Muncie: It’s A Complicated Relationship

Ball Gym is one of the prettiest buildings on campus!

This was my first time visiting Two Cats (a little restaurant in the village).

The pretty walk through The Quad!

Glamour shot with Taylor at the Phoenix Theatre!

A mural outside Two Cats (How cool is that!)

The David Owsley Art Museum and possibly one of my favorite buildings on campus!

Muncie, Indiana and I have a love-hate relationship. While I love my friends, my school, and (parts of) Muncie, it is not on my top ten summer destinations list. However, I found myself traveling back to good ole Muncie for a week long workshop of a new musical I am doing in the fall after only being home for a week. 

One of my favorite things to do in the whole world is work on new pieces of theatre. During my time at Ball State I have been lucky enough to work on two new musicals. The first musical, Madworld, was a fairy tale experience. It told the story of Lewis Carroll before he wrote Alice in Wonderland (If you don’t know a lot about this or the speculation that surrounds him and his life, look it up. It is VERY cool!). The musical I worked on last week was a little (actually A LOT) different. Bunkerville is about a post apocalypse society where I played a ferocious mutant killer. (The playwright compared her to Furiosa from Mad Max. Yes, I did have to look up who that was! No, I’ve never seen the movie. Chatacter research? Maybe.) It was so much fun to start bringing this role to life. Throughout the week we learned a ton of music as well as got several different rewrites of the script from the writer, Mark Sonnenblick (who is BRILLIANT! Honestly blown away by him). A lot of great progress was made throughout the week, and I am so excited to continue working on the show throughout the summer and into the fall semester.

During the week there was also a lot of free time for everybody to hang out. I had the best time with everyone. We planned events every night including a game night, pasta night, and a movie night. During the movie night, while binging on popcorn and Oreos, I was first introduced to the wonderful movie Pretty Woman (Truly iconic. Right, Taylor? 😉 )!

I was also able to take advantage of Ball Gym while I was back in Muncie! (I am trying to work out more but we will TRULY see how long that lasts.) We always tried to get up and go to the gym before rehearsals for an early morning workout (and by early I mean like 9:00 so who are we kidding). And I was ALWAYS late (what else is new 🙂 ). One of my favorite parts of the day though was walking through The Quad (a beautiful grassy area between some of the prettiest buildings on campus) to Ball Gym and hearing the birds sing early in the morning.

The week ended with a reading of the show at University Theatre on campus and then a shorter reading at the Phoenix Theatre in Indianapolis. Both were very successful and truly showcased not only the wonderful cast of Bunkerville but also Mark’s brilliant work.

All in all, I had an absolutely wonderful week working on some great theatre with some truly wonderful people. And even though I was (maybe too) excited to leave Muncie for the summer, I am looking forward to getting back in the fall for senior year!!

XOXO,

Courtney