Since it seems that my fake tumblr has given up on me (they thought I was boring anyway), I decided it's time to blog again...

As expected, it's been another busy week. For some reason I decided to try to only eat raw for a week. I've always wanted to do a cleanse of some kind but I have a very hard time confining my diet. Not that I eat too much or eat bad things all the time, but I love food. I'm a foodie, I'll eat pretty much anything. A few years ago I tried to do the master cleanse and lasted 3 days. Or was it a day and a half? Since you can actually eat things and not just drink spicy lemon water with this raw thing, I thought I'd do better. Not quite. My castmate Jarran said that the third day would be the worst and he was so right.

Today, day three of raw, I had to get up early for a fitting before rehearsal. It was so hard to just get myself out of bed. By the time I got to rehearsal I felt like I needed a nap already. My legs wanted to give out during Jesus of Suburbia, and my back and shoulders were killing me since we learned the moves to Whatstername the day before. So - I had some turkey in my salad, and some bread on the side. It boosted my energy enough to get me through the rest of the day, that and a little after lunch nap. Maybe I'll get back on the wagon tomorrow, or maybe not. Truth be told, I didn't do a complete day. I had a few pieces of sushi on day two and a donut hole on day one. I play by my own rules.

Anyhow. I finally have clothes for the show! I had tried on my fatigues and Ex. Girl stuff but nothing else. I am in love with everything they gave me today, especially what I'm wearing for Holiday. Can I just say... I'm not in love with the red jump suit for upside down girl. I think I'm the only one, but with my flying harness underneath and all that red... meh. I do like that there are words written upside down on the back though. I bet that looks pretty cool at the start of the show.

We were told that for our final run through in the city this Monday we would be able to invite people but with all the people involved on the production side coming, and the people they invited, as well as people from the original cast, we're already at capacity. They were nice enough to allow us to invite a friend or two to Saturday's rehearsal. My temporary roommate has never seen the show and wouldn't be able to see it in any of the cities we're playing, so I'm glad she'll at least be able to see our rough draft.

We really do have a good show, and it will soon be great. We're leaving - at 7:30 am - on Wednesday to take a bus up to Utica. There we'll get costumes, full sets, and flying rigs!! I'm most excited about the latter. We did have a static rig put in last week so we could practice hanging upside down, but it was very short lived. So I can't wait to get the real deal. It's kind of funny in rehearsal when Scott and I have to walk around on the floor pretending that we're in the air, especially the parts when he almost falls or I shoot up into the air.

Since it's been over a week from my last post, here's a little treat. This is what may happen on a typical lunch break...

I was sore last week. I've been bruised almost every day. I've gone through Lorin Latarro's and Steven Hoggett's warm-ups. But today was the first real day of fatigue.

I think it was pretty much across the board a rough day for everyone. As Talia put it, a kryptonite day. I could tell by the end of the warm up that my body wanted to say "no" already. Just absolute fatigue, and all we had done were some sit ups, stretches, and galloping across the floor.

Luckily we started by blocking We Are The Waiting which is pretty low key. Phew. But being so low key, it didn't take long until it was in our bodies and we moved on to Novocaine. What a song. There's definitely a lot going on in different story lines, but this is where a group of us had to throw our bodies around the stage, flopping like very precise fish all over the ground. We're supplied with knee pads for whenever we want to use them, but by the end of the day my knees were still stinging.

And it wasn't just because of Novocaine but because right after that we did St. Jimmy. That's a lot of flopping around in a different drug-crazed-like way, more being on our hands and knees. I love the choreo/staging/whatever you want to call it. It's precise and hard hitting and looks great but man oh man... it's a beast! I get the feeling it can only get better from here though. I'm definitely not feeling the soreness that I was last week, and through I'm getting more bruises the big ones are fading and I'm figuring out ways to try and prevent getting more. I really would love to get my hands on a measuring tape or scale and see what awesome damage these rehearsals have done :)

Although it's not written on our schedule for tomorrow, I get the feeling we're going to do a run of everything we've learned so far tomorrow. That means from the top of the show through... Give Me Novocaine. That means we've learned half of the show in a week, plus bits of other things we'll string together later. I'd say that's pretty good! And I couldn't ask for a better group of people to be spending every day with learning this stuff. I had a good feeling about what I was getting into during fly week - the five other people were so easy to be around and ready to help each other. That was definitely a preview of what everyone else would be like. I could gush about everyone but you'll learn soon enough how amazing they all are.

Two final things: One, if you haven't already you should check out Kelvin's blog. He cracks me up and speaks the truth!

And two: BJA's email to the cast. I'm keeping the "Ps" a secret.... for now

Say, Hey!

Yesterday the AI productions company graciously offered everyone in the cast two free tickets to see a preview of On A Clear Day You Can See Forever. Yup, the one I auditioned for this summer. We had some time to kill before show time so a few of us got some food and a couple drinks. Aside from flying week and lunch time, this was the first "bonding" time we had. I am so pleased with our cast, everyone is so cool and nice and friggin talented.

The show was really lovely. I took my sister's (nee) roommate Brianna and I couldn't have asked for a better date. It was cool for me to see what direction they chose for the role of Melinda. The actress, Jessie Mueller, had an amazing 1940's quality to her voice. It's nice when you can know you did your very best bet they were just looking for something different, something very specific. The whole show was very enjoyable and I loved how they played with the story line to make one of the main characters, Davey, a gay man instead of a woman (the character's name was originally Daisy).

I decided to take it upon myself to try and find a quicker way home. It was unsuccessful. I got off the express train at my stop and decided to hop on the local train to go up one more stop so instead of walking six streets and and avenue, I'd only have to walk two streets and an avenue. As soon as I got onto the sidewalk I knew I was wrong. Turns out there's a pig park between that stop and my destination, and I wasn't about to walk through a park by myself at 11:30 pm in Harlem. And by the way, it was raining. I first had to walk a ways to get my bearings - a couple streets and a couple avenues - and what would have normally taken less than ten minutes (and about five minutes on the route in my mind) took over 25 minutes. But I made it home alive and learned my lesson: trust the people that live here, they know better. Or just study those subway maps.

The real physical work started yesterday. For our warm up we did some obstacle sprints and a lot of arm work. That's not something I'm accustomed to working out. I'll do some tricep dips once in a while or a push up here and there, but nothing like this. Steven said he'd rather us do one push up with perfect form than ten that were shit, so with some of the harder positions I only got to five or six. I plan on eventually becoming strong enough to do it all but... one step at a time.

Today we did more sprinting and some cardio stuff, a lot of stretching, and then worked on glutes. It was difficult but I definitely felt the good kind of burn. This show is going to whip us all into shape in no time. And if the warm ups weren't convincing me, the dancing we did today would have. We started to put our "8 counts" together for what I believe will be the choreography for She's A Rebel. What's tricky is that all of us are doing the same thing only about half of the time. The other half of the time we're doing the same thing as maybe 3 other groups are different things. And on top of this, our little similar groups are going to be all intermingled on stage so it's not like you can look to anyone else to figure out where you are.

So that part was tricky because of the brains part. After that the boys were taken to the music room to work on some boy song while the girls started to learn out part for the opening. A lot of it was similar to what we did at the audition, but there were a few more things added to it and it was about twice as long. This is where it became tricky because of the endurance part. If you haven't seen the show, the girls start off by running onto stage, stopping abruptly, running more, nearly falling, running more, smashing imaginary televisions, running more, and doing it all over again just on the opposite side of the stage. I'd say once we probably ran it twelve times or more. On our last go I was almost afraid that my legs would give out. Luckily, they didn't.

Instead of taking a water break, we went straight on to learning the Letterbomb choreo. That one combines brains and stamina. It's a lot of sharp shoulder movements and jerking out bodies around. I'm kind of glad I have a lower vocal part on this and some of the other songs because it takes a lot of breath support to be belting these things out, and I'm going to need all the breath I can get! Needless to say I was all kindsa' rosy by the time our lunch hour came around.

Our afternoons have been dedicated to music. We plan to have covered all of the music by the end of Friday and do a full sing-through of the show on Saturday. It's really incredible, the music. I've heard the recordings and seen the performances, but when you can hear how everything breaks down with harmonies and dynamics and why we're singing what we're singing, it's really spectacular. Especially with such spectacular voices. You know you're working with professionals when during ensemble parts of songs there isn't one person that stands out (unless of course they have a solo over us), all the voices blend together perfectly. All of you musical theater people know that there's always those one or two people in music rehearsals that like to sing a bit louder or hold a note longer than everyone else. It's such an amazing thing when everyone can trust the music and the direction and know that it will sound beautiful as a whole when we're all doing what we're supposed to be doing. Ahhh. Heavenly sounds.

Tonight after a nice chat with the bf I took a long hot bath to soothe these aching muscles, and I plan on sleeping in to my heart's content tomorrow. Although, knowing there's going to be turkey and all the trimmings, the excitement may just kick my body clock into gear. Have a great holiday everyone!

If you like my blogs about the AI behind the scenes stuff, check out Krystina's and Kelvin's blogs. And I have a facebook fan page. Shameless self promotion. Ok maybe there's a little shame.

Also, if anyone has suggestions of places to eat or things to do... or places to eat.... let me know! I don't have that much time off but when I do I'd like to experience as much of the city (and the food here) as possible!

Remember that time when I wrote a blog about High Fidelity and tried to catch the attention of Tom Kitt and Amanda Green? Well, tom didn't see the blog but he was aware that I performed in High Fidelity this summer. I'll take it.

Today was the first day of rehearsal! It's been four months and ten days since I got the call and now it has begun. I stayed up much later than I should have last night watching the show. I'd never seen it before, so I thought it would have been a good idea to familiarize myself with more than just what's available from bootleg clips on youtube. What a cool show. The visuals are pretty incredible and the vocal arrangements are stunning. I can't wait to really get into it and feel it for myself.

We started off the day by having an equity meeting. I'm on my way, ladies and gents! In just a few months I'll be an official member of the Actors Equity Association. There were four other people in the cast who were also non-equity, so I imagine it was an especially exciting day for the five of us. When that was all taken care of our choreographer, Steven, led us in an exercise that helped us to learn and remember each others names as well as warm up our bodies. After that we did some core work, crunches and things like that. I had forgotten to put my rehearsal clothes in my bag this morning so I had to do it all in my jeans, boots, and long sleeve shirt. Luckily it wasn't as intense as I was mentally prepared for. I assure you it will get crazy, but it's nice that we had today to kind of ease us into it. We were also given about five minutes to listen to a song and come up with an 8-count, then were put into groups of four and put our moves together. We think some of these moves may be incorporated into the choreography, that's how they came up with some of the original stuff. I guess we'll see.

After about two hours with Steven we went into the adjacent room to work on music with Tom and Jared, the music director. Got through American Idiot, most of 21 Guns, and some of Last Night On Earth. Everyone sounds incredible together, there are so many fantastic voices in the cast. I can't help but smile when we get to the really powerful moments of the songs. Wow.

The day ended with a meet and greet with everyone involved with the show. Fun fact: Tom Hulce, one of our producers, was Mozart in the movie Amadeus. He was also the speaking and singing voice of Quasimodo in the Hunchback of Notre Dame. True story. Billie Joe Armstrong wasn't able to be there but Michael Mayer, our director, said he sends his love and is very excited. He'll meet up with us at some point. Maybe even perform with us? I'm not making any promises, and nothing's been announced but..... I'm just sayin.

Time to work on my music and pack up my bag for tomorrow. I'm an positive that it's going to be intense and I will not be forgetting workout clothes again.

Ps. Here's a clip of us singing Good Riddance and the airport.

Ow. And Wow.

As of today, I know how to fly.

Ok, I'm learning to fly. But the six of us who are here learning are catching on pretty quickly, I think! We all got into town yesterday and had a chance to hang out a little bit and get dinner together. Except for Gabe. I guess technically he got in today, 12:30am, because he had to fly from Florida back into Toronto, where he's from, so he could go through customs to then catch a connecting flight into Charleston. Insane.

After breakfast at the hotel this morning we all walked over to the theater where we're learning to fly. We got fitted into our harnesses and were told about how they work and how we aren't going to die (in so many words) and then we went up in the air! The first couple times were to make sure our weight was distributed properly and practice doing front and back somersaults. It was awesome. A bit uncomfortable - your whole weight is basically resting on your groin and pelvis - but really cool. Next we practiced the "Jesus spin", a part in the song when Ex. Girl and Tunny spin up and away from each other. It looks easy enough, you're just spinning yourself, but it's a lot harder than you'd think. For some reason almost everyone's center of balance didn't want to be where it should have been. That's definitely going to take some practice.

We had an hour for lunch and all went to a cafe around the corner that was pretty good. These Southern portions man, they're no joke. Light lunches are the way to go if you're going to be suspended in the air for 7 hours a day. When we got back we started learning the first sequence of the song. According to Krystina, who did the show for a while on Broadway, we've learned the hard stuff. Now it's a matter of perfecting them, learning the rest, and putting it all together.

Our shuttle and cab drivers will be happy to know that when we finished for the day, the six of us went to Jestine's for some soul food. There were about three places in town that were recommended to all of us so we figured we'd see if they measured up. All in all was some meatloaf, fried chicken, mac and cheese, collard greens, and fried okra, and I think we were all satisfied. We got back to the hotel and the girls watched a bit of Jurassic park while the boys kept up with their fantasy football, then we all watched funny videos of animals on youtube and called it a night. Tomorrow after rehearsal we are going as guests of the production company to see In The Heights! So exciting.

I feel like I still have the harness on.

Fingers Crossed For A Google Alert

Long time no post! I do have a specific reason for posting right now but I'll get to that in a minute. First and foremost, updates...

What have I been up to this summer, you ask? Oh you know, this and that. Lots of barbecues, a swimming pool or two, and a few choice performances. I did a couple of sets for a jazz night that a friend put together every few weeks in Hollywood. I'd never done something like that before, and it's not often I get to sing jazz and bluesy stuff, so it was neat to just be able to sing whatever I wanted for 25 minutes. The same friend who put all that together also decided to start doing Broadway Surprise Nights where he's get a bunch of his friends - stars of the stage and screen - together to do a one or two night singing performance of a Broadway show. the first one was City Of Angels where I sang songs of the Angel City Four and Gabby. The second Broadway Surprise Night was Chicago and I had the pleasure of singing Velma's part, along side the lovely and talented Chryssie Whitehead as Roxie.

Sadly, the restaurant was sold and we don't know what's going in next, but we're all hoping it will be something that will allow and be conducive to the performances we were doing before. We brought a lot of people, and it was really fun!

I got an email not too long ago from the American Idiot people asking if the actors who will do the flying in the show are available in early November for a week or so of FOY rehearsal in Las Vegas. That means I'd be leaving in less than two months. It also means that I'd be going to Vegas for the first time. Well, I have been once before but I think I was nine years old so that didn't really count. And come to think of it, this won't really count in the way that it does for most people. I don't like to go too crazy when I'm doing a show, especially something this big, and that's kind of what Vegas is about. Oh and... that ALSO means I know of a couple other people in the cast! Their names were included in the email. But sorry, I'm keeping that info to myself for now. If they haven't spilled the beans yet, I'm not going to be the one to spoil it.

This coming Monday I will perform in my first staged reading with Musical Theatre Guild. It's their season opener High Fidelity (music and lyrics by Tom Kitt and Amanda Green) and I'll be playing Penny. If you've seen the movie or read the book (or even seen the musical), she's the ex-girlfriend who wouldn't let the main character feel her up in high school, so he breaks up with her and finds out that soon after, she slept with someone else. No one sure why the show ran for only 14 performances on Broadway - the script is hilarious and real, and Tom Kitt's and Amanda Green's music and lyrics are absolutely perfect and a blast to sing. Yes, I did just mention both of them twice. Well, word is that they're in LA right now for the Bring It On musical, and I'm hoping that if either of them has a google alert set up for their name, they may happen to see this and decide to come. I'm have no doubt that we can get them comp'd tickets. Shoot, they can even have mine. Plus, I got to meet Tom at the American Idiot callbacks, and will be working with him once rehearsals start up for that, so I'm not just a random person in a show he worked on, asking by way of internet for him to come see the production.... right? So here's hoping one of them has a google alert set up.... There it is, the real reason for this post.

Anyhow. We had a few hours of musical rehearsal last week, and last night we all got together for pizza and we just happened to do a read/song through. It's a short process - only 3 more rehearsals to touch up the music and do blocking - so we all have a bit of homework to do, but I was impressed with everyone in the room. There are a lot of strong voices and great characters, it's going to be a good show. Monday, September 19 at the Alex Theatre in Glendale. See you there, Amanda and Tom! ;)

Ok Fine, Here I Am

(Yeah, that's me there in the middle)

I really have no idea how Evan has blogged every.single.day. for the past I don't know how many years. Like they say... it's not hard to remember, it's just so easy to forget.

I can assure you that there are many valid reasons for my absence! Valid and time consuming and exciting reasons! First of all, I got called back for Roxy and Ensemble in Chicago, and was cast as Liz! She's the one that says "Pop" in Cell Block Tango. I surprised myself in the dancing portion of the audition! Though I was sorry for about a week and a half afterword, because my muscles obviously weren't used to moving like that. We've been in rehearsal for a few weeks now, and as long as I stretch and warm up beforehand, it's really not so bad. My recovery time has been just a day or two after each dance rehearsal, and pretty soon I'm sure I'll be just fine! We open in about 3 1/2 weeks, and there are only 4 performances - March 9, 16, and 23 at 7:30, as well as a 2:00 matinee on the 23rd. These are all Wednesdays, and considering it's a 40 minute drive from LA without traffic, I understand if you can't make it. But if you can, then great! It's exciting to be working with all new people on this show, and I think we're all going to put something together that's very enjoyable.

Another thing that has been keeping my busy is getting ready for pilot season. First and foremost I finally got some new of my new headshots printed, though I think I'm going to be in the market for some more soon. 'Tis the nature of the biz. I also had an audition a few couple weeks ago for an exciting new pilot, produced by Brian Grazer. My manager referred me to an acting coach another client of hers goes to, Stan Kirsch, so I had a session with him a few days before the audition. It was really great - I may try out a few other coaches, but I really liked him. I liked that I walked out of there so much more confident about my performance. I also just put another audition on tape to send to Telsey & Co. They cast all the big Broadway musicals, and they're also casting a new pilot about Broadway musicals! This one is being produced by Spielberg. Huge. My manager and I agree they're probably going to go the route of some big b'way star for the role, but it's fantastic to be able to put my face in front of these people.

I mentioned last time that I had a meeting with another commercial agent. This is an agency I've heard about since moving to Los Angeles, just like my theatrical agency, so I was very excited for the opportunity. The meeting went well, and a few weeks later I was asked to come in again to meet with the agent's partner. Now, in my experience thus far, meetings have been about 15-20 minutes. Somehow this one ended up being about an hour, and I left having no idea how it went. I mean, we talked about RENT. Cause eeeevveryyyyyyythiiiing iiiisssss reeeeennnnnt! Apparently in my life, it is. Anyway - I guess it worked this time because I now have a commercial agent! I am insanely excited, I've wanted this for years. Now all I have to do is get a commercial so I can pay to take improv classes and get new headshots so I can get booked for commercials.... it's an endless cycle.

On top of all this, I'm now the manager at my work. Seems we've had an almost steady flow of receptionists getting hired and then soon getting other opportunities elsewhere for at least the past 6 months, and our previous manager decided it was time to move on. So on top of my extra managerial duties, I'm training several girls and my boss is consulting me on who to hire. None of this is bad. I'm so lucky that this job is as flexible as it is, my boss is great, and my co-workers are great.

And another thing, I like to finish my taxes as soon as possible and I had a lot of info to gather this year. I've been a busy bee.

So to everyone not immediately around me (roommates, Evan, co-workers), it probably seems like I've disappeared. If I'm not at rehearsal or work or an audition, I'm researching things that have to do with rehearsal or work or auditions. I can't remember the last time I've been so involved in my own life, and I love it. The next step is to try and reincorporate other people into it, but for now I'm enthusiastic about the possibilities I'm creating.

Happy Almost New Year!

A few years ago, Evan was inspired by the Day Zero project to create a 101/1001 list. That is, a list of 101 things to accomplish in 1001 days, or a little under 3 years. I've decided to create one for the upcoming year... one of my goals is to actually finish thinking of 101 things to do! But another one is to blog more. Since it's only a day away from being 2011, I'll start off with a little treat I threw together last night. Enjoy!


Clips from the rehearsals for RENT in Rancho Cucamonga

A big thanks to Ms. Erika Jenko for sending me the clips! I'm no pro at cutting videos, but I wanted to whip something together to let you all know I'm still alive. I'll leave my reel to the pros.

Happy new year everyone, with any luck you'll be hearing from me much more on this site!


*I just found out that the Day Zero Project is down or has been removed. This is unfortunate since I had about 60 goals saved on there. Booo, back to the drawing board.*

The Interim

Over the past two weeks I've been having dreams about Chess. In the first one, we couldn't get the full orchestra back and we just had a synthesizer which we couldn't hear over our own voices. In the second one I think I was sick and had to send someone (from a show I did over a year ago) to go on and sing my first song. Finally last night, I was about to go on stage when I realized I forgot to bring my costume back to the theater, so we had to find something that would work instead. Funny thing is, I wasn't nervous in any of these dreams. I was just happy to be back on the stage doing the show again!

Jeff hosted a lovely party for Michael on Wednesday. Most of the people involved with the show came by for food and good company, and it was really good to see everyone again. Michael is going to try to get his school to bring the show out to Ohio for a performance or two, perhaps in the spring. I think that's a fantastic idea and I'm all for it. I think he thinks we're joking when we say we're into it, but i don't think any of us are. The chance to see Michael again and take this show literally on the road, if even only for one performance, would be really really fun!

Sooo... I had an audition on Friday. My manager emailed me the day before wondering if I'd be interested in auditioning for the game show "Don't Forget The Lyrics". I said why not. For an opportunity to win a couple thousand dollars? Sure. Plus, you never know who the casting director knows. Maybe this could put me on the illusive path to Glee (pff, right). When I got there I filled out a paper and picked three songs off a list to sing myspace karaoke style. At this point I was feeling kind of indifferent about the audition - I was comfortable there, but my career definitely wasn't riding on this show. I picked songs that I thought would show some character: Tainted Love by Soft Cell, One Week by Barenaked Ladies, and of course the old favorite, The Rose, because I wanted something that showed that I actually can sing. The weird thing was, they had different sheets hanging up for backgrounds and all kinds of props and clothes laying around so you could spice up the "music video" any way you wanted.

The weirdest part was that the office walls were all made of glass, and the room we were to sing in was right next to the elevator door, so when someone else walked in the first thing they would see is you singing your song and dancing around in a costume, or whatever you chose to do. It was a little strange. Obviously not like any other audition I've been to, because I've never auditioned for a game show before. I'm used to things I can prepare for, and feel in the moment, and this almost felt like being encouraged to put on a different personality. I can't say it was for me. If they like me and want me on the show, we'll get there when we get there. For now, I'm kinda glad to be done with it.

There was a rehearsal scheduled for tonight, but since many people were unavailable it has now become unrequired. They'll still be running though blocking with the two new people, but we're not obligated to go. Still, I think I will. I need to pick up some of the postcards with the updated show dates, and I'd like to meet these new people. Also, I want Chess back in my blood! I feel like I have to get used to some of those sky-high notes again. We will have another rehearsal on Wednesday that we'll all attend, which I'm most excited about. I can't wait to be around all those beautiful talented people again. And then Thursday is opening night number two!

Breathe!!

Literally... I need to learn how to breathe again. I went through a few of my songs with the Greg the musical director yesterday afternoon, and do you have any idea how much Florence sings in Chess? Well, it's a lot. Greg said it's pretty much the Florence show, and it's not only a lot of singing but a lot of serious powerhouse songs. I am thrilled to be a part of this production and the challenge doesn't scare me, but it is a challenge. I just need to remember to do the important things - like breathing.

When I was in Alabama doing RENT Casey, Ben and I would get on a treadmill or bike and sing "Today For You" and boy oh boy did it help with the breath control. So I did it again today. this morning I went to the gym and quietly sang "Today For You" a few times on the treadmill. I'd take a couple minutes in between and I could feel that it got easier each time. I even went through some of my Chess songs to see if I remembered all the lyrics, and it seems they're sticking in my head better than I could have hoped after one day. Now I just have to do that 3 or 4 times a week and I'll have those songs completely memorized and singing them like a pro in no time.

Tonight we have our first rehearsal where we will get to meet the rest of the cast and people involved, get more music, and rehearse all together! I took a look at the cast list and was surprised to find that I didn't know anyone in the cast. But I did hear a lot of amazing voices at the auditions, so I can't wait so see which ones they decided to put together. Since I've been out here there hasn't been anyone I've done a show with that I really didn't like. There have been people that had their quirks that took some getting used to, but in all each cast I've been a part of have become a sort of family. At least for the time being. So I'm ready to meet my brand new Chess family tonight.

I got some great news today, in a roundabout sort of way. I got a voicemail from a casting director about auditioning for a brand new musical. It would involve recording the music late this month and doing a reading possibly in September. And this casting director? He's the one I thought I had burnt a bridge with by turning down the job in Colorado. So I feel much better now knowing that all things are well on that front. He's a really nice man and I'm glad he'd like to work with me again.

And one more thing. I realized that I actually enjoy blogging now. In the beginning it was a bit of a chore sometimes, but lately I've been eager to blog when something exciting happens. It could be because I kept a journal for at least 11 years and have tapered off from writing in that, and it could also be because I get so many people telling me they really enjoy what I write, and look forward to the next entry. Thanks everyone, I like you too!

Forward.

I was up just after 7:30 this morning. I showered, got dressed and ready, and had breakfast before I headed out to the callback. Only thing is... I didn't get that email.

Yes that's right. I checked my email at least hourly yesterday, but nada. Maybe there was a reason I didn't tell everyone about the callback. I kept wondering if I accidentally attached an old resume, or if they misspelled my email address, or if perhaps the casting director changed her mind about me. I had a little pity party last night, but decided to sleep on it and see how I felt in the morning. When I woke up today I still wasn't sure if it would be wise or fruitful, but I made up my mind to go out to Hollywood where they held the initial audition and wait for people to start showing up.

When I got there at 9:30, the only cars that were there belonged to the asian tourists getting out of them. I waited for a few minutes before deciding to go home to grab my laptop, a book, and some sudoku. I got back and sent a message to a guy I met at the audition, a friend of a friend, and asked if a girl he was hanging out with, who also got a callback, had heard anything yet. Desperate, yes. Luckily he quickly sent a message back, saying he had only met the girl that day, but he did have an email address for one of the casting coordinators. I sent a quick email to them and waited. Until almost 2:30. And nothing.

Of course it's very frustrating, wondering what happened. Something obviously went wrong somewhere. But on top of that, I could have worked this morning. With rehearsals and meetings and auditions going on, that's happening less and less. And speaking of, my rehearsal for Godspell Started at 2. Luckily my director is very understanding and trusts that we have a strong show on the way, so he said just get there when I could. I'm glad I gave it a shot, because I know I'd probably be mad at myself if I didn't.

I got to rehearsal at about 3:30 and found out some good news: they want me to be dance captain! That's really exciting, it's something that's crossed my mind before. As I've said before, I don't consider myself a strong dancer, but I do learn things pretty quickly. So I'm going to give it my best shot. Plus, it'll look good on my resume!

I'm getting help to put together a reel this weekend. I'm so lucky to be surrounded by talented and helpful people. Yesterday I had a little chat with Ron, the director from RENT, about the meetings that are coming up for me. He was very helpful, telling me some things I had been hearing, and other things that were long forgotten to me. Over the past months he's become someone I look up to, and it was great to get some input from him. After I got off the phone with him I realized that I'm scared. This is when my career is really starting and I can see it happening. Yes it's scary, but also very exciting. Once I push through the new hard stuff I believe more and more good things will happen for me.

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.

T minus 3 days

Ahhh, to sleep in. I slept until 11 today. Well, I made myself stay in bed until 11 today. The past two days we've had 10 out of 12's, which means we rehearsed 10 hours out of a 12 hour stretch. Saturday was all cue to cue (lighting cue to lighting cue) so it was a lot of hurry up and wait. It always is with cue to cue. All the actors are required to do is be in the places they're supposed to be while those in charge decide what the lighting should be. It's definitely necessary so I'm not at all complaining. The lights look fantastic. It just made the day seem really long.

Yesterday we had our first full dress rehearsal. That's always a magical day; it's incredible how much lights and costumes and make up can do to help transform the show into something real. Believe me, it's so much easier to get into character wearing the Mimi costumes. I had a few chances when I wasn't on stage to see how everything else looked and it was fantastic. Especially watching the second part of La Vie Boheme - that number is so fun and has so much life. All in all the run through went relatively smoothly. A couple of things weren't pre set and a few things were forgotten, we stopped once in a while to fix the lighting, but we got through it and I'm pretty sure we all felt good about it.

Today we're back to a 5:00 rehearsal, although it could potentially to until midnight. That wouldn't be a huge problem except for the fact that we're called to the theatre at 5:45 tomorrow morning to do some spots for FOX News. We usually leave the hotel about 20 mins to a half an hour before we have to be there, and my hair takes, oh, maybe 50 minutes to do. Kim, the production manager, said we're going to do our best to get out before 12. In any case, it's going to be fun for do Rent (the song) at 6:15 am, especially for Dylan and Casey. Luckily, after we're done at around 9, we won't have to be back again until 5, so there's some serious nap time.

Wednesday night we'll have our first audience, although it will be considered a "preview". It's supposed to be our final dress rehearsal, but the people and businesses that have helped to support the show or theatre or promote RENT are invited. Something like that. Our official opening night will be Thursday, with a party to follow. I'm so excited - it seems like I've been here for so long, but at the same time I feel like we've gotten everything together in a short amount of time. I'm really proud of what we've got, it's going to be quite an experience for the people of Birmingham.

what should i title this one...?

Oof. Casey just put me and Ben through his ab work out routine. I'm happy to say that I completed all but one of the exercises. That's some pretty intense stuff. Standing doesn't feel right... I know I'm going to be sore tomorrow but it'll be worth it.

Yesterday we had a full and nearly non-stop run through of the show. Unfortunately two of the principals are on vocal rest so the energy wasn't at the level it should have been. We definitely all tried to give it the life it deserves, but it was admittedly more difficult when we had to think of the lines that were silent in order to time everything else out right. Hopefully within the next few days everyone will be back up to full steam.

I think this Sunday we're going to get the full band. I know all of us can't wait - it'll add so much of the needed energy into the show. Don't get me wrong, Kevin Finn is a fantastic pianist and musical director. It's just so exciting when we're getting new components of the show together. I worked with a few costume pieces last night... that was interesting. I have full confidence that my first act costumes will me fantastic. Second act... well, I remember Courtney (the choreographer) saying I'm taller than a lot of the Mimi's (or maybe she thought I'm 5'9" too), but that pink dress is pretty darn short. I guess we'll make it work, somehow.

Notes didn't go so well. It seems like although we've made a lot of great choices and done some really good work, some of us are taking a few steps backwards. Ron assured us that we have a great product, but there's also a lot of things we need to focus on. Keith (Cromwell, exec. director of the theatre co.) said it in an interesting way. He said we were all acting like it was the Church of Rent, like we had to tip toe through it and not shake things up. I know there's a few of us that have fallen into doing what we've been so used to over the years, listening to the OBC recording, or trying to replicate what we've seen from the last performance filmed live on B'way. I'm an offender too. But I realize when I am and I'm up to the challenge of making it work in the space we're in, and also personalizing it and making it my own. It's a great learning experience, and I think by the end of this I will have grown a lot as an actor.


After rehearsal last night a group of us went to The J.Clyde. It's a really good restaurant near Five Points with an abundance of college kids and a huge beer list. Some people had the chicken wings and they were very well received. I got their house made hummus and it was fantastic. Pictures were taken, conversations were shared, good times were had by all. Michael Wright (my roommate) even stayed out the whole time!! It was much appreciated, since his favorite pastimes is talking to his fiance for hours and hours. She's actually going to be on tour soon and he's going to drive to South Carolina or something like that to pick her up so she can see the show, and then he's going to drive her to the next city of her tour. We all can't wait to meet her.

After we got back I did have a bit of a tumultuous night. I love travelling and what I'm doing and I don't ever want to stop, but that may be causing big problems. I think that's all I want to say about that.

No rehearsal till 5 today, but thankfully there's been other things to do than just sit around watching Wife Swap. Actually, we watched Wife Swap while doing abs this morning. It was a mildly helpful distraction. Anyway... I've got birthday cookies to eat and groceries to buy. Have a wonderful day. I'll write again when I can.

It's m'Birthday!!

I've been anticipating this for weeks now - no not my birthday... getting the costumes for the show!! I've felt like I've been 24 for at least, oh, 8 months now I suppose. Actually being 24 doesn't feel any different than yesterday. What do you bet I start telling everyone I'm 23 now, like I should have been for the past however many months.

Ok! So, costumes!! They're so great - mine are just like the Broadway show. I got to see Ben in some of his Angel costumes too, they're fantastic. We're lucky though, there are some people who's costumes don't work at all. Amy, the costumer, was really frustrated yesterday. They had us send in size charts so they could order the correct stuff, but for some of the pieces it seems like the size chart wasn't considered at all. Like Casey, I think there's only one or two shirts that work for him. Everything else is too big or small or short... etc. I'm sure it'll come together though. I mean, it better - we open in a week!

Rehearsals themselves are going really well I think. We've got the whole show in place, now we're making sure the whole thing flows nicely. It seems like Ron is paying special attention to the transitions right now. Like he said, there's nothing that takes you out of a show like a bad transition. They can be so distracting if not done properly.

Word on the street is we're all going out somewhere tonight but I have no idea where yet. All I really want is to have a fun time with people who want to have a fun time with me. If it's just cupcakes and a few bottles of wine I'm good with that. But I'll let you know what's decided.

Alright, off to the gym once again. Do you have any idea what I'm wearing in the show?? Yes, off to the gym...

525,600

We looked it up yesterday. 1 in 15 people have HIV. Now we know it is true.

Rehearsal last night was like none I've ever experienced before. We finished blocking act II and then Ron had us all sit down and just talk about ourselves. It was truly incredible to hear everyone's stories. And these are just small parts of their lives. To hear about child abuse, dramatic weight loss, coming out to parents and friends, journeys to and through the acting world, blessed lives, tormented lives... and all of this to have brought each one of in this cast to this point in our lives... I'm not even sure what to say. I'm sure all of us definitely have a better understanding of each other now, and a greater love of this show because we all now have personal connections to it.

I'm not sure many of us really knew that we had these connections either. As we told our stories, Ron would interject with comments or questions that would help reveal how parallel our lives were to the show. Who knew our Dylan had so many similarities to Mark, the character he's playing, or that Ben basically got cast right when he walked into the room because of the joy he radiated, just like Angel. What are the odds that someone in our cast just came out to his mother a few weeks ago, or that one of the cast members was recently diagnosed with HIV. Everyone here has something to offer.

It's becoming more and more clear that the joy we find in living is the only thing that matters. Ron, on the first day, said that his vision of the show is that of unconditional love. There are so many people who only know of RENT because of Team America... aids aids aids blah blah blah. Sure it has aids and drugs and homosexuality, but I think Ron has the right idea. When it comes down to it, it really is just about unconditional love. Some of us are kind of weary about how this Birmingham audience will take it, but if we can let that love shine through I think they'll be able to appreciate it.


Tonight we began to clean up act I. I should say today actually, we got there at 10 this morning. It was a long day but a good one. We've begun to work out the kinks and fix transitions, the small but important things. I've got one pair of boots so far for the show so I got to work in them today. We've seen that a good amount of the costumes are in already but haven't been able to try anything on yet. I'm pretty sure it's because the costumer, Amy, is out of town until Wednesday. Hopefully when we do get to test everything out it'll fit. I'm still waiting on those blue pants...

After rehearsal nearly every person in the cast went out to dinner. I was afraid at some point it would turn into La Vie Boheme and we would all embarrass ourselves, but luckily the references to the show were kept to a minimum and we just enjoyed each others company. We went to the Mellow Mushroom, btw, and it was pretty good. From what I hear the pizza was good. I had a soup so I wouldn't know, but I trust it was.

Tomorrow we've got another 8 hour rehearsal day, 11-7. We'll be running the second act much like we did today, and then trying to run the whole show. Things are coming along nicely, I'm sure it helped that almost everyone knew the whole show by the time we walked in on the first day.

I never know what to write anymore. Busy days make a tired Nicci, and Nicci doesn't write much anyway, so tired Nicci feels even sillier writing. And - now I know it's time to stop when I start referring to myself in third person. Goodnight.

"It's magical, what's happening"

This is my third attempt at writing this entry...

Now we're getting into the emotionally driven part of the play. I don't know how he does it, what he says that makes something click inside, but Ron has a way of bringing out exactly what is needed of people. And not by talking about character, but by talking about us, the lives of the people playing these roles. Though the past two days have been emotional roller coasters, they've also provided us as actors (I'm pretty sure I'm not just speaking for myself) opportunities to dig deeper in order to make these people that we're playing real. After today, I am convinced that probably everyone in the show will have their moment of emotional breakdown. I think it may be necessary for the show we're doing and the message it relays.

We've just about gotten through act II now, I think we'll be finishing it up today. Definitely by tomorrow night. The first call time is 4:00 today, and most everyone comes in at 5. I guess it'll be nice to have some more time to relax (I think I'm going to need a nap later), not like there's much else to do. Although, Ron did tell us he's found a Bank of America. I'm half skeptical and half excited - it'll be nice to be able to deposit a check right away instead of cashing it or mailing it home to be deposited. We'll see if this fabled BofA in AL actually exists.

Fun fact I forgot to mention: I can't remember what we were talking about, but the first day we got here Michael (roomie) said something to the effect of "You're, what, 5'9"?". I asked Casey and Ben how tall they thought I was and they said 5'8" or 5'9". Being 5'5", if that, I find it funny... and awesome.

What else to write... I was positive I'd have so much to say. I think it was kind of an overload so I summed up what I really wanted to say in the first paragraph. OH! We had a performance of sorts. It was actually at the theatre we'll be performing at and it was for some sort of party for the members of the threatre company I think. Kind of a preview of the season of shoes this year. We went on first and performed "Rent" (the opening song, not the whole show) and it went pretty well. It was nice to have an audience, though I'm not sure what they made of it. The more the cast thought about it, the more we realized it wouldn't give a totally correct picture of the show by singing something like Seasons of Love. All the old church going people who don't know the show would come thinking it was a sweet beautiful show, and leave during intermission because of the homosexuality and drugs. Though "Rent" doesn't have these things in it either, at least it has more the style of music we'll be singing. Not very nice and sweet.

Ok, off to the gym now. We'll be filming part of the video portion tomorrow, I think that should be fun. This one is just going to be as ourselves, not as characters.

btw, the title is something Ron said last night. it really is magical :)

BAO Bingo

Yesterday we had our first day off of rehearsal. The boys and I went on a quest to find a Bank Of America. Now, someone in the cast says there's BofA's everywhere, and when we looked it up online I think it says there's at least two. Our first clue should have been that there were no actual addresses, just approximate locations. The first one we tried to visit was in what looked like an abandoned mall. The pin drop on google directed us to a stand-alone elevator at the back of the parking lot that went up about 2 stories to some grass and dirt road above. Uhh... weird. Obviously not what we were looking for. Our second search took us into a more industrial area. I think we should have just given up when we saw fire spouting out of a tall tower. Google took us to a road that dead ended into nothing. Thanks google, big help.

We dropped Michael off so he could do some laundry and go to the gym, then the three of us decided to a) find the bank that distributed the checks so we could just cash them, and b) go to Sonic so I could experience it for the first time. You'd think it would be easy enough to find a bank that a check comes from IN the actual city you got it in, right? Well our first try was another strike. The directions took us to Virginia College, a nursing school, and said the bank was inside one of the buildings. Highly doubtful. We decided to go to Sonic, something we knew was absolutely there, before giving this bank thing another go. I got the Supersonic Cheeseburger - which... oh my god I just found out it has 898 calories. Whoa. Well... anyway, I got that and an apple limeade which was fantastic.

Side note: sweet tea. Have you had it? I don't know now it's still called tea. It's sugar water. I can't say I don't like it... it fascinates me.

After Sonic we went on our quest to find this elusive Bryant bank. At this point I don't think any of us were certain we'd ever find it. On our way to maybe or maybe not Bryant we saw the entrance to Vulcan Park and decided to go there on our way back from wherever it was we were going. I think the drive was about 15 minutes, it took us to a cute area with nice looking apartments and even a mexican restaurant, then - lo and behold - we found Bryant Bank. It was certainly a relief. Ben and I cashed our checks and we were on our way.

We found Vulcan to be, like many places we've seen in B'ham so far, void of people, save for the ones that work there. This Vulcan thing is a cast iron statue atop a tall pedestal of sorts. It was $6 to get access to the museum and the viewing tower that encircled Vulcan, but since there was thunder and lightening not long before, they weren't allowing people up in the tower.

And now for the title of this entry, BAO bingo. BAO stands for Birmingham AIDS Outreach. It was our first of a few performances we'll be doing for the organization. This was another tricky place to find but thankfully, like Bryant, it was actually there. The bingo night was held in the basement of the BAO building. We were to sing during intermission after an act called Obscenity. Obscenity, it turns out, is a drag queen who lip syncs to ABBA and collects dollars from bingo patrons who wanted to donate to her... cause. I'm not sure if the proceeds were going to her own personal charity or to BAO. We may never know. When out time came to sing we (I believe there were 8 of us) went to the front and huddled around two mics. They started playing our CD track, and just as the intro finished and we began to sing, the track went out. We continued to sing a cappella and made it through, staying on pitch and in rhythm. The 4 out of towners decided to end our strange day with HBO and a couple bottles of wine.

And that is what one does with a day off in Birmingham.

The Process

Alright, you can consider this much later in the day than the last post, or early early in the morning the next day.

As I mentioned earlier, we had rehearsal from 10-6 today. We started off by finishing the choreography for La Vie Boheme. It is such a fun number, but man oh man are there a lot of things to day! I think everyo ther 2 counts of 8 I'm on the table, then off the table. And I'm probably on my knees more than anyone else in the show (lets not get dirty now, people). It makes so much sense that knee pads were a part of the original costume for Mimi. I don't even want to look at my lower legs right now... it's not pretty.

We also finished Christmas Bells, another crazy number with people doing so many things throughout the whole thing. There's a lot to clean up, and we all have to find the places to just have fun and make it our own, but all in all everything is looking great and sounding even better. I think I mentioned it on twitter but not here - at some times during the process, I find myself taking a look at what's going on all around me and I can't help but smile. I think the first day I almost got a little emotional. This is one of the roles I've always promised myself I would play, and now I'm doing it with a cast and creative team that I love and respect. I want to travel and perform for the rest of my life. It doesn't matter if it even pays great or not. As long as I can survive and I'm happy, I could do this forever.


On another note.... the clouds here are unlike anything I've ever seen. I almost feel like a crazy person when I say this, but they're AMAZING. More 3D than I've ever seen clouds be. The sunsets in LA have been amazing lately because of the fires and the smoke, but we almost get that same hue here in AL, I can't explain it. I don't know why, but it's hazy and golden and wonderful. It's been a little rainy on and off, but more off.

We've decided how my hair is going to be - it's really exciting. I've never seen my hair like this before. There was a though of getting a wig for me, but I was pretty determined to get my hair to behave so the first thing I did when I woke up yesterday was started teasing my hair. I teased it and then curled it, and it was like nothing I've ever seen before. I'll get some pictures, you'll be shocked I'm sure.

We have another long day tomorrow - 2:00 till 10:00. We normally have Mondays totally off but we'll be performing for some AIDS outreach thing at night. At least we'll have all day to relax, and I can let my knees rest! Lord knows they need it....

No Time!

I'm a busy busy girl as of late. Or at least the past 2 days. Today we have rehearsal from 10-6, full cast, and tomorrow is another 8 hour day. Things are going well, I think we have almost the whole first act done.

I'll update this later on tonight when I have more time to myself.