Portraits: Voices of a People

Wednesday night I had the honor of seeing NYU's production of Portraits: Voices of a People. When I decided to go, it was only to see Stanley Tucci, which was the general consensus of the majority of my peers. I was incredibly and pleasantly surprised therefore, to witness a show that was unlike any I have seen, and that moved me.

Portraits is the effort of Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove in conjunction with various actors, performers, writers, and activists. "Voices employs live performances as well as education programs based on primary source materials to bring to life the extraordinary history of the ordinary people who struggled to right the wrongs of their day and built the movements that made the United Staes what it is today." In short, it was a presentation of various primary sources ranging from the 1500's to present day that exemplified the counter history of America, which in my opinion, is the true history of America. The entire cast was incredible (and with incredible credentials to boot) and I wish I had gotten a snap of all of them, but here are some favorites.

{Stanley Tucci reading an excerpt from a piece by Howard Zinn (left). Regie Cabico "fainting" after receiving a hug from Tucci... wouldn't we all? (right)}

 {Tallie and I before the show (we stood in line for two hours to get third row seats (left). Brian Jones reciting Jermain Loguen's letter to Sarah Logue. (left)}


Aside from simply entertaining me, Portraits confirmed my long standing feelings about the missing link between education, morality, and society, that link being performance art. Performance, whether it be recitation, dance, song, or my chosen method, theater, is the universal equalizer and educator. It stimulates all the senses and presents information that, in our culture and media centered world, can stand on it's own. I have learned more about history, the world, and myself through performing and more importantly witnessing performances than I ever have in school. My experiences in Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson and The Laramie Project specifically, have not only boosted my resume, but made me a more empathetic and knowledgable contributor to humanity. Hearing these performers recite the words of such famous rebels and innovators made history come alive in a way that can never be achieved through reading from a book, highlighter in hand, searching for a grade. If we are really to educate our youth, if we are to make them care about where they come from and where they are going, a compromise of medium must be made. My goal as an actress is not only to entertain, but to educate, and education should never be boring. 

The Roster

Here are some things in New York that are currently making me happy:

1) Metropolis- It's literally two blocks from my dorm and it's one of the most well curated vintage/ grunge shops I've seen. Puts Nashville to shame. So far all I've gotten is a fabulous pair of practically destroyed black Levi cut offs. Trying to keep it that way...

{completely filled with cool stuff}

{rows and rows of perfect Levi cut offs. in every color. heaven}

{ they had a whole wall of boots like this. these were just the ones in my size}

2) The Smith- This is also like two blocks down 3rd Avenue. Dad, Katie, and I ate here and they had the best lemonade. Downstairs had a co-ed bathroom which shocked my Southern sensibilities, but it also had a photo booth, so I guess it evens out. 

{this is the view from the street. they throw up these huge garage windows so you're basically eating on the sidewalk. great people watching}

{I got the mac and cheese which came in it's own little skillet. so on point.}

3) This little boy.

I can't even.

Hope everybody is fighting their case of the Wednesdays. 

Morning Glory

I'm trying to milk the last few weeks of summer dressing. It's already starting to cool off a bit in the city.

I love the flouncy-ness of this dress. The cutout in the back keeps it from being too sweet. 

{The Webster for Target dress, gifted necklace from my mom}

Getting to Know You

It's a pain to lug my Nikon around the village, but it's worth it for some pretty pictures. Here's a few shots from my various walks.

{my favorite church on 10th on my walk to Tisch}

{finally spent some time in Washington Square Park}

{love the high rises peeking over the trees}

{colors stand out so much more when everything is black, grey, and brown}

Like a Local

My roommate Anna and I went for a walk around the neighborhood after dinner. We didn't get very far, but we fell on the most gorgeous vintage shop. It far surpassed anything I've seen in Tennessee. Heaven.

{getting sidetracked}

{wearing studded Zara blouse, Helmut Lang shorts, Target loafers, and Marc Jacobs bag}

{so many goodies}

{loved the juxtaposition of delicate and punk. plus beautiful colors}

Dig It

I'm finally all moved in thank GOD. I am a generally anxious person, therefore, the combination of a new city, new people, and complete strangers moving all my favorite belongings made me about the biggest pain in the ass possible. My dad and Katie were huge troopers though. I was pretty psychotic and they didn't yell at me and I thank them for it.

Anyway, here's one shot of my bed and you can see my desk to the right. I'll put up more pictures with my nice camera soon.

{home sweet new york!}

I still feel like there is so much to be done still. Just little things that you would never think about. But slowly but surely it'll get there. It already feels like home.

A Family Affair

My dad flew in on Saturday!! It was so nice to be able to spend some time with him and my sister before I moved in. We went to the boathouse restaurant in Central Park for brunch, something I've always wanted to do. We had to wait for an hour to get a table, but it flew by with the help of some great people watching and mojitos. 

{a gorgeous view on the fringe of Central Park}

{Katie bug's silly face. I'm wearing a Gap dress, Anthropologie shawl, Clarks booties, and a Kate Spade bag}

{first mojito I've had that I really like. made the wait so much easier}

{boaters on the lake}

Picture School

My sister is the best sister of all the sisters. Not only is she helping me through this incredibly stressful venture, but she also pre-planned ways to make it less stressful which included getting reservations at the apparently untouchable Locanda Verde. If you are in New York, you must go. It was delicious.

{mouth watering dessert menu}

{I'm not sure what these were exactly, but they were delicious}

So, not only is she really great and finding restaurants, she's really great at lots of other neat stuff too, like being a professional graphic designer (like my blog header?) and she played along and snapped some pics of me and even posed for one herself.

{vintage blouse, Jcrew pencil skirt, Nine West Fringed booties, Target clutch}

{Katie Bug in her super cute Rebecca Taylor dress}

Obviously, these are Instagram pics. I really can't cart my Nikon D5100 everywhere. But the second after these went up on Instagram Katie was all "Oh honey. You need help" and she showed me lots of nifty tricks that will make my future Instagrams look EVEN MORE AWESOME. See? Isn't she the best.

Hit the Pavement

My sister and I arrived in New York today and my dad is joining us tomorrow (which I guess is in like 45 minutes, so for clarification sake, Saturday) and then I move into my dorm on Sunday. Even though we didn't get here until around 4:00, my sister and I are not the type to sit on our asses so we did a ton of stuff. We stumbled around a bunch of different shops and ended up all the way down Bleecker at the INCREDIBLE Magnolia Bakery where we grabbed some cupcakes (whose selection and demolition were well documented via Katie's and my instagrams). We walked around for literally 4 hours and I learned several things.

1. converses are not practical walking shoes

2. the subway is ten degrees hotter than outside

3. Greenwich Village is phenomenal and I will live there in the not so distant future

{the beautiful Greenwich Village}

4. I am an excellent j walker (though my sister will dispute this with ferver). 

Tennyc- the inaugural post

Welcome to Tennyc!! If you're confused on how to pronounce it think of pronouncing it like "Tennessee"get it? tenn-y-c? Anyway, I'm guessing that the majority of people reading this are people that already know me (hi mom.) so you can ignore this brief intro. But, if by some slight (and totally wonderful) chance, that a stranger is reading my fledgling blog, THANKS and my name is Abigayle Horrell and I'm a fresh New Yorker hailing from Nashville, Tennessee. I'm a musical theatre major at the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU and I'm super excited about it, if you can't tell. Anyway, I'm hoping that this blog will serve as a resource for my family and friends to keep up with me, me to keep up with myself, and for me to document the things that excite me, anything from food to fashion to books to whatever. I expect that a lot of this will be style centered seeing as with the exception of theatre, it's one of my prime passions. Hopefully you all won't get too bored. Thanks for embarking on this ride with me!

{very excited about Tisch. people looked at me funny for jumping in the street in a sweatshirt in the middle of August}