One of the cool things I get to do with my job is direct one of the winning plays in a highschool playwrighting contest. The program is called Youth Ink! and basically the students in districts all around New Jersey meet with the teaching artists at McCarter. They learn all about what makes a good play, they talk to our dramaturg, Emily goes in and talks to some of them about playwrighting. Then, once everyone's play is in, they get piled through a reading committee here at the theater, we score them, and the top plays from each district make it to the finals. I get to direct one of them. A chance to direct! yay!

Part of this also means I have to go out to a couple of the classes to listen and give constructive criticicm, talk about what I look for in a play, etc. Today was one of those days. Highschool starts at an ungodly time. This meant that in order to get to the high school, I had to be up way before the sun, catch the 5:53am train to meet my ride, drive forever, and then finally get there. No longer being acclimated to that time of day, I consumed coffee before the trainride. Then, we got there early, so I got a latte. Then, between schools, I got another latte. I don't think I've ever had this much caffein in my system before in my life. And my body is crashing. I just want to go home, curl up and sleep.

And I was doing so well in my journey to kicking my newly acquired coffee habit. Damn those high school operating hours!