The Total Femme

The other night I had an anxiety dream, a real classic. I was in a musical, it was dress rehearsal, and I had completely neglected to learn my lines, my songs, my blocking, the whole nine yards. When it came time for me to sing my song, I looked at the director and said, “I didn’t quite get to it yet,” and she sighed and moved on. The best thing about this dream was that the director was Tex’s boss, who is no fucking joke and for sure would have blown my hair completely off it this had happened in real life.

Here’s to the folks who bust their asses learning their lines and songs and blocking so that we in the audience can sit back and enjoy. Here’s to the directors who bring it all together and keep it going. Here’s to the people back stage who also bring it all together and keep it going, lighting, sound, props, all of you. Here’s to the people back and front of the house, the board members, the volunteers. You make it roll and we are so grateful!

And here’s to Hilltown Theater Anonymous, deets below and on their website, for keeping all of the above and more alive in Western Mass! HTA, you get one pingy-dingy! Thank you for your hard work, your creativity, and your love of being on the boards – beautiful, surprising, delightful!

Hilltown Theatre Anonymous: A Journey of Magic, Community, and Theatre

A Night of Surprise

Hilltown Theatre Anonymous is an annual theatre event in Western Massachusetts. Each year, we come together to tell/re-tell/un-tell one of Shakespeare’s stories through the prism of our Hilltown community.

Our shows are cast and rehearsed in secret, which means that each actor meets one-on-one with their director. 

On the night of the performance, everyone sits in the audience. The actors speak their first lines from their seat in the audience, and then make their way onstage.

https://www.ericaterpeningromeo.com/hilltown-theatre-anonymous

I’m a typewriter whompin’, card catalogue lovin’ white girl from back in the day, and I yearn for a time before the covers of trade paperbacks were all squidgy, so you can imagine that I don’t actually understand what a pingback is. I do know that it can in some way be part of spreading the love, and since that’s what I’m all about at The Total Femme… every Wednesday, I pay homage to the laughter, love, and inspiration to be had elsewhere online. Is there someplace online that you particularly adore? Send it my way and I’ll slap it into the Pingy-Dingy lineup! thetotalfemme@gmail.com

At the Total Femme, my intention is to post three times a week: Meditations for Queer Femmes on Monday, Pingy-Dingy Wednesday on Wednesday, and Femme Friday on Friday. Rather than play catch-up in a stressful fashion on those weeks when life and pandemic prevent posting, I have decided to just move gaily forward: if I miss a Monday, the next post will be on Wednesday, and so on. Thank you, little bottle of antibiotics for inspiring me in this! (“…if it’s almost time for the next dose, skip the missed dose and continue your regular dosing schedule. Don’t take a double dose to make up for a missed one.”) And…as I go through life life life, I will post as I am able, Mabel.