Can you feel it???

Hey! I'm back! Had to take a break from blogging because school became extremely intense at the end of the second and third trimesters.


What had happened was...

I was struggling in Meisner class. Stru-g-ling. So I didn't write for a while because there was not much positive to say. Also, there were so many intimate and life-changing moments in the last two weeks that I regard as almost sacred that I won't blog about. But lets start with the struggle... After that last post about Meisner class I got to my lowest point in the program and got a critique that just about broke me and ended up breaking down crying for about 5 minutes straight in class. I ALMOST felt like giving up yall...ALMOST! I almost had my teacher fooled for a minute, but Ha! He didn't know Rhonda Marie that well. I don't believe in defeat...if I'm knocked down yesterday I'm up tomorrow! So that next week I came back to school with the attitude like...I'm gonna get this if it kills me. It almost did! The next week, K.Todd was so happy at my turn around...and that turn around spread to all the rest of the classes. Alex, our Viewpoints teacher reminds us that "we are always in it, we are always in process." So I kept working until the end!


There were a few bumps in the last three weeks like the On Camera teacher telling me I needed a headshot that showed I can be "own and dirty" and "gritty" (sigh). Or her giving me a television side where I had to be a Romanian prostitute and learn a Romanian dialect with my black a**! (Hey...I got mad but Casting Director, gimme a chance...casting director...gimme a chance) But through it all I perservered.

Last week was our presentation week and we were working until the end. My Meisner scene was my favorite of all! I loved the character I got to play and some say it was a crowd favorite. Our final presentation last week was our Viewpoints presentation and the last five minutes we were all in tears during the performance. We knew that it was the end, and we were sad, but we also realized during that moment that our lives had been completely changed forever and there was no turning back. This summer was the best thing that has happened to my life thus far...it has made me grow as an actor and as a person. I am still Rhonda Marie but now I feel like "Rhonda Marie Deluxe Edition."

There is no turning back. I have stepped into another life, and whether I can see it now our not, the future is here. I feel it in my belly and in my bones. I don't talk about my goals in detail to too many folks because they mean so much to me but those who know, know that they go way past the boundaries of Chicago,Illinois: I am starting to feel it now. I am so emotional writing this because in 2 1/2 months I've come so far but still have miles to go. I just got cast in a show that runs for two Weeks in Madison Wisconson. I just got a callback for a show that opens a month after that closes. I'm mailing letters to agents as we speak. The time is has come. I had to let the coordinator of my daytime show know that I had to be out of town for three weeks in October and she was so encouraging. She told me how when I first came to audition for her she knew I was going places and they needed to get me on board before I blow up. What?? For real?? So she had me crying. I got in the car and thanked God profusely for all the blessings God keeps throwing me (just like..."BAM...here's a blessing, BOW...here goes another...wait, wait, wait...take this one too.") I know now that the sky is the limit...and whether I accept it or not I am headed towards those stars. Wow. Really?
R. Marie