Grassroots Shakespeare

For months I've been wanting to participate in the Grassroots Shakespeare Company's Play-in-a-Day Workshops. In the past the dates have just never worked out for me. You sign up for them and the week before the show they email you your lines and you come with them (hopefully) memorized on Saturday where you have 2.5 hours together to rehearse and put on the play.

I was finally able to do this on July 31st. The play was Midsummer Night's Dream and it was a blast. We rehearsed the scenes in small groups and then were supposed to do a run through. I say supposed to but we only got through 4 or 5 scenes before the reception close to us in the park got too loud with their band. After moving to a new location in the park there just wasn't time so we decided to just wing it. The show wasn't perfect but it sure was fun to do.

These pictures are from one of the first scenes in the play. There's an acting troupe in the play that puts on a play within the play and I played the role of Bottom, the actor that wanted to play every part there was (I thought it was a nice fit for me). It was a blast to do that scene with Greg, we haven't acted together since our time together at Dear Old Davis High.

The actors waiting to get their parts

G-reg and myself as I try to talk him into giving me more parts

Showing off how I would play such a great Thysbe

Ben Folds

So life has been a little busy the past few weeks. We had a great vacation up in Washington which you'll be hearing more about later.

Clear back in July (the 17th to be exact) Ben Folds came to the Deer Valley Amphitheater to do a concert with the Utah Symphony. We thought "He's playing with a symphony, I bet he'll be a little more toned down than in other concerts." So we decided to go.

We forgot the camera so we don't have any pictures but we still had a great time. He had just played a show in London two nights before so going from sea level to Park City was a little rough, he couldn't sustain some notes as long as normal but it was still a great show. His opening number was Zac and Sara which during the second verse he forgot the lyrics but was able to improv some.

Sara's former co-worker but still current friend, Shandy, was the one who told us about the concert and we ran into her so she sat next to us. On our way in I saw my High School Theatre teacher, Andra, so during the intermission I took Sara to meet her and it was nice for her to be able to put a face and personality to Andra because she's heard many stories from my days in high school theatre.

We had a great time, and don't worry, we'll be bring our camera to the Dave Matthews Band Concert this Tuesday.

Scooter Cover

Most of those in the Passey family are familiar with the scooter. It's be through Brent, Alli, Will, Cait and back to Will. It currently has 13,064.9 miles on it. It's held together in a few places by duck tape. And until today it had a disgusting seat, the vinyl had long since worn away and the foam has been soaked and frozen in the winter by snow and rain and baked in the summer heat. It now has the consistency of the green foam that's used to hold flowers in place. However, today Will proposed a new sewing project for me. So I present to you the new scooter cover! We'll have to get a picture of Will with it in his matching apron. (The fabric is leftover from the apron I made him for Christmas.) It's not perfect, but it will do in a pinch and will hopefully solve the problem of Will coming in with orange dust covering his backside.

Final New York Post

Here's a quick rap up with a few of the pictures that didn't fit with the themes of the other posts, but we still wanted to share them with you!

The Manhattan Temple: the lower floors serve as a chapel, so that's where we went to church on Sunday. We sang the most rousing intermediate hymn I've ever sung before and we learned that over half the ward was visitors.
The Empire State Building: Will and I got to go with Dad - which was great because he's so familiar with the city from when he went to NYU. We loved the art deco style so prominent throughout.
Recognize this one? It's the Seinfeld restaurant. Will and I went with Mom to a bookstore and looked out the window to find this beauty. We verified with store employees that that's the place.

Grand Central Station: The family on our last night in New York. We split up here - Mom and Dad went back to the hotel and Blake and Will and I headed to a special place to get toasted marshmallow milkshakes that Blake's friends in NY had introduced him to. Don't worry, for those of you who know Will doesn't like marshmallows there was still something for him there. See the picture below for proof.
The good news is he didn't finish the whole thing!

Thanks again for a wonderful trip Mom and Dad! We had a great time and made wonderful memories!

Shows!

While in New York we were able to see 3 shows!

Promises, Promises: Great singing by Kristen Chenoweth (she's Glenda on the Wicked soundtrack), but not our favorite plot. It's based on a movie, The Apartment. Also be warned, it's billed a comedy, but we thought it was pretty sad.

Lend Me a Tenor: This wasn't a musical, just a play, but this was really was a comedy. It has Tony Shaloub and it was hilarious. Our favorite I think. The other excited thing was seeing the actor who played Ben Linus on Lost - he was in the audience that night. I couldn't work up the nerve to talk to him, but Blake sat next to him at intermission.

South Pacific: Last, but not least we got to see this revival at the Lincoln Center. It was really great and fun to hear such familiar songs.