Ashland's over

Well, I was so busy the last few days in Ashland that I didn't even bother to see if the computer was free. Tuesday we saw "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" in the Bower theatre. Neat place. It seats 600, but only has aisles on the sides, so the rows are very long but it means everyone gets to be closer to the stage. I went to dinner before the play with some folks from class. We ate at a restaurant outside next to the creek that runs through downtown. It was really nice. Apparently we're an unusual group for a Summer Institute in that we socialized lots out of class, but it seemed pretty normal to us. In the play, the lead actor, James Newcombe, was amazing, despite the fact that hardly any of us really loved the way he was directed in the part. He came and spoke to us Wed. morning and, while he was very subtle about it, it was fairly clear that he wasn't yet happy with the production. Of course, we did see only its second performance after only two previews, so there are still a few kinks to work out in the process. The most contentious issue among us was the transformation from Jekyll to Hyde. This is the first production to use only one actor to portray both, so there are no prostetics or makeup for Hyde... he moved more freely and quickly than Jekyll and was much more childlike in his demeanor. We also argued about the script. This one (David Edgar) introduces a backstory for Jekyll: his father ignored him and favoured his sister. So there's a Freudian justification for his actions as Hyde. I thought that was a cop out really. When I read the novella, which I finished the afternoon of the play, the whole point seemed to be that Hyde's evil comes from his own (and society's) repression of emotion. We did have really good discussion about the play though, so it worked for our purposes;-)

Wednesday we did more scoring in the poetry section, and other stuff. After class (can you tell which is more interesting?), I went to dinner with Sylvia (our instructor) and Jon (the other "experienced" AP teacher) at an Italian restaurant. Jon and I split the four-course dinner. Not cheap, but very good. Then I walked to the theatre. We were in the outdoor theatre this time for Cyrano. It was amazing!!!!!!!!!!! Even more so because the lead actor was the understudy in only his second performance. Wow! So awesome. Totally worth the drive! Of course, he dies at the end, so it's super tragic... I cried all the way back to the dorms. But the translation they used really worked. I wasn't sure which one they were using, and it turned out they adapted the three Burgess translations together. The dramaturg for the production, Barry Kraft, came to speak with us on Thursday. That way cool too. He's currently playing Lear in the Marin Shakespeare Festival, so he even performed a bit.

Thursday and Friday were more classes. Of course the fun parts were the meals. Thursday I went out with a group to the Standing Stone Brewery. We stayed for hours. The food was good, but the company was what took so long;-) Yesterday, I went for lunch after class was over to Dragonfly. I'd read reviews about it and it was as good as all the hype.

After lunch I went back to finish my shopping at the gift shop. I won't be getting much at the outlet malls unless it's absolutely perfect... I've probably already spent my limit:-) I did, however, get a poster for free. They gave me the sample of the Heraldry poster because they weren't going to carry it any more. I love free stuff! Anyway, I left Ashaland about 2.30 and drove up I-5 to Salem. I stopped in Albany for dinner and a break from sitting, but got to the hotel about 7p m. This place is great. I have an executive King suite, which is just as neat as it sounds, but only cost me $74. But King beds are HUGE. It took more effort to get out this morning than getting out of bed really should;-) Anyway, I'm going to go grab breakfast then go off to the Oregon Garden. I'll stop in at the Woodburn outlets, and maybe swing by the ones at the Gorge, but not shopping a lot won't bother me. I'm planning to go to Waye's tonight, so I'll call him later when I have a better idea of when. Anyway, see you all later.

Ashland Day 5

Well, I've just completed two days of classes. So far, so good. I already have TONS of paper to go through, but it all looks useful. There are only twenty or so in my class, most from Oregon and California, but a few from Washington, and another Canadian too. It IS a small world though. My roomie is a lady who has just been hired at Woodland HS, so she'll be working with my cousin who also just was hired there. And the other Canadian worked with Mom and P.W. Who knew?

The campus and town here are very small. I'd bet UBC is bigger than the whole thing really... at least in terms of the walking distances between the dorms and our classroom. Not even a mile. Somehow things always look bigger on maps. The room isn't huge either. We each have a closet (one side has a shelf and drawers, hanging on the other), a bed, and a desk with two bookshelves above. The dorm is perfectly situated, however, mere metres from Starbucks (even closer than the plaza to school) and a grocery store, so I'm having no trouble at all feeding myself. My room also has a fridge, but my roomie has a meal card, so it's all mine... all two cubic feet of it! We also have A/C which is great, even though we haven't needed it lots so far. Now the only obstacle to good sleep is the bed, which is really very hard, but at least it's not lumpy. Can't complain much at this price really.

Today we started scoring papers. Only two of us have taught AP before, so that was quite interesting. The rubric was new to everyone else, so we only did a couple before we took a break. We'll score poetry tomorrow though and that's the one I'm really looking forward to because it's the question I think many of my students didn't do well on.

Tonight we're going to see Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in the Bowmer theatre (the one I haven't seen a play in yet), which is indoors. And tomorrow we see Cyrano in the Elizabethan theatre (open like the Globe). Both should be great. The weather has cooled down a bit though, so I may actually need my blanket this time, unlike last Friday when it was still pretty warm in the evening.

We've made some 'adjustments' to our class schedule so we got out early today... this computer may not have been free otherwise, but I might be offline until later this week. End submission. ;-)