Spectacle!

Besides the fact that I had a lot of schoolwork, one of the reasons I've been taking so long to update was that my internship has been in full swing. The Thursday after I got back from vacances, there was an exposition at the Cité du Livre (you may or may not remember, but checking the space out with Pelopidas for this event was one of the first things I did way back in September) of photos that inspired the Duo pour un mur project. That morning I tagged along while Pelopidas got everything ready. He told me at one point he'd only slept two hours the past two nights, but you never would have guessed it based on the way he was dashing all over the city.
Here's the empty hall with photos from all of the places the play has been performed with explanations about each "wall." Chypre, Korea, United States/Mexico, Israel/Palestine, Belfast, Berlin, and Tunisia.
That's Pelopidas in the striped shirt. I was a little late because of class, but I got there in time to see him speak for a bit, as well as his photographer friend. He apologized later for not introducing me to people (he had invited a few diplomats and there were a ton of his friends there), but it was really okay because I spent the entire time cornered by this 50-year-old man named Roger who kept trying to convince me to go see an exposition about mushrooms with him at the Museum of Natural History. He did say a lot of things about politics that I was able to count as an interview for my Contemporary France paper, but I didn't get much time to look at the photos and admire my handiwork (I glued the explanations onto posterboard).

The next Tuesday night (the 10th) was the actual play. It was a busy weekend before because we had long late rehearsals Friday and Saturday night. Vincent, the sound op, couldn't be there for those rehearsals, so I was running sound which I've never done before, and I hadn't seen the play in its entirety before that night, but it ran surprisingly smoothly. I never thought I'd like sound, but it was really satisfying to hit the cues at exactly the right time. Still not my favorite thing to do backstage, but it was nice to try something different.

Tuesday I got out of Maghreb class because we could get into the space (Jeu de Paume) at 2pm for the first time to rehearse. Besides my petit rôle of crossing the stage to greet my friend, I had to move a couple of barrels during a scene change and receive a prop from Pelopidas when he came offstage. I did my first really intern-ish thing that night (running out to pick up pizza for everyone), which I feel legitimizes my internship since it has so far been lacking in menial errands.

I still can't get over how much more laid-back the French are about everything--time, preparation, Pelopidas was making notes and changing things in the dressing room just before the show and murmuring to himself things like "Oh yeah, that will be the tricky part...well, I'll just have to improvise that..." The show was sold out, I believe, (Pelopidas has SO many friends in Aix), and the kids from the Vanderbilt program came as well as a few from the improv class I've been taking since Pelopidas is always promoting the play there. It went really, really well. No major glitches, and nearly everyone I talked to liked it a lot. Even the frat guy in our program told me he was "feelin' it." There were at least six bows at the curtain call--I think this is a European thing as well as an everybody-in-Aix-loves-Pelopidas-thing--and before the last one, the performers and I were all fairing la bise in the wings in celebration, and Pelopidas dragged me onstage for the final curtain call. The Vandy kids went crazy yelling, and Pelopidas loved it. He said he wished he had thought of it sooner since there was so much applause. It was equal parts embarrassing and awesome.

So, this unfortunately means most of my internship is over. I am so glad I got to help with a show while I was here, even in a small capacity, and I wish I had had the chance to get to know the dancers and musicians better since rehearsals were few and far between compared to what I'm used to, but otherwise I really don't have any regrets about the whole process. The project still isn't finished, and never will be, according to Pelopidas, even though there aren't any more performances currently planned; he met Robert (my roommate) at a Vanderbilt function and wants to interview him since his Canadian father and Mexican mother met in Texas, so we're going to do that tomorrow morning. Otherwise, I am taking the class for a few more weeks, which I still really enjoy, and Pelopidas suggested we meet to discuss French and American theatre. Apparently, Maité gave him my midterm paper to read, which is totally fine because it was all really positive except that I have since realized I have been spelling his name wrong (no ´on the e), and his name is practically every other word in the paper, so that was probably annoying for him to read even though he didn't say so.

One last thing, sort of on this subject, is that Pelopidas has one of the most adorable kids I have ever seen. Mme Scott described him perfectly as a "tiny Chinese Claude." He rides his scooter around the theater and hands out tic-tacs. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of him to creepily post, but I've still got a few more weeks here...