September was...

September was...busy, amazing, tiring, super fun, stressful, long, short, exhausting, and time well spent. I did three shows back-to-back-to-back and I am never doing that again (this is where I would LOL)! It takes a lot out of you mentally and physically. Working a 30 hr/week job plus a rehearsal almost every day is interesting because many people would be dreading that kind of schedule. At the same time, most actors are used to it. We have survival jobs that help pay bills and rent, and we get to spend time and energy on being artists. 

In no way will I regret doing the three shows I did.  I had a great time with each cast. It challenged me as a performer. There were a couple of days this past week where I had two school performances for our Charlotte's Web tour and then a dinner show rehearsal/performance later that night. Last week alone, I performed seven times. Needless to say, by closing night of our Enchanted Murder Mystery Dinner Show, I was beat. In the end, it was worth it. I got to play some iconic characters in some hilarious shows. 

Now that I have a little bit of a break, I am awaiting the announcement of the cast for Spotlight's production of Elf the Musical. Playing Buddy would be such an awesome experience. We'll have to see how casting is decided first. In the meantime, I am going on vacation (a much needed fall/early birthday vacation). My destination: New York City! I decided to travel via Greyhound because it's cheaper than flying and I wasn't doing Amtrak again.

I had a huge freakout last night when I tried to print my ticket. Apparently, there was some sort of "broken schedule" and the confirmation number had a glitch. So, I waited and waited through several calls to customer service...nothing. I was told I would get an email with a new confirmation number by this morning...nothing. So, I just decided to buy a whole new ticket for a lot more money...and it WORKED! It's printed and sitting right next to me. The bus should be in Berea in a couple of hours. I honestly could care less if there's a slight delay on the way to Manhattan because I would at least be on the bus. 

Soon, I will be NYC bound for a week. I will get to see Dear Evan Hansen, rush a few more shows, and then maybe get in a couple of auditions. Let's hope everything works out from this point on. Yay Fall!

From One Show to the Next

As mentioned before, I am involved in multiple productions with The Spotlight Playhouse. The Carol Burnett Show had some fairly small audiences, but they grew with each performance and the response was very positive. We got a lot of laughs every night, and that just fueled us more as the run went on. I had worked with many of the cast members in past shows, but I had just as much fun with the others because we all got along so well. It was a multi-generational cast, and we acted as goofy with each other as if we were all the same age. I only hope I have that same kind of fun in future shows as I had with the casts of Clue and Carol.

The insane busy schedule continues as we begin dress rehearsals/tech week for our one-act production of Charlotte's Web. I am super excited for this because I get to portray Templeton the rat along with Lurvy, the Zuckerman's farmhand, and John Arable, Fern's dad. I have really grown to like playing Templeton. He's sneaky, a little mysterious, and so much like Swiper the Fox (Dora the Explorer) that I used the latter as inspiration for my portrayal. I am really hoping to make people laugh with him. 

Thankfully, I do get to focus solely on Charlotte this week. This past week consisted on rehearsals for two other shows (Charlotte and Enchanted Murder Mystery) as well as our final two performances of Carol. You'd think with being in three different shows in a single month, I'd be paid. The truth is that I am not a professional actor...yet. I am sure I have talked about this before, but it's the reality for many artists. We do what we love to do, and that sometimes means not getting monetary compensation. 

Luckily, I have had a steady survival job, but it is one that I don't really want to do for another year. This is why I'm excited for my trip to New York after the dinner show. I plan on hitting up some auditions for theatre companies not necessarily in New York. Money-wise, I am definitely not ready to move to the city. In the long run, it may be wiser to get work with smaller professional companies that have ties with Equity so I can gradually earn points towards getting my Equity card. That's the plan for now, anyway. Let's just hope my work with Spotlight helped me enough this past year with confidence at these auditions...if I get seen, of course. 

For now, it's time to focus on being a farmer, another farmer, and a rat.