This article mentions some directors I've enjoyed working with...

As of tomorrow it's back to WI to begin work on the 2nd.  How did two months go by so fast?  Do I really have to start working such long hours again ALREADY?

Tags: Milwaukee Repertory Theater, American Players Theatre

EEEEEEE!

The Hobbit is being made by my beloved Peter Jackson!

Read about it here.

Tags: The Hobbit, movies

new media shiny

I only ever watch TV online or via DVD these days.  I'm a member of Blockbuster online, and certainly enjoy all the Angel, West Wing, and Battlestar Galactica episodes I've seen because of it.  On CWTV.com I watch Gossip Girl, and on ABC.com I watch Desperate Housewives, Ugly Betty, Samantha Who?, Notes from the Underbelly, October Road, and soon, LOST.  And of course, I occasionally watch Scrubs on the NBC website.

Then there's YouTube

Then there's Joox.net.

Then there's Hulu, which just invited me to be one of their beta members.  And provides us all with such new exciting possibilites as embedding a lovely video into my LiveJournal (but not AOL, cuz they suck sometimes).

Which is why I left feedback on each of these websites in support of new media and in support of giving the writers their fair share.  Why boycott when instead you can talk about how vital new media is becoming?

Tags: WGA Strike, Firefly

hrm

So, Roswell seems like one of those shows that I might kinda enjoy.  And thus, I shall start watching season one.  Remember when the main guy in it was Buffy's friend Ford?  He was annoying.

Anyway, back to my point.  Is this LEGAL?

In Praise of the WI Actor

From Chicago's Theater Loop:

Ever heard of James Ridge?  [yes..]
How about Lee Ernst   [yes...]
or Jim DeVita?   [yes...]
Maybe Laura Gordon    [yes!]
or Sarah Day?    [yes!]

All people I've worked with, in fact.  And thus, reading about WI theater is interesting to me, and should be to you, too!

pre-teen at heart?

From Beth:

1. Put your music player on "random." Skip songs with not-very interesting titles (such as "Concerto #4 in E minor").
2. List the titles of the first 25 songs to come up.
3. Put "in my pants" after each title.
4. Bold the ones that actually made you laugh.



1.  My Immortal in my pants (Evanescense)
2. Sympathy, Tenderness in my pants (Jekyl & Hyde)
3. Brick in my pants (Ben Folds Five)
4.  Lovely in my pants (A Funny Thing....Forum)
5.  Surabaya-Santa in my pants (Songs for a New World)
6. Only Got One in my pants (Frou Frou)
7. Come Away With Me in my pants (Norah Jones)
8. The Abduction in my pants (Man of La Mancha)
9. God Only Knows in my pants (uh... some Oldies group...?)
10. Annie Waits in my pants (Ben Folds)
11. Two Lost Souls in my pants (Damn Yankees)
12. Life Upon the Wicked Stage in my pants (Showboat)
13. Elephant Love Medley in my pants (Moulin Rouge!)
14. What a Waste in my Pants (Wonderful Town)
15. Oh, My Mysterious Lady in my pants (Peter Pan)
16. One of a Kind in my pants (Once Upon a TIme in New Jersey)
17. Follow Your Heart in my pants (Urinetown)
18. Those Canaan Days in my pants (Joseph...)
19. Confessions of the Vampire (The Insatiable Appetite) in my pants (Dance of the Vampires)
20.  Getting to Know You in my pants (The King & I)
21. So Long, Farewell in my pants (Sound of Music)
22. It's Love in my pants (Wonderful Town)
23. Brighter than Sunshine in my pants (Aqualung)
24. Walk Through the Fire in my pants (Buffy: Once More, With Feeling)
25. Not Big in my pants (Lily Allen)

more WGA fun

love your writers

I like this site.

retracting the GRR

My anger the other night was apparently all due to a mistake.  Not on my part.  This makes me very surprised, because even though I hoped that, I didn't think it was at all true, and thus very relieved.  All's well that ends well? 

Yesterday Mom had XPN on all day long, which annoys me in general, but they played some Feist, some Postal Service, some Regina Spektor, AND some Ingrid Michaelson - my new favorite!  Apparently, she's their "artist to watch" right now, which makes me very happy.  See, my boyfriend, Zach Braff, recommended her to me, and he was right; I lurves her.  My current profile song on MySpace, "The Way I Am", is my favorite song of the moment.  And I found her first.  Just thought I'd share.

GRR.

Okay.  Deep breaths.  I can breathe correctly using my diaphragm; can you?

glorified deleted scenes?

Nonetheless, I shall enjoy these.

Rain at APT?

What?  I don't remember any RAIN.  (Please note how firmly my tongue is stuck in my cheek)

From the Capital Times

Tour is OVER

...and I'm home.  Nonetheless, here's one final review of The Merchant of Venice...

I'm glad it's over, but was sad to drive away from the people I spent the past 6 months with.  Can't wait to see them next May!

things that make me happy: last day of tour! tomorrow, that is. we have one final load-in, show, and load-out. I am SO excited to go home next week! Methinks I'll be home in PA by Wednesday. Our last hotel room, here in Madison, is the most AMAZING room I've ever stayed in. I'm a bit in love with it; Marcie and I turned into 13-year-olds when we walked in and saw it. I'd like to jump on my bed, just cause I can. Then I went to check my (free) e-mail, and I had an e-mail from a dude working at Leinenkugel's saying he likes my Leinie's pics on Flickr - ha! It's true; I DO love the Leinie's. Now if Furthermore would contact me too, and New Glarus, I'd be SUCH a perfect supporter of Wisconsin beers. Yum. Our pool has palm trees in it. There's a DSW across the street. Time to go play.

this just in

My next tour: The Bachelors

Meanwhile, I'm now in Sauk City, and week two of tour in our fourth hotel room straight is beginning to feel strange.  SO close to Spring Green...yet so far.
This weekend: Milwaukee!

on the road again!

It' official; I'm on tour again!  First stop is Wausau - since it's our first top we're teching the show here, so I'm actually ere through Thursday.  Looking t our tour schedule again, I realized that I will be working CONSTANTLY.  No short days on this trip, and no real days off to speak of.

I had to pack my life away this week and move out of the Convent, so my life is now in my car, parked at APT.  I'll see it again in about 3 weeks.  Have I mentioned that I'm tired of having to move every 6 months?  This is silly.

Anyway, that's the big news on my side.  YAY TOUR!

shout-outs to Class of '05

Methinks George was one of my favorite people in my Directing class senior year.  Here's an article about him!

unposted entry from Tuesday

APT season - done, done, and done!  "Timon of Athens" closed last Saturday night, "Misalliance" closed on this Saturday night, and "Much Ado" closed on Sunday night.  Oh yeah, and "Merchant" and "Night of the Iguana" closed somewhere in there, too.  Which means that I now have this week, Monday through Thursday, before I have to work again!  Although I DO have to move my stuff, and stuff.  So today I'm in Milwaukee, having brought a load of stuff to put in a smaller storage unit, and moved what was in my old storage unit into the smaller one as well.  I got to have lunch with the "Christmas Carol" SM team, and tomorrrow I drive to Chicago to FINALLY visit Lauren the way I was supposed to months ago.  And right now I'm sitting in Starbucks, enjoying my laptop.  I was very productive, having officially changed my mailing address, responding to some piling up e-mails, labeling my new Flickr photos from closing weekend, etc.  Now I need to cancel some magazine subscriptions.  I may also go to Borders; we'll see.

Speaking of books, I've been reading like a fiend recently.  Steph has been lending me books she thinks Ill enjoy, based on my vampire THING.  So she lent me The Historian, which was a good read, although I didn't enjoy it AS much as I thought I would when I was 200 pages in.  However, as soon as I finished that, with one week of shows left, she told me I HAD to at least read the first of Stephanie Meyers' series, which starts with "Twilight"....so I read all three books in the series that have thus been published, in the course of a week.  And now I'm very MAD that I have to wait for next year for another one of her books in the series to come out.

I mean, the first book was very enjoyable romantic fluff that dealt with, yes, vampires.  So then I'm eager to read the second book, "New Moon", which actally really pissed me off.  It was SO anti-girl power.  Now, I know these books are for young adults and are mainly fluff, but do we really need to be teaching girls that life is meaningless once your boyfriend dumps you?  Uh, yeah, it made me a bit mad, but there were other parts that I enjoyed and was annoyed at their lack of resolution by the end of the second book, so I HAD to read "Eclipse".  Umm, welcome to my new obsession.  I was HOOKED and very saddened by the ending and cried and now I wan another one to read!  Grr.

Time to be productive again.  Before I go, though:

-awesome exit interview with Evelyn last week.  yay.
-Steph is going to be deck chief next summer!  YAY!
-Sharon and Jessie got engaged on Saturday night!  YYAAAAAYYYYYYY!!!!! (I teared up and shoveled chocolate into my mouth when she showed me her ring)
-I kinda love an entire company closing all of it's shows within the space of a week and having it be closing for EVERYONE all at once.  it's a lovely sense of community.
-it's so bizarre being in a city, small though Milwaukee may be.

things that made me less cranky tonight

-talking to Steph
-listening to Regina Spektor and Ingrid Michaelson
-Jon Stewart

more of a rage, really

to say that i am currently cranky would be the world's biggest understatement.  ever.

new fluff

Every once in a while you need some new fluff to be strangely drawn to, right?  Well, my new strange joy comes from Gossip Girl, and my excuse for enjoying it doesn't even have to do with the fact that it's narrated by Kristen Bell... it's just..fun candy! 

But speaking of new TV shows, last night Steph pointed out to me that I should be checking out CBS' new vampire series, Moonlight, because, well, it's about VAMPIRES.  So I headed over the site today to see what I could watch online, clicked a few things, did some general browsing before I decided I will, in fact, watch an episode, and THEN looked more closely at the main picture they have up... and looked again.... and I think there should be a bright green arrow pointing at the fellow on the right, because HI, LOGAN!  I love you.  Will you be mine?  The end.

Penny-pie

NY Times article...

... on Robert Jordan.  I found this article through theonering.net - go figure.

And then George RR Martin weighed in on his blog, too.

"May you shelter in the palm of the Creator's hand...

...and may the last embrace of the mother welcome you home." - Robert Jordan

Once upon a time, I wrote this journal entry.
Well, it's happened; Robert Jordan died yesterday.

His Wheel of Time series has been a... very large... part of my life.  I started it in 5th grade, reading books 1 through 5 as we moved from Pittsburgh to Bucks County.  I used to read it to my mom on long car rides.  I was reading the series when I started high school, still reading it my final year of high school, and still reading it my first year in Milwaukee.  He was working on book 13 of the series, the final book, when he passed away.  I don't have words to describe the impact those books have had on my life, really.

R.I.P., RJ.  Thank you for writing these books.

-Neil Gaiman on RJ's death
-Yes, there will be a final book
-Donations
-Obituary


On a much lighter note, I had a really wonderful visit to Milwaukee this weekend, and came away with a LAPTOP.  And now I must go play with it.

some more Timon stuff

"funny, irreverent stuff": Vital Source

"Mani gives what will be the defining performance of his career": Shepherd Express

dear weather gods,

ALERT 1 - Freeze Warning

FREEZE WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 1 AM TO 8 AM CDT SATURDAY

Event Start: 1:00AM CDT, Saturday Sep 15, 2007
Event End: 8:00AM CDT, Saturday Sep 15, 2007
Details

Some of us are still tryin' to do some outdoor theater over here in Spring Green; this 30-degree weather is WAY unacceptable!

i say i'm from philly...

but...

You are 89% Pittsburgh.

 

Great job! There's nooooo doubt about it.  You're from Da Burgh.  You deserve a reward, so go have an Ahrn City or two.  And GO STILLERS!

How Pittsburgh Are You
See All Our Quizzes

I guess something from those other 9 years stuck.

new news

So, turns out I'm going on tour with APT's production of Merchant of Venice after all.  A crew person dropped out, so I'm stepping in as basically a PA.  Not usually my job description, but methinks touring with APT will be enormously helpful in thinking about tour managing for the Rep again.  So the news is yay, because touring is fun and I love per diem and I love spending more time with people I love... and boo because now my face won't be seen on the east coast again until sometime after November 5th.

There's the news, and here are some pictures.  :)  The newest ones are at the bottom.

musical theater is the key

What Kind of Guy Will You Fall For?
	You would fall for the sensitive guy. You'll find your future man wherever turtlenecks are sold. He will have depth, introspection, and a disturbing knowledge of musical theatre. And he may be a little weird. But hey, while your girlfriends cry over broken hearts, you'll be having Shakespeare read to you every night.
Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com

<dorkyness>

There's no good reading material at the bathrooms at work, so I have to entertain myself by thinking.  Dangerous, right?

So, I was thinking about the title of my last post, inspired, of course, by LOTR, and thinking... if I ever get a cat with large large paws, I will name him/her Hobbit, and explain that it's because of her big furry feet.  And then I'll point to her tail, and exclaim, "Look, it's A HOBBIT'S TAIL!"

Get it?  GET IT?  A Hobbit's Tale?  By Bilbo Baggins?  HAAAAA.  I crack myself up.

 

</dorkyness>

there and back again?

!!!!!!!!!!

 

Who's with me?

meh

And a random blog entry that points out how unknown/undone Timon is.  Shout-outs to APT are good times.

on "Timon"

Review from the State Journal, and from Journal Sentinel

there are things...

There are things that it is VERY, VERY silly to get hurt by.  I recognize this even as it makes me hurt and have a sad feeling somewhere between my heart and stomache.

This has happened at least 4 times in as many days. 

VERY, VERY silly.

Why is that?

 

There are many upsides to the past few days.  But still... there are days when your life clouds over.

yay APT

I'm pretty damn proud of this theatre I work in.  I find new things to be wowed by every week.  Last Saturday, both shows of the day were rained out sometime after intermission... but it's always pretty cool that there's an enormous audience sitting out there patiently waiting, without umbrellas, in the pouring rain, for an announcement to be made about whether or not the show will continue.  And we call 700-member audiences here "small".  Ha!

Last night Night of the Iguana (not my show) opened, so of course I went to see it even though I watched it all through tech.  And it was BEAUTIFUL.  Practically every actor (especially Bobby Spencer) got applause just by walking on stage and being recognized by the audience.  That's NEAT.

It was incredibly windy and the cicadas were loud, so it was sometimes a challenge to hear, but the wind in the trees complimented the end-of-Act storm created by lighting and sound perfectly.  And apparently, although I didn't see, at the very final moment when the stage fades to black over Colleen Madden and Bobby Spencer, an amazingly beautiful moment in itself, you could clearly see a shooting star in the background over the woods.

Sigh.  Makes me pretty excited for the meteor shower tonight, because I've never seen starry skies like these before in my life, so it promises to be amazing out here.

Timon of Athens opens this next Saturday.  We had our first preview on Friday night, and I'm pretty proud of it and ready for it to open.

I uploaded new pictures today. 

The end.

YAY geekdom.

This makes me want to dance with joy.

YAY Neil Gaiman.

twice in two weeks... where do we go from here?

Okay, speaking of things coming to an end....

Goodbye, Harry Potter.  I finished the final book last night, and it took until this morning for me to realize how very sad I am about it.  Okay, so it certainly hasn't consumed as much of my life as The Wheel of Time has, but it's been shared with SO MANY people and the characters make me so proud, that it still makes me tear up reading reviews of the book and even looking back on old pictures from the first MOVIE.  Which I don't like that much.

I won't write more, because I just had a full day (tech for Night of the Iguana...) and I need my sleep for tomorrow.

*Sigh.*

Salon Review (Spoilers)

Harry Potter in MY life

much-needed time off

I really wish AOL Journals would add more mood options.  Seriously.  These are the same options I had back in 2002, when I started this journal (and was working on The Fantasticks at MSMT...)

This week was long, as is every other week, really.  I think it felt longer because I had 3 performances of Misalliance this week, as opposed to the normal 2 we'd been having.  This week is another 3-show week for us.  Timon rehearsals are going well; we finished staging Act II on Sunday so it's all about run-throughs now.  If I haven't mentioned that it's the heaviest prop show of the season, well, it kinda is.  Night of the Iguana, the other second rep show, is probably at a tie with it in number of props right now, but seriously...these are BIG shows!

Timon, at least, is rather short, and will clock in at about 2 hours with a 20 min. intermission.  I like it much more than I thought I would; I think Kate's adaptation is very successful and being in rehearsals was a lot like being back in my favorite Shakespeare class, Shakespeare's London, with Andrew Tidmarsh.  Good times.

The weekend was awesome.  Ev made me take Saturday off, since it was a two-show day for Much Ado and Merchant, and she knew how many hours I'd been working (I clocked in at 60.25 hours this week...even WITH Saturday off completely).  And that doesn't include time spent at work eating.
Anyway, so Laura came up on Friday night, sat in for a little bit of Timon rehearsal and then saw my show.  We also had a nummy dinner at Culver's and went to karaoke.  Then I got to sleep til 11:30 the next day, before we went to the General Store for breakfast... where I ran into Lauren and Venessa and two other friends, who invited me to go swim in the river with them and have a cook-out at their campsite for dinner.  So I did, and it was GREAT.  I'm gonna go swim in that river every chance I get from now on!

Sunday was back to work for rehearsal and a show, Monday was a slow and sleepy day off, and today is a Daylight Day of Rest before I head in for a 7:30p show.  I better get some paperworkdone during the show, cuz I'm kinda behind...

Harry Potter has been ordered, but hasn't arrived yet.  In the meantime, I'm trying to console myself over the ending of Buffy with some Angel and some Slings & Arrows (which I found in my living room and really enjoy)... but it's not the same.  I hate that feeling!  Good things need to stop coming to an end.  Unless they're written by Robert Jordan, in which case, I very much hope we get to see an end.

I think I'm done rambling now.  Go check out See Jane Work and MicroCenter Online, because I love these sites.

that show I work on

A review of Misalliance, and a shout-out: 

Staff swap at APT

Friday night at American Players Theatre 's performance of "Misalliance, " you will find leading actress Colleen Madden waving you into your parking spot, while actors Jim DeVita and Susan Shunk hawk concessions. Driving the shuttle bus will be production manager Michael Broh. Artistic director David Frank? He 'll be taking tickets.

Actor Brian Mani came up with the idea of having a "Hill Staff Night Off " where house employees are seated to see a show from start to finish, while the acting company not on stage does front-line jobs.

"It 's not just for show, either, " says APT 's Sara Young. "The fill-ins will be required to perform all the duties that the regular staff member usually does -- including picking up trash, restocking food, making sandwiches, the works I think our other patrons will get a kick out of it as well. " - State Journal

I miss...

these days.

Those people.

My Cabaret.

Milwaukee.

clever talky-talky?

From the Journal Sentinel:

Talkin' Shaw

You have to applaud a larger-than-life playwright who can poke fun at himself. "Words, words, words. I am so sick of words," exclaims the spirited and young Hypatia Tarleton in George Bernard Shaw's "Misalliance," the third play in the first wave of APT openings this summer.

Shaw's Achilles heel is his verbosity. His work sometimes makes Chekhov's characters appear to be action figures in comparison. One wishes Shaw had done more than laugh at himself and edited his plays with greater vigor.

That being said, there is much to like in the APT's three-hour staging of "Misalliance." The relationship between parents and their almost adult children is the recurring theme, but Shaw makes delightfully pithy comments about his usual range of social concerns. Female superiority, religion, the wealthy and class distinctions are the subjects of wry observations and barbed zingers.

This production gives the younger members of APT's acting company the opportunity to show their stuff, and they make a strong case for the excellence of the next generation of performers here. Chris Klopatek and Darragh Kennan are sublimely wonderful in the respective characters of the bratty Bentley Summerhays and the strangely troubled Gunner.

Marcus Truschinski carries a major dialogue load with fluid ease, and Carrie A. Coon impressively reprises the role of Hypatia that she originally played in a Milwaukee Chamber Theatre production of "Misalliance" in 2005. John Langs directed.

Tags: articles

   

                   

   

        Which Buffy Musical Song Are You?   

   

I'll Never Tell....
Take this quiz!

Quizilla | <a style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"  ="" target="quizilla" href="http://www.quizilla.com/redirect.php?statsid=21&url=http://www.quizilla.com/register">Join | Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code

from The Chicago Tribune:

John Lang's pleasantly spunky production of "Misalliance" certainly comes with surety. A typically talky bit of Shaw penned when old GBS was at the peak of his massive ego (he even refers to himself in his own play), it's a social comedy about, well, misalliances, between parents and children, men and women, workers and aristocrats. It's a prescient piece reflecting the arrival of Darwinism, socialism, proto-feminism. Therein, people sit around and talk about pretty much about the same stuff that everybody talks about now.

APT's mature core company — Jonathan Smoots, Brian Mani and Sarah Day —offers a superbly spoken display of ensemble acting. But the star of this lively show is a young, powerhouse talent called Carrie A. Coon, who grabs her energetic, sexually free character by the scruff of her neck and turns her into a primal, brilliant young woman who knows too well that she was born about 50 years too early. She's worth the drive too.

I've long argued that American Players Theatre is a viable alternative to Stratford, Ontario, which attracts many summering Chicagoans. APT is much closer, and this summer in Spring Green, you get decent Shav with stellar Shakes and you never have to quit the fresh air.

Tags: articles

Links of Interest

Another review for 'Misalliance': http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=7759

And this survey:   This summer, psychology professor Jeffrey Rudski at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania is doing a research study on the impact of the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on fans of the series.

Dr. Rudski has a strong interest in addiction, and the level of involvement people have with the Harry Potter series is the perfect opportunity to examine the addictive nature of non-drug related phenomena...

I start rehearsal for 'Timon of Athens' on Tuesday.  And I'm about to begin season 6 of Buffy! - this is all exciting.

Tags: articles

i'm not complainin'

Yahoo! Photos is no more, so now ALL my pictures, including all those fun college ones, can be found on my Flickr site.  Cool.  That's really how I wanted it, anyway.

Tags: pictures

JULY 1st - SUNDAY NIGHT MASS AT THE CONVENT

Party at the Convent! 

This Sunday night, following Curtain Call of the 6 pm performance of 'Much Ado'.

There will be beer, there will be games, there may even be a trip up the hill.

Be there or be square, my friends. :)

And now for MY show...

Here's a pretty awesome review for a production that I daresay deserves it!  :)

Tags: articles

another review

...for 'Much Ado'

 

My show opens tonight!  In case you didn't know, "there was a silent witness in the Turkish Bath."  SDH and I have decided that's the tagline for the show.

Hopefully it'll be a bit more pleasant than our second preview, which was rained out after ten minutes.  Of COURSE it's going to rain lots during our show, though, since it's the one with all the cushions, upholstered furniture, books, and food!

Tags: articles

hey, that's pretty random

Okay, so sometimes when it's time for me to go to bed instead I sit on my computer and surf the web, and televisionwithoutpity.com leads to IMDB, which leads to google, which leads to whatever catches my eye, which leads to this, an interview with Amy Acker, who although I recognize her from Alias, I do not yet know in the BuffyVerse because... I haven't started watching Angel yet.  And so, this is completely random.

Amy:  ...and then after I graduated I went and worked at a Shakespeare theater for about eight months.

BNW: And that was in Dallas, too?

Amy: That was Wisconsin. It's called American Players Theater. It was amazing. You hike up a hill for a mile and there's this huge outdoor theater in the middle of this hill… with the stars… it's beautiful.

Hmm.  True story.

More true stories:
The Future of APT (and a mention of The Rep)
Outdoor Theater
Review of 'Much Ado'

Tags: articles

best weekend ever?

-Friday night: first previwe of my show, Misalliance - it went splendidly!

-Later Friday night: karaoke!

-Today: one whole hour of rehearsal

-Then: Lauren will be in town!

-Then: opening night of Much Ado, followed by a party!

-Tomorrow:  tech begins for Merchant of Venice, but then... Sunday night mass at the Convent?

-Monday: Amanda is in town!!

 

Yes.  A good weekend. :)

Tags: days off

speaking of whippoorwhils...

http://www.madison.com/wsj/mad/top/index.php?ntid=197122&ntpid=1

Tags: nature, article

quick update

I wanted to write out a life update, but it occurs to me that I'm much too tired to actually write full paragraphs.  So, instead, just some thoughts in no particular order on life out in Spring Green.

-I'm getting much better at reading radar, and knowing when it will start raining on us in rehearsal, and how long it might last.  Much better meaning I don't suck at it now.  The other day we had a "particularly dangerous situation" during tech for Much Ado, and we had fun monitoring the radar and seeing whether the baseball-sized hail would be hitting us.   (It didn't...it went north).  And yes, we had a tornado warning that night, certainly not my first since being here.
-One of my favorite things about the performance reports we do out here is that we record under "Miscellaneous" any time we hear a whippoorwill call.  It happens about twice a night.  We also record the mosquito rating (1 - 10).  The SMs have been putting down all ones (meaning not bad at all), but I must say that last night during tech I got eaten alive.  Apparently that was a 1.  Shrug.
-Another highlight of last night occurred after rehearsal.  I got out of work around 1:15 am to head over to The Shed for a drink.  By the time I had that one drink, they were closing, so I drove home to Plain (a 15-20 minute drive) and arrived around 2:15, thinking I would go to bed.  Instead, seeing a friendly group of people on the porch, I hung out with them until 5:15 am, at which point we realized we could go out for breakfast.  So we did.  And I got home at 7 am.  And it felt like I was back in college, except I don't think I ever stayed up so late/early in college, so REALLY I guess it felt more like Muhlenberg Summer Music Theater.  Sigh.
-One of the brilliant examples of how unique last night was was how we decided to climb the hill near our conventy home to the chapel... through a graveyard... and sit in the dark chapel with the lights turned off.  That only lasted a really short amount of time, but seriously.... can you picture ME, of all people, thinking that running through a graveyard up to a deserted chapel on the top of a wooded hillat4 am would be a good idea?  And then sitting there in the DARK?  And yes, we RAN up the hill.  My calves hurt today.
-As for the animal count, I still see lots of creatures both during rehearsal and on the drive home.  One of the beautiful things about working in outdoor theater is that during a run-through of the play onstage, the actors will be joined by butterflies flitting through the scenery.  Or at night, bats.  Or, in the case of yesterday's tech, a huge luna moth.
-I still don't have as much color as I'd like, although I'm SLIGHTLY tanner than last week.  How is it possible that I work in an outdoor theater yet I'm still so pale?
-Tomorrow we continue tech for Misalliance, having finished tech for Much Ado.  THEN we tech Merchant of Venice! - I'm exhausted.
-Buffy the Vampire Slayer is amazing.  Seriously.  I can't wait to start watching sesaon 4.

Tags: days off

RUFUS!

From MySpace:

Some awesome things are just awesomer together. Like, for example, torch singer Rufus Wainwright and the Pabst Theater.

The best place to witness Wainwright's beautiful bombast is the intimate and immaculate Pabst Theater. Your eyes and ears will thank you! Just be sure you get them calibrated in time for must-see openers The Magic Numbers and A Fine Frenzy.

"My favorite theater in America!" -- Rufus Wainwright, on the Pabst

Rufus Wainwright at the Pabst Theater. Monday, August 27 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets on sale now! Call 414-286-3663 or order online.

Okay, WHO WANTS TO GO WITH ME?  This is super exciting.

 

Also super exciting... we begin tech for Much Ado tonight.  It's not my show, but I'll be in tech for it nonetheless!

Tags: music

umm...

I know WAY too many people in this trailer.  It's a little scary.

Tags: videos

Aww...

My boyfriend is so great.

And so is YouTube.

Tags: videos

Article on APT.

Speaking of wildlife, last night we were rehearsing on stage, accompanied by the constant chirping of bats.  They flew around for us a bit, too.  It was nice.

Tags: article, nature

"dreams and sewing machines" - Imogen Heap

To give you some background, yesterday I had a sore throat and splitting headache.  After work I planned to go striaght home and to bed.... but then I heard the SMs wanted to go to The Shed for a pizza... which I couldn't say no to.  So I went, and on a night when I normally would have stayed there much longer than my SM friends, I had one beer and then went home, craving bed.

Thus begins sleep.

I was at a bar (which seemed to be someone's living room) with the SMs, and a few other work people (faceless, of course...)  I was flirting with a cute boy, but it wasn't going too well and I felt rejected.  I also felt very diroriented - drunk - but like gaps of time were missing from the night.  When we went to leave, I forgot that I had driven to the bar and was surprised to see my ride, Rosie the Golf Cart.  So, I started driving her home alone, confused that I didn't remember driving over there.  But at every intersection I went past, there was some kind of car crash.  No people, just smashed cars in the middle of intersections.  I knew that there must have been some natural disaster (earthquake? a tornado would be much more likely), and again, was confused that I didn't remember feeling an earthquake.

So, I get home (it's day now) to my house in PA.  I walk in the front door (which I never do), and everything is on fire.  There's a little balloon of no fire just inside the front door, but aside from that, everything is up in flames.  I can tell that there's no way that the animals could have gotten out, and worry about them passed out in some part of the house where I can't get to them.

Rewind.

I open the front door, and a cat immediately runs out to safety.  No dog though.

Rewind.

I open the front door, and now the area of no fire has expanded to include the entire front hallway.  At the end of it I can see Stacey, who looks absolutely fine.  I call her, and she comes bounding down the hallway and out the door to safety.  I grab her collar (the electric fence one, although she doesn't get shocked) and teather her to a post we have in our front yard.  Then I notice Mrs. Henneke doing yard work in her lawn next door.  So I comment to her from where I am that my whole house is on fire.  "That's why I'm tying the dog up out here."

She comes over, and says it's weird that the fire alarm isn't going off.  I walk back into the house to check and see if the fire alarm batteries are dead, but they seem fine.  It's really hot in the house, obviously.

Too hot to bear, so I wake up, and I am SO hot and feel SO sick.  So I take my temperature, and of course it's above 100.

I like the way my dream incorporated the heat.  And how when something was to painful to deal with, my dream corrected it.  That's so nice of my dream.

And now I have an unexpected day off.  Time to get back in bed.

Tags: days off, sick, dreams

TGIWednesday!

This week has been great - today I got a sunburn during rehearsal, Monday was a great day off, tonight is the season finale of LOST!  Yes, I will be viewing it with friends.  :)

However, sad news:

Veronica Mars: Officially Cancelled
Kristen Bell Lands New Gig

The CW has formally announced their Fall 2007 schedule on Thursday, and it has been confirmed that Veronica Mars is not on the schedule for a fourth season.

There was the thought that, if creator Rob Thomas can come up with some scripts for Veronica Mars: FBI by June 15, that the CW could reconsider, but considering the show's recent string of dismal ratings this is seeming very unlikely. Rob Thomas himself has said at E! Online that he is "out of hope."

Also putting a kink in the likelihood of Veronica's return: Kristen Bell has signed on to be the self-titled narrator in The CW's NEW series, Gossip Girl. Could this be an attempt to placate disappointed Veronica fans after a cancellation? You can read all about Kristen's new job at Entertainment Weekly's website where the article was first broken.

If Veronica Mars is indeed over, then the episodes airing on May 22 will be the last we see of her. Considering that the show was initially more of a hit with fans and critics than it was in the ratings race, the fact that Veronica lasted as long as it did was an accomplishment.

horoscope time

Acting too hastily could result in a meltdown. So ride hard on any impulses that seem overwhelming. You know the way a mother tells her child to wait until they get home? Keep telling that to your inner child.

I shall keep on telling myself that.
Today I had a "wow, I'm stupid moment"...but really, I'm NOT so stupid, because whenever I have a feeling about something in my gut and tell my gut to shut up, my gut is somehow ALWAYS RIGHT.  It must be a talent; if only I could somehow get paid for it.

Today was a beautiful day.  It was a long week, but I suppose a good one.  It took me until Wednesday to get homesick for Milwaukee (a week and a half is a long time for me!), but then the feeling went away again and all is well.

Time to watch some Buffy, shower...then watch some West Wing.

warning

I have a short fuse today.

 

Leave me alone.

 

What do you want to bet that people won't heed my warning?

end game

Good to Know.

2010, eh?  That's a catchy-sounding year.

Kristin (E! Online says):

I'm told that when we see the "game-changer," which the show's writing team is calling "the snake in the mailbox," at the end of the May 23 season finale, we will understand why the show cannot go longer than 48 more episodes.

Well...phallic-ly speaking, that would just be plain wrong.

sigh. TV shows

Remember when Veronica Mars was good?

I'm going to continue watching this season through to the end, in the hopes that it WILL end with a season renewal and that next season it'll shoot forward 4 years so that we can stop watching this stupid going-to-college business.

Perhaps in the meantime they can remember the things we liked about Veronica and the show itself in Season 1 and reincorporate those things.

Please?

As for my other TV obsession, what I would consider to be good news.

Recycling

I was wondering how I could recycle my old digital camera.  Then I found this site:

http://recycleforbreastcancer.org/

Cool.

I am so incredibly sore today from all the taping we did over the past two days.  Tomorrow I'm not going to be able to move!  But afterwards we went to an awesome fish fry, so I guess it was worth it.  And tomorrow after work we're going to a bonfire dinner party thing.  EXcellent.

I Need More Sleep

Here's the proof.



Goodnight.

Introductions are in order

Meet my new camera!  (I went with the silver color at a cheaper retailer, FYI).  It should be here in about a week.  Yippee!

Work today was uneventful; tomorrow is going to be a very full day, but afterwards we're going to go to the fish fry across the street from my conventy home, so I'm looking forward to it!

I really love Culver's.

why...

...am I not surprised?

Mr. Broadway

In other news, the third day of work finds me well.  Yesterday I had a short bout of believing I had kidney stones, but whatever that was is cleared up now.  So, anyway, this week has been great.  Lots of cleaning out rehearsal halls and dusting off furniture, today I spent quality time with the copier, and tomorrow we tape out the first three plays in the Large Rehearsal Room, the veranda, and on stage.  Oh, and I'm pretty damn good at driving a golf cart both up the hill AND down it.  :)

On Tuesday we start rehearsal for Much Ado About Nothing, Misalliance, and Merchant of Venice.  Yes, that would be three plays.  What??

speaking of movies...

Here's some more to look forward to!

PotC: At World's End

Harry Potter and the OotP

my daemon (The Golden Compass)

Click to see (or change) my pretty daemon Zotius!

:(

it would seem that my camera has died.  this is a sad, sad day.  i think i'll call kodak tomorrow and cry at them...

this is certainly turning into a costly week.  i probably forfeited getting my apartment security deposit back because of the stupid plumbing problems i had before i left, getting locked out of the car cost $125, gas is expensive, and moving inevitably involves buying new things!  now i need a new camera.  not having one is not an option.  sigh.

horoscope

Perfect for me on moving day #2 (1 more day of moving OUT to go! - then I move IN):

The end results may not be clearly visible to you right now, but have faith and stay the course. If anyone can turn these odds to a big advantage, that person is you. Just keep moving ahead one step at a time.

One step at a time.  Just keep swimming, just keep swimming....  right?

I fit my purses into one very very large brown paper bag.  Except the purses that are being used as transportation for other things (one, for instance, is carrying all of my framed wall pictures...).

Moving makes me tired.

random information

It's 30 degrees outside (with windchill).... in Philly this past weekend it was 80 and sunny and beautiful.

I dislike packing and it dislikes me.  I made my first trip to the storage unit today, which is great, but I feel like my apartment doesn't look like it has any less stuff in it even after that.  Hopefully tomorrow it will; the plan is to move out my desk and bed, as well as bedding, kitchen-y stuff, and uh, whatever else needs to be stored rather than coming to APT with me.

I have WAYYYY too many shoes.  I packed all my clothes today, in one suitcase.  Then I took a larger suitcase, and managed to fit all of my shoes except two pairs in it.  This is sad.  That's TOO MANY shoes.  And yes, there is one pair in storage, and three pairs in my closet in PA.  Sigh.

I'm seeing Tartuffe tonight.  Hooray.

why, oh why, oh why-o

Why did I leave my hairbrush home when I'm overnight-ing in Ohio?

Holiday Inn has a little comb for me to use.  This is not of much help to me, nor would it be to anyone except, perhaps, an elderly gentleman with male-pattern baldness.

Sigh.

I'll be back to MKE and my bounty of hairbrushes sometime tomorrow...

"Time to be hitteen' the old road, now!" - Rick Steadman, The Nerd

After a very restful and nice few days home in PA, it's time to make that special 13-hour drive back to Milwaukee tomorrow.  The plan is to leave around 11 tomorrow and drive for 8 hours or so...or however long it takes me to get tired of driving, and then sleep in a hotel wherever I am, and continue the drive on Tuesday.  Then pack pack pack, go to karaoke, pack pack pack, and depart for Spring Green on Friday.  I start at APT on Monday.  EEE!

This will be the longest I've ever driven anywhere by myself... I think the longest drive I've ever actually made by myself was 4 hours or so?  And on the way out here, I was on a plane (two even) by myself for the very first time.  A week of firsts.

ALSO, the first of my friends announced her engagement last week - Jess Ball - and then tonight I saw on facebook that Beth Bliel, my best friend from summer camp before kindergarden is now engaged too!!  That's two engagements in one week; third one's a charm, right?  Who's next?  Anyway, that's all very exciting.

As I mentioned, home has been great - I got to see Jen V., Lydia, Noelle, and I also managed to get all the little chores done that I needed to, as well as go to DSW with Mom and let her buy me two pairs of shoes ;)  Lydia introduced me to a great band whose show we went to at an Irish pub on Saturday night... they're called Greenwich Meantime and I really enjoyed the show... I wish they would play at Irish Fest in Milwaukee!

I'm sure I'll be posting many pictures of Penny on my Flickr site once I'm all unpacked and all that good stuff, so be sure to check that out, and in the meantime, you can check out all my gorgeous pictures from the opening of The Nerd.  Good show, good times...

Wish me safe travels!

holidaze

I found this amusing and thought I'd share.  Today I was at the post office mailing my sister her cell phone, and the guy behind the counter...probably 30 or so...was very helpful and friendly, etc. etc.  So, just as I'm leaving and saying thanks, he says, "Happy Holidays!"  I truly stared at him blankly for a good long second before it clicked that today is 4/20 and the guy behind the counter working at the post office was telling me to enjoy a drug-addled weekend.  FUNNY.

new Cell phone

Actually, I don't have a new cell number; it's remaining the same.  So this message has no purpose for you, except to share...my new cell phone is new and shiny!

Nerd Review

...because I'm proud of it, even though I'm not there!

From the Journal Sentinel

and then it was time to leave again

As of tomorrow, The Nerd will be open, and I will be off-contract at The Rep!  My apprentice year is officially over, and I fly home on Tuesday.

I'm not ready to leave but READY to leave.  I'm not ready to move onto new projects but READY to move onto new projects.  One thing is for sure: I'm ready to go home and see Mom and Penny.

P.S. The Nerd is really AWESOME.  You should go see it, and wear a diaper when you do.

first preview for "The Nerd"

I am so excited to have an audience for the first time in The Nerd tonight.  It's going to be fuuuuh-nny.

Here's an article on the show, which Jim Pickering, a Milwaukee Rep resident company member, and THE ORIGINAL nerd in the world premiere of the show here at the Rep, directed.  I like the pictures - I was making coffee in the rehearsal hall while they were taken.  And I ESPECIALLY like that the cover shot in the newspaper (which is not online) just shows a close-up of Gerry with his rehearsal prop notebook, which clearly says in my handwriting on the front: "NOTEBOOK".  Hahaha...

mid-April in Milwaukee

It's effin SNOWY outside.  From AccuWeather.com:

THE SNOW
WILL TAPER OFF DURING THE MORNING HOURS THURSDAY AS THE LOW
CONTINUES TO TRACK NORTHEAST THROUGH LOWER MICHIGAN.

TOTAL SNOWFALL ACCUMULATIONS WILL RANGE FROM 6 TO 10 INCHES
ACROSS MUCH OF SOUTHERN WISCONSIN...BUT ONLY AROUND 3 TO 6 INCHES
OVER THE FAR SOUTHEAST.

NORTHEAST WINDS OF 20 TO 30 MPH...WITH GUSTS AROUND 35 MPH WILL
PERSIST TONIGHT...WHICH MAY CREATE BLOWING SNOW AND CAUSE
REDUCTION IN VISIBILITIES.

Tartuffe

For those of you who know him, a review of Jordan's play, Tartuffe, in the Powerhouse right now. :)

 

Personal side note: I have ONE WEEK of work left at The Rep.  Then I'm home for a few days... get in touch if you want to see me!

Let's go to Rome

If only I had more endurance when swimming!

..guess I should go back to High School...

Your English Skills:

Grammar: 100% Spelling: 100% Punctuation: 80% Vocabulary: 80%

Does Your English Cut the Mustard?

and this is why...

....theater unions are fun!

Senator Forms Subcommittee For The Watching Of Lost

WASHINGTON, DC—Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) announced the formation of a new Senate subcommittee for the Watching of Lost and appointed...

"Happiness is my default position." - Toby, West Wing

So, I finished Six Feet Under on Monday night.  It was everything I thout it would be; I watched the ending 7 times in a row.  It's worth watching the entire depressing series to have that ending mean something to you.

Next up is some Buffy and some X-Files.  And continuing West Wing, of course.

My departure feels very imminent.  Saturday is our first on-stage rehearsal, Tuesday is tech, Sunday is opening, Tuesday is flight home.  That's SOON, and time will especially fly by since we'll be in tech.  Eek.

Last Monday it was in the 80's, today it's effing COLD and flurrying.  And incredibly windy.  Blech.

Today I read something online that made me think Enya was dead.  Then Wikipedia informed me that it's lies, all lies.  So, if you think Enya is dead, she's not.

Thankfully, there were no april fools jokes this year, aside from the fact that Briana and I put the following in the Production Notes for the day, under Props:

2.  Please ADD: Live Goat (#2234a) to be sacrificed in the hideous pagan ritual as described on pg. 73.

Jim Guy wrote back and asked if we had a color preference. :)

In other april fools news: http://www.locusmag.com/2007/0401_NeilGaimanSainthood.html

 

ditto what i said on friday.

long week?

normally on Friday nights after rehearsals I'm excited to go have a drink after work...

today what I'm truly lokoing forward to is curling up in bed with a crossword puzzle and some West Wing.

Saving Veronica Mars

E Online has a "Save One Show" campaign going on, where you go vote for one of the shows listed, and they campaign to get it back on the air.  Veronica Mars, one of my favs, is listed under "Looking Doomed."  Seeing Scrubs on the list as well, I was sure whether at this point in the series Veronica really deserves my vote.... but then I read the blurb...

Veronica Mars:  With rumors that supporting castmembers were told the series was canceled and the Pussycat Dolls' well-rated reality series (blech) blowing Veronica out of the Nielsens water (double blech), it isn't looking good for Veronica Mars. Says creator Rob Thomas, "Last year I was 70-30, thinking the show would be saved. This year, I have been holding steady at 60-40. But lately, I've become less than that." If Veronica does return, it would likely become an FBI show with the feisty Miss Mars flashing forward four years into the future. (Which sounds pretty damn awesome to at least one fan.)

That sounds pretty damn awesome to me, too.  And worth saving!

notes on a hideous pagan ritual

The Nerd rehearsals continue to be the funniest thing I've ever experienced in my life.  This afternoon we're staging the "hideous pagan ritual", which consists of some rhymes such as, "Grab a cup of cottage cheese!  Throw it out on Mister Trees!", hopping around on one leg, banging pots and pans, etc.

Meanwhile, Tartuffe is in rehearsal next door in RH3.  During a random stop in today's rehearsal, the cast of The Nerd randomly spouted out the following:

Let's all jump around in Tartuffe!

Then let's go jump off the roof!

Let's all flip Moliere the bird!

He is just a stupid turd!

I think we're having too much fun in RH1.

stupid! - my marriage age

[X] I know how to make a pot of coffee.
[X] I keep track of dates using a calander.
[ ] I own more than one credit card.
[ ] I know how to change the oil in my dads car.
[X] I do my own laundry.
[ ] I vote every election.
[1/2 an X] I can cook for myself.
[ ] I think politics are exciting.
[X] I balance my checkbook.
[ ] My parents have better things to say than my friends.

total: 4.5

[x] I show up for school/college/work every day early.
[X ] I always carry a pen in my pocket/purse.
[ ] I've never gotten a detention.
[ ] I have never smoked a cigarette.
[ ] I have never gotten completely trashed.
[ ] I have forgotten my own birthday at least once.
[x] I like to take walks by myself.
[x] I've watched talk shows.
[x]I know what 'credibility' means without looking it up.
[X] I drink coffee at least once a week.

total: 6

[x] I know how to do the dishes.
[x] I can count to 10 in another language.
[x] When I say I'm going to do something I do it.
[x] My parents trust me.
[ ] I can mow the lawn.
[x] I can make adults laugh without being stupid.
[ ] I remember to water the plants.
[ ] I study when I have to.
[x] I pay attention at school/college.
[x] I remember to feed my pets.

total: 7

[x] I can spell 'experience' without looking it up
[ ] I work out on a regular basis.
[x] I clean up my own mess.
[ ] The people at Starbucks know me by name
[ ] my favorite kind of food is take out.
[x] I have gained weight since middle school.
[x] The first thing I do when I wake up is get caffeine.
[ ] I cant go to the store without getting something I don't need.
[ ] I understand political jokes the first time they are said.
[x] I can type quickly.

total: 5

[x] I have realized that the weather forecast changes every hour.
[ ] My only friends are from my place of employment.
[ ] I have been to a tupperware party.
[ ] I have realized that no one will take you seriously unless you are over the age of 25 and have a job.
[ ] I have more bills than I can pay.
[ ] All my friends are older than I am.
[x] I can say no to staying out all night.
[x] I use the internet every day.
[X] My wardrobe hasn't changed in a while
[x] I can read a book and actually finish it.

total: 5


MY TOTAL- 27.5.... my marriageage?  I doubt it.

felt a need to share

I like my life right now.  Things just seem to really be going my way and it makes me happy.  I have great friends, great jobs lines up, and I am content.

 

Words can't bring me down.

vacay

Who wants to go to Hawaii with me in October?  Or November?  Or early December?

Seriously, let's discuss.

On a side note, my life has been pretty much mapped out through next March.  This makes me happy.

next season at The Rep

A few articles make mention of The Rep's season next year; the final paragraphs of this article were of special interest to me:

A sharp-eyed examination of the picture of the Milwaukee Repertory Theater's 2007-'08 resident acting company that accompanied last Sunday's season announcement package revealed an increase of two persons over the current season's ensemble. Brian Vaughn will return to resident actor status after several seasons of freelancing around the country. Much of that freelancing occurred here, so most persons didn't realize he was not an official member of the Rep's troupe.

Gerard Neugent is new to the resident company. A Milwaukeean since he came here to attend Marquette University, Neugent has worked extensively at the Rep as well as the American Players Theatre in Spring Green and many other theaters in the state.

Veteran Jim Baker, who was in the picture, is taking a leave of absence for the season to rehabilitate his back. Baker suffered a serious spine injury during rehearsals for "King Lear" last summer and had to drop out of the production. Although he has returned to the stage, Baker's back continues to need attention.

The Rep has done little touring in the past 20 years, but the huge success of a traveling "Guys on Ice" production this season will result in the company going back on the road in 2007-'08. Nineteen of the 25 performances of "Guys" the Rep mounted in 15 communities were sold out. The production played to 15,735 persons in January and February.

The tour ranged from Janesville and South Milwaukee to Eagle River and Ladysmith. Red Wing, Minn., was the only stop outside of Wisconsin.

Eight of the cities sold out their initial performances so quickly, they added a second show. Two of those added a third.

"Guys on Ice" is about several ice fishing Packers fans, and some of the venues continued the theme beyond the stage. In Middleton, the Madison Muskie Club hosted a fund-raising dessert reception, erected a lobby display of fishing lures and gave a short presentation via DVD before each performance. For the Cedarburg stop, a patron who was already familiar with "Guys on Ice" created an exhibit of ice fishing equipment in the theater lobby.

Manitowoc went further than a mereexhibition. An ice fishing shanty contest was held in a downtown park. The public voted on their favorite shack by throwing beer bottle caps into a minnow bucket located in front of each contest entry. The winner was determined by weighing each bucket.

Another James Kaplan-Fred Alley musical, "The Bachelors," which had its world premiere in the Rep's Stackner Cabaret six years ago, will hit the road next season after a Jan. 15 to 27 run in the Stiemke Theater. Rep associate managing director Annie Jansen Jurczyk expects more cities to be on the tour for 2007-'08.

The season announcements for Milwaukee Rep next year and American Players Theater, where I shall be this summer, can be found here.

 

pain in the...

Today I was walking to work through some lovely snow, enjoying the fun winter weather, when I unknowingly stepped on a patch of ice.  UP went my feet, DOWN went my tailbone!  Now I can't really walk very well.  Or sit.  Or bend over.  Or crouch.  In fact, pretty much everything hurts.  Yay!

Yay, fun!

Something to pass the time... :)

http://www.youdontknowjack.com/

Q: So, are you glad the tour's over?

Other variations include...

-You glad to be back?

-Happy to be done exploring the great white north?

A:  No, no, no, no, no!

Other variations include:

-No, I miss my boys.

-I want to go out on the road again NOW!

-Actually, I'm desperately sad it's over.

 

It was such a lovely time.  Exhausting and new and always exciting.  Just when we started to really fall into a groove, it's over.  And I'm sad that those 8 people will most likely never be in a room together again at the same time.

Here's to blizzards and traffic cones and bobble-heads and Leinie's and bitch seats and hot tubs and cheese trays and ice holes and shanties and snowmobiles and zippers and laundry and frozen pizzas and per diem and karaoke and TV theme songs and Becca specials and roadboxes and "yyaaaa" and memories and all the rest.

"I hope you're in this show, cuz you are SO good looking!"

Singles Ad

This has to be one of the best singles ads ever printed. It is reported to have been listed in the Atlanta Journal.



SINGLE BLACK FEMALE seeks male companionship, ethnicity unimportant. I'm a very good girl who LOVES to play. I love long walks in the woods, riding in your pickup truck, hunting, camping and fishing trips, cozy winter nights lying by the fire. Candlelight dinners will have me eating out of your hand. I'll be at the front door when you get home from work, wearing only what nature gave me. Call (404) 875-6420 and ask for Daisy, I'll be waiting....

 

 

 

Over 15,000 men found themselves talking to the Atlanta Humane Society

a season of great gifts

This past few months I've been given the BEST gifts ever!

First, the SM team at the Rep bought me a portable DVD player for my birthday, and in addition, Briana bought me a subscription to Entertainment Weekly.

For Christmas, my sister knitted me the most beautiful afghan ever.

And now, for the closing of Guys on Ice, Jimmy bought me a full year subscription to Flickr Pro, so that I can upload as many zillions of pictures as I want to!  (I guess I'll have to take lots of pictures on this blizzardy closing weekend)

I love my friends.

cutest baby ever

Here's a picture of Annie from the latest Kohl's circular.  She is so darn cute!

 

(Annie is Kelly's baby, who I spent lots and lots of time with during A Flea in Her Ear.)

Day Off

Today is my "day off" since yesterday we had a performance and load-out.  But Jimmy and I decided not to drive back last night, so we stayed in Stoughton and I drove back with him this morning, and immediately had to come to The Rep to check the e-mail pile-up and see what's new around the fifth floor.  What a day off!  We leave for Hartford tomorrow morning at 10.

My horoscope today: If anyone knows how to go the distance, it's you. People marvel at your stamina, and it's true -- right now you feel like you could go on forever. Just remember that you are, in fact, human. Take a rest afterward.

Yes, I need a rest.  This past week was crazy but fun.  I'm extremely TIRED.  Highlights included my cell phone dieing, blowdrying frozen laundry detergent, a drunken night in Manitowoc, a trip to New Glarus, a theater with no freight elevator, a traffic cone, and a bobble-head from Burger King.  Oh my.

Happy Valentine's Day tomorrow - xoxoxox!

 

P.S. This is what happens when I'm bored.

Not for the Squeamish...

Dog Pack Attacks Gator In Florida

 

At times nature can be cruel, but there is also a raw beauty, and even a certain justice manifested within that cruelty.

The alligator, one of the oldest and ultimate predators, normally considered the "apex predator", can still fall victim to implemented 'team work' strategy, made possible due to the tight knit social structure and "survival of the pack mentality" bred into the canines.

See the remarkable photograph below courtesy of Nature Magazine.  Note the Alpha dog has a muzzle hold on the gator preventing it from breathing, while another dog has a hold on the tail to keep it from thrashing.  The third dog attacks the soft underbelly of the gator.

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not for the squeamish!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

thoughts from the road

Three days back on the road, and it's been a crazy one, full of cell phone and truck drama.  And as much as I find the lack of independence that is inherent in being out on the road incredibly frustrating, I really love being on the road too.  I don't have time to think about anything that is NOT tour related.  Literally.  I was telling Judy as she drove me to Ryder the other day, that when you're on tour, you eat, sleep, and breathe the tour.

I didn't have ANY chance to check my e-mail in the past two days.  It just wasn't going to happen.  So even though a few people from the outside world briefly intruded into my tour life, I really didn't think about them.  But then I come online and DO check my e-mail (finally), and get on myspace and facebook, and I'm reminded of that other life I have, in Milwaukee, and even Pennsylvania.  And it's a little bit upsetting right now; honestly, there are several aspects that I LIKE not thinking about right now.  Recently I've been easily hurt by the most random things.  Things that should not upset me, and I'm just paranoid, and wanting attention, and clingy and all that same old stuff, but to a larger degree, and I don't enjoy it.

With all that said, I'm really glad I was in Milwaukee last week.  It was a weird week, but one that I'm glad I was there for.  I like touring.  And I like the fact that I'm about to go get in a hot tub.  The end.

checklists

My horoscope today:

Making a list and checking it twice doesn't make you Santa Claus -- it makes you a thorough, knowledgeable person who's definitely on the road to success. So get out that pen and start checking.

Umm, all I ever DO in life is make checklists!  And then check them off.  With multicolored pens... yum.

Also, according to AccuWeather.com, the current temperature is 0, with a windchill of -26 degrees.  No WONDER my legs are numb after walking to work!

welcome to Milwaukee, the second

So, remember last year when it was all cold outside and stuff?  And The Rep reimbursed us for cab fares back and forth from the Plaza because they didn't want us to freeze on the way to work?

That time has come again!

Last year when this happened was the weekend after Valentine's Day, when the paint shop had a Luau party.  I have SUCH good memories of that weekend... :)

I've been thinking about this time last year a lot recently; thinking about how this is the time period right after Melissa left the internship and how changed my life here was after she was gone.  It feels like a long time ago... and yet I'm in a very similar state of mind.  In fact, I just read BUNCH of old entries on here from the beginning of January '06 through April, and it's RIDICULOUS the cycles my life moves in.  Or my state of mind.  Something like that.  I miss those people - Jeanine and Rachel and Charlotte and Kyle and Lauren and Melissa.  They should come back here and hang out with me for a week.

Finally, Manitowoc just becomes more and more intriguing to me daily.  We're going to have SO many fun people there to hang out with after the performance :)

break from a crazy day

My Mental Age:

[x] I know how to make a pot of coffee
[x] I do my own laundry
[x] I can cook for myself
[x] I think politics are exciting
[x] My parents and grandparents have better things to say than my friends
total: 5

[x] I show up for school/college/work every day early
[ ] I always carry a pen in my pocket/purse.
[ ] I've never gotten a detention
[x] I've watched talk shows
[x] I know what credibility means without looking it up
[x] I drink coffee at least once a week
total: 4

[x] I know how to run the dish washer and or do the dishes.
[ ] I can count to 10 in Spanish.
[x] When I say I'm going to do something I do it.
[x] My parents trust me.
[ ] I can mow the lawn.
[x] I can make adults laugh without being stupid.
[ ] I remember to water my plants.
[x] I study when I have to.
[x] I pay attention at school/college
[x] I remembered to feed my pets.
total: 7

[x] I can spell experience without looking it up
[x] I clean up my own mess.
[x] The first thing I do when I wake up is get caffiene.
[x] I can go to the store without getting something I don't need.
[ ]I understand jokes the first time they are said
[x] i can type fast
total: 5

[x] I have realized that the weather forecast changes every hour.
[ ] I have realized that no one will take you seriously unless you are over the age of 25 and have a job.
[x] I can read a book and actually finish it
total: 2
Now add up your totals and that's your mental age!!!

Mine is....23.  Meh, close enough to my actual age!

Lydia

I like it when my friends are famous.  AKA, have articles about their projects online that I can post links to.

I have a week off in Milwaukee.  I love it so, love seeing my friends.... but I want to be on the road instead.

Frozen

After seeing Frozen on Sunday it's sticking with me a bit.  It was very powerful.  Anyway, that's why I thought I'd randomly post this review of it.

I'm in Ladysmith.  You should be watching Veronica Mars, if you don't already.  The end!

jobjobjobjobjobjob

I have a job for the summer!  April through October 7th I'll be in the lovely Spring Green, WI, ASMing at American Players Theater.

:)

a break from tour

Now, I know I was gone for about half a week, but I'm telling you, those few days felt like 3 weeks, at least!  Last night I saw Frozen in the Stiemke... what an intense and amazing play.  It was opening night, so I got to see all the people I felt like I hadn't seen in a long long time, and it was a really nice night.  I love the simple fun I have on nights like last night.  The tour is going well and is crazy and a big learning experience and I must say I'm excited to hit the road again on Wednesday.  It's an intense experience, draining, exhausting.... but I like it.  Tonight I plan to watch some Battlestar Galactica and Veronica Mars, and try not to think about the things that I shouldn't spend time thinking about.

time to go on a world tour

Umm, yeah, so we leave to go on tour tomorrow!  Crazy.

To follow our lovely travels and trials, I'll have a specific tour blog, which can be accessed at http://guystourmanager.blogspot.com/

Enjoy!

lack of cold?

Yesterday it finally got cold in Milwaukee.  However, still not cold enough...

Oh dear...

pictures

Every once in a while, I feel it's time to take pictures of life again.

the world tour is a'comin'

So, I leave on my "WORLD Tour" with Guys on Ice in less than two weeks... here's a lovely example of what I have to look forward to...!  http://www.htrnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070103/MAN0101/70103038/1984

birthday

birthday was great.  thanks to all involved.  the end!