My Life as a Troll (Princess)

Dear Cap and Ballers (as well as anyone else who may have stumbled upon this blog),

For those of you who I haven’t met, I’m Sarah; if you’ve stalked this website, you’ll know that I’m the Publicity Manager for Cap & Bells, responsible for providing you with all of our lovely posters, programs, Facebook invitations, and Tweets (we have a Twitter! We do! It’s Cap_and_Bells!)- you’re welcome.

I’m seizing this moment to start a NEW CAP & BELLS TRADITION: WEEKLY blog posts on this, our new web site! Someone from the Cap & Bells universe will post a new blog post here each week, so you can get a more flavorful taste of what Cap & Bells is like between shows. We want to be the next big bad blog sensation, so please, support us in this endeavor (you may do this by writing “I READ THE C&B BLOG. DO YOU?” in lipstick all over your person).

So to begin, I’m going to talk about what’s going on in the world of “East o’ West o’,” the ORIGINAL musical we’re currently working on developing and adapting from the Norwegian folk tale “East of the Sun, West of the Moon,” in which I play a troll. Obvi.

Though the pink decorations, the “‘amour” wafting through the air, and the fact that my Pandora station is currently set to “Love Songs Radio” might make you  think it’s Valentine’s Day season, in the muzackal land that lies East of the Sun, West of the Moon, I’m just not getting any love. This is because (and ONLY because) in the land that lies East of the Sun, West of the Moon, I play a troll. Now, I am a troll who sings some sultry songs,  and my name is Ambrozia, which is pretty fierce, but, still, trolls don’t get much love. This is because, however, in our production of “East o’ West o’,” trolls don’t understand the concept of love- it’s not something that exists in their world. And I, Sarah, as an actor involved in the production, got some say in deciding how that worked and was going to manifest itself in the show! A big part of the development process of “East o’ West o'” has involved the cast sitting down with Michelle Rodriguez ’12, who’s writing the music and lyrics, and Elena Faverio ’15, who’s writing the book, and just talking through stuff: reading edits of the script, talking about what changes we like, what’s confusing, what the rules of the world of the musical are, which lines get the best laughs, etc… It’s a really exciting process to be a part of, and undeniably satisfying to know that I’m getting to have a direct effect on the show in which I’m acting and trolling. And Elena and Michelle have been very patient in explaining to me why I am a troll, and not an enchantress or witch or something- in case anyone’s interested, it has to do with their moral code: trolls are not inherently evil beings, but they do like mischief, and if they see an opportunity to make trouble, they will take it.

So that’s what I’m thinking this Valentine’s Day Eve. I hope that it’s now what you’re thinking about.

And keep checking back here for updates and more posts about what’s happening with Cap & Bells! Welcome to our new life as a blogging theatre company!