Today is the last day of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and I have the honor of closing out the blog posts for the Pepperdine Scotland 2024 Company. It has been quite the journey these past two months. From highland cows and wee walks in Glenelg to classes at the University of Glasgow and rehearsals at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland to finally a 14-show run of no one is coming to save us and the vibrant city and liveliness that is Edinburgh and the Fringe!
This experience has been everything and more. All the adventures and happenings I’ve experienced have sparked creativity in me and fed my love for the arts tenfold. My creative senses have been tingling this whole trip building and feeding off energy till the final ending, the whole culmination of everything artsy at the Fringe. My inner artist has been so taken care of! I’ve been constantly learning and growing and adding new skills to my toolbox as a storyteller. Not only that, I experienced things I’ll remember for the rest of my life.
We went on so many adventures in Scotland!! One of my favorite memories is when a group of us hiked up Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh. It was one of the very first things we did when we got to Edinburgh and was very telling of our show. It was a warm welcome to the next step on the journey we were about to embark on together. I really thought I wasn’t going to make it to the top, but we pushed through and I felt so accomplished having done it! It was so fun to do it with friends and be surrounded by people who supported each other and we all had a blast.
The Military Tattoo was also such a fun time. I remember we went to it in the middle of our show’s run and we were starting to lose some stamina, but after all having gone to watch the Military Tattoo we were on a high! The spectacle was amazing and we all were having a great time watching the show together. Watching shows and productions will always be one of my favorite things to do and just reminds me why I do what I do and the love I have for it.
I got to see almost 30 shows which is actually insane!! And such a wide variety of stuff too. From musical theatre to straight plays to comedy/stand up to one person shows, I was bawling my eyes out one moment and laughing till my stomach hurt the next. The Fringe has everything for everyone and I got to experience just a small portion of it. The Fringe is such a special place for creatives and I cannot believe I got to be a part of it with all my friends. This experience has truly been one of a kind. I never imagined I would have this opportunity to be in a world premiere at the Fringe and play a character and be in a story that was written with me and the whole company in mind.
Playing Shy was something I didn’t know I needed. She taught me so many things as an actor and as a human and unearthed qualities in me I didn’t know I had. She has this scrappiness to her matched with an unbelievably fierce care for others. During the whole rehearsal process she evolved from what I had initially thought her to be and Hollace and I found so many new layers to her. At first, I was having a tough time figuring out who she was and melding together what I had thought and the new things I learned. I wanted to do her justice and take care of her. She’s such a darling and precious character and I really had to trust myself and trust the process I then found her and we were together on the journey. I had never connected with a character so closely before and she’s someone I will never forget.
Now, my routine looks a little different. I’m back in my apartment in Los Angeles. I just started my senior year and two days after we got back I jumped right into the rehearsals for the fall play, Lost Girl by Kimberley Bellflower which goes up at the end of September. But despite jumping into classes and new rehearsals, I still find myself reflecting on this experience with so much gratitude. I learned so much, I experienced so much, and I had so much fun doing it. This experience will always live on with me. And if I learned anything from being surrounded by this happy-clappy company these past two months is to live my life with arms wide open because today is where my book begins, the rest is still unwritten. Pepperdine Scotland 2024 will always have a special place in my heart.
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