Well well well, look who it is...... me. It's me, writing on my own blog. What the hell am I doing back here? Seeing as it's been over a year since my last post, I thought it might be time for a little visit.

Not sure if I can really summarize the past year in a nutshell, but - tour ended and was INCREDIBLE every step of the way, came back to LA to my boyfriend and my cat and dog and my friends, booked a few lines on a couple TV shows, auditioned a lot, booked some shows, and decided to write a blog post. Yep, that's what's up.

It was so bittersweet to close American Idiot. As I said the other day on my facebook page, each and every Idiot changed my life. The cast and crew became another new family, people I know I can feel at home with any time I see them. Every single person that come to the show and enjoyed it or didn't enjoy it or came to the stage door to say hey or get photos or just be weird with us were so so cool. My family, sorry guys but you became Idiots too and I love you for it. There was one show in San Francisco that my dad brought I think 16 people to come see it and I gave them all a backstage tour afterword. I'm not even sure I was allowed to do it but who cares, it was awesome. I really hope it doesn't bother people around me too much when I reminisce about the show because it's probably never going to leave my bloodstream.

And what else? Well I was someones #WomanCrushWednesday on twitter a while ago so that was new and fun. The play I'm understudying in - The Boomerang Effect - closes next weekend and if all goes according to plan I should have one more performance. It's been great working on a straight play for the first time since probably when I did A Midsummer Night's Dream, I must have been about 15 or 16. Summer has been slow and relaxing but it seems as if the auditions are starting to pick up again for episodic season as well as a bunch of musical projects I'm excited about. As a matter of fact I have a callback for one this Monday! When I went in for the audition a few days ago I chatted with the casting director about American Idiot a little first, then sang for about 10 seconds before he stopped me and said that he was going to call me back. It's not often that that happens, I've only had that happen to me a couple times before, but when it does it's a huge boost of confidence! I'm so thrilled to go in for the creative team on Monday.

I think that was a pretty good recap, yeah? In closing I'll leave you with this video of me and my best friend Katherine. It's called Song Time, but it's less about the songs and more about how weird we are together, about an hour of us condensed into 7 minutes of the good stuff. You'll find a little bit of singing in there, and even some sound relationship advice. Enjoy. I love you.

Song Time with Katherine And Nicci

McDonalds Monopoly, It's Time For You To End

I am now doing 3 student films. I went in last night to audition for a friend's project, another friend who worked on the bis student film I did early in the year. He just called me today to officially offer me the role. The three scrips I'm working with are all really good. The first one I got, the nun one, is shaping up to be so much more than it seemed in the beginning. During one of our first rehearsals we all talked a lot about intentions and character background. From what was summed up about my character, it seems as though in this scene she's almost like a mixture of Blaire and Chuck from Gossip Girl. All about being the queen bee, but smart about the way she shows her authority. I like it.

Also, it's great to be getting back to film acting. It's so much more subtle. It's a good exercise to go from theatre to film and back again (which I'll hopefully do soon). You can almost forget how real you can make something when you don't have to make sure a whole crowd of people get it. The camera is so much more intimate. I definitely learned a lot during RENT, and I like that I get to take everything from that experience and apply it in a different way using a different medium.

Not singing and dancing 4 times a week and running at least 3 times a week is starting to take a toll on me. I've only been to the gym two or three times since I've been back, plus the roommates and neighbors have been doing the McDonald's Monopoly thing and I've been helping. I've definitely had a few too many angus burgers and large fries... The worst part isn't the number on the scale but how I feel. Luckily that number hasn't crept up too much but without more activity and better good, I have less energy to do the things that are good for me. I'm much more inclined to sit myself on the couch, eat chips and watch bad television. And I already do that enough!

Halloween was good. I got invited to a few pre-halloween parties but didn't end up attending, probably from the McD's + audition/rehearsal lethargy. I picked Evan up from the ariport on Saturday. We threw on some plaid shirts, called ourselves cowpeople, and drove into Hollywood to meet up with my neighbors. Traffic was pretty terrible, but at least the house was on the outer edge of Hollywood. I can't imagine trying to drive into the heart of Hollywood any time after 3:00 pm on Halloween.

Happy Thursday, Everyone

I ended up getting a callback for the play in Weho. Once I received the sides though, I realized it just wasn't for me. It calls for more sexual situations than I've dealt with thus far on stage, and though I'm fine with a bit of nudity and sex when called for, I just don't think this situation was right for me.

It's so interesting though, walking out of two auditions that I only felt ok about, only to get cast in one and a callback for the other. When I auditioned for RENT I had myself in such a state of mind that I was thinking "if not now, then soon" so I went in, did my thing, and then went on with my day. I'm proud of myself for developing this ability not to cross my fingers over everything I do. I think it actually helps me to give a better performance in my auditions because I can just let it go when I'm done and not stress over it for days and days. Then it's a pleasant surprise if I find out they like me.

The student film I got - they ended up deciding to cast me as neither the part I auditioned for nor the title character. The director said that not all of the other girls they wanted to cast had as much versatility, so they cast me as a character named Genevieve. She's kind of the social leader of this group of girls training to be nuns. I want to read the book, Mariette In Ecstasy, that this scene was adapted from. It was a NY times best seller, and the story sounds really interesting.

Auditions for Putnam are coming up in a little over a week... I need to get ready. I hardly have anything in my book, and usually when I got to a musical audition I only bring one specific song, and possibly a back up. I 've heard stories of people going into an audition with one song in mind, and then the auditioner will take their book and pick a song for them. For one, I don't have enough music in my book to be interesting enough. Two, if I did have all my music from the past in it, I'd be in trouble. I wish I could play the piano better so I could practice all my old stuff. I know there are some good songs in the piles and piles of sheet music I have, I just haven't sung most of them in years.

-Phew, I just got an email back from the casting director of the aforementioned play. I let him know this morning that I was no longer interested, and he said no problem. Cool. I've never had to turn something down like that. Well, I did have to drop out of Big River to do RENT, but that was a different situation.-

Back to work now. Missing my RENT family, as always. Missing Evan too, he gets back from the east coast on Saturday evening. Now we've got to come up with costumes for Halloween...

If Only Pennies Were Worth Something

I didn't want to blog today but I don't really have a choice. First weekend off of RENT has proved pretty good so far, up until today. I've been working and hanging out with the roommates. I even had some last minute hang out/glass of wine time with Sari and her roommate Erin last night, and then I came home to my neighbor Maryn walking out of the house in Blanch (a la Golden Girls) attire, only to find out there was a costume party at the coffee shop across the street (Fix). I threw on one of my old getups and enjoyed the free wine and treats.

I thought today would be fine too - work in the morning, audition for a play in the afternoon, audition for a film in the evening, and possibly The Smiths night at the venue down the street with Sari to end the night. I ended up having a few hours in between auditions to change wardrobe and catch up on Gossip Girl, and after the last audition was finished I came home to a nearly empty house. It can be a strange thing, considering I basically live with 7 other people (it's a duplex, we don't fit all those people into one house). I think I've facebooked and checked my email as many times as possible without anything new happening to start feeling pretty lonely. I don't even feel like watching bad TV right now, that's one of my vices, because I'd rather keep busy in some way.

I guess I can talk about the auditions. The first one, the one I wrote about last time, was in WeHo. That's one reservation I would have about doing this show, parking would suck and no one would want to come see it for that reason. Another reservation I had was, looking at the website and taking in the theatre while I was waiting, it seems like they do a lot of shows with naked men. Don't get me wrong, I think it's fine to have some nudity sometimes, not that I've ever personally done a show with nudity in it, but I think I'd be fine with it if it were well done and not just for show. But the amount of nudity that happens at this theatre was a bit shocking. I don't know, we'll see what happens. I felt that, though I stumbled over a few lines, I was content with the way I read.

The second audition was for a student film at USC. I've been to several auditions in this particular building, and sometimes the nerves of auditioning can come from just being in an unfamiliar locale, so it was nice to be somewhere I knew fairly well. This project is about a group of nuns-to-be, one in particular. I was brought in for the role of a kind of shy nun in training, but they had me read for several of the roles. I hadn't specifically prepared for them but i did read through everything they provided so I had an idea of where to go with the lines. I feel pretty ok about that one too.... I really just need things for my reel. At the moment I have 2 things in my possession that I could put onto a reel, but I need some more variety. I am waiting on 2 other projects I've done, but still... I need to do more. Reels are everything to some people in this industry.

What else, what else.... oh! After the first audition I went to Hollywood Blvd. to see if i could find any worthy Halloween costumes. It took me about 10 minutes of driving in circles to find a parking spot, and then I had to empty my wallet and the bottom of my purse just to have enough change for an hour. One quarter gave me 8 minutes, and nickles alternated between 1 and 2 minutes. That's criminal. *see title of this blog post* Unfortunately the costume I wanted (Silk Spectre II from The Watchmen) was all sold out. I looked at a couple other shops but as it goes on Hwood Blvd, everything is the sexy version of something. Sexy flight attendant. Sexy cowgirl. Sexy lumberjack. Whatever. Evan suggested that we go as Rachel Ray and Anthony Bourdain. I don't think anyone would get it, and I feel like going all-out something this year, but it's a novel idea and it just may happen.

Back On The Band Wagon

It's feeling better and better to be back. I'll still get those small pangs of "what now...?" every once in a while, but they're getting fewer and further in between. It also helps that I got an audition today. I got a voice mail from Raul Staggs, the man who did the casting for Ecstasy, The Musical. They're holding auditions this Sunday in West Hollywood. When I got a chance to call him back we chatted a little bit. It's really nice to feel that I'm building a rapport with some people in town. Hell, it feels great just to be remembered!

This play, as I understand, is not a musical, though the character I'm auditioning must sing well. The plot line is as follows "NAKED IN THE TROPICS is a world premiere comedy with music about a gay teenager who becomes addicted to drugs and the WeHo nightlife, and his divorced, lesbian mother's efforts to rescue him." I'm going in for the role of the gay teenager's pregnant girlfriend. This girl is sassy and sexy, and isn't phased by the fact that she's pregnant at 17 or that her boyfriend is showing gay tendencies. Her attitude sounds Mimi-esque, and though the past few things I've booked have been the overly sexy girl, I feel like it has always been a challenge for me to completely get to that place. Earlier in life I was always the ingenue and I feel like that's an easy role to slip into. I want to be able to play anything, and if I have to do the same kind of parts consecutively for a while, well if it helps me grow as an actor I'll take it.

There are also auditions coming up for The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. I don't know much of the music but I do know that I would love to be in the show. I know I have the right vocal range for a few of the characters, and some of those characters would help take me in new directions as an actor too. I really need to take some steps to further myself.... first of all new headshots. I've gotten some taken over the years by various people, but haven't actually had any printed since the first ones I got done... back in, what, 2005? Maybe 2006, latest. Luckily I've got a few ideas of who I want to shoot with, I'm sure any of them will turn out some great shots. After that I need to work on getting an agent and/or manager. I suppose I could always contact my previous agent and let him know I'm back on the acting scene. We kind of just lost touch a while ago because I wasn't aggressive or serious about my career. I certainly am now, so I'm sure good things are in store for me.

Here's A Picture Of My House. Come Visit Me.

Here I am, my first day back at work. I thought I had to work yesterday, but I guess I was looking at next week's schedule. It's good to be back, I really do love my job and all the ladies I work with. Not too mention the free waxing services! Love it.

Early yesterday morning I dropped Evan off at the airport. He's going to be on the East coast working at the WFMU record fair and visiting with family and friends for 10 days. Cruel fate, we could only hang out for like a day and a half before he had to leave. I spent the rest of the day sorting through the 300+ pictures I took in 'bama, color correcting them and making albums on facebook. It was so nice to see all of them full size. Find me on facebook and check them out, there are some pretty fantastic ones.

Last night I met up with one of my best friends, Katrina, at Fiesta Cantina. I don't think we'd been there in over 2 years... we used to frequent the place. We would be there every Wednesday for karaoke and 2 for 1 margaritas. It was decidedly a bit more mellow than we remembered, though we did get there on the early side so we could be sure to put in our songs early. I'm such a nerd... I sang Out Tonight. I couldn't help it!! Where else can you pull off singing musical theatre at karaoke but at a gay bar in weho? They loved it too, and that's what matters. Everything still comes back to rent. Someone in a commercial on the radio today said "now you're talking" and my mind immediately went to "well, I'm thwarted by a metaphysic puzzle". I don't know if this will ever end, but I think I'm ok with that. I hope I get little "thinking of you" texts from my cast mates forever!

A girl just walked into my work with the most amazing mustard yellow pants. I do miss the vibe of the LA people. It's good to be back. I even enjoyed the traffic for a hot minute today. Last night when I dropped Kat off at her apartment, her phone fell out into my car so I dropped it of at her work today. The aggressive drivers just feel like home. As I drove around I had the urge to hang out with Lauren and show her all the fun and fancy things in Beverly Hills, and then I wanted everyone to be there so we could go to the beach or I could take them to my favorite restaurants. LA is wonderful, I really did miss it, and I hope I get to share my city with them someday.