Talking of...the Light at the End of the Tunnel

Yes, there is in fact a light at the end of the tunnel I so gladly stepped into on January 5th, 2009 at our first Company rehearsal! Tomorrow night (Wednesday, October 28th) marks the first of the final five performances of Fight Boy Theatre's production of Talking of Michelangelo. Which also means I'm just that much closer to taking a break from theatre for a while. Yes, I have agreed to help out DCT's production of A Tuna Christmas, but that will be in the role of Assistant Stage Manager, and my duties will not begin until November 30th. I will have four whole weeks off! Amazing. I honestly think that will have been my longest break since the beginning of the year.

And what a great experience it all has been! Every director has been different and amazing in his or her own way, each cast has taught me something new about myself as a person and as a performer, and each script and/or score has been a challenge in its own way.

I've also started and - for the most part - maintained this blog and become a theatre critic for The Column. All in all, I'd say a VERY artistically successful 11 months once it's all said and done. No wonder I'm exhausted, though!

So, back to the current production. I have to say, I definitely had reservations and trepidation about stepping outside my comfort zone and into the world of guerilla theatre. However, this experience has been no less rewarding than any other I have had this year! The cast, the script, the director, the...ahem...weather we have had to deal with...all have been amazing. Plus, I've discovered a new love for Art Six Coffee House, the venue at which we perform each night. The space is absolutely beautiful (a restored house with a spooooooky story attached), the coffee is delicious (I need to set up an IV of the toasted coconut blend), and the staff is amazing. Imagine my surprise when I realized that two figures from my brief foray into the UNT Theatre Dept., Olivia and Tommy, run the place!

It has truly been my pleasure to encourage people to support both an indie theatre group as well as my friends' establishment. In case you'd like to check us out (bring weather-appropriate items, dress in layers, etc....some nights are chilly!), we have five more performances: Weds (Oct 28th) through Sun (Nov 1st) all at 8pm! Tickets are $10 for adults and $8 for students, and Halloween night (Sat) is a pay-what-you-can.

Enjoy some photos below that I took at one of our dress rehearsals! Pictured: the muy caliente Kristina Lujan and the man your mother warned you about: Kevin Wickersham.

Hope to see you there!

CHICAGO - Backstage: A Picture Essay

Since this blog is entitled "DFW Backstage," I thought I ought to do my part in making the name logical and take some backstage photos at last night's pick-up rehearsal/benefit performance! Enjoy!

My dressing room spot! Makeup and hair are done, I'm just killing time before they call "Places!" which is when I put on my microphone, costume, and lipstick. (Don't worry, I don't go onstage for a good 15 minutes or so after the show begins!)

Our wonderful dance captain, Whitney, leading warmups! This is a very dance-heavy show, so we spend quite a while warming up.

No final weekend of performances is complete without a cast party! Two of our cast members made flyers with all the pertinent information, and we made sure to let our orchestra members know the deets, too!

Three members of our OUTSTANDING orchestra always arrive early and get set up, go over some tricky passages, and generally heckle us as we warm up. :)

A great photo of "They Both Reached for the Gun" from my spectacular vantage point in the wings!

Very blue shot of one of our prop tables, and the fans used in "All I Care About is Love."

Very green shot of two of our sexy ensemble members, as well as all the spreadsheets with set change assignments, etc. on the wall in the stage left wings.

Assistant stage manager SarahAnn Sutter on headset Stage Left! She's amazing!

The other fabulous ASM, Olivia Norine on Stage Right headset!

Going over my lines and blocking again before I go onstage!! I'm terrified not to do this, because I've had very little time to let this show saturate my brain!

Who's that sexy "Mama?" It's me! I'm ready to go onstage!

This is the final weekend of performances, and it has been such a rockin' good time! I'm going to miss it, but I'll have Talking of Michelangelo to keep me busy for the two weeks after this show closes, so I'm never facing an excess of spare time, that's for sure!

OH and did I mention that Chicago is SOLD OUT? Well, it is! Wahoo! And you can read the review in The Column by clicking here or by clicking on the show poster in my sidebar ------->

Razzle Dazzle 'em

(photo by Khai Ha, NT Daily staff photographer, originally uploaded to NTDaily.com)

Another openin', another show...

Yes, tonight is OPENING NIGHT for Music Theatre of Denton's first show of it's 25th season - Chicago. You may be wondering why I didn't mention that I was a part of this show back when I was talking about auditions and such, or perhaps you remember this post in which I discussed my husband being in the show and me enjoying my nights off.

Well, it's been a bit of a whirlwind three days.

Due to reasons I will not disclose so don't even bother asking me, the original Matron "Mama" Morton in this production needed to step away from the production, and I was asked to fill in—with about 3 days before opening night (tonight).

As you can probably imagine, it's a delicate and potentially awkward situation, but I am good friends with this actress and respect her tremendously as a colleague and as an amazing woman. I am doing my best to fill her shoes and to rise up to the caliber of talent in this outstanding cast while at the same time trying to remember all my lines, blocking, lyrics/notes and trying to match the style of the show and find my inner Mama.

What has impressed and humbled me, though, has been the incredible support I have been shown in the past three days! The cast and crew and production team of Chicago has been welcoming and helpful, and I find myself being hugged backstage, slapped on the butt a few times (ahem, Tyler), and even gently nudged or guided (discreetly, of course) onstage. Talk about making a scary situation easy on a girl!

Beyond that, even, the cast and production team of my other current show, Talking with Michelangelo has also been incredible and supportive. The director is being supportive and accommodating to my suddenly crazy schedule, and he and our leading actress have even offered to meet with me at odd times to work on individual scenes so that I can stay up to speed on that production as well.

Finally, I have been ridiculously impressed with the way the two directors of these two vastly different companies have helped one another out, making absolutely sure that neither show gets slighted in any way, but that each production is promoted and rehearsed to its full potential. That, my loyal readers, is what I think that theatre—especially community theatre—should be all about. This situation, which could have been much stickier, has been not only smooth and pleasant, but incredibly rewarding and uplifting.

So? Here we go. Off to OPENING NIGHT tonight (aka my 4th rehearsal) and kicking off what I hope will be a fantastic and successful run of one helluva show.

Here's a bit of press about Chicago, for your viewing/reading pleasure:

Murder, Fame and All That Jazz - NT Daily Article (10/9/09)
Chicago - NT Daily video (10/9/09)
All That Jazz - Denton Record Chronicle's "Denton Time" (10/8/09)

Outside the Box

"Talking of Michelangelo" image (originally uploaded to FightBoy Theatre)

Due to the recent surge in some of my closest friends and colleagues encouraging me to step outside the box, leave my comfort zone, try something new, etc., last week I went to two auditions that pretty much scared the hell out of me. But, due to the strong desire to have something other than the two (wonderful!) Denton musical theatre companies on my resumé, I swallowed my fear and got my audition materials ready for the week.

The first audition was for a concert version of Show Boat at Lyric Stage in Irving, TX, which will not even begin rehearsals until January of 2010. Lyric is a highly respected company in this area, due to their diligence in producing beautiful productions with full, lush orchestras. The thought of working with a theatre of this caliber, especially after performing my last role to a recorded orchestra, was too wonderful to pass up. I don't have high expectations for this one, especially due to it being my first audition outside of community theatre, well,....ever. I just wanted to feel as though I did my best and gave a good audition. I think that I achieved that. The jury is still out on casting, as far as I know, but overall I'm pleased with the experience and am very glad that I got my first audition for an equity theatre out of the way. It will only get easier, right?

The second audition was for a straight play, which I have not done since high school. I won't even tell you how many years ago that was, but suffice it to say, I'm a little rusty and anxious when there is no big musical number (or several) for me to fall back on! The play is called Talking of Michelangelo, and it is an original work by FightBoy Theatre founder (and friend of mine) Joshua Scott Hancock. This audition was so much more intense - but relaxed at the same time - than most musical theatre auditions, and I really had to step outside my comfort zone a few times. It was incredibly fun - and liberating! - and the eclectic group of talented people that showed up to auditions made me feel very comfortable, and not quite as vulnerable as I was afraid of feeling.

I ended up getting cast as an ensemble role in the play, and our first rehearsal/read-through is this evening. This will be a very short and intense rehearsal process - the show opens on October 21st - and I'm very much looking forward to it.

Finally, I'd like to say congratulations to another of Denton's indie theatre companies, Sundown Collaborative Theatre. They opened Nina Raine's Rabbit this past weekend and have been receiving great reviews so far, both from my colleague Gina Robertson of The Column as well as Mark Lowry from Theater Jones. I hope to catch a performance this weekend, and I encourage you to do the same and support the indie theatres!

The Answer to a Repeated Question

After a relatively short (for me anyway) hiatus from all most things theatre, things have been picking up a bit more momentum lately. I reviewed two shows last week, and the reviews are up online: My Way can be found here, and Funny Girl here. I also have two auditions this week that could not be more different from one another–one is for a musical at an equity theatre (my first audition for equity…aaaaaaand vomit) and the other is for an original play (yes! Play!) written and directed by a good friend.

When I was talking to someone about my busy recent schedule, that person asked me, “How long do you think you’ll be able to perform and be a critic?” I believe my response was a shrug and, “Dunno. As long as I can do both, I guess.”

Here’s the thing–I love doing both. I love being onstage and performing, and I honestly cannot go to a musical performance without aching a little bit on the inside as I sit in the audience thinking “When, DEAR GOD WHEN, can I do this again?” Those of you who are also performers know exactly what I’m talking about. It’s intangible, really. I can’t answer why I love doing it, just like I can’t answer why I continue to do it even when I’m exhausted, frustrated, stressed, etc. It’s just…because.

And on the other hand, I love being, even in my very small, insignificant way, a theatre resource for people. If a review I write convinces someone to go see the show, even just out of curiosity or to see if what I said about the sets/costumes/actors’ performances is really true, that’s fantastic. If one of my Facebook friends clicks on a link to an article or a link to a YouTube performance of something particularly fierce, that’s excellent! If six people read and enjoy this blog, that’s great, too! It also broadens my own horizons. Reviewing gives me an opportunity despite the financial limitations of being…ahem…a twenty-something newlywed to go see shows all over the Metroplex and, who knows, maybe even farther some day. Plus, as someone who has always enjoyed writing and blogging, I’m getting the added professional benefit of having my reviews published in such widely read online publications such as The Column and PegasusNews.com.

However, I know what this person meant by asking me that question. Eventually, despite my intentions and my desire to write with tact and objectivity, I’m bound to someday get on the wrong side of an actor, a director, a choreographer, a producer…you get the idea…and it could very well affect whether or not I’m cast in some places. And that’s fair – it’s their prerogative! My career aspirations are not to make a living on the stage; if they were, I’d stop reviewing now and focus on performing only. My goals are to just keep doing what I’m doing for as long as someone lets me do it. I want to perform as often as my schedule, my day job, my home life will allow – and not necessarily in that order. And I want to continue seeing the myriad high-quality theatrical productions that Dallas/Fort Worth and its surrounding suburbs have to offer.

I also want a million dollars, a new car, and maybe just one pair of Jimmy Choo mary janes…so if someone could get on that for me, I’d be much obliged. :-)

Quick Update

I logged into Blogger this morning and found that I have more followers of this blog now for a grand total of ::drumroll, please::.......SIX! Woo hoo! Hey, you've got to start somewhere, right? I'm just thrilled that anyone stops by here, adds me to their Google Reader, etc. Welcome!

So, I'm enjoying my time without a show right now, believe it or not! I've had time to make dinner plans with friends, catch up on my poor, desperately neglected house, spend time with the puppy, do some leisure reading (in the past couple of weeks I've finished The Time Traveler's Wife and Son of a Witch), and think about upcoming auditions/projects with a much clearer head than I do while in the prep for another show.

My husband is working very hard preparing the role of Billy Flynn with MTD's Chicago, which I hope you will all try to see. Click here for more information on that one. You can safely assume you'll see me, no matter which evening you decide to attend!

"My Way" cast, L-R Brynne Huffman, R. Bradford Smith, Claire Moore, Silas Moores. Photo by Jan Toms, originally uploaded to Pegausnews.com

Kristin Dausch will play Fanny Brice in Lyric Stage's Funny Girl. Picture originally uploaded to Pegasusnews.com

In reviewing news, I have a couple coming up this week...back-to-back, actually, so it will be a weekend of writing for me! The first one is on Thursday night (tomorrow!), and it's a musical tribute to Frank Sinatra entitled My Way. The second is on Friday night, when I will be reviewing Lyric Stage's production of Funny Girl. I am very much looking forward to both of these productions!

Other than that (oh, is that all??), there are a few auditions coming down the pipe that I've got my eyes on, including a straight play (gasp!), and potentially becoming a Local Correspondent for a fantastic new web site that is getting the finishing touches put on it this month called The Opera Insider. Kala and her mom, Carol, started the web site together, and this is a quick excerpt from their "Why We Are" page:

Now, through The Opera Insider, there exists a virtual venue for a local,regional, and international, cutting-edge, focused,intimate,opera-loving, opera-perpetuating community. We don’t and won’t compete with anyone. Opera company websites, sites that provide performance information, even websites that do some of what we do exist; we know that. We invite them to grow and thrive with us, link to us, work with us, and we’ll work with them. Opera bloggers, critics, patrons, singers, technicians, everyone from in front of and behind the curtain, we invite you to join us to create something unique, supportive, and inspiring. We invite you to join with us and become an opera insider.

Cool, huh?? Kala contacted me through Twitter (if you're not following me, start now!) and I'm very excited for what this web site will do for the operatic community - both on and offstage.

So that's it! That's what's been going on around my life lately. I'm really trying to increase following on this blog, so let me know what you'd like to see on this blog, topics you find interesting (related to the performance arts, preferably), etc. Thanks!

Theatre Wish List

I just did one of those theatre survey things on Facebook, and one of the questions was, “What is your dream role?” Wow. That’s a question not easily answered. I’m sure there are tons of roles I’d love to play some day, and some of them are qualified with “…but only if I can sing it with and/or play opposite __________.”

So then, I started thinking about other “dream” situations. Which director(s) would I LOVE to work with? Which local or regional actor/actress? Which roles would I love to sing even though I’m not right for it because of age/gender/ethnicity?

I decided to make my own quiz. Here it is, with my answers, in no particular order and by FAR not complete. Also, by "regional" I mean in the D/FW area and by "local" I mostly mean Denton. Feel free to copy/paste and repost. I’m limiting each to 5 with one alternate…just because I hate choosing only 5 (hey, it’s my survey and I can do what I want!).

Dream Roles – Musical Theatre
1. Aldonza/Dulcinea in MAN OF LA MANCHA
2. Clara in THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA
3. Fanny Brice in FUNNY GIRL
4. Dot in SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE
5. Eliza Dolittle in MY FAIR LADY
ALTERNATE: Annie Oakley in ANNIE, GET YOUR GUN

Dream Roles – Plays
1. Amanda in A FEMININE ENDING
2. Jacqueline in DON’T DRESS FOR DINNER
3. Corie in BAREFOOT IN THE PARK
4. Harper in ANGELS IN AMERICA: MILLENIUM APPROACHES
5. Catherine in PROOF
ALTERNATE: Maggie in CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF

Directors I’d Love to Work With (mine are all local/regional)
1. Terry Martin
2. Emily Scott Banks
3. Bonnie McCormick (again)
4. Tashina Richardson
5. Dennis Sloan
ALTERNATE: Bill Kirkley (on a play this time)

Local Actors I’d Love to Work With
1. Kenny Fudge
2. Kevin Wickersham
3. Justin Harmon (again)
4. Tyler Donahue (again)
5. Joseph Montgomery Brown
ALTERNATE: Buster Maloney

Regional Actors I’d Love to Work With
1. Regan Adair (who intimidates the hell out of me because he’s so good)
2. Tom DeWester
3. Donald Fowler (I’d be rendered speechless in front of him, though, so not likely)
4. Christopher Deaton
5. Dan Forsythe
ALTERNATE: Keith Warren

Local Actresses I’d Love to Work With
1. Stephanie Felton
2. Erin Turek
3. Jeannene Abney
4. Jennifer Ehrhart
5. Olivia (DeGuzman) Emile
ALTERNATE: Sharon Barnhill

Regional Actresses I’d Love to Work With
1. Jessica Wiggers
2. Delynda Johnson-Moravec
3. Sara Shelby Martin (I never know where the hyphen goes)
4. Stephanie Hall
5. Marianne Galloway
ALTERNATE: Kayla Carlyle

Songs I’ll Never Sing (within the show)
1. “Wheels of a Dream” – RAGTIME
2. “A Call to the Vatican” – NINE
3. “Tonight” – WEST SIDE STORY
4. “Maybe This Time” – CABARET
5. “Being Alive” – COMPANY
ALTERNATE: “Man of La Mancha” – MAN OF LA MANCHA

Now…what are yours??