Meme: 5 questions

[gwendolyngrace]

Last week, here_be_dragons asked me to answer 5 questions.


1. What is the ultimate stage role you would like to perform?

And right away, it's impossible. There are SO MANY roles I would love to play, male and female:

Marian Paroo, The Music Man
Carrie Snow (or Julie Jordan-Bigelow), Carousel
Aldonza, Man of La Mancha
Edwin Drood, Mystery of Edwin Drood
Cervantes/Quixote, Man of La Mancha
Baroness (or Maria), The Sound of Music
Anna Leonowens, The King and I
Lucille Frank, Parade
Mother, Ragtime
Snoopy, Snoopy (I'd love to do a production of both Snoopy and You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown with the cast playing the same characters (when applicable) in both shows)
Velma Kelly, Chicago
Peter Pan, Peter Pan
Charity Barnum, Barnum
Rutledge, 1776
Cat in the Hat, Seussical
the Entertainer, Pippin
Percy, The Scarlet Pimpernel
Belle, Beauty and the Beast

and straight shows, too....

Valmont, Les Liaisons Dangereuses
Henry Drummond, Inherit the Wind
Viola, Twelfth Night
Cyrano, Cyrano de Bergerac (I actually have done this, but scenes only. I'd love to do the full production)
Tracy Lord, The Philadelphia Story


Well, you get the picture. Most of them I'll probably never be cast in. Sigh.

But for an *ultimate* role? Probably Cervantes/Quixote, Percy Blakeney, or Mother.


2. You've landed that ultimate role. You get to cast the rest of the show (no limitations here; you can choose anyone you like). Who will be onstage with you?

Hee. You know my secret plot, right? If I ever win the lottery or suddenly come into a lot of money? I'd produce a Broadway production, picking out a star vehicle for myself, and screw the union. So fast it'd make your head spin.

I'm still hemming over the show (see above), and that would determine the casting quite a bit. Depends on when this happens. Before I'm 40? Which show?

It's hard. I've had an easier time picking my out my Cabinet for my various "I'll run for President" schemes.

With no limitations, it gets easier, because I'd bring back some people. But then they'd probably start decomposing, so ew.

Among living performers, well.... Ack. This sounds awful but I think I'd have to hold auditions. Since this is a vanity thing, there would be spots for actor-friends, of course. ;^D

Nope, I'd have to decide on the show first. And then figure out who's good enough to be great in the role, but not so great as to overshadow me. :D

After my triumphant success, of course, I'd go on to do shows with my heroes, like Barbara Cook, Angela Lansbury, Bernadette Peters, George Hearn, Ian McKellen, etc.

3. What is your very favorite childhood memory?

I don't have many childhood memories. I've blocked most of them out. In middle school my friends Melissa, Courtney, and Gretchen and I had these incredibly fun overnight parties, where we'd watch movies and play Atari and quote Monty Python. And late in Junior High I had a friend with this amazing black room in her basement, and she always used to give the best Halloween parties down there. After midnight, we'd sneak out of the house and wander around the neighbourhood in our costumes, then come back and read tarot cards and hold seances. That was pretty fun.


4. You can go back in time and stay there for one week, with no consequences of any kind (you can't be harmed, and you can't change history). Where and when would you go (and, of course, why)?

Damn, woman, you ask probing questions. Hm. I think I'd like to go all the way back, to see for myself how things started. Barring that, I'd go back to the week immediately preceding the first performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream to watch the Bard during an Elizabethan tech week.

5. What was the first piece of fiction you ever wrote?

Oh, yikes. Technically, it was probably some god-awful story I drew pictures for back in nursery school. (My mother has a box of this stuff that I intend to burn as soon as I can pry it away from her.)

But I would say that the first things I consider true writing probably came about when I was between 8 and 12. I made friends with a girl down the street - Disa - and we discovered role-playing and fanfiction together, before either of us ever knew what those terms were. We used to "play" on the phone for hours...which meant that we were spinning out Mary-Sue derivative role-playing scenarios based on Star Blazers and Robotech and early D&D and fairy tales and so on. I had blank books that I used, not for journaling, but for writing down these fantasies we would create together.



Yeah, that was a whole lot of embarrassing information that most of you probably didn't want to know. LJ Comments still seem to be finding their way more often to my Junk file than not, but if you comment, I'll try to come up with questions at least as pithy as Wendy's.

Comments

[ficwriter1966.livejournal.com]

Interesting! Lets me know a little more about who I'm chatting with, so thanks for doing that.

And I'm glad to know (I think) that there's someone else who's pretty much blocked out their whole childhood. I marvel at people like Steve King who have rich, vivid memories of bygone days, because I just...don't. My first work of fiction? A Batman Mary Sue. (Mary Sue? Good friend of mine in those early fic-spinning days. Gotta start somewhere.) And the time in history I'd go back to? My home town, 100 years ago. There are no pictures from that time, and I would LOVE to see what it all looked like - see my great-grandparents, see what their lives were like.

[gwendolyngrace.livejournal.com]

I was such a dorky kid... I've been theatre-crazy ever since I can remember. I told my mother at the age of TWO that I wanted to be an actor (actress, really, since I hadn't figured out that I could play really anything), but I was just so focused on that, from such an early age. It's never changed. I'm a little less "will sing at the drop of a hat" than I was at 4.... Well, let me revise that. I'm a little more *discreet* about singing at the drop of a hat. But not much.

Generally when I think back to my kidhood, it's the embarrassing stuff I remember, not the good things.

And Mary Sues are a pretty universal entry point to writing. It's just that when you and I were younger, there was no mechanism to reach a mass audience. Something for which I'm VERY grateful!

Interesting that you'd go back to familiar ground in an unfamiliar time. Cool.

Okay, your questions:

1. If you could write your own TV pilot, what would it be about?

2. Who are the four people who've influenced you most in your life? And why do they get the credit (or the blame)?

3. You've been given the power to make any public figure admit about themselves they'd never normally acknowledge. Who would you pick, and what do you want them to say?

4. What's your favourite colour? (Hey, one of these has to be easy.)

5. What's your idea of a perfect holiday/vacation?

[ficwriter1966.livejournal.com]

Reply is here: http://ficwriter1966.livejournal.com/54089.html

And am I glad I had no way to circulate that early fic I cranked out? Ohhhhmyyes. I still have some of it (written in ink on tablet paper), but am I going to post it? Nooooooo.

[zsof.livejournal.com]

Edwin Drood, Mystery of Edwin Drood

That is my ultimate dream show of all time. I would give anything to be able to direct it locally.

[gwendolyngrace.livejournal.com]

One of the companies here is doing a production of it in spring.

I have to get the CD from the library to refamiliarize myself with the music...my roommate in college had it, but when I checked Amazon it was available used only...for $160!!

But yeah, it's got some awesome music. And Edwin - what a role!

[jiggery-pokery.livejournal.com]

I'm sort of not looking for questions at the moment (though I bet you could ask some really interesting ones) but can I just say:

5. Damn, that's cool. When boys that age - and, indeed, often many years older - do this sort of thing, it always ends up being a dice-rolling combat-fest. You went about it the right way around. Of course there are exceptions to every gender stereotype, but I like your way of putting the game before the rules. You both won!

[gwendolyngrace.livejournal.com]

Hee... Well, I did play with a bunch of guys during high school, and yeah, it was always roll-playing instead of role-playing.

But I have to agree that my foundation in this way was a great proving ground for diceless role-playing systems.

Mostly I think it was just my acting and writing style finding some early practise.

[bekkio.livejournal.com]

As you said above, I think most people just remember the really embarrassingstuff about their childhood. I don't always believe the accounts of people who say otherwise though - I have a deep suspicion that their memories have been aided by their family's retelling of stuff during holiday dinners in an attempt to embarrass them.

Hit me with some questions, it'll give me something to do while I'm stuck late at work today.

[gwendolyngrace.livejournal.com]

Hmmm...

1. If you weren't involved in HP Fandom, what do you think you'd be doing with your online time?

2. Who are three students you've had who've had a profound impact on the way you teach?

3. What's the best comeback one-liner you've ever been able to deliver *at the precise time* you needed it?

4. If you had no need to work, what would you do?

5. What's your favourite piece for cello?

[bekkio.livejournal.com]

1. If you weren't involved in HP Fandom, what do you think you'd be doing with your online time?
I'd probably spend a lot less time online, since I'd say about 75% of the time I spend online I spend on various HP projects. I'd probably linger a bit more on the Disney and martial arts boards I lurk on, maybe spend some time doing online crosswords. I'd definitely be spending time perfecting my Roller Coaster Tycoon and Sims games.

2. Who are three students you've had who've had a profound impact on the way you teach?
These first two taught me what NOT to do when teaching. The first one (and I can't remember her name, it's been a while) was when I was student teaching. After each and every test, I would circulate around the room to be available in case any of the students had questions about their results. This girl would argue with me about each and every wrong answer, about why she thought it should be right. After spending about 15 minutes with just her (out of 38 students), I finally asked her to come back during lunch. She never would do that.

The second one, was just after I started in my current job, and I shared a letter (http://bekkio.livejournal.com/245853.html) with y'all a couple of years ago after she was dropped from the program. I inherited her from the previous teacher, who had just retired. The parents were okay the first time I met them, but after the first meeting, the student just completely flaked out. I'd call her mother, and the mother would think it's no big deal, and wouldn't follow up with anything at home. By the 3rd week, the mom was barely talking to me, but my boss wanted me to keep working with the family. I called a meeting, and the mom lectured me about how I was too tough to expect her daughter to work, and that I should "be nice" and "make friends" with the students before I expected them to work. *snort* I worked way too hard with that set of parents, and that letter was my reward.

This last one means a lot to me, and my interaction with her really has shaped my overall teaching style. She was the second student I ever received in my current position, and she graduated last year, after 3 years in my program. Sweet kid, very talented, learning disabled, tended to run away from school when it got tough. I just kept chasing after her until she finished what she needed to do. I noticed that she had a wonderful eye for graphics and photography, and I suggested that she take some additional classes in those subjects. She did, and excelled at them. I really am sad that I never got a chance to congratulate her and wish her luck, she came into my office when I was at a meeting and left a card on my desk. She thanked me for telling her that she was good at something, it was something that she had rarely heard before. I cried when I read that card, and everytime I feel like I can't help one of my students, I pull it out to reread, to remind myself that I can make a difference, even if it's only a small one, in one of my kids' lives.

3. What's the best comeback one-liner you've ever been able to deliver *at the precise time* you needed it?
Damn, I really wish I could answer this question! This has NEVER happened to me before. A few times with my students, something really snappish and mean has come to my head in reaction to something they've said, but unfortunately, I have to really hold back. Like my student who got tackled by the security guys at the mall because he was shoplifting stuff - he was mad that he got charged with assault when he punched the cop tackling him. *shakes head*

4. If you had no need to work, what would you do?
I think I would want to do the same job I'm doing now, maybe just part time instead. I really, really love my job, and I feel like it was made just for me. No boredom (except for grading, *stabs pile*), great interaction with an age job I love, what more could I ask?

[bekkio.livejournal.com]

5. What's your favourite piece for cello?
Part of me really wants to say Pachabel's Canon because I'm not a cellist, hee. (Gratitious linkage to Pachelbel Rant (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdxkVQy7QLM)) I'm quite fond of Saint-Sans' Concerto for Cello, and I just love the Bach Cello Suites. The Cello Suites were transcribed for viola, and I especially enjoyed playing the Suite in G.

[here-be-dragons.livejournal.com]

Ooh! Aldonza. I think that might be my ultimate role. Man, that would be a hell of a lot of fun. :)

I don't have a lot of childhood memories, either (which, I think, is why it occurs to me to ask this question of others). Funnily enough, some of my best memories are Halloween-related, too. What is it about that day that is SO much fun. Maybe because we got to be someone else for a day. That was something I definitely liked to do.

All the way back? Wow, that's a really good idea, and something that had never occurred to me. Cool.

[gwendolyngrace.livejournal.com]

All the way back? Wow, that's a really good idea

Well, you know, it would give me an answer. Something to say to people who think they have it right.

Rather like now we know what we can say to, "JKR would never put a gay character in her books! Think of the children!"