Isn't it strange how seemingly random things can reconnect you to people or places that you've long forgotten?
I'm interning at The River Cities' Reader, and last week one of the reporters did a profile on a young woman who is living on a boat with her husband in Chicago, documenting the entire experience on her blog, and is eventually planning on turning it into a book. I saw her photo and thought she looked really familiar, but couldn't quite place where or how I knew this person.
After reading the article I realized that it was Felicia (Jones) Schneiderhan, who was Audrey to my Seymour in our high school production of Little Shop Of Horrors. She was also one of my main inspirations for pursuing theatre as she is an extremely talented actress. I was in a show with her back in junior high (what you youngin's call "middle school" nowadays) in which she was the lead and I was a lowly extra. However, I made a promise to myself that I would get a role opposite her when I got to high school, and Little Shop ended up being that amazing opportunity. We ended up being in at least 6 or 7 shows together overall and she was so incredibly fun to share the stage with.
The last time I saw her was in 1993 after her class graduated (she was a year ahead of me and heading to Northwestern), but I attempted to reconnect with her many years later after I had moved to Chicago, but to no avail. One of my friends at ComedySportz was in her class and I'd ask if he'd seen her or some other friends that I'd lost touch with at any of their reunions, but that also proved as another dead end. I just resolved to make peace with the fact that I would probably never get to meet up with her again, which made me sad as she was a part of the process that lead me to still doing theatre today, but how many friends from high school do any of us really keep in touch with anymore? Life continually evolves for each of us as people come into our lives, make an impact (whether for good or bad), and then move on with their lives. And that is what happened here...
...until I saw that article in the Reader and found out that she'd be in town the next two weekends to teach a writers workshop.
I went to the end of the workshop on Saturday night right before ComedySportz and, after only about 5 seconds, Felicia remembered me
and we shared a hug and had a nice little reunion. It was amazing to hear where life had taken her following college and the unique journey that she's been on ever since. I also invited her and her family to check out a CSz show her last weekend in town and hope she takes me up on the offer. I still go to Chicago quite a bit and I'm excited to take some time when I'm up there to meet her husband, Mark, and see the infamous Mazurka that she now calls home.
I added a link to her blog, entitled Life Aboard Mazurka, and it really is a great read. Check it out if you get the chance!
I'm interning at The River Cities' Reader, and last week one of the reporters did a profile on a young woman who is living on a boat with her husband in Chicago, documenting the entire experience on her blog, and is eventually planning on turning it into a book. I saw her photo and thought she looked really familiar, but couldn't quite place where or how I knew this person.
After reading the article I realized that it was Felicia (Jones) Schneiderhan, who was Audrey to my Seymour in our high school production of Little Shop Of Horrors. She was also one of my main inspirations for pursuing theatre as she is an extremely talented actress. I was in a show with her back in junior high (what you youngin's call "middle school" nowadays) in which she was the lead and I was a lowly extra. However, I made a promise to myself that I would get a role opposite her when I got to high school, and Little Shop ended up being that amazing opportunity. We ended up being in at least 6 or 7 shows together overall and she was so incredibly fun to share the stage with.The last time I saw her was in 1993 after her class graduated (she was a year ahead of me and heading to Northwestern), but I attempted to reconnect with her many years later after I had moved to Chicago, but to no avail. One of my friends at ComedySportz was in her class and I'd ask if he'd seen her or some other friends that I'd lost touch with at any of their reunions, but that also proved as another dead end. I just resolved to make peace with the fact that I would probably never get to meet up with her again, which made me sad as she was a part of the process that lead me to still doing theatre today, but how many friends from high school do any of us really keep in touch with anymore? Life continually evolves for each of us as people come into our lives, make an impact (whether for good or bad), and then move on with their lives. And that is what happened here...
...until I saw that article in the Reader and found out that she'd be in town the next two weekends to teach a writers workshop.
I went to the end of the workshop on Saturday night right before ComedySportz and, after only about 5 seconds, Felicia remembered me
and we shared a hug and had a nice little reunion. It was amazing to hear where life had taken her following college and the unique journey that she's been on ever since. I also invited her and her family to check out a CSz show her last weekend in town and hope she takes me up on the offer. I still go to Chicago quite a bit and I'm excited to take some time when I'm up there to meet her husband, Mark, and see the infamous Mazurka that she now calls home.I added a link to her blog, entitled Life Aboard Mazurka, and it really is a great read. Check it out if you get the chance!
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment