lesson about controling and focusing your energy. They actually responded really well to this, and I am excited to see how the troupe will mature over the next few weeks.

Prayer Requests:

• Student's Hope College Audition
• Support Raising
• Urban Impact Singers

Thank you all for your prayers!

eric

Going back to College?

Wow, what a week.  Since last Friday life sure seemed to speed up.  Valentines day, Birthday, closing a show, Urban Impact all played a part.  This week has shown me two things: how busy life can be and how blessed I am for that busy life.  I have also been working hard on getting and making materials for my first UI (Urban Impact) support meeting.

Tomorrow I am going to Zanesville to meet with my college pastor and his family.  After that I will be speaking at Muskingum College's Campus Crusade meeting.  Both of these are very exciting for me, but in the same way a little nerve wrenching.  Hopefully they will go well and it will be the start to many more God glorifying meetings.  Most of all I am excited to be back in the company of great, great friends.  If you are around the Muskie area and do not have any plans Monday night, I invite you to cru at Kelley Coffee house at 8:00.

Other news headlines:

• Laura got the part of Nina in Chekhov's The Seagull
• Another sister-in-law is pregnant!
• I had an audition for a Time-Warner cable commercial
• I am now 23 (I got four different cakes for my Birthday)

Performing Arts Academy (PAA) story of the week:

Ms. Jill, the previous PAA drama teacher, put in a good word for one of our graduating students at Hope College Michigan.  Now Hope wants to have him come and audition for their program and scholarships.  This is very exciting, but there is one small problem.  His Mom is unable to take him to the audition.  No worries God plans in advance.  Next weekend is actually one of the first weekends that I am free, so I am now going to take him to audition at Hope College!  The young man is very talented and Laura worked with him last week on his monologues (she is very good at monologue/audition coaching).  The audition is on Feb. 27th so please be praying for him.

Prayer Requests:

• Student's Hope College Audition
• Muskingum meetings
• God to continually to open and close doors

Have a wonderful last week of black history month!

The snow has melted! This may not sound like a big deal to readers in St. Croix or Florida, but for me it is quite wonderful. Last Saturday it got up into the fifties and was the first day in a while that I had a morning free. Laura and I took advantage of it and enjoyed the day by walking to the grocery store. We picked up off brand Q-tips! (They clean our ears just as well.) The rest of the walk include going to Walnut St. and looking for people walking their dogs. If you did not know this already Laura loves dogs. When we first got married I almost got into an accident while driving because Laura yelled "PUPPY!" every time she saw a dog to which I thought she meant, "Slam on your breaks, a dog is about to run out into the road." I now know it is her own little I spy game she plays in hopes of seeing a dog and not a warning to screech to a halt.

The rest of the week has also had a few fun highlights as well. On Monday I had an audition for a show at the Pittsburgh Playhouse. The audition went very well, but I didn't get the part. This may seem like an upset to most actors, but I know the show was not right for me. Even better than not getting the part was the positive response I got from the Director. She actually sent me an email saying how happy she was to meet and she hopes to work with me in the future. This may not seem like much, but usually after an audition you either get the part or never hear from them again. So, to hear back at all is very encouraging.

This Thursday at the Performing Arts Academy went well again. The kids had a lot of energy which is a double edge sword. This inevitably made Laura and I very tired by the end of the night, but it was well worth it. Some of the kids miss Ms. Jill (last year's teacher) a lot and are having a difficult time allowing Laura and I to teach, but I know we just need to work harder to gain their trust. This being said there were still some very encouraging moments. In the elementary school class we were praying after our warm up, and one little girl asked if she could pray. Once we started to pray she popped her head back up and said she didn't know how to pray. I told her to thank God for everything he has given us, and so she bowed her head and and said, "Thank you God for everything you have given us."

This makes it all worth it.


Prayer Requests:

For God to guide the transition from Ms. Jill to Laura and I

For the students auditioning for CAPA

For Laura and I to be a light in the secular world of theatre


Hope you all have a wonderful Valentines Day!

Performing Arts Academy

Last night Laura and I taught drama class for the first time, and it was great. First of all thank you all who were praying for the classes. We had three classes last night: Elementary, Middle school, and High school. Over all we had more than 30 students which is great for the first week, and hopefully more and more will come as the semester roles along. A lot of the young men were absent from the High school class which was a little bit of a bummer for me because that's the age group I feel I can really relate with. The Elementary class was surprisingly fun. I say surprisingly because in the past they have been a little rowdy, but the group really seemed excited to return, although many were sad Ms. Jill did not return this semester. (Ms. Jill helped to start the program a couple years ago but decided to step down because of her jam packed life. She also makes great cookies.) In the Middle school and High school class we also handed out a questionnaire to find out what interested them. Laura and I found the responses very encouraging, and many of them wrote they were interested in auditioning for Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA), the Pittsburgh Arts school, which is has great educational program not to mention a phenomenal drama program. One of the girls in the Middle school class is now fourth on the waiting list and another auditioned in December and just got her letter of acceptance. Laura and I know there we have our work cut out for us, but we are bot incredibly excited to have the ball rolling.

As for other theatre endeavors, Laura and I are both very blessed. If you have been following the blog you know I opened a show last weekend and the response has been pretty positive. If you want you can check out the review:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09034/946449-325.stm

I also have an audition for another show at the Pittsburgh Rep on Monday that will go up in May. Laura will start rehearsals for Steele Magnolias in March.

All in all, we thank you for your prayers. God is good.


Prayer Requests:

The young girl on the waiting list for CAPA.

For the young men who are supposed to attend the High school Drama class.

My audition on Monday

Next weeks Performing Arts Acadamey