Reasons

Godspell is now closed. I can't believe how fast those six weekends of shows went by! Our last few shows went very well. Evan came once again to see the show on Friday night - he's supposed to review the show, so if that ever does happen I'll post a link for all of you to read it. My mom and her boyfriend John came to see it Saturday evening, it was so nice to see them! Between the shows the cast had one of our traditional Saturday afternoon picnics, and as much as I tried to limit myself, once I met up with mom and John I didn't think I'd have room for any dinner. The nice thing about the theater, and this isn't a bad thing as long as you're on time, is that you have plenty of time before your food arrives. So we had some wine (only a little for me, I did have a show to do after all) and an appetizer, and the food came out about half an hour before my call time. This time I tried the tri-tip, as it came highly recommended, and it was great. I saw a few friends in the audience, and greeted them before I made my way back to the dressing room.

For me, there's always a bit of a different feeling at a closing show. Every line is a little more important or poignant, especially in a show like this. I think there was more energy up there than we'd ever had before, and it ended up being more emotional that I had anticipated. Between the acts Jackie and I brought our cameras on stage and hid them in a bookshelf so we could take pictures as soon as the curtain closed. We all cried and laughed and hugged, and eventually came off stage to get changed for our cast party. As soon as my pants came off, Diane burst into the dressing room announcing Jason Alexander was right outside the door. I froze for a second, trying to decide weather to put my costume back on or continue changing into my regular clothes, but I brought so many options with me that I thought the show pants would be my best bet. I grabbed my camera and went out to ask for a picture with him and thank him for coming to the show. Turns out Huck (the guy who played our Jesus) is his godson. He politely obliged to the picture, and then said "Nicci. You're non-Equity, right?"
"That's right"
"Hmm... Well, I'm the artistic director at Reprise. I'd like you to get in touch with me (insert his email address here)."
Then something about auditioning for one of the shows in the upcoming season of Reprise. They're usually not supposed to use non-union, but he though I would be great for a specific role. I said I definitely get in touch, and I got a headshot/resume for him from my car - cause you always have to be prepared for moments like these - and then just jumped around for a few minutes, changing my clothes and giggling, thinking (and saying) HOW COOL IS THAT.

Once I finally decided on what combination of things to put on my body, I set off with everyone else to Amy's house where she was hosting the cast party. Aside from the good food and company, we were all very much looking forward to a rousing game of Quelf. If you haven't heard of it, get into it. It's a hilariously fun board game that we all fell in love with last weekend while spending the afternoon at Amy's. So much that Trance and I both bought it this week.

Shortly after I arrived, I sent an email to Jason thanking him again for coming to see the show, what a surprise and honor, and that I was glad to be in touch with him (he wrote back a few hours later with some of the details. Turns out my manager knows the casting director, so chances of getting an audition are now huge!).

So the party was a success. I should mention - at one point during the run, Adam proposed to Diane because of her amazing baking, so when the pizza got there we took a break from Quelf to stage the wedding. David and I were the ring bearers, Huck gave Diane away, Loren did a poetry reading, and Neil married them. It was kind of unbelievable that we went to such lengths, but we are theatre people after all. There was a pizza reception followed by the continuation of Quelf. All in all we played for at least 5 hours. We even had to use things like a bottle of nail polish and tobasco sauce for extra game pieces. It was end to a lovely show.


I often think back to when I was so conflicted about turning down a job a few months ago. I stressed myself out so much over it, but my decision to stay here in California with Godspell did turn out to be the best one. Since that time I've secured myself a manager, and agency, gone on tons of auditions, and now this Jason Alexander thing... There are reasons that things happen the way they do. This summer so far has been a great reminder of that.

By the way, the Reprise show and role he has in mind for me is Gigi. And the audition will be in November, so I have from now until then to study up so I can ace the audition!


*PS. stay tuned for pictures!*