Senior year... (T-1D:13H to takeoff)

Is OVER! I know it's been like half a year since I've cleaned the dust off my keyboard, and my typing skills are suffering greatly. I can already feel the fingers starting to ache tomorrow after I finish typing this. A lot has happened this year, and when I say a lot, I mean A LOT! Somethings were good, some were great, and some were amazing! But we might as well go in order, shall we? Let's get started...

The Technician: Between September and December...
Well, I was officially the Head Theatre Technician at the Jack Singley Academy. that gave me great pride and responsibility as well. Not only was I in-charge of all things technical that went on with the theatre, I had to show up for almost every single Senior/Junior/Sophomore/Freshman event EVER. Between the several several hundred people in the school, only 3 were trained on the specifics of the new auditorium, which was finally finished in October of '09. Myself, Michael Hill (auditorium manager, musical guru) and Lacey Rowe (theatre teacher, scene painting wizard). And out of the three, the only one who had time to really get to know the equipment on a deeper level, was, you guessed it, ME. Never in a million years would I complain about having such a responsibility, because working under pressure is what I do best. ALL aspects of technical theatre amuse and confuse me, which is probably why I have stuck with it for 3 years, starting with medieval times. The thrill of knowing that you're only one button push away from screwing up an entire crew of people's hard work is exhilarating. But not only was I the tech for all class events, I also was assigned the choir shows that happened. There were two that happened during this period. The first was the opening choir show, that had a variety of songs that were nice, a few solos here and there, but I can't remember the theme of it. I'm sure there was one, but it's not coming to me right now. No matter, anyway...where was I....Oh yeah! The tech! Well, as many of you know, I am absolutely obsessed with lighting. I live it, breathe it, sleep it, and in some cases, eat it. But the chance that I was given to work with my own set of intelligent lights...was...nothing less than the BEST WEEK EVER! I had about a week to design a light show for a song called "Colors of Winter". It was not my best work, obviously, but with the help of my boss at Medieval Times, Rick Grimes, it was good enough for the entire choir to like it! I impressed a lot of people, including myself with that show. If you want to check out the final version of that very light show, CLICK HERE. I forgot to mention this, but at the first concert of the year, the one I didn't do a super fancy light show for, I performed along side my friend Chris Farrar as "The Matt Wofford Project". We played two songs, and both have a live recording on the projects website HERE. During all this auditorium awesomeness that is going on, I had to worry about getting my Eagle Scout, and the musical...which were definitely the best parts of the year.

The Actor and Technician: From December to May...
So after the busy season of the Auditorium died down...another one started up. The Academy's very first musical! It was nothing short of a historic event. I first noticed signs up for auditions around the end of December...and immediately started preparing a monologue. Now, let's take a moment to look at my past. The only productions I have ever been in that are even close to being theatre related would be church Christmas plays; where I was always either a shepherd or an angel. One year, I was a homeless man, but I wouldn't call that experience. I had honestly had no "for real" experience acting for theatre. Earlier in the year, around September or October, I auditioned for a part in "Sander's Family Christmas", which would have been my first real production, but, sadly, I was out read at the audition, and didn't get the part. I did go to see the play and Sonny Franks, the man who got me an audition in the first place, who was the lead role and musical director for the production. He said the kid only got the part because of experience, but he liked the way I read the part. The character was supposed to be a kid going to war. This kid looked like he was going to a puberty seminar on his way to see how an erection worked...not the horrors of war. But none the less, he did perform the part well, and I enjoyed the show. But as I approached the auditions for our musical, I thought of a few different scenarios that could happen. 1, I could have been exactly what they needed to play the part I wanted, but I wouldn't be allowed because I was too necessary on the technical side of the production. 2, I could have sucked at the audition and been stuck with doing the tech stuff. Or the scenario I wanted, 3, I would get the part I wanted, and still get to design all the lighting for the show. After the audition....I was very happy to be called back...and then even happier when I learned I had gotten the part of The Cowardly Lion in "The Wizard of Oz"!!! As soon as I heard the news, I told the others in the cast and everyone else I could think of. I had to start advertising as soon as possible! I couldn't wait to begin work on the show! My first real show! And the best part was I got singing solos! I hardly knew it before this year, but I love singing. And the musical let me know I was also very interested in tap dancing. Two things I hope to get more training on next year at TCU. Before I get to that, I'll have you know, the three nights that "Oz" went on, were the best three nights ever! We couldn't have had a better show! The music, the acting, the lighting, the sound, the EVERYTHING went amazingly well for the Academy's first ever live musical production. After the musical died down, I did find myself a woman, who went with me to Prom, Arianna Nau. Her, Bree Keele, and I had a great little friendship, then some stuff happened, I ended up going out with Arianna, and that pretty much screwed all of it up. I admit, I kinda figured if we did go out, the whole "three of us" would go down the tubes, but it was definitely a good relationship to have been in, and while it didn't last due to some differences in opinion, I think it was for the better. We still all talk, but the three of us won't be like it used to be, and I have to admit I will miss it. But of course all of this was still going on while I was getting ready for COLLEGE! and trying to get my eagle scout, and the auditorium lighting business continued through the year. I had designed lighting for a middle school production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, an elementary school production of The Music Man, and Dana's Dance Academy's Summer Show. I was only paid for one out of those, and honestly, I don't even care. I have so much fun doing lighting and the performing arts, I wouldn't even worry about money.

The College Freshman, The Actor and The Technician
May through June
Of course, as a senior, I was reminded all throughout the year to apply for college and make sure I get accepted to a good one. At the start of my college search, I applied to four universities. All were local, and all seemed to have what I needed, but only one would be mine. My application to the University of Texas at Arlington was the first to be returned and accepted. I was happy, I had been accepted into something, anyone would be. But the feeling I wanted wasn't there, it was then I decided this wasn't the college for me. Then, I got an acceptance letter from the University of North Texas. This was my absolute last choice, and when I had learned that I was accepted to UTA, UNT basically just fell through the cracks. I had later received a large packet from Texas Christian University. While this university wasn't my first choice...anytime I looked at the acceptance packet, or held it, I felt something. I don't know what it was, but it was a good feeling. I let it pass me up though, because the letter I was really waiting for hadn't arrived...the letter I wanted from Southern Methodist University. My best-gay-friend, Sammy Partida, had been accepted there for the theatre program, and I couldn't wait to get my letter....but it never came. I waited and waited, checking the mail box everyday...when FINALLY...I got....and email. Ugh. Not what I expected, but ok, I'll play your little game SMU. Apparently I needed to audition for the theatre program...something that had fell through my list of things to do. And with the little experience I had, I didn't expect there to be auditions! But sadly when I learned about the final audition date, it was too late to get the day off work I needed to go do it. Not to mention I had nothing prepared. So I ended up not doing the audition. I was hoping that they might let me in the school...just not into theatre...but I had this weird feeling...and sure enough, a few weeks later, a letter came in and SMU denied me. Well, I say, 3 out of 4 ain't bad at all. I was certainly happy with it, because I finally could hold that TCU packet and feel right about sending them my final transcript. It was at orientation when I started asking myself the obvious question of "Why the hell did I want to go to SMU? Stupid ponies." I love TCU, and I couldn't ask for more generous family members. Mom and Dad are taking care of the housing costs, while Grandparents are taking care of the tuition. That is such a good thing to not have to worry about financial crap while in college, and I can't thank them enough for paying my way. And if they are reading this, I love you! All of you! And I won't let you down! So now that I'm off to TCU...and pretty much set for the next 4 years of my life...nothing to do but relax. Right?
...WRONG.

The Worldwide Traveler, The College Freshman, The Actor, The Technician.
NOW
Europe?! I'm going to Europe?! I must have forgotten about the group I joined at the beginning of the year...so much has happened....so much has distracted me from the glory that is a European Vacation. When it did hit me that I would be going to Europe in less than three weeks, I was super excited. I couldn't remember the last time I was so excited to go somewhere...well...that's not true. When the school went to see "Wicked"...I'm pretty sure I peed my pants from how awesome that was. But anyway, back to Europe. So...yeah...I'm going to Europe! And I can't wait! The plane leaves on Tuesday at 7:45 from D/FW Intl. I am not looking forward to the flight, because I don't like being bored...but the experience will be worth a thousand more flights. I haven't even started packing, and I am almost positive I will be sleeping for the first half of the day tomorrow, seeing as it's almost 6am and I haven't even posted this yet. Which reminds me, I should probably get to bed.

Thank you for reading through my senior year....I left out a lot of things...more than I even know of....but if I left anyone else out...I'm sorry and I'm sure I'll remember soon.

I will be updating this blog (hopefully daily) from my new iPhone on the trip, but if I can't get WiFi, you can forget about that! There is no way I'm paying 20 dollars per megabyte just to write a blog. I would start charging my readers....ha.

Anyway, I shall now go to bed and I will fill everyone in tomorrow!

Have an Excellent Day!

-Matthew Wofford


NEW UPDATE:
I forgot to add in there somewhere, I recently became an avid fire spinning enthusiast. I have a video on my facebook of me spinning fire, and you can check it out HERE. Thanks! Sorry!