structure

In this era of actual problems - i.e. tornadoes & earthquakes & bloody revolutions - I have a hard time blogging about The Struggle of my day-to-day. It feels more than a little trivial, compared to "What's Really Going On." That said, this is my own little piece of internet, and I feel an expression coming on that is greater than 140 characters...

I have not had a lot of formal structure in my life, but I was blessed somehow with an ability to fumble my way into a method that controls the madness. Before college/Nei-Play, I was an unschooler, or a "self-directed learner" as my pal Blake calls it. (Actually, I highly recommend checking out his latest initiative for the cause of self-educating: Zero Tuition College) Years of unschooling were good prep for freelance artistry, because it was up to me to figure out my education, pursue a high school diploma, get into college, etc. My parents helped, naturally, but I'm a bit of a bossy, so once I figured out I could do it myself, they were cool enough to let me take the reins.

Then, I did the college thing, and I got soft. Someone dictated where I needed to be, and what I needed to do, for the most part. The NP conservatory program was incredibly demanding, and I poured every ounce of my being into my work there. It was so nice.

Thusly once out of structured school, I had to re-teach myself how to...well...exist.

When you're a freelancer, especially in the arts, long periods of unemployment (or semi-employment) can drive you absolutely looney tunes. I know there are people out there who can appreciate a day off, or even more simply, not feel guilty for a day spent watching 30 Rock on Netflix.

I am not one of those people.

A day where I am not required to get out of my pajamas can be more stressful to me than any job, because I will inevitably spend all of said day mentally berating myself for not Being a Success. I have actually had some very Successful days in pajamas, but I have a very short memory when I'm engrossed in a particularly juicy career-based guilt-spiral.

Nowadays, I have a very helpful support structure (i.e. Rusty & Daisy) that I can call upon when in the midst of a mental beat down. Daisy is great at reassuring me that although I only went to yoga and wrote emails today, "you have, until now, just worked for 15 days straight without a break."

I don't think I'll ever be as good as Daisy is at creating Invented Schedules. She's a genius at creating activities to get her out into the world, and make a day that would otherwise be a big yawning nothing into potential networking. My skills are little more internet-y. My favorite thing to do on a particularly useless afternoon is to dig deep into the caverns of Craigslist, Model Mayhem, and the cobwebby nooks in my Gmail inbox for as-yet undiscovered (or forgotten) opportunities. Never underestimate your ancient facebook messages! That early 2009 "what's up" from that guy you knew in the eighth grade could turn out to be just the meeting you needed this week...

It's exciting to me that although I can never stick to a rigid routine, my weird roundabout methods are starting to pay off in career advancement and even American dollars! My refusal to incorporate a Plan B, even in the midst of the economic plague, is not necessarily leaving me a shoeless beggarwoman. I have a savings account now. And a CAR!

So, to other likeminded artsy worrywarts, I say: if you are in your pajamas and you cannot color-code your schedule, stop kicking your own arse. There is plenty of Mean Ol' World to take you down a notch; getting in your own way just adds to the pile of bad vibes. You can follow the path that is in your gut, and it will work out. Keep the faith, yo.

And putting on pants to walk to the store will probably make you feel like less of a Super Lazy, so, there's always that.

biz update!

Here's the regular news: what's goin' on in Maggie Moon's "Professional" Life

-I've been invited to return to Not Back to School Camp this coming August, to teach the "Make a Musical" workshop with my partner Zen Zenith, as last years' effort was such a success. Exciting!

-There's finally some motion on US, and there will most definitely be a reading, or workshop, or several of both happening in California this year.

-I'm going out on auditions again; rather unusual for me, and nice to be acting a bit.

-I just wrapped up a huge costume gig at the Playhouse for their Shetacular. Utter madness, and classic NP fun. 5 nun costumes, 10 Grease jackets, all from scratch in 2 days. Thank heaven for my talented crew girls!

-In LA, I took a writing workshop with Miss Pamela Des Barres, author of I'm With the Band (among many other books!), and a huge personal hero. The workshop absolutely rocked, and it was SO cool to chill in that environment, with other super chill ladies, and write from the heart for four hours. I was allowed in for that one night only due to the generosity of one of Rusty's pals, Nichole, who I imagine will become a much closer friend should I go West this spring.

It was also something of an anniversary gift from Rusty. :)

-There's an inkling of movement on ALLIES again, as well!

-I'm kicking off a collaborative project with Minnie this week, aiming to perform in the Figment festival on Governor's Island this summer. Based on Peter Pan, and highly interactive, it uses 12 actors in a multitude of ways to turn a classic tale inside out, upside down and backwards...

-There's more! I'm just too tired to get to it all. Updates in the daylight.

xo
Maggie Moon

wow

I've been offline here for awhile. A couple of random starts, and then nada. Blogdeath.

Well, for those of you that might still be listening, an update, of sorts.

First of all, I'm alive and kickin', which is always a good start. HAUS of Plays is finally underway in terms of rehearsal, and opens next Thursday. My piece for the HAUS, "The Curious Sofa," will also be a part of a fundraising evening in December for the 5 Flights Theatre Company - who are opening things up to multi-company collaborations.

That's the way to go these days, really. Pool ones resources.

Speaking of resource-pooling, The Latchkey Kids had their first event during Halloween week - The Dead Celebrity Halloween Ball. It went off very very well. People enjoyed themselves. The performances were rad. I finally got a chance to sort of work with my cousin Samantha, who's a badass visual artist. She brought some of her artist friends and they did live painting and drawing, Exquisite Corpse style, during the party. I have a particularly kooky one, ready to be put on a wall, once I have a wall that's suitable.

What else? Rusty was here for a few weeks, which was wonderful. NBTSC went really well - and we wrote "Cliche - the Musical!" in about 5 days. Pretty amazing. Someday I hope to put the piece up in full on some public internet source. I also went to Toronto for ten days to observe on Robert Lepage's take on Stravinsky's "Nightingale" at the Canadian Opera Company. Ten days in a gorgeous new opera house? Yes, please, thank you.

All in all, it's been a pretty amazing fall. Even glossing over it all like that, skipping the work on "Hurricane" w/ Ryan & Karen Ann Ledger, the trip to the Winchester Mystery House (a surprise from Rusty when I was staying with him in Redwood City), gettin' to have dinner with my hero in Toronto, free house seats to "Faust" at the Metropolitan Opera, a trip to DC with Rusty & Dizzy Balloon, a new job at SHOCKra Studio...

It's been busy times, I suppose!

Lookin' forward to HAUS - if you'd like to attend, send a note to:

rsvp@realtheatrecompany.com

xoxo
Maggie Moon

forever in my life

How to even begin with catch up?

The US reading went...well, it couldn't have gone better. I guess this is what it feels like to have a passion project get somewhat realized. HAIR was my last big love, and sitting in the back of Rita Morgenthau for this felt similarly exhilarating. Only different. Less like hurtling myself off of a cliff and not being sure if I was going to land. No, with this group of artists, landing was very much assured.

My dear metal friend, Mr. Ken Pierce, and his photographer Peter Parrella were kind enough to cover the reading in detail, and I am truly honored. Check it out:

Piercing Metal talks about US

In the days since, I've been somewhat recuperating while determining my next move while preparing a reading package for Mr. Gabriel while bopping around NYC for the usual summertime fun. I've been missing the hell out of Rusty, who had to return West to record with Please Do Not Fight on their new EP. I'll be seeing a good deal of the other coast as the summer progresses - a mid-July visit to LA, and a late August stint in Oregon on the staff of Not Back to School Camp. Remember my mention of learning to dress like a lady, back in February? Well, my tights-as-shirt apparently made a lasting impression...in my staff bio, NBTSC director (the amazing Grace) has written: "Maggie was a camper back in 2001-2002, during which time she taught hip-hop workshops, sang a lot with Abbi, and wore ripped up pairs of tights as shirts."

Word. Maybe I'll rip up a new pair for the occasion.

Tights aside, I am very excited about returning and working with unschoolers. Back in the day, I used to get a major recharge of my spiritual battery by being out in the forest frolicking with a group of such alternatively-minded people. It's been seven years...bout time for a recharge!

On the work horizon, I've been asked to direct (or put in directing input, as I will be away for part of the rehearsal period) a reading of a musical written by my very good, old school pal Daniel Kelley. Daniel used to have a silent 3 in the middle of his name. He also used to write really hysterical, brilliant plays, and still does. I'm also directing/co-conceptualizing (there has got to be a shorter way to say that!) a one-man show for/with Ryan Bogner, based on the songs of Ben Folds. Um, hells yes. Plus Ryan (who was stage direction-reader for ALLIES, and a Company member in US) is a killer singer, and great writer...so I get to spend my summer working with great, talented writer dudes. Fine by me.

I almost forgot about working with Foxfire's pal Stephen Amato - another funny, talented writer dude. We're hoping to put together an evening or several of spectacular "straight plays" (Maggie do a non-musical?! Crazytalk!) that Real Theatre will likely produce...perhaps in conjuction with Foxfire's production company...or perhaps we'll form the mega-production-company that's already unofficially begun...


It's late and we'll see. We'll see. We'll see.

M