Re-enter stage right!

Hey everyone,

I know it's been a really, really long time since you've heard from me-but I promise, its been for a good reason! Actually, 4 good reasons!

On with the show...

That's right! I picked up 4 shows in 9 months! To say I'm thrilled would be an understatement, and to say I'm exhausted would just make me laugh. Here's how everything's been going:

After the children's show ended, I did take a little bit of a break, after all I had just gotten over nodes and wanted to give my voice pleanty of time to heal itself. And heal itself it did. Not only did my speech therapy work wonders, I was back at another musical audition by the end of the year.

The show? "Into the Woods"! I couln't believe it, I've wanted to be in this show since I first saw it at age 3 on television. It was at a theatre I had never worked with before, and to say I was a bit nervous around the people there would be an understatement.

I played Jack's mom, and was able to really get into her and her reasonings and everything like that-and of course sing my face off! I learned a lot from the experience, and to date is as close to professional theatre as I've come.

During "Into the Woods", I picked up another show. A new play called "Home front: Between the Lines", about a mother and son going through her father's WWII letters back and forth to his family and revealing a family secret. We played one weekend and 3 shows before the theatre (not the theatre company, but the actual, physical theatre), asked us to leave and not come back. Long story, won't get into it here so don't ask me to. There's no politics in theatre!

A few weeks later, I saw a post on my friend's facebook. All it said was "RENT ensmble still needed, if you're interested let me know." My heart stopped. I read it a few times. It couldn't be real! RENT! As in, Jonathan Larson's RENT. And they were looking for ensemble members! This is my show. I know everything about that show inside and out, have done in depth character studies on all the characters, and have physically BEEN to 11th street and Ave B in the village where the show takes place. I knew I had to do it.

Long list of e-mails, phone calls and a Skype audition later-I'm told I'm in the show and where the rehearsals are and everything! WHAT WHAT?! I got RENT! I couldn't breathe and immediately began trembling and took to facebook to speak to friends who I knew would calm my fried/excited nerves.

RENT went off with a bit of behind the scenes drama that I quickly learned from, adapted to, worked around, and laughed about when the final curtain went down on closing night. I learned a lot from RENT, I learned a lot from the experience, I learned a lot from the people, and I learned a lot more from the show, being on the stage instead of in the audience admiring the work. I became the token RENThead of the cast, and even the director would sometimes ask my approval of things to make sure they looked and sounded right. It made me feel good to know I could bring justice to the piece.

Not long before RENT closed, that same theatre company decided to do a concert. But what concert would we do? Some ideas were thrown around and eventually we landed on a show. Well, the show had to be changed for behind-the-scenes reasons, and we ended up doing a tribute to Mr. Cole Porter.

I'll let you in on a little secret--I didn't really know a whole lot of Cole Porter before this, but I was pretty sure I wasn't a huge fan of his music. But, I agreed to do the show, and do the show I would. Rehearsal lasted about 3 weeks and we went up for ONE night only. Again, things were learned, fun was had, and it was a wonderful night!

So, now here I am--show less for the first time in almost a year. In the time it took all of this to happen, I lost a job, got a new one, read 2 books, started taking some acting classes, and have continued my singing lessons.

Now that I'm show-less, I find that I want to go back to my other projects that have been on the back burner, such as working on the play I've been writing since college, and writing a book based on my experiences as a temp--and many,MANY other projects I put off.

C'mon, you guys know me by now! Did you really think I'd just sit at home and wait for the next auditions?! Never!

Until next time....

Who's afraid of HORATIO Wolf? Not ME!

Hey everyone!

I know it's been a bit, but I've been kind of laying low and off the radar recently due to the nodes. HOWEVER, I'm BACK on the radar and in a new show, as I mentioned before. It's called "The Musical Adventures of Horatio Wolf and Little Red".

Yes, it's a kids show, but it's really cute you guys! It takes Little Red Riding Hood, and The Three Little Pigs and combines them, and the combination works really well!

I'm playing the storyteller, or the "boss" in the beginning, as we come onstage dressed in street clothes, and are supposed to be actors (duh!), and I'm supposed to be the boss of this acting troupe.

Throughout the show, the audience sees how UNscared the characters are of the big, bad, Horatio wolf. They beat him up, laugh in his face, and even swordfight with him throughout the show!

The three little pigs are there too, building their houses of hay, sticks and brick. But they get in on the action too, yelling at Horatio, and making him HELP them build their houses.

Then, there's Pierre-the wolf hunter. Though, he's not very good at it, and is kind of a baby, he's one of the characters that's genuinely scared of Horatio.

Little Red and Grandma and even Little Red's mom is there as well.

We invite the audience (comprised of children) to actively participate, answering the character's questions and having the actors go out into the audience.

I can't wait for tech to start, and can't wait for the show to open!

If you'd like to see it, or even have a little kid who would love to see it, go to http://www.centerplayers.com/ and order tickets! :D

Can't wait to see you all there!

Until next time...

I'm back, baby!

hey everyone,

I know I've been in hiding lately since I've been diagnosed with nodes. Since I haven't been able to sing, I've sort of been sitting OUT this season, unfortunately.

Recently, I went "home" to Center Players in Freeehold, NJ to see my friends in a production of "Tuesdays With Morrie". While I was there, I was approached to audition for the summer childrens' production of "Little Red Riding Hood". This version, is a musical...

DUN DUN DUN!!

The question became-could I do it? Was my voice healed enough to carry me through this simple audition (I was told it was a "light" musical. No song is more than 2 minutes long. I went to my speech therapist, and explained what I had been told. Her response? Sing something SIMPLE. "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", simple, one melody, one voice range-no bopping up and down, nothing too extremely difficult.

YES!!! I could pull off doing this audition for this very simple, light musical!

I went to the audition, and was the OLDEST one in the room, looking to fill the roles of the young women in the show. The grandmother role was already filled, we were told.

I sat there, quietly humming to myself, going up and down the scales to warm up my voice. Did a few massages on my vocal cords by massaging my neck, ran my fingers over my face to make sure I was loose enough to do this--after all, the audition nerves had taken over just like at every other audition. I just couldn't go up there tight due to the nodes.

ANYWAY-the person before me goes up there and does "do a dear" from "The Sound of Music". Really? Really? I'm supposed to follow that with "Twinkle twinkle little star"? The musical theatre performer in me pretty much stamped her foot and refused to move until I mentally opened my box of musical theatre songs I had been working on in therapy-desperately trying to pick something better than "Twinkle...".

I get called up and the director gives me the simple command.

"Sing..anything you want. I just wanna hear you sing."

Okay. I took a breath, and before I knew it, I was singing "On the Steps of the Palace" from "Into the Woods"!!!! I had been working on it in therapy, and did a decent enough job that I didn't feel as if I were straining myself of my precious cords. I should also mention I only did the FIRST verse, as after that, the song gets rather high, and I'm not mentally prepared again for that quite yet, as I haven't sung for real since MARCH.

She asks me to do an improv scene in which I'm a caught lightning bug. I have her, the other actors, the producer and the stage manager ROLLING.

To say I felt good about this audition would be an understatement!

She promised to let me know by the end of the week (this was MONDAY), if I had gotten a part or not.

THE WAITING GAME!!!

This went on for 2-3 days, watching the phone, watching facebook-waiting for ANY sign as to whether I had picked up this project or not.

Then, FINALLY, on Wednesday my phone rang. I picked it up, and a cheerful voice said:

"Hi, Sami! This is the stage manager for 'Little Red...' and I just wanted to call and CONGRATULATE you on getting the role of the storyteller...we'll see you Sunday morning for our first rehearsal."

YES!!!!!!!!! A new project, a new show, a new cast, in my "home base" theatre!!! I couldn't believe it! I knew I had a good feeling at the audition.

So, now here we are...ankle deep (it goes deeper and further up the body as I get closer to tech week) in rehearsals for this children's show. And I am having a BLAST!

I'll keep everyone updated as the rehearsals go! Also updates about my new play coming soon, as well!

It's great to be back on the boards!!!

Until next time....

Nodes, Nodes, and more NODES!!!

I know it's been a while since I've written, but work and rehearsal have been a bit nuts! Anyways...

On with the show!!

SO over the past few months, I've had this ever loving sore throat, and my singing has sounded flat and out of tune, which I know it normally doesnt sound like. My voice has also been raspy, quiet, and almost a little difficult to get out.

Of course, being busy, as everyone is, I kind of..brushed this problem off until it got to the point where I could no longer sing--at all. Period.

Panic set in. I knew I could sing, why wasn't my voice working. The word that kept coming back to me in my mind was-NODES. Or nodules, which are like callouses on the vocal cords from improper usage (my improproper usage was my time spent at the daycare, yelling or calling OVER my kids-not my singing).

Quickly, I took to facebook to ask people for ENT recommendations-and I got one! After doing a bit of research on him, and getting another person's opinion of him as well, I made an appointment.

I couldn't have been more excited! FINALLY! I get to find out what happened to my voice, what la la land it went to, and when I could expect its immediate return to my body so I could carry on with my projects.

The day came, and I went to see him....

The first thing he told me was that my tonsils were HUGE! They do not require surgery as of now. Then he told me that I had acid reflux (total news to me-I had no symptoms, and later found out its a different form of acid reflux and people don't know they have it as there are no symptoms), AND...CALLOUSES on my vocal cords!!!

NOOOOO!!!! Oh the absolute horror! I looked right at him, and the first question I asked was- "Will I need surgery?"

Now, refresing everyone's memory, and the way I originally heard about nodes, is singer, Adele. Due to improper singing, Adele developed nodes that had to be removed surgically and she was out of work for a few months.

THIS is all I could think of. Nodes are a singer's worst nightmare because you need to stop singing, and almost speaking altogether, for them to heal properly.

With that being said, he told me that I MAY need surgery, but that he wanted to start me on speech therapy first to see if that helped (after reading an article, I found that speech therapy DOES help them to clear up and most people dont need surgery).

He also asked me to go to a sleep clinic to see if I have sleep apnea (due to my huge tonsils), and put me on PRESCRIPTION, GENERIC Prilosec-not the OTC stuff. This stuff is stronger and doesn't mess around.

I thanked him, told him I' d see him in 2 months (he wants to see me again). I then went to my car-and CRIED. I called mom and she told me that SHE had had nodes back when I was a kid, and it stopped her from singing-yeah, that's what I needed to hear! Thanks, mom!

I went back to work in almost a zombie like state-doing what I needed to do without speaking (except to the occasional parent), and just did my job.

After gathering more information over the weekend, Im not as freaked out about it all as I was initally, but the thought of surgery still looms over my head like a dark cloud. I'm trying to stay positive though and to not think about that.

However, as a result of the nodes, I'm not allowed to speak at much higher than a stage whisper. This is making work difficult and I am relying on others to BE my voice. I'm hoping my co-workers understand-this isn't JUST about singing, this is about my real health. I can't speak, I can't sing, and it may result in surgery.

End of story.

I'll let you all know how this goes. As of right now, Im taking the prilosec, need to make a sleep clinic appointment, and am in the works of getting a speech therapist.

We'll see....

Do you bite your thumb at me sir?.....uhhh..

Hey everyone!

BIG things going on, so let's get RIGHT to it!

On with the show....

So a few weeks ago, I auditioned for "The Taming of the Shrew", being done in front of my alma mater high school. I went because I was told about it through the person who will be the stage manager-a good friend of mine.

I bought the play, and began to read it. "No Fear Shakespeare" is awesome, since I hadn't read Shakespeare since high school. HIGH SCHOOL! A good seven years ago. And, I had never read "Shrew" before. Without the no fear stuff-I woulda been kind of stuck.

Anyway, I went to the audition, and after leaving felt so-so about it. I didn't know if I'd get a part, or anything like that. But-in my mind, that was alright-I was gearing up for another audition. "The Wizard of Oz" at another theatre-so I left, thinking in my head about a song I had to pick for that audition, since I was POSITIVE I wouldn't be given a part.

Three days later, I had a day off from work. My cell rang with a number I didn't know-if my phone rings with a number I don't know, I don't pick up. If its important-they'll leave me a message.

AND IT WAS IMPORTANT!

It was the director, wanting to speak to me about the show. I called him back and found out I GOT THE SHOW!!

I will be in my first ever Shakespeare piece. I don't know yet what part I have, but I will find out when rehearsals start on Monday night :).

As soon as I know the important things, like how to get tickets and what part Im playing, I'll let everyone know!

Until next time...

Project X

Usually I write a big, long introduction apologizing for my absense or whatever, but this time it's different--I'm going to go RIGHT into it.

On with the show....

So for the past few weeks, I've been talking about 'project x'. This is the name I give to things I don't neccessarily want to talk about, but am working on behind the scenes--mostly by myself, and sometimes, with some support from other people.

This time is no different. I've told different people about this specific 'project x' and have gotten mixed reviews-some people LOVE the idea, and some people think I'm crazy for wanting to do it.

This time, 'project X' is a 4 song CD I'm looking to record, of myself singing covers of Broadway songs.

Now, before everyone gets up in arms, telling me how expensive this is, blah blah blah, and how I'm wasting my time, blah blah blah--hear me out.

1) I've gone to 2 different studios, to compare and contrast them, talk to the people in charge of them, get prices, and figure out how the process would work in each studio. Therefore-I've been doing my research.

2) my vocal coach has been prepping me to record the songs I've selected for the past few weeks, and they will sound awesome when I go into the studio

and

3) the way the pricing breaks down-this will cost me NO MORE than a day in New York would. Really, I've done the math-this is exactly what I'd ultimately wind up spending in New York.

With all that being said-I would like opinions. My best friend thinks I'm a bit nuts for wanting to do this, but she understands WHY I'm doing it. Other people think it's awesome and can't wait to hear it, and I haven't asked others, due to not actually WANTING their opinion.

But--Faithful readers, I want YOUR opinion. What do you guys think? Keep in mind--no money has been spent yet, no date has been selected, and I dont have an accompianist lined up quite yet (I need to call him tomorrow-one of the studios recommended him).

Let me know what you guys think :)

Til next time....

My adventure on the open-call Road!!

Hey everyone!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday, got to spend some time with friends and family, got what they wanted for your respective holidays, and got to spend some time relaxing!

This blog post I'm about to do has been about three weeeks in the making-as in, I'm late putting this thing up, and for that I'm sorry!

Anyway-On with the show...

So, a few weeks ago, my best friend and I went for coffee and drove around aimlessly like we do whenever we get together for coffee. While we were parked in a random parking lot, I recieved a twitter (follow me on Twitter: @BroadwayBaby23), saying "Could YOU be the new Cosette? Les Miserables hosts an open casting call!"

What what??? Les Miserables is my #1, all time favorite musical beyond any other I've ever seen. To be Cosette-uhm, I'm there!

Turning to the article, I see that the casting agents for the MOVIE, were going to be holding an open call for Cosette.

I quickly tell my friend, who thinks it'd be pretty cool to try it-even if I don't get it, I could still say I went!

The next day, I call my college roommate-another Les Mis freak,and leave a message, basically telling her that we were going-there were no options of NOT going to this!

On the day of the open call, I caught a 6:28am train. Anyone who knows me, knows I love sleep, if I could-I would MARRY sleep I'm so in love with it, so for me to get up this early, there had to be love at the other end of the stick-and there was!

Open call registration was going to start at 10am, with the actual auditions beginning at 11. I picked up my roommate from Port Authority, grabbed a tea, and headed over to Ripley Grier studio, where the casting call was going to take place.

Blah blah blah..confusion about what was going on/where to go/who had what list...Let's move on!

We FINALLY got numbers to audition around 10am-turns out, the registration began with an unofficial list at 6am when girls started getting there-oops!!

Now we're all hanging out-all 300 of us, waiting for our number, to go in and sing at the top of our lungs, hoping to get a part.

Now, it's 11:30 or so, and girls have stopped being called in. We were packed into a dance rehearsal room, just kind of staring at each other, each of us lost in our conversations with whoever was around, or whoever we had come with.

I decided that Im going to die in the hot dance studio, and my roommate and I go back out into the lobby where more girls were milling about-everyone very confused.

Finally, one of the casting directors comes out and says:

"First off, let me thank you all for coming down! We know some of you have traveled from other states just to be here!

There are about 300 of you, so we need to move this along! Therefore, we're going to call you in, in groups of 25, and start typing girls out. We will ask those of you we want to stay, to stay and sing for us!"

A little disappointing, but not entirely unexpected! Welcome to casting calls, kids! YOU WILL BE TYPED!

Type- when a casting director is looking for a specific: height, weight, haircolor, age, resembelence, etc, to fit the part of the character they are casting. Those that don't FIT type during an audition will sometimes not be seen/heard because they don't fit what is being looked for.

Finally, our group is called in and we're lined up in front of the main casting director, and her two associates. They were very friendly, and had us all spread out. You could tell we were all a bit nervous by the way we were looking at each other, and how we were all standing and everything.

But, they were very nice, and kept thanking us for coming down. They told us this had been a project they were working on for a long time, and they had a very specific type of girl that they were looking for to play the role of Cosette.

With that, they took our resumes and headshots-which had been collected earlier in the day, and began doing little interviews with us as we stood there (where we went to school, what our major was, when we graduated, where we were from, and even asked about some of the things on our resumes).

After speaking with us, they went through our resumes again, whispering to each other and taking little notes, writing things on our resumes and put them in 2 different stacks-those they wanted to hear sing, and those they did not.

Thaking us again, they reminded us they were looking for something specific-and in my group of 25 girls-they asked 5 to stay. My roommate and I were NOT on that list.

So ended my day.

But, looking back on it, I'm GLAD I did it! Look, you go on these open calls, and you know you have MAYBE a 50/50 shot of being seen or heard. They're called OPEN calls for a reason! And they drive you insane, and they make you wait, and you know you'll spend ALL day sometimes, sitting in a room full of competition, making polite conversation with each other while you size each other up-ALL in hopes of getting seen for a single part.

If I hadn't gone, I would always think "I should've gone to that...I wonder", and I wouldn't have been able to look at myself in the mirror anymore!

Yes, I wish things had ended differently, and I would've been asked to sing for them. But, I'm glad I went, I would go again, and I had a good time!

Besides...they ended up casting Hollywood anyway-even AFTER all that!

Oh well!

Til next time....

Writing and making the characters talk

Hey everyone!! On with the show.....

So "Which Witch is Which" has ended, and unfortunately, right now I am project-less. Feels weird. Haven't been project-less since 2009.

If I said this was a relief, I'd be lying!!! I miss rehearsals, I miss the make up, being in the empty theatre with my fellow actors-breathing life into new and exciting characters, and being able to tell a story!

In the interm, until I get the next project (which looks like will have to wait until AFTER the holidays since things are being cast and mounted for Christmas NOW), I am working on my 3rd play.

I've been working on this show on and off since I was in "The Heiress" in May. I actually began writing it backstage while I was waiting for my cues. However, after reading what I had written so far, a friend of mine suggested I re-structure some of the characters, and essentially begin anew.

After reading it over again myself, I knew she was right. So, this past week, I've been working on re-structuring my characters, and will begin a second draft of my ACT I this week.

I intend to keep a few things that I fell in love with in the first original draft, but a lot of stuff will be fixed so that my characters can keep talking.

Making the characters talk is always the hardest part for me. Making the conversations last is difficult. As a playwright, I walk the fine line between making the conversations believeable, but not dragged on so much that I'll lose the audience.

The disadvantage to this, is that sometimes, I just write and write, just to fill space-and then ultimately, the conversation I've been writing drags, and the scene no longer makes any damn sense.

This time, though, I face another challange-how do I make my point without using a lot of words. The focus of the show is to make people aware of the sounds around them. But in order for people to HEAR the sounds-there can't be a lot of talking, or there needs to be moments of silence.

I'm shooting for the first full length draft to be done in about a week, maybe 2. Once I get started writing, I really get on a role and get things done quickly.

We shall see...

Until next time....

Goodbye Sweeney...Hello Which

Hey everyone!!

Oh jeebus, it's been forever since I've been around to let you all know what's going on. Sorry about that!! Tech for Sweeney, and then Sweeney took a bit of my soul, so I wasn't able to form sentences to let everyone know what was going on.

Anyway...on with the show!!

Sweeney went wonderfully!! The audiences loved loved loved it, and as soon as I saw it up on its feet-the concept of the insane asylum that the director had us using made sense (before I couldn't see how it worked!).

I'm currently trying to get a video of parts of it on youtube or something so people can see it that wanted to, but weren't able to.

Closing was hard...it was my first musical (but not my last-of course!), and I'll always have a soft spot for the cast that was in it with me. I mean, hell, we spent 3 months together just in rehearsals before we went up, then a month and some change DOING the show! I'll always look fondly on Fleet Street, and smile when I hear of the demon barber now :).

BUT! Out with the old, and in with the NEW. While I was in "Sweeney Todd", the producer approached me and asked me to be in their yearly kidsworks Halloween production of a show called "Which Witch is Which". Its a cute little story of a which that's too good for her own good, can't play tricks on people and all tha good stuff. There's a weird doctor, a prankster named Tom Foolery, a ghost named Grimey (picture pigpen from Charlie Brown, just in white), Abby Good (the good which), Abby II (the bad which), and Pamela Pumpkin (the narrator-me).

We had about 10-15 rehearsals, and most of it was us learning the original score-the lines we had to learn on our own.

**side note-the day we had to be off book, I was a little shakey on ACT II. So, when I went off stage after my part of Act I was over-I went backstage and learned ALL of Act II. Just sayin... **

Opening afternoon wasn't without its flaws, but the kids are LOVING it so far! And I said this to the cast, and I'll say it here: Kids are the HARDEST audience to perform for. They have short little attention spans, they want to get up and run around and play and do all these things little kids do. So, as a performer, you need to hold their interest for the hour and some change you're up there, trying to put on a show for them. There are no BAD DAYS in chidlren's theatre-no matter what's going on-you get on that stage with a BIG smile, and do what you need to do.

I have an audition coming up for "It's a Wonderful Life: A Radio Play" in a few weeks, and I'm hoping I get it, and that that show takes me to the end of the year.

Then...who knows?.....

Until Next time...

He hardly uses his fancy chair

Hey everyone!!

So sorry I've been out of the loop for a bit, rehearsals for Sweeney run long and late into the night!

Anyway..on with the show!!

The show is going well, and things are really picking up. Some of the set is up, and we're completely offbook now, just working on the blocking and little details. Next week, we begin running the show from beginning to end, in order for us to time it out, and to see the whole thing cover to cover in case something needs to be altered or fixed.

As I watch everyone rehearse (the main leads, not the ensemble--I'm IN the ensemble), I can't help but get shivers up and down my body at the immense amount of talent there is on that stage. Granted, there's a lot in the ensemble too, never count them out!

I also feel shivers up my spine every time we rehearse, hearing us sing this haunting score, and know that Stephen Sondheim is out there somewhere-smiling that his words are reaching SO so many people!

On MY end... I've been given a few duet parts, and have a bit of a featured role right before the finale :) Very exciting!!

I was also ASKED to do this company's Halloween children's show "Which witch is Which" about a little girl witch who's too good to BE a witch. I'll be playing the narrator, and the owner of the town convience store, Pamela Pumpkin.

A few more audititions coming up in the next few weeks. One for a version of Dracula, and one for another production of Sweeney Todd (don't worry, there will be a blog for my audition prep for each show as my process is a bit different between a play and a musical).

I've also been writing a lot lately, and hope to have this new play done by the third week of September (meaning completed, typed, and beginning to shop it around).

I have also aquired a "day job" finally!! I'm working with infants/toddlers at a daycare, and of course, the money will be used for headshots and such!

Believe that's it for now...planning headshots...etc.

Til next time...

Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd

Hey everyone!!

I know it's been a while since I wrote, but we've all been kicking our asses in "Sweeney Todd" to make sure we get the music right and everything!

The show is going well, we've got about seven ensemble songs now that we've been working on, and we need to practically be memorized by tonight when we get into rehearsal. I have about 3/4 memorized at this point, using the OBC recording to help me to learn the part, since that's how the music is written, and how the director wants it to sound in the show.

It's always a challange when you walk into a new theatre, a new cast, a new theatre company. Anf this has been no exception. While I'm used to a theatre rehearsing and performing one show at a time, this theatre currently has three shows in rehearsal, "Sweeney Todd" and two others. It's a bit odd to me, more like being in a rehearsal studio in New York, where you need to look at a board to determine what room YOUR show is rehearsing in, rather than a theatre that will soon be mounting a show.

Still looking for that "day job", and have been working on my play a lot lately, since I babysit now and I have about twenty minutes before he gets home from school to write and collect myself before he gets home. Now that I'm not sitting during the day anymore, though I should have even more time to write, and hope to have the play done by the end of the summer-I'm talking about like the first week of September, don't everyone start looking for this show in the middle of August all at once, now! :)

I think that's about it for now, but I promise to write more frequently from here on out, as I know I hardly update anymore. I promise to try to bring an update once a week from now on.

Thanks for your patience!

Til next time.....

One ended, and the saga begins again!

I know it's been a while since I've written, but once the ride called "The Heiress" took off, there was very little time for me to blog (though I've been writing a new play!).

So, the run of "The Heiress" was a great one, and the cast became a real family. It's been a long time since I had experienced that feeling to its fullest like this, and it felt really really good to be able to feel it again.

At the end of the run, this past weekend, I actually cried seeing it go. I haven't cried over a show closing in a long time, and this closing really hurt deep.

But! Like every rain storm of a show closing, there's another show that's ready to be rehearsed and mounted-and this time is no exception!

I am currently in rehearsals for my FIRST MUSICAL!!! "Sweeney Todd"!!. New exeperience, new theatre, new people.

We started rehearsing actually the day I got the show, which was a little weird, but we have a LOT of work to get done!

Sondheim is hard, ya'll! Even though I've been singing his music since age 3. It looks very different when I need to read the music for it :-P.

I'm in the ensemble, and actually am really thrilled about it. We're right now working on the 3 big ensemble songs: "The Prologue", "God That's Good!", and "Pirelli's Miracle Elixir". And I gotta say, everything sounds wonderful.

I've also made a fan page for myself on facebook-so go find me, become a fan :). It'll have stuff about my upcoming shows and such, and other little good things.

Not much else is going on (the job hunt continues btw!). Just writing, rehearsing, babysitting and jobhunting.

I will keep everyone posted, thanks for being patient!

Til next time...

Didn't want to have to do this..but I guess I have to

Okay, so a few months ago, I posted a blog on here I entitled "Day Job". This is the blog where I mentioned that it takes me $28 to get into the city, and without a day job it's hard.

THIS is the post everyone has decided to jump on and comment on...so I feel it's neccessary to defend my position, instead of going on, telling people about the show that I'm in.

First off, let me say I'm very sorry for putting that ONE statement in the blog post, because you all grabbed it and ran with it and beat me over the coals for it.

Second, I KNOW that I'm not in NY bussing tables or anything like that-don't you think I'd LOVE to be doing that? LOVE to be in NY somewhere, taking shifts at a part time job? I'm on survivaljobsforactors.com everyday looking for stuff just like that-haven't found anything yet. So let's start there.

I know I'm in community theatre in the suburbs right now-and Im not going to be here much longer, and am scouring playbill.com everyday looking for open calls since I don't have my equity card and can't go to equity calls yet.

As for living at home-anyone that's a RECENT college graduate almost has no choice but to live at home. Unless they've got something set up in terms of a significant other, or a roommate to live with and split the rent with, neither of which I have.

And where did I ever say that I think my life is like Mark and Roger's? I've never used those words, not once, not ever. I know that I don't live that way, I'm not dumb.

I know auditions aren't easy to get, I'm not delusional..but, I could still "audition my ass off" at the auditions that I DO get-right? Right.

Now. If there's anything else I've missed, any other grievenece my "Anonymous" posters have for me...let me know.

If not, let's all move on. I'd really hate to lock comments so that just these 7 people can read them again. And it wouldn't be because I don't want to hear what people say-you guys think you're the FIRST ones to tell me this? Please...

It'd be because that ONE poste, is NOT what this blog is about. If you don't like what I have to say-don't read.

And this is the last time I'm entertaining this type of conversation here. I do plan to make big moves and changes in the next year.

End of story.

The Countdown is ON!!!

Well, here it is folks...FOUR DAYS TIL OPENING!!

Gotta say, I always start to get butterflies as we go into tech week and are fully in groove and tune with out characters, and with each other. Now's the time for the last second fine tuning, and making sure the sound, lights, and props are all where they need to be, and fill in the missing gaps.

This is also the week that we all may as well set up cots in the theatre as we are there longer hours than with regular rehearsal. This is why actors affectionately call this week "hell week"!

Here's what this week has in store for me:

Monday-need to be at the theatre for 6pm...need to be able to eat dinner around 5, or grab something on the way and eat it at the theatre as I get into costume, hair and makeup.

Tuesday-Important e-mail to be written in the morning, 2 hour workout, and need to be at the theatre for 6pm

This goes on until Thursday. On Thursday night, we have our one and only preview performance-we call it our "dress rehearsal", but we DO have an audience, so I call it our preview performance.

Usually, we open the theatre up to anyone who wants to see the show for free-remember, this is the dress rehearsal- and then after the performance, the actors sit onstage and answer various questions and take compliments from the audience.

However-that is NOT the case with this show. On Thursday night, we are having the "women in business" group come to the theatre, and we are hosting a special night full of finger sandwhiches and lessons about how far women have come since the 1850s-now.

The show is scheduled to start...at 6:30pm! This means, I need to be at the theatre for 5pm..Thursday's going to be fun as I make last minute arrangements for people who want to come to the show in the coming weeks, and make sure my butt is in the makeup chair by NO LATER than 5:15, and I've eaten, no later than 5:30.

Man I love this industry!

This will also be the week that you see actors doing their pre-show rituals, more bonding will occur backstage now that we're no longer allowed to sit in the audience and watch each other, and THIS is where the memories start coming from when all is said and done.

I am incredibly excited to begin this show on Thursday night, and even more excited for opening on Friday night!

On Friday afternoon, I'll post another blog and document the pre-show feelings as I sit at home in preparation for leaving for the theatre.

Until next time.... :)

Holy techweek batman!!

Here I am again, getting ready to launch-HEAD ON into another tech week, or as we call it affectionately "Hell week"- the week that we as actors kind of almost have to take a back seat to the tech guys and stage crew and let them rehearse what THEY have to (lights, sound, prop moving), things like that.

It's also the week that we as the actors put the final touches on everything-on our characters, get our final costumes, ask any last-second questions, and sprinkle the theatre magic around the stage and on ourselves that make the show come to life!!!

We have one more rehearsal this week that's just a rehearsal-and we're adding just a part of our costumes this week too. Starting Saturday, we begin "hell week".

With that in mind-I do what I always do right before a show I'm in starts-I take some money and head into the city to see a show. I do this either by myself, or with a friend. This time, I went by myself. I do it as a way of reflection, or reminding myself what the goal is.

I went to see "La Cage Aux Folles" since it announced it will be closing on May 1st, to my absolute HORROR! But, that's another story, nevermind.

Anyway, I got into the city early and got my student tickets (box seats for $36.31-YES PLEASE!).

And I passed the day, doing this and that and meeting up with friends and such. I saw the show and I have to tell you guys-it was the most beautiful show I've ever seen!!! The chemistry between Harvey and his leading man- Christopher Sieber was amazing!!!!

I stagedoored after the show for Harvey, and also for my friend again-I wanted to talk to him! They came out together again, and I grabbed my friend after he was done doing what he needed to do, and we went for a walk.

While we were walking, he was telling me about another acting theorist named Meisner. Now, I had never heard the name before-I was taught Stanislavski, and that was pretty much all I knew. I told him about some difficulty I have been having, remembering my cue lines and everything like that, and how it was worrying me.

He smiled and nodded, listening to what I had to say, and then began to tell me about Meisner's theories. Here's what I've come up with in my understanding, since I purchased the recommended book and have begun reading it:

1) Acting is NOT a representation of life-it IS life. When you go out onstage as a character, that is the ONLY world you have ever know.

2) You and your character are 2 different people. You are you, but when you walk out onstage, you are your character. And they know different people, have seen different things, and know different things. They may even live in a different time period, or be higher or lower on a social scale-but you ARE that person.

3) Saying your lines is instictual. How you deliver your line solely depends on how the person you're in the scene with gives you the line before, or how you deliver your line depends on the circumstances of why you deliver the line.

For example, the way he was teaching the class, he brought up one male student, and one female student. With the male student he told him his only line was "mr. Meisner", he had the student repeat it, and was happy with the results of the repeat. He then went behind the male student and pinched him-causing the male student to scream "MR. MEISNER!"

See what I mean? The male student yelled his line, because of the action of being pinched. But, it was the same line!

My friend by no way discredited Stanislavski-hell, my friend studied him too. But what he told me is that Stanislavski doesn't help in SCENES. It helps in monologues, but in scenes, this guy works better.

I'll let you all know what I think after I read the whole book :)


Well,I think that't it for me today-next update I hope will have costume pictures and everything :) Very excited!!! :D

Updates and Aplogies!!

Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't written in a bit, but when I got home from vacation, I found out my aunt had passed away while we were gone, and now rehearsal has me all swept up and such..but! On with the show! First, I'd like to thank everyone for voting in the Rent video competition. At the end of voting I had something like 355 votes, and a 1.8 rating. Now, while that's nowhere NEAR what the winner ended up getting, I am still so thrilled, and honored to have gotten those votes, and a decent rating! You guys are awesome! I took another leap of a faith this past week, as well. Around last Friday/Saturday, a friend of mine sent me an audition notice for a program called "Making it on Broadway", a one-week musical theatre intensive in NY. After researching the program, I realized that this is a program I have been looking to do for the past 3-4 years. After getting my headshot and resume and a short cover letter together, I sent it to the person running the program and got an audition time 5 minutes later! This program only has 40 spots for the week, so everyone has to audition in. I was more than stunned to get a reply and an audition time so freakin quickly! So this past Wednesday, I got my music together, my headshot and resume stapled together, and made my way into the city for my 2:30 audition time. Before I went to the audition, though, I made a stop at my spot :The Drama Book Shop, and purchased the newly released libretto for "The Addams Family". Apparently it came out about a month ago. I go into the audition and sing my prepared song "Superboy and the Invisible Girl" from Next to Normal. When I was done, both the piano player, and the person running the audition smiled at me, and the piano player, in all his enthusiasm asked me "Do you have anything else?!" HELL YES! I bought a brand freakin new libretto before I came over! So I ran out to my seat and got it, handing it to him. I told him I had been working on "Pulled" with my vocal coach, and he began playing the song-from the middle. Now, for anyone that's never auditioned for a musical before-being asked to sing more than your prepared piece is a huge deal! Always go into a musical audition with 2 songs. One prepared (obviously) that you'll need to sing 16 bars from, and another, just in case they want to hear another song, song. Until this audition, I've never been asked to sing 2 songs. Having them ask me to sing another song, that I hadn't really prepared (I had never heard the song played on the piano-my vocal coach and I were using the CD to work on the song), was a wonderful sign! I sang the song through to the end, not missing a beat, and if I do say so myself, completely blew the song out of the water (I could play Wednesday Addams!). When I was done, both of them looked at me with these huge smiles. The woman running the audition then goes to me: "Okay. The program runs Aug 8th-13th, 10am-6pm everyday and from 5-6 you have a master class with someone working on Broadway right now" Now when she says 'someone working on Broadway right now', she means Gavin Creel, Aaron Tveiet, Stephanie Block, and Cheyenne Jackson (to name a few people who will be teaching that week). I'm sorry...did she just say I got into the program?! That I have one of the 40 spots?!!! She then told me that they do have a payment plan in case I need one, and that she would e-mail me all of the information that night. Today is Monday, and I have yet to get that e-mail. I think if I don't hear from her by Wednesday, I will e-mail her and ask her when I might get that information if I did in fact make it into the program. Onto "The Heiress"! Rehearsals are going well, and we expect to have the set up by the time we come in for rehearsals tomorrow! I have half of a costume (need a long sleeved black shirt), and need to learn my lines for Act II (much harder than Act I). We open in 3 weeks and I need to have everything memorized by Saturday!!! Yikes! Time to kick my own ass into overdrive and get to these lines! My major challange is going to be learning my cue lines. Now, this has never been a problem for me, but with this show, I'm on and off the stage so often, that I need to know what lines bring me onstage, so that if one of my fellow actors misses a line (it happens ;) ), or if a sound effect doesn't work or something, I know where I am. Looking forward to opening night, and getting this thing going!!! Hopefully for the next blog update, I'll be able to post a picture of myself in costume or a picture of the set or something. If you're interested in coming to the show, and you're local (NY/NJ), let me know and I'll get you all the details! Until next time....... :D

Another leap of faith..

Tonight, I took, what might be the biggest leap of faith yet. I submitted a video for the Off-Broadway production of RENT auditions.

Here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uniFcO1Rv7Q

Now, I'm going away for a week-so what I need all of you wonderful people to do is go to: www.siteforrent.com and wait for them to post videos of whatever they're going to do, and then go VOTE for me!

If I get enough votes-I get to go to the audition!

Now, you may ask, why can't I just go to the open call and skip all of this voting nonsense? The answer: I'm going to be away while the audition is taking place (unfortunately). So this was the next best thing.

So go, vote for me, help me get this audition :).

My sincere thanks to you all if you go vote, and if I get the audition, you all get a hug! :D

Until next time...

Connecting with the character

Sorry I haven't been around for a few days-rehearsal and babysitting are eating my time like woah.

Anyway...on with the show!!!

Let's do this slowly because a lot happened this weekend, and I don't want to forget any of it, otherwise one part of the story won't make sense to the other part.

So over the weekend, I was in the city for a friend's birthday party. After the party was over, I cabbed down to where La Cage Aux Folles is currently playing. Harvey Fierstein is in it right now, and if you've been paying attention-he's one of my heros.

I didn't get there in time to SEE the show, so I stagedoored it and waited for him to come outside. Now, he wasn't the only reason I decided to do this. Currently, a friend of mine is in the show as well, and I wanted to see him too.

When they came out, I said hi to Harvey (nothing like hearing my hero's voice live in front of me, talking to me and other people. This made me smile SO huge!), and grabbed my friend. While we walked, he was giving me some theatrical advice (Never, ever turn down advice, wisdom, or otherwise when it comes to the craft!).

Here's basically what he told me:

1) enjoy the journey
2) Own every moment you're in onstage
3)don't take lessons just so you can perform them. Take what you enjoy, and learn what you enjoy.

We said goodbye since he had to go home, but he had defenitly planted those seeds in my head that I took to rehearsal the following day.

Now here's where the story makes sense. I'm sitting with my script in rehearsal, and I can still feel the wall between myself, and my character. Since this is only the third rehearsal, this doesn't scare me as much as it bothers me.

I did my character development for her, to make her more real to me. I delivered the information to the rest of the cast, as we were told to, in the first person, telling the character's autobiography. But yet, I still find myself struggling slightly to connect with her.

While I was in school for theatre, we lived by the way of Stanislavski, and basically his take on it is: if you can't connect to a character for the exact situation that they're in, find a situation that's similiar in your past, and connect to the character in that way.

In my life, the only time I've really had to take on the type of role that my character has, is when I'm cleaning and stuff around the house-but when I do it at home, these are things that just need to get done, not because I'm getting paid for it.

I had this problem when I was in Charlotte's Web, too. It took me a few rehearsals to really get into and connect with the character.

The good thing about Maria, though (the one I'm playing now), is that I was able to make her closer to my age and give her this entire real backstory. Where as with Wilbur, he starts the show as a baby with no backstory whatsoever. So when I did my character development for him, I had to go from mid-show and work my way through the rest of his life.

With this, I'm able to do the character's entire past.

I may actually sit down and re-examine what I did with her, and maybe give her a better backstory to help myself connect more to her. I'll also be rehearsing lines in the next few days before the next rehearsal as well.

Whatever I do, I need to make sure I'm at least somewhat connected to this character by my next rehearsal on Monday, or learning my lines will be a bit difficult.

Until next time....

Possible audition?

Today, as I was sitting at the computer, just hanging out after my morning workout, a friend of mine sent me a link: To the open call for American Idiot's national tour!!

WHAT?!!!?? Open casting call!! I'm totally totally there!!!!

But-it's on April 9th. The Heiress (the show I'm in right now) opens on April 29th, so I just need to make sure I don't have rehearsal on April 9th. If I do, obviously The Heiress takes priority and I'm right there at rehearsal. Not a big deal.

If we don't have rehearsal that day though-I'm totally at the open call! It's in Boston, which isn't that far if you think about it, and I would totally be willing to go ahead and go there for the audition.

My only problem now remains to be finding an audition song. Hey, whether I can go to this thing or not, I need to have a rock song for an audition piece, because it's called upon more often than you'd think!

I have two options in my mind that I've been kicking around:

1) Pat Benetar- Hit me with your Best Shot: I used this song when I auditioned for a local production of "Rent" back last May. It was before I started voice lessons, and it wasn't my best performance that I've ever given.

While I do have a vocal coach now, this song proves harder than it sounds, and I learned that the hard way when I attempted to sing it, solely based off of her recording.

2) Black Velvet-I have a long history with this song. When I was younger (like 16), my friend recorded this song on her old demo CD. But, we were always singing this song. And it reminds me of her, and its a lower song.

The problem I have with this one is that I'd need to brush off the part of my voice and brain that does rock songs. All of my training that I've receieved from my vocal coaches (now, and when I was a kid), were all classical Broadway songs, or pop songs, and just an edge of rock- that I had to teach myself, using the tools of the other two styles.

But I haven't had to perform a rock song in a bit, and this is defenitly a rock song.

Opinions are welcome, and all that stuff.

Either way, I'm excited!!!!!

until next time....

The Table Read..

So this past weekend, we had our first rehearsals for "The Heiress".

I love this process, so so much. This is where the work is, kids! Right here is how we actors make it look effortless onstage-because we rehearse it, and feel it out, and make it our own!

We got together twice this weekend. Saturday afternoon, we sat onstage, just a few of us in the cast since the whole group couldn't be there, and read through just some scenes that we were in.

Sunday though, was when things really started to kick off and the rehearsals, in my mind, actually began.

We had to be at the theatre for 7pm so we could all be together, and record the reading so that we could all get tapes to practice our lines (I will not be using this tape-I don't learn my lines like that, but to some actors in the cast, I know that tape will be GOLD!).

I got there late (not my usual habit-I find it rude, disrespectful and very unprofessional to show up to call late!) due to a family dinner that was mis-timed.

Anyway, when I got there, all the chairs were in a circle and a recording device was on a small table in the middle to record us.

This is when magic happened! Being able to hear everyone's voices, to see them breating life into these characters for the first time together. It was a bit of amazing!

As the reading went on -and it was a bit rusty, due to the fact that it was our first reading-, I could see us all getting more into our characters. We directed our voices to each other, and tried to make ourselves blend into this world that we have to re-create onstage for an audience at the end of April.

Listening to everyone, I could tell we were going to be a good group. The director of this production absolutely cast the show correctly (and believe me, I've seen performances, and been in performances where roles were terribly mis cast). And I can't wait to keep going, to get to know my character, Maria, better, and better yet, to get to know my fellow actors better.

Acting is funny- You go into a project with a group of essentially complete strangers (unless you've worked with them before), and by the end of the run of the show, you are a family, with a bond possibly stronger than the one you have with your own family. You have inside jokes, funny moments, memories, and stories that you tell with your theatre family year after year.

That's the great part about rehearsing, you get to mold, get to know your character, the world your character lives in, and get to play with them for as long as you'd like-until the end of the run.

This is just the beginning of a long road-we still have 2 months before we open for 4 weeks and 15 shows. By then..we'll be ready. And I'll keep everyone in the loop of what's going on and everything like that. Maybe I'll even put some pictures here, too :).

Until next time...