Monday 12 April 2010

An Awesome Weekend

I had a very full weekend, mostly concentrated around Saturday night.

I don't think I mentioned it in my blog but I was asked to perform as an old hollywood actress for the American Chamber of Commerce Hollywood Lights Gala charity event. I decided to be Mae West. I put a lot of effort in preparing for my role. I had a dress made, bought accessories to match (including a wig), memorized some of her famous one-liners, etc. Friday night was some last minute planning for the role. I read up a little more about her life, watched some videos so I could get my voice to sound like hers, put the whole outfit on to check to make sure it was all set, and did my nails.

Saturday I had brunch with Sarah and then we went on a hunt for some lipstick that would be the right color and wouldn't cost me a million dollars. Then Sarah was very patient and super helpful and did my makeup and helped me get on my wig (even with my new short haircut I have a LOT of hair to tuck away). I even wore false eyelashes for the first time. I really liked them. :-) Then I grabbed a cab and headed to the Shangri-la for the event, threw on my dress and made my entrance.

There were two other actors for the night and I was surprised to find I knew them both already. There is a surprisingly small community in Shanghai when it comes to foreign performers. Serious case of 6-degrees of seperation. The other girl was being Marylin Monroe and the guy was playing an old timey director (John Huston?). I was a little disapointed because hardly anyone knew who Mae West was (although the few times I was "recognized" was a LOT of fun) and I was trying to stay true to character so I couldn't really go around all bubbly like Marylin Monroe. I still enjoyed throwing out a few one-liners and throwing smoldering glances at everyone I saw. Although I wasn't wearing my glasses, so I might have been throwing smoldering glances at flower pots, walls, or the backs of people's heads.

After that was done with I had to get out of costume really quick and head to Sound Blue for an improv performance. As soon as I got there I had to de-wig, pull off my fake eyelashes (OW) and wipe off all my makeup. We warmed up and then had our performance. We played a few new games including Questions Only and Props. A few people from work came, and I was also able to see Lucy for the first time since the beginning of February. The show went really well. The place was pretty full and we got tons of laughs. I had a lot of people I didn't know coming up to me after the show to say I was really good. Yay! This time the director also mentioned that we do this for free and put out a tip jar. My cut of the tips was enough to pay for the taxi home, which was nice.

Also on Saturday I got a text comfirmation from Elizabeth that our tickets are booked for our trip to Hanoi. The holiday ended up being for 5 days instead of just a long weekend like I thought it was going to be, so I am very excited for the extra time in Vietnam. Elizabeth has been there before so she already knows a good hotel to stay at and some good places to go. This will be the fifth country I've ever been to (America, Canada, China, Japan....VIETNAM!). I can't wait. We leave on the 30th of April.

The last bit of news really isn't mine to tell. A good friend of mine got engaged and asked me to be a bridesmaid! It's the first time I have ever been asked and both her and her fiance are good friends of mine so I am really excited. I won't put their names here, though, on the off chance that someone who knows them reads my blog before they get a chance to spread the news themselves. EEEE!

I suppose that's all my biggest news for now. Next week is midterms. I can't believe the semester is almost half done already. The seniors are taking their IB exams in three weeks. Wowza.Actually, I have a "mid-term" myself this week. We are at about the middle of my Chinese classes and we are halfway through our new textbook so our teacher is giving us a bit of a midterm this week. I haven't had a midterm in about two years!

Well, gotta prepare for classes. Leave comments to say how good I look as Mae West.

Much love,
Stephanie


3 comments:

Unknown said...

ok awesome. I have been looking for this improv group for a few months now and finally have proof it still exists!
Can you post the contact info of whoever I need to talk to for more information? Thanks a lot!

Turner

Stephanie/Sproffee said...

E-mail Curt at 9hundred@gmail.com if you want details or to be added to the mailing list for Zmack. :-)

We meet wednesdays at Bali Bistro near Jinag'an for lab at 7pm.

kimmieb said...

you look great! you did a wonderful job with the costume :)

and this is like way after the fact, but i know whose wedding it is!! :)