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.

Commence new normal

I have Footloose pictures to share, so I thought I'd post an update, too.  Will put the pics in a separate post, though.

School started this past Monday, as did Plaza Academy, and as expected it was a crazy week. It'll take a few more weeks for us to get into the groove of the new schedule, but we're getting there. Finding time for homework is going to be a challenge, especially for the AP and Pre-AP classes both kiddos are taking.

It was also my first full week on the job. I did have two mornings of training (I'm now CPR certified), but spent the rest of the week doing my real job. And had a fairly productive week! I do like my job, and I think I'll be good at it. I plan to front-load my week so I can take off early on Thursdays--our craziest day.

And as though we didn't have enough going on, Ragtime rehearsals started this week! What a wonderful cast!  Only music rehearsals thus far, but holy nugget we sound amazing. I'm excited because I get to be a hoity-toity resident of New Rochelle. Which means I get to wear a hat. And not just any hat. A fabulously over the top turn of the century ladies' hat. Such as those I was so envious of and didn't get to wear in Millionaire.

It's good to be busy, though I think the dogs would prefer us to be less so. The border collie is having some issues with me working all day and then us going to class and/or rehearsal. Need to find her some better toys and chew-things.

Next weekend is the last weekend of Forever Plaid, so we'll have a few weekends of no shows before Ragtime opens. We'll see Arsenic and Old Lace a few times, of course. And we'll have to continue our Fab Friday ritual of getting small ice cream cones at Braums, which started opening weekend after the Friday show. Five Fridays so far, dozens of flavors from which to choose, but each week it's been a frozen yogurt twist, a peppermint scoop, and a caramel apple scoop. We don't stray too far from our favorite things. :)

Also in the pipes: It was nearly a year ago that Mom handed me that stack of papers she'd printed from the Plaza website, and we plan to celebrate with a Woot Day Soirée in a couple of weeks. Woot! One year at Plaza!! It'll be after I get a paycheck, so we might even be able to have some real furniture in time for friends to sit on it!

That's it for now. Will post Footloose pics next.

Ragtime family affair

Much to all of our surprise, we were all called and offered parts in Ragtime :) Norseman will be a newsboy, Sunshine a person of New Rochelle, and I will be Kathleen, the Irish maid. What did I say about my ease with accents? And I've already twice proven I can be a terrific maid. I'm very excited to be doing another show with both my kiddos.

I can't lie, though. I'm still disappointed. But ever since Annie callbacks, I've known without a shred of doubt there's a Higher Plan. I needed Plaza this past year more than I possibly could have known I would. And thus far, the hardest disappointment paved the way for the biggest blessing. Not getting Adelaide was brutal, but now I see that if I'd gotten Adelaide, I wouldn't have gotten Ethel. And it turns out that I really needed Ethel. So I will trust that Higher Plan, trust the producers and directors, and play the best danged Irish maid I can.

With my amazing kids by my side. Yes, this will be a great show.

Is 'Update' too boring a title?

Work. Still on the fence about this. My boss and coworkers are wonderful people, and I'm eager/anxious to become more familiar with my job and gain the confidence I need to do it effectively. This week I spent three days in training, learning Satori Alternatives to Managing Aggression (SAMA) and more standard stuff that every MHMRTC employee needs to know. Friday I was actually in the office for the first time. And somehow Friday was much more exhausting than the three days of often very physically challenging SAMA. Right now I'm still a little overwhelmed.

At least I was able to get the first few days out of the way without also having to worry about getting kids to school. But alas, school starts tomorrow. For the first time in my memory NO ONE is excited about it, not even Sunshine. At one time school was the center of their social universe, but they now have a much wider circle of friends. So we're all sort of stressing about this coming week.

Also this week: Classes start at Plaza Academy. Both kids are on scholarship as interns, and are taking Ballet for Teens AND Audition Prep. I'm excited for them! We couldn't afford classes this semester, so the intern scholarships are hugely appreciated.

Related news: We all auditioned for Ragtime, and were all very disappointed. Which happens in theatre. There is always stiff competition for roles, and in good theatres that's especially so. Plaza is a stellar theatre. Sunshine and Norseman sang beautifully at their auditions (it was Norseman's very first audition ever), and felt they did well on the cold read. Both were complimented on their voices, but neither was called back. I was crazy nervous as usual at the audition, but thought I did very well--better than usual. I was called back for 'various female roles', but didn't understand until I got there that that meant the female roles that were not Mother, Emma, or Evelyn. That I was deemed unworthy of a main role without being given the opportunity to read for it was... really tough. In this case it wasn't actually a surprise, per se, I didn't truly expect to get one of those parts, but I did think I'd be given the opportunity to at least read. Anyway, as a result of my trying not to cry/throw up/scream, I didn't do so wonderful on the stuff I WAS asked to read. Lots of other very talented ladies there did much much better and deserve the opportunity, and new/prodigal faces are never a bad thing, so I don't expect to get cast. Pretty much the only thing I have in my favor is my ease with accents.

Callbacks were yesterday, so the day started out on a rough note, but ended nicely! My sister and mom wanted to go see Forever Plaid, so I got us all tickets. Saturday night shows are always great, especially because that's the night more Plaza alum attend.  Got to see lots of former castmates and give/get lots of hugs. Which I really really needed yesterday.