5:08 and I'm still sane

It was a little disconcerting this morning to realize that there was no place any of us had to be today. No rehearsals, no holiday parties. It was almost akin to that weird panic you get when the Internet is out. I may or may not be addicted to going and doing.

It's now nearly 5pm and I've not yet lost my mind, so it's all good, probably.  Laundry is going, kitchen is clean, bathrooms are clean-ish. Vacuumed, ate, emailed. So far a productive day, and I'm still in my jammies.

Norseman did get cast in Sound of Music, though there was a bit of hubbub surrounding that. He killed auditions, did fabulously. He nailed his song and the German accent, and received great feedback that night from the directors. He watched his phone like a hawk on the appointed call day and even the day after, but received no invitation to callbacks. He found out later that he was in fact called back, but for some reason never received the voicemail left by the stage manager. He also learned that only significant roles were called back, so he was more than a little bummed to have missed the opportunity to at least compete for a good role. Instead, he was cast in the male chorus, and will be a solid vocal contribution.

Cash on Delivery is shaping up to be a hilarious show, and I am giddy-thrilled to be a part of it. Now that I'm more familiar with the script, I have to say that even though the role of Brenda Dixon is the smallest, it's the most fun. If I'd known more about the play when I auditioned, I'd have asked specifically for this part.  Brenda is a special mess of crazy, and in my barely ten minutes on stage I get to run the gamut from annoyed, concerned, angry, hysterical, seething, worried, crushed, sad, devastated, tipsy, anguished, surprised, relieved, excited, and lovestruck. I got a 'Bravo!' from a castmate at yesterday's rehearsal. I love this role! And she's a far cry from Ethel McCormack.

A Christmas Carol is heading into its final week. Shows every night this week, closing on Saturday night. I'm already bummed that in one week it will be over, and I won't be playing with any of my Carol peeps any time in the near future. I miss 'em already. :-(

Soon we'll be attending the wedding of two of my Annie castmates (one of whom I bragged about here), which will undoubtedly be a reunion of many shows, as both have been busy Plaza actors for a while. I'm excited for them--they are adorable together.

I am so blessed to know the people and have the opportunities I do.

Ready, set...

The Saturday shows were a little easier. I think most of us at least managed not to cry at all by the evening show. The Tiny Tim grave scene is the hardest.

One good thing: I snagged my script for Cash on Delivery at Granbury Theatre Company. Yep, that's a bit of news I've not found time to blog. I shared my dilemma, but not the outcome.

I did manage to scoot across the street that Saturday to audition for See How They Run. It went very well; I read for all three female parts and even the usually-male Sergeant. They had very few people audition, and I think I did as well as I could have, so I was encouraged.

Cash on Delivery auditions were changed to one-and-done (no callbacks) on that same Saturday. I'd arranged with Luke, the director, to audition for him before the matinee of Ragtime, but when he heard about the sparse Run auditions, I think he figured I'd be cast there, so we didn't take the time to read for Cash.

On Tuesday, one of the producers pulled me aside at Carol rehearsal and said they were very impressed with my Run audition, and really tried to figure out some creative casting options for me, but since the three female roles were all pretty big parts, my Carol performance schedule conflicting so much with rehearsal schedule was just an insurmountable obstacle. Which I totally understand. I'd...um... sort of forgotten... that we had four additional weekday performances... which would obviously necessitate my missing rehearsal.

The next day, I messaged Luke and let him know that if he needed people (he also had slim pickin's as far as auditioners) and could work with my schedule, I was available. He sent me some audition sides, I read for him before our Thursday performance of Ragtime. Then the following Sunday evening, he called to offer me the role of Brenda Dixon, the fiancee of one of the main characters who doesn't show up until half-way through Act II. Of course I accepted. Those rehearsals start next weekend for me.

I'm excited to add another theatre to my résumé, and this is a fun, small-but-juicy comedic role. Miss Dixon is the center of attention nearly every minute she's on stage.

Norseman will audition for The Sound of Music at Plaza on Tuesday, so between costuming Run, Cash rehearsals for me and possibly Music rehearsals for him, we may be running silly for a while.
What a blessing :)

Sadness

Every good parent has them, I think. Those worst-case-scenario dreams where you wake up sobbing, then have to get out of bed and go check on your sleeping babies to make sure they're still with you. Even when the babies are teenagers. Oh how I wish Mark and Debra could wake up, go check on him, and find him snoring peacefully.

Driving back from Oklahoma yesterday, we were still nearly 90 minutes from home when we received word that a family dear to us had lost one of its own. They were on their way to dress rehearsal for Casa Manana's Twas the Night Before Christmas when, out of the blue, 13-year-old Caleb's heart stopped beating during an apparent seizure (he had no history of seizures).

The rest of the day can be summed up in two words: Shock. Tears.

All three of us have shared the stage with Caleb. He was in Footloose, an animated, goofy part of the core dance crew, who delighted in the fact that he could sing the bass part in Mama Says. He and his brother were the boys Yente brings to Golde in Fiddler on the Roof. "They are wonderful boys, Golde, from good families. Each of them a prize, a jewel." He let me pretend to spit-smooth his hair and straighten his vest every show. He was silly and gracious, exuberant and nearly always grinning, and had a snappy, intelligent sense of humor far beyond his years. This pic is from closing day of Footloose.

Last night we opened A Christmas Carol. Nearly every person in the cast has worked with Caleb. It was probably the hardest show most of us have ever done.

Tomorrow is never guaranteed. Hug your babies every day, and live as though it's your last.

My prayers, my breaking heart, and my tears are with the Midkiff family today and months to come.

A very cool dilemma when I think about it

It's only been a month since I last posted, yet I feel as though I've been neglecting this blog. It's not like many people read it--I guess I blog more for my own benefit.

Trying to think of non-theatre news, and have none, really. I've now worked long enough at my job to be able to take PTO time. Um... Norseman got his class shirt and is scheduled for yearbook pics... Sunshine got contacts.  Oh, and I realized it was daylight savings and set my clocks back this morning.

Yeah. That's about it.

Theatre news? Why yes! I do have theatre news.

Ragtime is simply amazing. (Stellar review here.)  (Another one here.) We only have two weekends left, which is kind of sad. It is SUCH a good show, and I imagine will receive multiple award nominations. It's THAT good. We have an equity actor in the cast, so the show will be considered in the Equity category for Column Awards, a first for Plaza.  After last night's show, a man shook my hand and said "You have such a beautiful voice." Which is kind of cool, since I'm a chorus member and have no solo songs. But I am usually the only alto around and sing loud to be heard in a sea of sopranos.

Sunshine's Footloose double, NM, is in A Christmas Carol. She had a double, but said double had to quit the show. So Sunshine agreed to take the role, and double with NM again.  Yes, despite being very mature and deciding against auditioning, she got sucked into the show anyway. :) Tech week for that show is Thanksgiving week, which the kids have off from school. And since I can now take PTO time, I'm already planning to work half days that week.

I mentioned that I'm costuming See How They Run, and that I might have to audition. Granbury Theatre Company is doing Cash on Delivery in the same time slot. Both shows are directed by men who were single-cast in Guys and Dolls at Plaza. I'd love to do both shows, but as I'm costuming Run and it's only 9 miles away, that would be my preference. However, Cash is a great show, too, and I would love to work with GTC. My original plan was to audition for Run on Monday night, and I'd at least know if I was called back before Cash auditions on Saturday. I thought I'd hit a snag when Run auditions were moved to Saturday, no appointment required, auditions and callbacks rolled into one. At the same time that I'm to be in Carol rehearsal. At the same time as Cash auditions.

But I messaged with the Run director, who agreed to let me audition after rehearsal if I couldn't slip away. Yay! Though I suspect he already has people (who are not me) in mind for roles. And I also talked to the Cash director, who invited me to crash callbacks next Tuesday! (!!) *blink* UmWhat? Can you repeat that?  Just come directly to callbacks? Me? *blink* Yep. So I'm really excited about that. Except that Carol rehearsals will be buckling down by then and I hate missing ANY rehearsal and I'm single cast and my absence would be an annoyance for everybody. But I'm not sure how I can pass this up. It's an honor, and speaks to the director's confidence in me. I need to take advantage of this opportunity.

I've consulted my Carol stage manager, and will talk to the director, too. If I'm cast in Run (hah!), it's a moot point. If not (probable), it's a dilemma.

Here we come a Caroling

It appears I have neglected to chronicle an audition/callback/casting! Seems I have a lot less blogging time between working full time and rehearsing Ragtime. And we get to add rehearsing A Christmas Carol to the hecticness... hecticosity... bedlam.

It was sort of a last minute thing--we were all on the fence about auditioning for A Christmas Carol. I had sort of decided against auditioning when Tina asked me to costume See How They Run. However, on the Monday evening of Monday/Tuesday auditions, we all talked it over. Sunshine very maturely and wisely decided that her grades might suffer if she were cast in consecutive shows, so she opted not to audition. Norseman and I... well... we found a backing track for Silent Night and auditioned with it the next evening. We were then called back, and cast! Norseman is Ensemble, I am Georgina/Ensemble. Sunshine has already volunteered to work backstage during performances, but will not have to attend rehearsals after Ragtime opens.

Yesterday we had Ragtime rehearsal in the morning, our first Carol rehearsal in the afternoon, then went to see Arsenic and Old Lace in the evening. In other words, it was kind of an awesome day.

Today was also a pretty awesome day, largely because I never had to get out of my jammies.