A New Semester

Well, here I am, back in Utah where it's a chilly 19 degrees and I'm sick as a dog. Like, WICKED sick and it's not faring well for me in my apartment today. Not only am I going to have to go to classes tomorrow (cause it's the first day) but I have to walk up to campus in the freezing cold when I feel like I'm going to die. I mean, in all honesty I can email my professors and tell them that I'm wicked sick and could they email me the syllabus, but that won't fly for my acting class. If I don't show up I loose my spot. And I've worked too hard to loose that class to a stupid sinus infection/cold. Ewww I haven't been able to sleep and I just feel like a semi-living blob. I don't do well on my own when I'm sick. I really am a big baby and don't like being away from mom when I'm in need. I already miss her more than a little. More than a lot, actually. And I'm not going to be able to see her until the semester is over, cause she won't be a able to come up and see me in 1000 cranes. Which also breaks my heart more than I care to admit to even myself. Speaking of 1000 cranes - I don't think that I've talked about that on here at all. Shame on me. WELL

First of all, you can visit our website! www.athousandcranes.net and basically it will tell you more about the production with pictures from what we've done so far and news about upcoming events.

Alright. Now I'll do a little Q&A to help you get the picture :)

Q: What is this show?

A: A Thousand Cranes tells the true story of Sadako Sasaki [me!], a 12 year old girl who was diagnosed with 'radiation sickness' [leukemia] 10 years after the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. This play is an adaptation of the children's novel Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes that is required reading for many 4th-5th grade classes all over Utah.

Q: Is this a BYU production?

A: Indeed it is! It's also my first mainstage production here at BYU and I'm basically excited out of my brain to be involved in it. BYU does two "Young Company" shows every year, and this is one of them.

Q: What exactly is a "Young Company" production?

A: Well, like I mentioned above, two of the nine theater productions this year are Young Company shows. These productions are short children's plays (usually 40-45 minutes) written for a family-oriented audience that runs for two weeks on BYU campus and then tours to various elementary school througout the state to perform and teach workshops.

Q: Workshops? What exactly does that entail?

Well, members of the company for this show are what we like to call "teaching artists" and what that means is not only are we performers and actors, but we're also teachers. This is the first year that the actors and the teaching artists have been the same people. What we're going to do is after the performance, we'll split into pairs and then teach the 4th grade classes about the themes and messages of the production, as well as having them share what they've learned with us.

Q: When and where can I see it?

A. A Thousand Cranes will play at BYU Nelke Experimental Theater from February 2-13 at 7PM with 2PM and 4PM matinees on the 6th and 13th. There will also be performances at the Covey Center located on Center Street in Provo on March 2nd & 3rd, a performance at the Orem Library on March 29th, and a performance at the Provo library on April 12th. The elementary tour dates go throughout the entire semester, so ask me in person if you've got questions bout that.

Q: Didn't you say you went to Topaz for this? And met with Chieko Okazaki? What's this all about?

A: We have a partnership with the Topaz museum. Topaz is one of the many interment camps that Japanese-American were sent to during WWII. The Topaz museum was in possession of 123,000 paper cranes (no- that's not a typo) to represent each Japanese-American sent to an internment camp. They have loaned them to us to use part of a lobby display/art display on the main floor of the HFAC. Sister Okazaki came to learn about our production and also to help us string some of the cranes for the art display. Many students have volunteered to help us string them. We did also get to visit the actual site of Topaz, located west of Delta, Utah.

Q: Where/how do I get tickets?

A: Right here! Just click on "Buy Tickets Now!" and you're set :)

And there ya go. That's it for now. Thanks to my fellow cast-mate Jon Low for also having a Q&A on his blog which inspired mine :)

Oh - and before I go here's a little bit of interesting trivia for ya - Did you know that Ricky Martin sings the Spanish version of "I Can Go the Distance" from Disney's Hercules? Yeah. Neither did I. But the music video is on the DVD. And it's fabulous. Because Ricky Martin is fabulous.