Confessions of a Theatre Major

xmas

2010-12-14T15:50:00.000-08:00

i saw two adults give each other pillow pets as gifts. i give up.

hmffph

2010-10-22T13:30:00.000-07:00

i not planning to see the university musical i did't get cast in this weekend. i'd rather go home and see indie movies.

it smells like acting in here

2010-09-22T20:33:00.000-07:00

that pretty much sums up crewing this play. the director blurted it out after bursting into the dressing room before the show. she meant that it smelled like "emoting". im pretty sure it just smells like sweat but too each his/her own.

i missed the hold steady tonight becaus eof this damn show. im over this shit.

giveaway!

2010-05-21T11:59:00.001-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVqqEQCWRqw&playnext_from=TL&videos=MFQSr66XfQI&feature=sub

chill out tent

2010-01-21T18:54:00.000-08:00

so my new found Carpe Diem attitude took a kick to the groin today when while trying to by some cereal and lemonade at the university food court ally ran up to me and asked why wasnt i in THEA 220. "well" i replied "because i was in another class at the same time." " but you need thea 220 to qualify for the theatre bfa."

que panic and crying

turns out the class my advisor told me to take in that time slot was not as important as the class ally was referring to.

why is this so ridiculous? because the class i need to be in. the class my advisor TOLD ME NOT TO TAKE is taught by my advisor. he's retiring at the end of this year so im assuming he's just doing this to fuck with me.

this the song that got me through today almost in one piece. god, i wish i was at some music fest laughing at hipsters right now
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqdT8tIrfEU

thats a wrap

2010-01-20T17:03:00.000-08:00

first day done.

woke up starving and craving oatmeal. which is weird but moving on...

while in the hall waiting for my second class of the day on of the token musical theatre gay boy stormed out of the previous class crying. ITS THE FIRST DAY! anyway, it turns out he had an argument in class with his identical looking(seriously i can barely tell them apart) roommate about sleeping with the tv on. a serious enough argument about wasting electricity at night it brought on a full diva fit by 10am.

the rest of the day consisted of look at syllabus-panic about cost of text book. just copy and paste that about 4 times.

when i got to opera rehearsal i had to ask myself "who are these people?" answer: music majors-the only people more socially awkward than theatre majors. but i will admit they have something on me. i feel like a total fraud being in an opera and not being able to read music. im bitter my parents never put me in piano lessons but for a lot of my life that just wasn't viable option financially. i can match pitches just fine but when i look at the music score its like reading latin, which is unfortunate because some of the lyrics are in latin.

we'll see how this goes.

back in the habit

2010-01-19T18:29:00.000-08:00

tomorrow begins another semester. i'll will try my darndest to get back and really devote myself to it. and also try not to strangel any freshmen who breaks into song.

also, did i mention i'm in an opera this semester and i play a nun.

and i'm doing a burlesque show.

bring it.

a plea for retail

2009-12-28T12:42:00.000-08:00

i've been spending my break (glorious,glorious xmas break) working at a large chain bookstore and cafe in an effort to be able to afford to eat. retail is always an adventure so before my break ends i'd like to reflect a little on things everyone should consider before going shopping.

coupons- i cannot magically make you coupon work if it is expired, does not apply to what you are buying, or the item your buying is already reduced. insisting i "try it anyway" will only lead to disappointment. also, no i cannot give you someone elses coupon that already been used. nor, can i magically look up your coupon in the register computer. print that shit out or suck it up and pay full price.

rudeness- being rude to me because you not happy about your miserable life doesn't make anything better. next time your rude to some low level employee take a sec and imagine what might be going on in their life. chances are their day has been just as bad as yours, probably worse consider you haven't been standing behind a register for 8 hours.

asking to speak to a manager- if after i've pleaded with you and done my best to convince you there is nothing further i can do to reduce your price you'd like to "speak to a manager" i'm telling you now it wont make any difference. they are not going to give you free money just for showing up. all your going to do is make a bunch of other shoppers angry for holding up the line. hope they dont decided to run over you in the parking lot.

that's enough for now.

next semester- Opera!!! Burlesque!!! stay tune.

acting

2009-07-03T10:05:00.000-07:00

acting requires a person to put aside their own morals and beliefs to become another person and in every way embody that character. actors often have to to audition for thing they dont agree with. that being said i absolutely refused to audition for this:

CASTING INFORMATION SHEET6/26/09 PROJECT: CMT “Larry the Cable Guy” – Tiki / Hawaiian Luau Christmas

SHOOT DATE: Wednesday, July 29, 2009
AUDITIONS HELD: Wednesday, July 1st and Thursday, July 2nd, 2009 CALLBACK: TBA AUDITION HELD AT: Moore Casting, LLC, 417 Welshwood Drive, Suite 109, Nashville, TN. 37211Driving directions are available on the web site:www.moorecasting.com

CASTING SPECS – ALL TALENT MUST WORK AS LOCAL’S.Talent MUST be available for blocking, Monday, July 27th, rehearsal, Tuesday, July 28th and show / taping, Wednesday, July 29th, before sending.

Elves (3 or 4) Ages 18 and up – Little people (adults) – under 4’ 10”

Dancers (4) Ages 18 and up – Male and Female, diverse in look and type, ages 18 to 28

Carolers (4 or 5) Ages 18 and up – interesting groups, all male or mixed (male & female), a capella groups, barbershop quartets, glee club, etc. Stand-ins – Ages 18 and up. TBD.
18 and up

This will include looks like; Large Polynesian Men, Fire Dancers, Hula Dancers, Big & Tall - muscular (Off-season football guys), interesting looks. RATE: Union0A Please tell the actors to come dressed the part.NEEDED: 2 headshots / 2 resumes, make sure your agency name is on the headshots. Talent MUST be available for blocking, Monday, July 27th, rehearsal, Tuesday, July 28th and show / taping, Wednesday, July 29th, before sending...Email the photos of the talent you feel fit each character (Categorize). If you have any questions, call us at 615/ 831-0039.

i just couldn't do it on moral grounds. the vision of larry the cable guy filming his tiki Hawaiian luau christmas in july is enough to make my eyes roll to the back of my head. their has got to be better work out there.

sssssh it a Secret

2009-06-12T18:50:00.000-07:00

i downloaded the audio book of The Secret. trying to envision all my wildest dreams coming true. its not easy because i previously thought of myself to be the worlds biggest pessimist. i'll let you know how it goes.

me and gypsy rose lee

2009-06-08T11:02:00.000-07:00

i have this new obsession. i want to become a burlesque performer.

i always like burlesque but i finally realized "hey i could do that" only question is how? the city i live in has a burlesque group but i dont know if they will hold auditions this year because they have a lot of members (also i was on the myspace page for one of those members and she spelled a lot as one word, so i should be given some credit for that)

anyway, if the do have auditions it will be hard because i'll be an hour away at school but i just want it so bad. guess we'll see what happens.

write

2009-05-24T12:17:00.000-07:00

i will write i will write i will write

the fightin' pickles

2009-03-02T12:57:00.000-08:00

yes its been a long time but i dont have Internet at home so yeah.

i had my audition for University of North Carolina School for the Arts last weekend. there mascot is "the Fighting Pickle" and they even have a fight song which is obviously an ironic statement considering that they don have sports teams.

UNCSA is an umbrella school for the University of North Carolina and was the first public arts college. i feared that i would get there and fall absolutely in love with the school and i did. the campus is tiny but just the idea of going to school with all artistic minded people without a nursing major in sight is really tempting . even my mother really liked it and she usually find 1000 problems with everything.

everyone i've talked to insists that its like going to theatre boot camp. which is probably true. i keep thinking that it would be the closest i ever get to attending the high school from Fame.

if i get a rejection letter im going to be heart broken. this tiny school in Winston-Salem, NC has captured my heart and i want to be in an environment that makes me work hard.

positive thought until in get my letter.

Die, vampire die.

2008-11-05T11:05:00.000-08:00

sooooooooo

here's the long over due report about how i did at SETC...

godawful.

besides the fact the girl who auditioned two people before me did the same monologue the pianist played my song lte and made me go over time. and one judge really didn't like me. later i found out that his wife was the judge who didn't like me last year. they produce original shows in Pigeon Forge, TN about the life of jesus

so just as a recap, the people who produce this show dont like me

yeah i was pretty upset. i listened to die,vampire die from the title of show soundtrack about 30 times while driving back home. and that helped me get my frustration out.

so whats up now?

Change, thats whats up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SWNW9BTmC0

It Sucks to be Me

2008-10-08T12:34:00.000-07:00

soooooo

finally finished registering for SETC. Hazah!

i got back into voice lesson boot camp last friday. im considering 2 songs for my 90 second audition- Whats the Use in Wond'rin' from Carousal and My New Philosophy from Your a good Man Charlie Brown. im leaning towards the later because it more up beat and attention grabbing.

last weekend i got to see the touring version of Avenue Q with a friend i had seen it in NY a few years ago and noticed some small changes in the dialogue but all and all pretty enjoyable. it always fun watching the the old folks horror during the puppet sex scene.

i've also set out on a quest to find the shade of lip stick Nora wears in Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist. any ideas?

Life Upon the Wicked Stage*

2008-10-02T10:35:00.000-07:00

South Eastern Theatre Conference or SETC -every year that has auditions, tech job interviews, workshops, Grad school auditions for theatres and universities in the (you guessed it) the south east U.S. It is also a chance for college students to get job in professional summer stock theatre.

right now it is about to give me a stroke. i have to get registered by Oct 8th. registration has to be done online and must include performance resume, training info, tech work resume, professor reference, a recent head shot, and more stuff i cant even remember right now. all that is just to audition at the STATE LEVEL. auditioning at the state level requires either 60 seconds of a monologue of 90 seconds of a monologue and a song.

i figure it always better to do a song because the most summer theatres (excluding Shakespeare FESTs) aren't performing Heda Gabbler and SubUrbia. i all wonderfully cheesy musicals.

the last two years i audition i didn't qualify to go past the state audition. i blame it on my lack of auditioning experience. but this year in auditioning in a new state and i feel like i have my A game on. plus bagging before i audition for the school in applying to will hopefully give me some good bragging material when i do my school audition/interviews

so i am saying this now I WILL QUALIFY FOR SETC AND GET AN ACTING JOB FOR THE SUMMER

*note* the title of this update is a song from Show Boat, not a reference to Wicked the musical-which I'm not abig fan of (look it up)

1776

2008-09-26T16:03:00.000-07:00

i live in a red state. i hate it. i could vote 10 times and it wouldn't make a difference. my states vote swill go republican. i have watched the community theatre i grew up in be closed down for more "important" things. ugh

question: why do so many theatre kids come from red states?

maybe its a the desire to come bursting singing and dancing out of our conservative surroundings so we can go make politically conscious shows that expose......whatever. so on and so forth.

we want to get into big musical theatre programs hundreds(possibly thousands) of miles away from our home states so we can go on to live the bid,shiny dreams.

*theatre kid sigh*

Save [title of show]

2008-09-24T12:25:00.000-07:00

okay this is where i become a complete theatre nerdand beg you to help keep [title of show] on broadway.

fan of the show have started a campaign to keep the show from closing and here are some links w/ details
http://www.titleofshow.com/blog/index.php

http://supertossers.com/

i promise my next post with be more entertaining/enlightening but now im about to crash from a caffiene/saving my favorie show buzz.

what you want pt.2

2008-09-22T15:42:00.000-07:00

gather 'round my theatre kids and watch the downfall of humanity.
http://www.new.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=33265278320&ref=share

*theatre kid sigh*

Nine Peoples Favorite Thing

2008-09-21T13:08:00.000-07:00

Sadness
From Playbill.com

title of show] — the new musical that would rather be nine people's favorite thing than 100 people's ninth favorite thing — will play its final performance at the Lyceum Theatre Oct. 12, the producers announced Sept. 19.

When it closes, the musical will have played 13 previews and 102 performances.

Previews began at the Lyceum July 5 with an official opening July 17.

Originally produced at the Vineyard Theatre in 2006, the entire original cast — including co-creators Jeff Bowen (score) and Hunter Bell (book) as well as co-stars Susan Blackwell and Heidi Blickenstaff — made the leap to the Broadway stage. A Chorus Line's Michael Berresse, who helmed the acclaimed Off-Broadway run, also directs the Broadway version, which features musical director-arranger Larry Pressgrove onstage playing the electric keyboard. (Standbys are Courtney Balan and Benjamin Howes.)

The Broadway staging is produced by the Vineyard as well as Kevin McCollum, Jeffrey Seller, Laura Camien, Roy Miller, Kris Stewart.

[title of show], according to press notes, "takes a thoroughly unique and comical look at the pleasures and perils of the artistic process as two struggling writers [Bell and Bowen] and two struggling actresses [Blackwell and Bickenstaff] take on the seemingly impossible task of creating a new musical about creating a new musical. Now with Broadway as their destination, the quartet's saga continues anew as they face mounting pressures and deadlines, and are nearly thrown off-track by disagreements, day jobs and insecurities in this funny and unforgettable look at the birth of a musical as it finally comes to life on the Great White Way."

The creative team also includes Neil Patel (set design), Chase Tyler (costume design), Ken Billington and Jason Kantrowitz (lighting design) and ACME Sound Partners (sound design).

[title of show] debuted in 2004 at the New York Musical Theatre Festival. Bowen, Bell and Berresse each won a 2006 Obie Award for work on the subsequent 2006 Off-Broadway production at the Vineyard Theatre.

An original cast recording was released on Ghostlight Records, and the creators have kept the show alive through the internet series, "The [title of show] Show," which is available for viewing by visiting www.titleofshow.com/toscasts.htm. The webcast is all about the troupers' seemingly improbable notion of getting [title of show] to Broadway.

Song titles include "Untitled Opening Number," "Two Nobodies in New York," "An Original Musical," "Monkeys and Playbills," "Part of It All," "I Am Playing Me," "What Kind of Girl Is She?," "Die Vampire, Die!," "Filling Out the Form," "September Song," "Secondary Characters," "Development Medley," "Change It, Don't Change It"/"Awkward Photo Shoot," "A Way Back to Then," "Nine People's Favorite Thing" and "Finale."

It was recently announced that The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization has acquired the stock and amateur rights to [title of show]. The Organization will also represent Bowen's score through Williamson Music, which is currently developing a song book that will reflect the latest incarnation of the musical. Stock and amateur rights to [title of show] are not currently available, although when rights do become available, the news will be announced on the R&H website, www.rnh.com.

Show times at the Lyceum are Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at 8 PM, Saturdays at 3 and 8 PM and Sundays at 3 and 7 PM.

Tickets are priced $26.50, $51.50 and $101.50, with the exception of Saturday matinee and evening performances, which are priced $36.50, $61.50 and $111.50. The Lyceum Theatre is located in Manhattan at 149 West 45th Street. For more information visit www.titleofshow.com.

im kinda bummed about this. [TOS] was the show i wanted to see the most whenever i got to go to NYC again. but alas now i'll only get to see it if some miracle happens.

i've listened to the off broadway soundtrack for [TOS] and i really like it and it fits my personality. plus, i can kinda relate( in a odd way) to the whole idea of the show-struggling to make something of yourself, getting past your own self doubt, getting recognized for your talent.

it just sad that small shows like [TOS] and Xanadu have to close while show like Phantom continue to separate tourists from their hard earned money. screw you economy! *theatre kid sigh*

What You Want

2008-09-21T12:09:00.001-07:00

While i was working my internship this summer, i developed an unhealthy fascination with this show.

10 girls competed in "the ultimate Broadway audition" and one lucky girl got to play Elle Woods on Broadway.

some of the giddy girls competing for the prize were:
the token Rocker Chick
The Daughter of the guy who played Squigy on Lavern and Shirley

in the end in came down to the final two:
the vetern struggling actress who had national tour and regional theatre experience

and

The fan favorite small town pastor's daughter.

in the end the small town girl beat out the (probably more deserving) acting veteran. so why am i writing about this? its not that i could ever, ever, ever see my self playing Elle on *theatre kid gasp* Broadway. its because it really was a profile of past and (mostly) current theatre majors since most of the girls are younger than 21.

but my favorite thing to come for this Pulitzer worthy piece of entertainment:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2yoyjJtKWg

Who am I?

2008-09-20T10:39:00.000-07:00

i spent my whole existence wanting to be in musical theatre. but when college rolled around, family crap forced me to be stuck studying theatre at a microscopic state university

Now I'm a sophomore trying to transfer into one of those "awesome" musical theatre conservatories. just trying to find a place that will love(sarcastic, caffeine lovin' , short,) me

the school list:
Millikin

Elon

U. of Michigan

Shenadoah

NC School for the Arts

Gypsy

2008-09-20T10:29:00.000-07:00

"i was born too early, and i started too late"

brilliant

i feel like that sometimes.