A Chirstmas Carol (again)

hey folks! if you're reading a new post, it must that time of year again! Autumn, right before the holiday season hits society like a freight train...so i'm back in Omaha, Nebraska rehearsing for the national tour of "A Christmas Carol" (again). I had SUCH a blast last year I was super excited when they asked me back this year. Although, I do have to admit, knowing what's coming takes a bit of the fun out of it initially. there's none of that wondering what to expect feeling right before the first day. this show has been a well oiled machine for 30 years, so it's exactly the same as last year. BUT i had fun last year, so i'm looking forward to more of the same this year. so far, it's a good group. different from last year, but everyone seems talented, and upbeat. then again, i think all of my tours have started out with that statement. we shall see what unfolds!

funny note: i am staying in a house with all the comforts of home...sans the internet. for others of my generation that may be reading this, feel free to shriek out in terror. it's like losing an appendage. i have an inside hookup to get on the internet at the theater, that no one else is to know about (so i'm posting it on the world wide web, nice) so i've been hiding out in nooks and cold hallways to stay out of the public eye.

so that's a pretty boring first post of the tour, but it's been a long day and there's a group of people heaing my way...must run to protect the secret!!

1 week to christmas!!

it's that time of year, when the world falls in love...or at least that's how the song goes.

when you're on the road with a smilie happy christmas show with 40 other people, those lyrics do not your life describe. i'm holding up well...others are not so lucky. there are a few people that are days away from taking a bath with a toaster. nerves are getting a little freyed, and as the imune system wears down from the christmas colds, so does one's patience. this is the easiest gig i've had in a while, so i'm still holding on to my christmas cheer.

we're in macon, ga now. having just come from lenoir, nc where my family came to see the show!! tomorrow we're in charleston, sc, and in 2 days we'll be in florida, and then a quick grueling 3 days of show, show, drive, sleep, repeat and it'll be done! the show is still going well, and provided no one kills themselves on the spilled "milk of human kindness", we're all on schedule to have a merry christmas (knock on wood).

2 weeks to christmas!

I had hoped to post more to this blog on this tour being that all we do is act, and don’t have to be at the theater extra early to load in…but we don’t have internet regularly in our hotels, and from here on out we’re pretty much doing one nighters so the hotels change every day. The good side to that, is that we’re staying in nicer hotels than on my last tour. Now I love me some comfort inn, with the free internet and breakfast, but the sketchy people leering at you gets tiring. With the nicer hotels, comes the nicer cliental.

So, we’ve been bouncing all over new England this whole time. Most recently we were in snow covered Vermont. So pretty! We took a ferry from new york state to Vermont, and didn’t pass up the opportunity to take pictures and make asses of ourselves for the other poor souls for whom the ferry trip was nothing new.

Yesterday we tackled a 13 hour drive day that had been looming over our heads for a while. I lucked out and got the biggest most comfortable seat on the bus and it still wasn’t the slice of heaven I had hoped for. For some ridiculous reason the movie The Great Escape was put on for the whole bus to “enjoy”. Few people were in the mood, and the rest of us suffered through the 3 hours of screams and gunfire. The vote came down to 7 people wanting to watch The Philadelphia Story, and 8 wanting to watch The Great Escape…with our bus driver being the deciding vote. WTF?? I guess it’s water under the bridge now…

Gettysburg!!!



We had a brief stint in gettyburg, pa. Our scrooge is a big history buff and took us on a tour of the battlefields on an afternoon off. It was really wonderful to have someone passionate about something as your tour guide…especially in a place that’s so significant to our nation’s history. He walked us all over the place, and told us details of each battle on each day as if we were a part of it. Terrifying.


That same stay matty (our scrooge) learned that his grandmother had died. He was very upset. He’s very close to his family and was torn with the conflict of staying on the tour or going home for the funeral. this could have proved disasterous for us as a cast (we don’t handle drama well). We always seem to pull it off in the end, or avoid it all together (like in this case) but collectively we run around like assholes freaking out about how horrible the situation is. Ah, actors. Luckly it didn’t come to that, and matty stayed with us, thank you matty!! He broke down and used a computer for the first time ever to write and email a eulogy to his family, and he is going to have us sing a hymn during warm-ups that was played at the funeral.

When we left Vermont yesterday it was snowy and 14 degrees. Now we’re in west Virginia and it’s 70. we’re getting a little sick of the traveling in snow thing, so now we’re getting antsy for the south, regardless of drought conditions. J

Generally speaking, we’re all still getting along…pretty much. We’ve all barked at each other a few times, and some people are more socially awkward than others. But no real new drama has happened since the night we all played a drinking game called Power Hour. Have I mentioned it?? (daddy you may or may not want to keep reading…ask mom first)………………………………………. 60 shots of beer in 60 mins…to music. Few of us made it to the end, but everyone tried, and everyone kept drinking afterwards. We (and by we I mean not me) broke a hotel room, and lost a techie. I woke up with bruises from getting body slammed (didn’t spill the beer). And too couples ended up hooking up and in one of those cases, the girl’s horrible roommate purposely walked in on her with an audience of people to embarrass her…with friends like that…

I’m still having a blast, I’ve avoided the drama to the best of my ability, my roommate and I get along, I’ve yet to be hungover on the bus ( a big no no if you vom), and I’ve made a nice chunk of new buds. 2 more weeks to go and the hard part is still ahead…let’s see if I’m still singing the same tune on Christmas eve.

The Shubert Theater!

happy post turkey day weekend!

after our charlie brown thanksgiving this week, it was off to new haven, connecticutt to perform at the shubert theater for the weekend. not a bad gig :) for anyone not in the bizz, this is the theater that used to premiere the broadway shows before they opened in new york city. it's still a prestigious theater to perform in, but it was also pretty cool to sign my name to the wall with the likes of linda etter, and marlon brando.



the show is really cute, and it's so nice to perform for an adult audience (and children being reigned in by the 'rents). we are in albandy, ny now, and still have a few day time shows for the youngins, but at least this isn't meant to be exclusively children's theatre :)

on an unfortunate note...

i lost my camera cable that allows me to upload all my totally awesome pictures to my computer and post them on my totally awesome blog. boo. also, do to some fraud, i've cancelled my credit card and am getting a new one...so, until i get that new piece of plastic, i can't buy a new cable. and since i'm more of a visual artist than a writer, i'll have to find random pics to throw up here to glam up this entry.

regarding the drama...

apparently what happens in omaha, stays in omaha. nothing as been mentioned about the incidents of the past weeks since we've been on the road...or at least some. the girl with the boyfriend back home is still on the prowl...the boy with the girlfriend still has a herrum, even though the girlfriend was in new haven this weekend, and followed our bus in her own car to albany...it made for a very awkward turtle moment at a rest stop.

new friends!


my roommate molly and i have been bonding with the tech. the tech crew travels on a super cool bus with beds, and internet, and tvs, and lounges, since they never get to stay in the hotels with us. we are hoping to maintain our good standing with them so we can hang out on their bus-they have an xbox!!! they are ridiculous people, and hysterical when you get them together...throw in a social situation of any kind and you have yourself a good time. they even liked meeting the boyfriend! oh yeah, scott came up to see the show this weekend!! horray!! i showed him off to as many people as i could (but still missed a few) and everyone loved him. also, my aunt uncle, and cousin came to see the show last friday and really enjoyed it. it's always nice to have your people in the audience.

we drove from new haven, ct to albany,ny today. no show til tomrrow, so i have a little time to jot down a little something on my blog. the weather is cold and rainy...can't wait to make it down south where it'll be warm and rainy. ;)

happy thanksgiving!!

spent turkey day on a bus driving from indiana to bloomsburg, pa. spent the evening giving thanks with my cast in a charlie brown steakhouse. good food, ridiculous company, and lots of booze and picture taking. good times were had by all. we're now in new haven, ct preparing for a show tonight. more details and pictures later... happy belated thanksgiving!! hope everyone survived black friday :)

Looooong Overdue! (week 2, omaha, ne)

So, I’ve been in omaha, nebraska for 2 weeks today, and as you can imagine, a lot has happened. Please bare with me as I try to catch you up...

The show...

We rehearse 6 days a week for 9 hours a day, so the show is already in preview performances. and we are tired...all the time. And, it seems that we do in fact have a pretty talented bunch! We get lots of compliments from our directors (there are 5 of them) and have been given long lunch breaks, and extra down time here and there because we finish the day’s work early. Even today we were supposed to have another tech/dress rehearsal this afternoon after our morning preview performance at a high school, but they cancelled the rehearsal and gave us the afternoon off. We were so happy (and tired) that we had tears in our eyes. 4 more previews here in omaha, and then we hit the road next Wednesday. We are all very excited.



The cast... (please note, no names are used to protect the “innocent”)

Of course, the gossip mill is churning at full speed. There is drama, there are personality clashes, there is sexual tension and stupid decisions...we are actors, and this is a tour...this is the norm. so where to begin?! There seems to be a bit of a spark between a cast member and someone on the tech crew. This could be very good or very bad. No one wants anyone in tech to be angered…life’s too short to piss off someone who can make your life harder. But, if all goes well, a happy techie is a glorious thing to behold…we shall keep our fingers crossed! Next, we have last week, on Tuesday evening, most of us in the cast and crew decided to go out bowling because we had Wednesday off. And when I say bowling I mean bowling and drinking of course.


We had only known each other 4 days, and were still finding things out about one another. (Please note, I won both games of bowling I played) :) We had only known each other 4 days, and were still finding things out about one another. (Please note, I won both games of bowling I played) :) later we relocated to a local bar...there was pool (my partner and I won our game of pool as well), and more mingling, and $1.50 PBRs (can you guess yet where all the drama happened??) Well, I’m over playing darts when I hear that one of the girls- roughly my age- is at the bar taking shots of vodka and beer. This quickly escalates into -she’s blotto in the bathroom refusing to speak to anyone except the one person she’s been confiding in all night. So by the end of the night, she’s completely passed out on a table in the bar, has to be lifted into someone’s arms and carried to a car. The decision is made to have her crash at another couple’s home so they can keep an eye on her and make sure she’s ok. What a mess!! Nothing has been mentioned since...also weird. Well, while all of that was going on, another girl, much younger, is vying for the attention of a boy in the cast. She’s texting him asking him to take her home with him and whatnot. From what I understand, he has the sense to walk away from the situation, and get a ride home from someone. And just this week she tried to make her move again. Having a boyfriend back home doesn’t seem to slow her “dating” life down. Anyway, that’s a hot mess and I’m trying to steer clear as to not get splashed with drama. In avoiding THAT mess, I seemed to have missed avoiding another mess. PLEASE NOTE everything up til this part has been fact...now I delve into the i-think- he said/she said-portion of this blog. This may land me in trouble. So...once upon a time the other day, the opinion of one actor of another actor was overheard by a third actor, and that third actor seems to be harboring ill feelings for that first actor and 3 of us other actors that happen to be in the car at the time but had nothing to do with the first actor and his/her opinionated conversation. The third actor with the seemingly ill feelings, seems to now group us all together, in what I can gather from his/her demeanor, to be a negative light. This has done nothing to change the way I interact with all the members of my cast. No one has done anything to offend or hurt me. I have a temper, but as of yet, no grudges. I mention this speculation only because I’ve now made a note of individual(s) who aren’t willing to communicate. Life on the road is trying enough, and unless it is brought to my attention by the offended, I don’t believe myself to be an offender. On the flip side to all of this drama, there are some really wonderful people in this cast. I can say something nice about everyone really. But as in any large group, there are certain people I gravitate towards. My roommate on the road, molly, seems to have a very similar vibe to my own. We are pleased. jen, who is a roommate of mine and molly’s here in town is wonderful as well. Both girls are very sweet, and fun loving, extroverted, and have a good sense of humor. John who is my partner throughout most of the show is a riot, and always makes me laugh on and off stage, and brandon is about as loveable as you can get. I mention them specifically, because it seems that we have been blocked to huddle down stage left for the entire beginning and end of the show. We keep one another highly entertained throughout the seemingly endless “street scenes”. But, if too much stage time is what I’m complaining about, perhaps I just have my head up my ass.

Truthfully I don’t really have any serious complaints. These clashes happen when 6 people are picked to live in a house and have their lives taped…whoops, wait…NOT The Real World- these clashes happen when 25 actors are thrown together in close quarters. We laugh more than we scowl, and work more than we sleep. Somehow it all balances out in the end.








To end on a fun note, here is a list of quotable quotes from the cast so far. As you read them, ask yourself, are these quotes meant to be dirty?? Or is your mind just in the gutter??

-at least you know he'll hold on to the bitter end.

-i mean she's really nice sometimes...
everyone's really nice sometimes...
wow, katie, that's profound.

-did someone adlib, some kind of junkie?? (during director's notes)

-twinkies creep me the F*** out.

-i was 18 but it was crooked.

-there's only one finger of love (from the movie Kinsey)

-i just got petted by a stranger.

-my boyfriend is a ballerina...
oh, so you're not a lesbian?

-look ma! it's a squirr!

-facebook sets me free.

-oh my god! that one's got it's mouth open!

-you're growing stronger, medium sized tim.

-if i just change my underwear it's LIKE showering.

-is she smart?
well, she's canadian.

-in the street scene, some people are cofused- like ashtia

-NOT OK!!

-how much??
his entire collection of poison ivy!

A Christmas Carol National Tour...week 1 (Omaha, NE)

it's been about 5 days since i arrived by plane to omaha, nebraska. i'm here to play the small but delightful role of Lucy in Nebraska Theatre Caravan's national tour of the classic dickons story "A Christmas Carol". so from now 'til dec 24, i'll be up to my eyeballs in christmas almost all the time...but getting paid for it, so i won't hate on it.

so far, it's been a much nicer experience than my last tour. the basic jist is the same...one show they do year after year for the last 30 years, the same way, with no wiggle room for changing the lines or blocking. but these people (all the directors and stage managers and such) understand that this is kind of a overly gleeful show and approach the directing from a real place. doest that make any sense?? anyway, it's better, and i haven't had the urge to harm myself or others...yet. :)



the show...

a very traditional version of dickons' story, but with traditional old-timey christmas songs thrown in there. the show is very classic looking, and the songs are beautifully arranged in 4 and 5 part harmony. (there's even a scene with sparklers) plus, it's an all ages show so the performances with be at night and no one has to be dancing a polka at a 7am dance call.



the cast...

a much bigger production as a whole than my last tour. 25ish actors (including 3 very talented small children), 10-15 tech. actors only act, tech only techs...it's kinda sexy. we're driven around in a coach style bus, the tech and musicans are in a sleeper 2 hours ahead of us, and the set travels in it's own semi truck. no actors have to schlep sets in load-in and out unless they want to and it's an emergency. the people are all really nice. no obvious divas, or super high maintainance drama queens. everyone is very well suited for their parts, and really talented. the tenors are true tenors, the basses have a nice full sound, the altos hold a confident harmony, and the sopranos don't sound flat...kinda awesome. i know my super cheery attitude will probably change a bit over the next few months, but i think even if it gets a little negative it'll be ending by that time. 2 months is sooooo much better than 6 months. (duh).

i haven't whipped out the camera yet to take tons of pictures, cuz i don't wanna scare people off. i've warned them i'm a picture-taker, and that time will come soon enough.

omaha...

yes, nebraska. enough fresh air to make you sick. :) the people are nice, and my host family (an elderly couple kind enough to house me and 2 other girls while we're in town) is delightful. ray and laura beth barr. these 2 have lived quite a life. they both have huge families, and have themselves have only been married 11 years. both were married for like 40 years before, and out lived their spouses. there are something like 5 tvs and a huge house we have the run of if we like, but no internet. so currently i'm camped out at a panara with my housemates (molly and jen- both are awesome) using the free wi-fi.

i guess that's all i have for now. the juicy stuff doesn't come til later...gotta get this freak show on the move before the "E! True Hollywood Story" version comes out...*sigh* there's a long way til christmas...