20...5...30...47...70...144...
No, these are not the combination to a safe or winning lottery numbers. What these numbers represent are both important markers and goals in my 'Strega Nona' adventure. While it has been a few weeks since I last blogged (after all, I have been busy enjoying my holiday season!), I have been reflecting upon the past, present and future. What do these numbers signify?
20 - There are exactly twenty days before I hit the road again. The total length of my holiday break is actually 7 weeks long, which seems like a sufficient amount of time, but has vanished at an astonishing rate. Seven weeks is not that much time when there are holidays to celebrate, life to live, people to see and lines to review. Given the extended time that we will spend away from the show on our break, it has become necessary for me to review the show on a daily basis to keep it 'fresh' in both my body and mind. It is so easy for a character and lines from a show to leave you when you are not performing it regularly. I must do my best to keep up my voice, stamina and memory so that I can create stellar performances for our next leg.
47 - Twenty days is also not that much time when there are holidays to celebrate, life to live, people to see and suitcases to pack. In twenty days, I will be heading to Boston for the longest leg of this tour. I will not be able to return home for forty-seven days (a long period of time compared to the two sixteen-day stints that I have already completed) and I am not quite sure how I feel about that. How does one pack their life into one suitcase, one carry-on bag and a backpack? How will I be able to live out of suitcases and hotels for almost two months?
5 - In the seven weeks that I have been home, I have been at the gym five days a week to keep up my stamina and endurance for the show, and also to work off this horrid five pounds that I managed to gain during the first leg of the tour. As I have mentioned in previous blogs, eating right on the road has been EXTREMELY difficult. However, for the coming year, I have devised a plan which will enable me to eat healthy and to exercise as well. Number one - smaller portions. I will make a stronger effort to eat smaller portions during the 2010 legs of the tour. I think that I will be able to accomplish this by budgeting the daily amount of money spent toward food. So far, I have not been that stringent about how much of my per diem is spent on a daily basis.
30 - Number two - thirty minutes of exercise. While on the road, I have made the goal to do at least thirty minutes of exercise on a daily basis. If the hotel has a fitness center, I will make an effort to use it. If there is no fitness center, but I am close enough to a 24-Hour Fitness, I will go to the gym. And if I have no access to any fitness facility, I have come up with several creative exercise options: running up/down stairs at the hotel, doing sit-ups and push-ups in my hotel room, using my castmate's jumprope and working out with my exercise DVDs in my hotel room. With this many options, I have no excuse not to exercise.
70 and 144 - our last performance at Purdue marked the seventieth time that I had done the show; by the time we finish the tour, I will have performed the show 144 times. While it is always exciting to be performing in a new venue, with a new configuration, crew, audience and conditions, I know you must be wondering...how will I be able to keep each performance fresh and new? You might think that it would be easy to become bored with anything after doing it 70 or 144 times. But for me, it is a challenge that I am willing to accept. I once had a wonderful friend and director from Reno, who told me that every time you perform, you must experience and discover everything as if it is the character's first time. This practice has enabled me to escape boredom onstage and keep my performances fun and exciting. I bring this practice to each performance that I give, be it my first or my hundredth.
What the mathematician in me has realized is that the numbers listed above play a significant role in my 'Strega Nona' journey. What the artist in me has discovered is that if I am able to understand their impact fully and make the most of the opportunities they present, how could I not have a great adventure on the next leg of the tour?
Next stop - the Colonial Theatre in Boston, MA. Until the next adventure...
Ciao!
XOXO-
Janine
No, these are not the combination to a safe or winning lottery numbers. What these numbers represent are both important markers and goals in my 'Strega Nona' adventure. While it has been a few weeks since I last blogged (after all, I have been busy enjoying my holiday season!), I have been reflecting upon the past, present and future. What do these numbers signify?
20 - There are exactly twenty days before I hit the road again. The total length of my holiday break is actually 7 weeks long, which seems like a sufficient amount of time, but has vanished at an astonishing rate. Seven weeks is not that much time when there are holidays to celebrate, life to live, people to see and lines to review. Given the extended time that we will spend away from the show on our break, it has become necessary for me to review the show on a daily basis to keep it 'fresh' in both my body and mind. It is so easy for a character and lines from a show to leave you when you are not performing it regularly. I must do my best to keep up my voice, stamina and memory so that I can create stellar performances for our next leg.
47 - Twenty days is also not that much time when there are holidays to celebrate, life to live, people to see and suitcases to pack. In twenty days, I will be heading to Boston for the longest leg of this tour. I will not be able to return home for forty-seven days (a long period of time compared to the two sixteen-day stints that I have already completed) and I am not quite sure how I feel about that. How does one pack their life into one suitcase, one carry-on bag and a backpack? How will I be able to live out of suitcases and hotels for almost two months?
5 - In the seven weeks that I have been home, I have been at the gym five days a week to keep up my stamina and endurance for the show, and also to work off this horrid five pounds that I managed to gain during the first leg of the tour. As I have mentioned in previous blogs, eating right on the road has been EXTREMELY difficult. However, for the coming year, I have devised a plan which will enable me to eat healthy and to exercise as well. Number one - smaller portions. I will make a stronger effort to eat smaller portions during the 2010 legs of the tour. I think that I will be able to accomplish this by budgeting the daily amount of money spent toward food. So far, I have not been that stringent about how much of my per diem is spent on a daily basis.
30 - Number two - thirty minutes of exercise. While on the road, I have made the goal to do at least thirty minutes of exercise on a daily basis. If the hotel has a fitness center, I will make an effort to use it. If there is no fitness center, but I am close enough to a 24-Hour Fitness, I will go to the gym. And if I have no access to any fitness facility, I have come up with several creative exercise options: running up/down stairs at the hotel, doing sit-ups and push-ups in my hotel room, using my castmate's jumprope and working out with my exercise DVDs in my hotel room. With this many options, I have no excuse not to exercise.
70 and 144 - our last performance at Purdue marked the seventieth time that I had done the show; by the time we finish the tour, I will have performed the show 144 times. While it is always exciting to be performing in a new venue, with a new configuration, crew, audience and conditions, I know you must be wondering...how will I be able to keep each performance fresh and new? You might think that it would be easy to become bored with anything after doing it 70 or 144 times. But for me, it is a challenge that I am willing to accept. I once had a wonderful friend and director from Reno, who told me that every time you perform, you must experience and discover everything as if it is the character's first time. This practice has enabled me to escape boredom onstage and keep my performances fun and exciting. I bring this practice to each performance that I give, be it my first or my hundredth.
What the mathematician in me has realized is that the numbers listed above play a significant role in my 'Strega Nona' journey. What the artist in me has discovered is that if I am able to understand their impact fully and make the most of the opportunities they present, how could I not have a great adventure on the next leg of the tour?
Next stop - the Colonial Theatre in Boston, MA. Until the next adventure...
Ciao!
XOXO-
Janine
