Hello All!
My life in San Francisco has been a blur; I can’t believe that I have already passed more than half of the total time I will be here. As of now I couldn’t be a more stereotypical blogger; sitting in a cafe with my iced coffee, listening to music on my headphones. Since we last talked, I experienced Gay Pride Weekend…a crazy and colorful time that everyone should experience sometime in their life. Saturday night was a huge street party on Castro Street (the mecca for all gays in San Francisco), which was really fun until a shooting broke out. It was actually pretty scary. Somebody died and two people were hurt, which was sad and shut down an inevitably fun night, but the tragedy did not damper the celebration on Sunday: the parade. The parade had even more people than the craziness that was Saturday night. Think lots of glitter, gays, and Gaga. What more could you ask for? Needless to say, it was impressive that everyone could rally to create an extremely loving and progressive event in the midst of the tragedy of the night before. Not only was the parade great, but the Backstreet Boys were Celebrity Grand Marshalls and performed afterward, delivering their famous “I Want it That Way” and “Quit Playin’ Games (With My Heart),” which broke the hearts of teenage girls everywhere. Unfortunately Kevin was missing, so I guess we didn’t really get to appreciate the full Backstreet Boys experience. All in all it was a great weekend, and the residual glitter all over my apartment is just the icing on the cake.
If you’re wondering about my criminal ways, I have successfully emptied the compost multiple times, moved out of my apartment and into my cousins’ house (sad, but it is nice to get meals cooked for me and I love having family around). Unfortunately, I had to lie my way out of a ticket after not having proof of pavement, and have otherwise avoided the Po multiple times. I’m starting to get paranoid and may have surrender and buy a MUNI pass.
This weekend was opening weekend for the improv company I’m working with (Un-scripted Theater Company).
The show is called “In a World…” and is a two-hour longform improv show revolving around a place in a world just like the one we live in, except for one key difference. This difference is decided by the audience at the beginning of the show and is the basis of the entire show. So far our 3 shows have been “In a World” where: people can talk to the dead, plants are sentient, and personal space does not exist. The entire show is not pre-structured and is 100% improvised. It is really impressive to watch the cast construct an entire show in front of an audience, without any discussion backstage besides someone pulling a fellow cast member onstage and quickly whispering “I need you as [insert character name].” This previous week was filled with a pretty successful load-in, painting sets and putting together all the last minute elements that go with staging a show. My wonderful and hilarious boss Clay demonstrated his outstanding wit and humor by secretly taping me Shaking My Groove Thang. Cool Clay, 
I find myself truly becoming enthralled with my internship, not doing the normal stereotypical intern work (coffee runs and paperwork), but actually am assigned tasks that will prove to be useful in my theater career. Not only do I get training by taking improv class twice a week, but get to stage manage rehearsals, house manage the shows, learn about marketing and promoting a business, and update the company’s website. As my friends can attest, as soon as I discovered this internship online I was so excited by the possibility of finally finding a perfect internship, and I can now happily say that I couldn’t have asked for a better CELS summer.
Until Next Time,
Mikey
