What I like to call 'pulling a Jessie Spano'

Caffeine pills kill.

Why take substitutes when you can just do the real thing?

Welcome to midterm season!

-E

Irish Times Theatre Awards

Yeah, that’s my professor in that picture ... holding the award ... with his face all projected on a screen ...

The lovely Michael West just won the Best New Play award at the equivalent of the Tony’s over here in the Eire for his play Freefall. AND his wife, Annie, won for Best Director! Good craic, eh? I’m not going to lie -- we are all pretty excited about it over here! It’s not every day that an Award-Winning writer happens to be your professor ...

-E

Lies Susanne Told Me Number 512: “Michael West is very good.”

Here’s just a little excerpt from the Irish Times write up about the whole shebang ...

Yet the true stars of the evening were winners like director Annie Ryan, who used her acceptance speech on receipt of the award for best director for the Corn Exchange Theatre production of Freefall , to call for some kind of truce between those angered by the cuts in funding for so many theatre companies and the Arts Council members behind those decisions.

“Change is inevitable. There’s nothing we can do about that,” said Ryan, who said the Arts Council and Ireland’s theatre community must work together to find new solutions. “The question is, how do you harness the enormous energy that is released when something falls apart, and use it to create something better?”

Her husband Michael West, who received the Best New Play award for Freefall , also acknowledged the shake-up in Irish theatre that included a 48 per cent cut in the funding for Corn Exchange. “If the last few weeks have taught us anything, it’s how surprising theatre can be and what a privilege it is to work with it,” said West.

“The risk-taking that goes with making theatre is part of what we are and what we do.”

It's that time of year again...

... and no, I don't mean Christmas -- well I do, because Christmas is amazeballz -- finals have officially started. Call on the all-nighters, triple shot cappuccinos, eye concealer, messy hair, and beautifully crafted (or bullshitted) stories!

On top of the work, I'm getting together all of my Ireland paperwork and officially coming to terms with the fact that I leave in 39 days. Three. Nine. Thirty-Nine. Holy crap. I am not ok with this. Well I am, because Dublin is going to kick-ass, but I'm not because it'll mean I'm leaving home for a full six months. I haven't been away from New York for that long since I've moved here, and it definitely is weirding me out... oy.

I might be bald by the 18th, but at least the semester will be over.

-E

Watch out Dublin, here I come!

I have confirmed, paid, and registered. It's official!

After months of meetings, petitions, letters, phone calls, applications, interviews, and waiting, it has finally happened. As of 15 January 2009 I will be en-route to spend a semester studying in Dublin, Ireland through NYU's Tisch School of the Arts! I even have a one-way plane ticket in my name.

As anyone who knows me will tell you, I am the spokes person for anti-blogs because I can never keep myself interested in something long enough to stay committed. But that, my dear friends, is about to change! So, I Emily Ventker, am hereby declaring Operation Shamerock a GO. This is going to be my one-stop travel-guide to everything and anything, from New York to Ireland and back.

I'm missing a class with one of the producers from SNL to go to my Pre-Departure Orientation next week, so I'll do my best to keep things going until then.

BTDubs... I think that Elise summed it all up perfectly: "You're going to fucking meet Gerard Butler and get married. I hate you."

-E