Opportunity cost is the value of the next-best choice available to someone who has picked between several mutually exclusive choices.
It has been described as expressing "the basic relationship between scarcity and choice." -Wikipedia


BASICALLY: It's the options you give up when you make a decision to do something.
EX: I go to college instead of working a 9 to 5 job. What I give up is the money I would potentially make at the 9-5 while I go to school. The decision to go to college is (hopefully) worth it because in the future I can make more money at my job because I went to college.



Time is a limited resource for everyone. When I'm on holiday breaks I am almost stressed because I want to make sure to "get the best" out of my days off... the most BANG for my BUCK. Who do I decide to visit? Who do I make time for? You can't say "yes" to everybody. I hate saying "no".



I know. What a cynical, un-fun way to look at a lovely Thanksgiving break.
Thank you economics class, I now have a heart made of coal!

Behind-the-scenes of University of Missouri Theatre's Twelfth Night or What You Will directed by Brett D. Johnson.

GTO scored a live blog with the Missourian to cover their event.
(23:59 is a 24 hour play festival. Playwrights have 8 hours to write a script. Actors have 8 hours to memorize and perform the short play.)

I'm in Heidi's.


CHECK IT OUT:
http://23hrs59sec.wordpress.com/





"Before I write down one word, I have to have the character in my mind through and through. I must penetrate into the last wrinkle of his soul."

-HENRIK IBSEN

The Zoo Story by Edward Albee

Jerry--Steve Robertson
Peter--Peter Smith










The American Dream by Edward Albee

Mommy--Elizabeth Trovall
Daddy--Matthew Davis
Grandma--Ashley Hicks
Mrs. Barker--Tamara Mullins
The American Dream--Steve Robertson













Both productions were directed by Dr. David Crespy.

All photos are by Mallory. Her website is http://www.aviaphotography.com/index.html.

When you go to a school that focuses 78%* of it's energy into the J-school, you end up with plenty coverage... even for something as insignificant as the theatre.




http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2009/nov/01/illusions-and-laughs/

http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2009/10/22/edward-albee-being-performed/

http://iknowcomo.com/2009/10/26/more-than-a-zoo-story/



And now some Albee quotes:

“American critics are like American universities. They both have dull and half-dead faculties.”

“The difference between critics and audiences is that one is a group of humans and one is not”



*actual made-up statistic

Paraphrased from Brighton Beach Memoirs:


Jack: Why can't it be easy?

Kate: The easiest it gets is when you get 7 hours of good sleep.

"Moreover, under the hypnotic power of modern materialism, actors are even inclined to neglect the boundary which must separate everyday life from that of the stage. They strive instead to bring life-as-it-is onto the stage, and by doing so become ordinary photographers rather than artists. They are perilously prone to forget that the real task of the creative artist is not merely to copy the outer appearance of life but to interpret life in all its facets and profoundness, to show what is behind the phenomena of life, to let the spectator look beyond life's surfaces and meanings."


-The Actor's Body and Psychology


It's almost freeing.
When we embody a character, we do not mimic.
We walk with an understanding of the conditions the character would walk under but ultimately WE (as actors) get to interpret our character. We make the choice. We bring something to the script, to the character. We are artists.

I love Ellis (and the MU Bookstore).



I picked up:

Angels in America
7 Different Plays (includes Kushner's A Bright Room Called Day)


Rechecked:

How to Stop Acting
The Mastery of Movement on the Stage

World Bank Classification

-low income: $975 a year or less (per person)
-lower middle income: $976 to $3, 855 a year (per person)

low and middle low make up 72% of the world





72% OF THE WORLD MAKES LESS THAN 11 DOLLARS A DAY

Sometimes I wish that what I love to do didn't stress me out so much.


But maybe that's why I love it.
Or I stress because I love it.




I stole this from a friend:

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.' We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

-Marianne Williamson

In economics I saw someone looking at this website:

http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/



You have to look around for good ones, but I like it (minus the cheesy, semi-funny captions underneath the photos).

"Plays with in this group are absurd in that they focus not on logical acts, realistic occurrences, or traditional character development; they, instead, focus on human beings trapped in an incomprehensible world subject to any occurrence, no matter how illogical."

"Absurdist drama asks its viewer to 'draw his own conclusions, make his own errors'."

"The characters in Absurdist drama are lost and floating in an incomprehensible universe and they abandon rational devices and discursive thought because these approaches are inadequate. Many characters appear as automatons stuck in routines speaking only in cliché (Ionesco called the Old Man and Old Woman in The Chairs "uber-marrionettes"). Characters are frequently stereotypical, archetypal, or flat character types as in Commedia dell'arte."

"The plots of many Absurdist plays feature characters in interdependent pairs, commonly either two males or a male and a female. The two characters may be roughly equal or have a begrudging interdependence (like Vladamir and Estragon in Waiting for Godot or the two main characters in Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead); one character may be clearly dominant and may torture the passive character (like Pozzo and Lucky in Waiting for Godot or Hamm and Clov in Endgame); the relationship of the characters may shift dramatically throughout the play (as in Ionesco's The Lesson or in many of Albee's plays, The Zoo Story for example)."

"Much of the dialogue in Absurdist drama (especially in Beckett's and Albee's plays, for example) reflects this kind of evasiveness and inability to make a connection. When language that is apparently nonsensical appears, it also demonstrates this disconnection."

Thank you sketchy source! Now I don't know what I'm talking about.

Wiki: Rather than specifically playing "mousy", a Meisner actor would instead want to continually appease another character to create the appearance of the quality. Such derivation of attributes or qualities from specific actions is a critical skill developed by Meisner students. Instead of specifically portraying the personality traits required, the actor instead behaves in such a way that the audience believes the character embodies the traits.



"to dominate" versus "domineering"

Thank you, Stanislavski.

And just when you start to think that you can't...

YOU CAN.




And those are the moments to hold on to.

Mommy: smart, sexy, domineering, impulsive, violent, emasculating, tall, wealthy, salacious, clever, arrogant

Inspiration:
Eleanor Parker in "The Sound of Music"

January Jones in "Mad Men"

Elizabeth Taylor in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"


Also: Katherine Hepburn, Candice Bergen, "Celia Hodes" (Weeds), Stockard Channing ("Rizzo" from Grease)

I know it's easier and funnier and more interesting to be self-deprecating, but I am proud of myself.

I just ran 2.77 miles!

10 days ago I was huffing and puffing through my mile. Yes, it's embarrassing compared to what I used to run. Long hair, don't care.

Gwen inspired me to run a half-marathon with her next spring. I'm GOING to run it with her.

Emily (super runner and theater extraordinaire) gave me some useful info.
LOVE this website. It's essentially Mapquest for runners.
http://www.mapmyrun.com/

The best part about this running thing is that I'm not doing it to lose weight or look better. I'm doing it for the high, energy, and focus.

I deserve a run every day. I DESERVE a run.

As do you. :D

Old Man: "I have more fingers than friends. I tell everybody that. A friend to me is very rare."

Interviewer: "You don't have very many friends?"

Old Man: "No."

Interviewer: "Why not? You've been here a long time."

Old Man: "Yeah but I tell people... there are few things I believe in life. A true friend would not ask for favors all the time. A true friend will not ask to borrow money. A true friend will not agree with you 100%. And if you can find someone like that you marry them straightaway because you're never gunna find another one. And that's true life my friend. You get that?"

Fashion and society: 1957-1961
I've been memorizing lines from Albee's "The American Dream". I'm trying to understand the feel of the time period. The character I play is a smart, controlling, passionate woman named "Mommy". I watched "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" and read "Three Tall Women" for help, but I must do everything I can to try and create Mommy, instead of imitating Elizabeth Taylor or simply act controlling and domineering during the whole show.



I've also been watching Mad Men as a way to delve into the lives of the upper-middle class in 1960. The show is haunting, provocative, and visually stunning.



The reality is that I have an excuse to watch a sexy show and call it "character research."