a mOTLey crew

at Ohio State, there exists a small, but wonderful, group of people.
i adore them.
endlessly.

they are a student organization called Off The Lake.

or, OTL.

they are a mish-mosh of community service and musical theatre.
they host two annual shows, a fall cabaret and a spring musical, where they collect canned goods and donations for the MidOhio Foobank.
during the year they serve the Ohio State and Columbus communities in the traditional sense by offering their time at the food bank and at events like the Autism Speaks walk each year.
they also lend their voices to a variety of events like BuckeyeThon, The Red Party, and Light Up The Lake, and have a history of singing at local retirement homes/Project Open Hand, you name it...
essentially, they are what i call "good eggs."

if you haven't been a part it's really hard to explain, but they are essentially an extended family with all of the normal dysfuntion and love that comes with that.
and they do silly things that i adore, like shoving/highlighting "otl" into random words.

this year, their spring show will be The Drowsy Chaperone.

tonight is the first night of auditions for the show.

see flyer:




(ps, jenna brucoli, i adore you for this design.)


this is the first year since the 2002-2003 academic year that i am not at auditions.
and my heart is constricting as a result of this.
folks who know me well know that i spent the last 8 years advising or co-advising this group of students.
and that, according to me, i "broke up" with them last year.
(see blog post i wrote for our national housing association, ACUHO-I, last year about this process here. yes, i know there are two typos. barf.)
i decided that it was time for me to go so that i could be more available to the two little boys whose daily festiveness drives this blog.

but, goodness, did i love auditions.
it was an exciting time.
i like beginnings.

typically, right about now, someone is on stage singing something lovely.
someone is quietly trying to slow down their heart rate while they wait.
someone is pacing in the area outside the Performance Space, prepping their monologue.
normally, i would be munching on pretzels and cream cheese.
(trust me, it's delicious.)
and, usually, a few returners are being a tad too noisy in the audience.
occassionaly one of these returning cast members would shake things up by pleasantly surprising us with their growth.
or, their song choice.
(kyle stephens, i will always be sad that i received a page from work just before you performed Britney's I'm Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman. to undertstand why it would be amazing to see kyle sing a bit of britney, check him out singing one of my favorite songs, someone to fall back on.)

but, i miss them.
especially tonight.
so, friends who are returning, and those who are new, i send you my love and good vibes for auditions tonight.
alum, i look forward to sitting with you  on alumni night this may.

much OTLove,
ksav