Loaded,

June – August 8: Assistant Choreographer, Assistant Director, and Fight Director for Hunchback of Notre Dame with Starstruck Theatre Company in Fremont, CA

August 4 – August 8: Internship with San Francisco playwright Brian Thorstenson for his new play’s workshop in preparation for its world debut in October in San Francisco, CA

August 9 – August 13: Train ride up to Oregon Shakespeare Festival with my mom and grandma to see four shows, reunite with friends, and support the 2018 Summer Seminar Swan Song in Ashland, OR

August 14 – August 26: Back in Central Oregon to appear in Jesus Christ Super Star in Bend, OR

August 27 – September 10: Back to the Bay Area to prepare for London! September 11: Flight to London, England!

I have a permanent star on my forehead

Thank You

My thanks go out to all of you! Thank you for your patience, questions, and your gentle reminders. I am back and will be sending out more newsletters to catch you up on what my last two quarters of my Sophomore year was like here in the Bay Area. Thank you all for your love and thoughtfulness, and most specifically for your support! It continues to amaze me to see how many of you care about where I am in my life, and it’s empowering and uplifting to hear how much you all enjoy (and miss) my newsletters. You all keep my head up high, and I greatly appreciate all your responses and conversations these newsletters have fostered. Thank you.

~ Skylar

Baked,

So it’s hot. And my house has no air conditioning. Wait, my house? Oh, yes! I signed a lease way back in December (wow does time fly by) and I moved in on June 28th! The house is appropriately named “The Globe” because it is the theatre house for the SCU theatre and dance majors! It’s a very spacious, wonderful, and charming home with a massive basement for cast parties, theatre prom, senior roast and toast, among other theatrical shenanigans. There are six of us in the house among four bedrooms, and I am living in a very spacious double with my best friend Meleah! With some green thumb help from my grandma, Meleah and I have planted succulents in the front yard and are currently working on renovating the backyard. So far we have discovered a huge and mysterious concrete heart in the ground and two firepits!

Salty,

This Fourth of July was one for the record books. My good friend Kylie and I decided to make our Fourth of July a big adventure. A few days before the fourth, we bought a ton of fruit, cheese, meats, chips, and made way too much pasta. We packed the car up early in the morning on July fourth and at 8:30am we were on the road to Sana Cruz. Around 9:15am, we got to the beach, planted ourselves in the sand and played around for hours. We ate, slathered ourselves in sunscreen, ate, laughed, talked, and kept eating. When it got warmer out, we decided to get festive and whip out the face paint, spending a good hour painting each other’s faces. Some kids saw us painting, and from noon to about 4pm we were playing in the salty water with kids and getting tipped by parents for painting their little girls’ faces with stars, diamonds, unicorns, and an occasional strawberry. After soaking ourselves in the Santa Cruz waves with sand and saltwater residue all over, we packed up and drove out to Scotts Valley to their Fourth of July festival. We set ourselves up on the grass to eat (again), kicked our shoes off, and got henna tattoos, dipndots, cotton candy, and spent a solid 30 minutes in the petting zoo showing kids how to hold the bunnies, chickens, and ducks as we played with the pig and one-month-old mini goat named Tulip. There was some AWFUL live music that we roasted the whole time, which we found absolutely hysterical. The best act was a little 9-year-old cowboy singing Michael Jackson and it all went downhill from there. After the musicians gave us a shout out for our rockin’ dancing during the Electric Slide, we watched the sunset and magnificent firework show together with our four cups of hot chocolate we bought using out face painting tips we got at the beach. The fireworks were stunning and we were sitting in amazement together under our blankets feeling that wonder and awe like little kids again. The day after? That face paint in the picture above is now tanned to our faces and I have a permanent star on my forehead.

And Warm(hearted)

The amount of love and support my family has shown me the last few months have absolutely amazed me. In early June I was watching my upperclassmen friends find internships and little roles here and there for shows they auditioned for this summer. Having no plan to bridge my gap between sophomore and junior year, I was beating myself up a bit and praying habitually, asking how in the world I was going to support myself and be financially prepared to study abroad. And folks, prayers get answered! When my aunt Bridget dropped me a text out of the blue wondering if I was here this summer to help out, little did I know it would become the biggest paying gig I’ve had, working with one of the most talented bunch of kids and artistic professionals I’ve ever met. And when I got word that my move-in date I received was wrong by 2 weeks, my grandma Cheryl and my Creach family refused to let me think I was a burden on them for staying an extra 15 days. Thinking I didn’t have a single thing booked for the summer, I was provided with two shows, an internship, and a trip to my favorite town, all at the perfect time in a compassionate, spontaneous, and thrilling way. My lesson? If you give something to God, you better be ready to say “yes” to His answer. Thank you all for the love.