Wednesday, June 28, 2006

I'm Such a Bad Daughter!

Crap! My mother's birthday was yesterday.

In truth, I really did not "forget" her birthday. I did call her shortly after JD departed. I got her answering machine, and I was not expecting her to not be at home. Honestly, I was momentarily stunned. Should I leave a message? What type of message? A simple, cheerful "Hi! Happy Birthday Mom!" or should I belt out a stirring rendition of the Birthday song? In Spanish even....

Instead, I simply decided to hang up and call her on my way back from rehearsal. Yeah...you know how this story goes, don't ya? Been there yourself? Yep, I totally forgot to call. And now she's out of town for a week and a half!

I am such a bad, bad daughter.....

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Tuesday

I had an early wake-up call this morning. (Well, early for me, as of late. No reason to get up with the sun if you've no job, right?) A very good friend of mine, JD, was in town and wanted to know if I was interested in getting together to catch up our perspective lives. I mumbled a sleepy "Sure." and asked what time. My door bell rang, right on cue. I threw on firecracker boxer shorts, my Miss Firecracker t-shirt and red flip flops (nothing wrong with a little self promotion is there?) and we headed for coffee at Casanova's.

Later, after a shower and proper clothing, we then checked out The Lake House. It's very sweet and romantic (your typical "chick" flick), if you don't think about the plot. If you even put one moment's thought into the storyline, you will ruin the essence of the film. My advice is to simply watch, and for godsakes, Don't Think!

JD and I had a lovely day, and I was forgiving that he woke me so early, even though I lost about an hour and 45 minutes of beauty sleep. He will be very busy with July 4th festivities, and, based on the "catching up" part of our coffee conversation, I suspect there are some challenging hurdles in his immediate future. Still, it was great hanging with him!

Ken wasn't at rehearsal tonight because he is actually going through with auditions for Debbie Does Dallas: The Musical. I just gotta say that he has much bigger balls than I do. (Wait...what?)

Saturday, June 17, 2006

The Big Terrible Frog!

Last night, after dropping Mallorie off at Cotton Patch Gospel, I decided to take Cade to see "A Year With Frog and Toad" at Theatre Alliance. The show was memorable for both of us, but for different reasons.

As I was not quite sure what to expect, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I really enjoyed the show. The show is based on the kid's book, but I really got involved in the story. Credit for that goes directly to the fabulous actors. Tim Brown and Mark Armstrong, who played Frog and Toad respectively, were wonderful! My absolute favorite character was Turtle played by Emily Mark. She was dancing and singing to one number (about Toad's bathing suit) with such energy, and she never lost a beat. She was absolutely fabulous! I was very impressed with the production.


For the most part, Cade enjoyed the show. He was very empathetic upon learning that Toad had never received any mail. (Cade yelled out that he would send some to him.) During the second Act, Frog tells Toad the story of the "Big Terrible Frog". Right on cue a BIG FROG with RED eyes appears in the doorway, filling it completely. The frog's arms are waving up and down and smoke is coming out from all around. Cade decided right then and there that he wanted to go home.

We did stay for the whole show, though Cade would look over his shoulder for the big terrible frog. As I knew everyone in the cast and crew, I took Cade on stage and found Jeff, who designed the big terrible frog. He took Cade backstage to explain the frog was really chicken wire and paper and that he and David were the ones who moved his arms. Cade still didn't want to go near the frog!

As you can see, the cast did talk Cade into taking a picture with them. Upon seeing his picture on the fridge this morning, Cade looked over his shoulder to make sure there was no big terrible frog behind him!

Thursday, June 08, 2006

I'm Not a Nurse

We had a typical Thursday night performance. I had some difficulty getting back into character. Eric noticed too. Apparently my Jersey accent was just a tad bit off. So, I think I'll use the accent all day at work tomorrow! (Hey, it's not like they are going to fire me!)

In this pic, Alice is explaining to Christian that "I'm not a nurse. I'm an in-home health care worker."

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Southern Jersey Charm

Tonight at "Firecracker" rehearsal, Randy asked me if I could do a Southern Belle accent, you know the kind,voice just dripping with schooled Southern charm. I told him I certainly could, but he'd have to wait until next week. In "Open Season" I use a New Jersey accent and don't want to go back to the show mixing up my accents. (There is one particular line that I find very hard to deliver in a Jersey accent. It usually comes out sounding very Southern!)

Anyway, Thursday performance tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it. I've missed the cast and Eric!

Monday, June 05, 2006

Read Thru, The Miss Firecracker Contest

Ken is running spotlight for Theatre Alliance's "A Year with Frog and Toad" so he wasn't at read thru tonight. But the rest of the cast was:
Abby Cockman is Carnelle
Libby Maddox is Popeye (she was really good at callbacks)
Megan Hoffman is Tessy (she was also great at callbacks; very versatile)
Robbie Spencer is Mac Sam

I'm feeling a bit "out of the club". Abby and Libby are drama teachers, and Robbie graduated with Randy from UNCG. Megan is currently a student at UNCG having just changed her major from music to theater. Ken also has a background in theater; he directed several shows in college. So I'm the only one who never studied theater at an institute of higher learning. I just hope I can hold my own.

Saturday, June 03, 2006

Auditions, The Miss Firecracker Contest

Well actually, today was callbacks for "Miss Firecracker". Auditions were this past Tuesday and Wednesday, but since I was in tech, Randy agreed to let me read at callbacks. So Ken and I rode together to Greensboro.

Ken was the only guy at callbacks, which is a very good omen. Ken is a great actor, so I've no doubt that he will get Delmount; he read very well for the part. I read for the part of Elain. (Delmount's sister.) There was one other woman that read for Elain. She was okay, just a little stiff. Randy said he had seen enough and could cast today and let everyone know.

Just a little bit ago, Randy called and offered me the part of Elain. I accepted. I just hung up with Ken. He was offered the part of Delmount. So,this will be the 3rd show Ken and I have done together, and I'm continuing my streak of jumping from production of one show into rehearsals for another one.

Okay now to relax before the second performance of "Open Season"......

Friday, June 02, 2006

Opening Night, Open Season

Last night's "Who will play the part of Christian?" only added to my usual Opening Night jitters. I took the day off from work and got a few extra zzzzz's this morning. Since I usually am not able to eat dinner before a show, I decided to breakfast at my favorite breakfast joint....Mr. Waffle. (I figured the two scrambled eggs, bacon, hashbrowns-because I do not do grits-and pecan waffle with coffee would sustain me for the day.) Then I spent the rest of the day relaxing. Oh, and I received a wonderful, and much needed, massage.

We all got calls around 5pm advising that Chad had recovered enough and would remain our Christian. I was very happy to see him.

Opening went very well and we had a nice sized house. They were a very responsive audience. I was a bit nervous, but as soon as I spoke my first line, I was okay. I even got a few laughs. (Who knew an in-home health care worker from Jersey could be funny?!)

We were supposed to have the cast party at Jim's house, but it was changed earlier in the week. The Opening Night cast party was in the scene shop. There was food galore and specialty brewed beer. Eric (our makeup guy) and Ryan (our costumer) were absolutely hilarious! I hung out with them and had so much fun! I laughed so hard my sides started hurting.

Now I've got to take this horrible stage makeup, that has been absolutely CAKED on, off. This may keep me up for another few hours!

Thursday, June 01, 2006

Final Dress Canceled, Open Season

This afternoon we all got calls from Elizabeth, our stage manager. Chad is sick. He wasn't well enough for final dress tonight, and there's a very real chance that he won't be well enough to do the performances. A Little Theatre regular, Mark Boynton, was there tonight to assume the role of Christian, should it become necessary. So we canceled the final dress audience and did a walk/run-thru to get Mark familiar with the blocking. I have to hand it to Mark. He's very brave to be coming in this late in the game. Most likely he'll have to carry the script during the first weekend of performances. But we've been told he is a quick study and should be off book for the second weekend.

I'm kinda bummed though. I've seen Chad in many Little Theatre productions and I think he is a wonderful actor. I was really looking forward to sharing the stage with him. Chad, I hope you get better!