It's been awhile since I've updated. My life has been crazy busy lately. School starts in less than 2 weeks.
I can't believe I'm about to start my senior year. And yet, at the same time, I'm almost itching to enter the real world. After living in London last fall, I outgrew the small suburban campus lifestyle. I also out grew some friends and situations I was in my freshman and sophomore years. I am excited to be living with some of my girl friends in the apartment we wanted, and enjoy the prestige of being "seniors" and also being able to go out drinking. I hardly ever get drunk, but I enjoy going out for a drink. I enjoy the social aspect.
Anyway, back to the real world thing. Lately I feel like it's now or never to jump into the acting industry. I see auditions for the fall and winter but can't attend because I still have school. My acting project of the summer with Resonate! has gone through a lot of changes. We started out wanting to do Bang! Bang! You're Dead. Then too many actors dropped out so we decided to do a festival of ten minute plays. We started out doing 7, and dropped down to 4, because of another drop-out actor. We actually had a meeting the other day to see if we should continue trying to get this thing performance ready. We decided the show must go on, we wanted something to show for the commitment, those of us who stayed, put in. So we perform August 22nd. Right before my school return.
In other theatre-related news, Jen and I had a crazy adventure in NYC last Wednesday. Our plan was to rush 2 shows: Next to Normal and In the Heights. We woke up bright and early and took the 8:01 train into Grand Central. We walked to Next to Normal to wait for the box office to open for tickets. To our shock, there were only three people in line. When the box office opened, we were all saddened to find out they no longer have Wednesday performances. Our waiting was not in vain, however. While in line, we started talking about theatre to the guy in front of us. After we found out about the Next to Normal fail, we talked to him about back up shows. We decided to all help each other out. Jen and I would get tickets for him and his daughter using our student IDs and he would put his name in the lotteries for us to increase our chances.
After running around to a bunch of box offices (lots of Wednesday matinees no longer exist sadly) we ended up at the Hair lottery. We all put in our names. Our guy friend's name got called and so Jen and I knew we were all set. Several picks later, my name got called! I was shocked because I usually never have luck with those things. When he said "Shannon" I thought he was going to call a different last name, until I heard him hesitate with the pronounciation of my last name. But anyway, so he got tickets and I got tickets. Having no luck with the other shows he had wanted to see (sold out or unavailable) he decided to go. He sold the other ticket to a girl who overheard us talking about the extra ticket. Then he came with us around the corner to this Nathan's/Subway place for lunch. I asked him about his life and low and behold, he was quite an interesting character. He lives right near where South Pacific is playing. He used to be in the NFL but is now a personal trainer. He's trained both Regis Philman and Conan O'Brien. His wife works at Pepsi which is near Jen's school, and they have 2 kids. Funny, both Jen and I thought he was gay when we first met him. Never can judge a book by it's cover.
During Hair we got split up. Jen and JC (the guy) were in the left boxes and the other girl and I were on the right. I started talking to the girl, Danielle. She was very nice, a fellow actress, and a very interesting person. When I asked her about her favorite musicals, she mentioned she had been little Cosette in Les Miserables when she was younger. I had assumed she meant in community theatre, but it turned out she had actually been on Broadway! This also made her an Equity actress. We got to talking about Spring Awakening, one of my favorites, and she told me she had auditioned and was called back 3 times for Wendla! She also auditioned for American Idol but they claimed she was too "Theatre." Their loss. We were talking about Spring Awakening audition songs and I didn't recognize one of the ones she mentioned so she sang a few lines and she was really good. That's the other thing, she told me they are having SA auditions on Monday...when I'll just happen to be in the city to see Matt Doyle perform at Joe's Pub that night! I am now determined to go an sit on the non-Equity bench and try my luck. I just need a song and sheet music. Right now I'm thinking either "The Circle Game" by Joni Mitchell or "Keep On Loving You" by REO Speedwagon.
The rest of the day was slightly less exciting, but still fun. Jen and I went to the In the Heights lottery. We started talking to an English girl (of course, when I'm missing London like crazy!) who was on vacation and taking dance classes in the city. Soon Danielle joined us looking to get a ticket for her father. The four of us hung out and waited through the lottery. The English girl was the only one of the four of us to win, but we were happy for her. Luckily, we were right near the box office door, so when the lottery ended I was able to rush in and get one of the discounted partial view tickets. I also got one for Danielle's father. Since Jen had already seen it, she decided to go see another show. We went to the 9 to 5 lottery. Danielle came too and we all put in our names for 1 ticket. It came down to one ticket left and none of our names had been called. It was a smaller lottery than the others we had been to that day, with more seats available, and Jen's chances were tripled. We all were thinking it was ridiculous one of our names hadn't been called. Then, low and behold, my name got drawn. Apparently I just had luck on my side that day.
So, show critiques. Hair was a lot of fun. They were constantly breaking the 4th wall and involving the audience. They would come out and rustle our hair, hand out daisies and flyers, protest in the aisles, make people dance with them, ect. After the first song, "Aquarius," there were some latecomers in the orchestra and the tribal leader guy heckled them for about 5 minutes. There was one actress I really admired. She wasn't one of the main characters, just part of the tribe, but she was a bigger girl and even had the confidence to get naked. I like seeing curvy girls on stage or on film. It gives me hope.
Hair was a very good reflection on the area it was portraying. There were a lot of good songs and it was a very fun show. I liked all the audience participation, including the giagantic dance party on stage at the end (second Broadway stage I've stood on--first I've danced on :D). My problem with it was lack of storyline. There were very loose ones or ones that were mentioned but never furthered or brought to a conclusion. Being a writer and appreciator of stories, that bothered me. But as my mother pointed out, "That's what happens when you get a bunch of hippies together to write something."
I enjoyed In the Heights a lot. It made me cry for about two songs. That's the mark of a good show--one that can get the audience emotionally involved. The set was amazing--although the top half was cut off for me from where I sat (woot sitting in row X because you're a poor college student!). If I had to describe it in references, I would say it was West Side Story meets hip hop meets Raisin in the Sun meets Rent. It really is an entity of it's own. The cast was so sweet. Everyone came out the stage door and took pictures and humbly accepted compliments. Towards the end when the guy who played Benny was out signing, I saw the guy who plays Sebastian across the street in The Little Mermaid come over and talk to him. Later I caught his eye and told him I'd seen him in Little Mermaid and great job and what is he doing crossing over. Turns out, he had gone on as Benny in In the Heights and that's where Disney found him! The other excitement of the stage door was this group of theatre campers who started serenading the stage door with one of the In the Heights songs. The Benny actor and Sebastian actor got a huge kick out of it, along with all the fans. The Benny actor actually asked them to sing it again after he called the writer of In the Heights so he could hear it! It was an amazing experience and I'm sure the kids loved it, especially the little girl who had the solo. What a voice!
This is why I love New York. You never know what's going to happen or who you're going to meet and make friends with. I also love theatre for all the people it brings together and what a difference it can make in people's lives. That's why I yearn to be a part of it, I suppose. It truely is its own kind of magic.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Monday, July 6, 2009
My Day
Today decided to throw a few small curve balls. I found out our first rehearsal was not going to be today due to some scheduele conflict, but rather is moved to Wednesday. I hate the whole waiting for things to start thing, but it's only a matter of days.
This morning I went to the dentist for a cleaning. I was talking to Mary, the woman who cleans my teeth (I can't recall her actual job title), about how acting has come before writing in my current life and how I'm a bit scared that there's only one year of college left before I enter the unknown. She told me that a coworker had a son who was an aspiring playwright in NYC. I was introduced to her (Susan) and she said that her son was often times looking for actors. She gave me his name and told me to contact him on facebook. It's amazing How connected and small the world is. One minute, I'm at the dentist, the next I'm finding a new theatre contact. Oh and in even better news, the dentist told me I have a perfect set of 32 :D
I also had my forth voice lesson today. Despite the fact that posture was hard to maintain with my lobster-like body (I got a wicked sunburn yesterday), it was a good lesson. The last lessons have been mostly about posture and breathing and exercises to improve those. I definitely have felt a change in my posture, despite the *cough* large gifts of my ancestors. Anyway, now we're going to find a song for rme to work on. She wants to find me something upbeat. Since I've always felt more comfortable with slower ballads, this should provide a challenge I need. In the mean time, I'm to work on my diction using the song "Nothing" from A Chorus Line that I performed in my musical theatre class last semester.
Since I no longer had rehearsal, I went to see My Sister's Keeper with my mother. There was some good acting in it but I felt the story was a bit predictable at times. It still managed to get a few tears out of me though. Being a romantic sap, I enjoyed the storyline with Taylor. If you've seen the movie, you know what I'm talking about. What I was most shocked at, however, was that there were teenage boys in that audience. Their girlfriends must have told them they were going to see Transformers, I joked.
Tomorrow I'm going to head to the Norwalk Maritime Aquarium with my parents (yes, I'm in my 20's and still hang out with my family. If you had my parents, you would too...in fact one of my guy friends wants to go to a bar with my father, but that's a different story). The IMAX there has finally gotten smart (or maybe desperate in this economy) and decided to show feature movies along with their nature ones. Finally CT will have an IMAX instead of have to travel to Providence or NY. We're going to see Star Trek. This will be my 5th time seeing it.
I am a Trekkie (but I love Star Wars so don't get uppity). Though, I admit, I haven't seen as many episodes as I would like. I've seen all of TNG and Voyager and probably half of DS9. With Star Trek (the original) I've seen both the original and second pilot, an episode called Mirror Mirror, and any others I happened to catch on TV. I pretty much avoided Enterprise. I love the concept of Star Trek. The thought that we have a bright, peaceful future (on our own planet anyway) where those in charge aren't totally corrupt and people consider the consequences of thier actions (yay Prime Directive). I also believe in aliens because there is no way we are alone in the entire universe. I've always mused about what could be waiting out there, just beyond our current reach. What other population could be looking up at the stars and wondering if we existed. I've always been interested in Astrology and Astronomy (I was lucky enough to have a Planetarium in my high school which allowed for an Astronomy class).
I guess you could say I'm just a dreamer reaching for the stars. And with that, I bid you good night.
This morning I went to the dentist for a cleaning. I was talking to Mary, the woman who cleans my teeth (I can't recall her actual job title), about how acting has come before writing in my current life and how I'm a bit scared that there's only one year of college left before I enter the unknown. She told me that a coworker had a son who was an aspiring playwright in NYC. I was introduced to her (Susan) and she said that her son was often times looking for actors. She gave me his name and told me to contact him on facebook. It's amazing How connected and small the world is. One minute, I'm at the dentist, the next I'm finding a new theatre contact. Oh and in even better news, the dentist told me I have a perfect set of 32 :D
I also had my forth voice lesson today. Despite the fact that posture was hard to maintain with my lobster-like body (I got a wicked sunburn yesterday), it was a good lesson. The last lessons have been mostly about posture and breathing and exercises to improve those. I definitely have felt a change in my posture, despite the *cough* large gifts of my ancestors. Anyway, now we're going to find a song for rme to work on. She wants to find me something upbeat. Since I've always felt more comfortable with slower ballads, this should provide a challenge I need. In the mean time, I'm to work on my diction using the song "Nothing" from A Chorus Line that I performed in my musical theatre class last semester.
Since I no longer had rehearsal, I went to see My Sister's Keeper with my mother. There was some good acting in it but I felt the story was a bit predictable at times. It still managed to get a few tears out of me though. Being a romantic sap, I enjoyed the storyline with Taylor. If you've seen the movie, you know what I'm talking about. What I was most shocked at, however, was that there were teenage boys in that audience. Their girlfriends must have told them they were going to see Transformers, I joked.
Tomorrow I'm going to head to the Norwalk Maritime Aquarium with my parents (yes, I'm in my 20's and still hang out with my family. If you had my parents, you would too...in fact one of my guy friends wants to go to a bar with my father, but that's a different story). The IMAX there has finally gotten smart (or maybe desperate in this economy) and decided to show feature movies along with their nature ones. Finally CT will have an IMAX instead of have to travel to Providence or NY. We're going to see Star Trek. This will be my 5th time seeing it.
I am a Trekkie (but I love Star Wars so don't get uppity). Though, I admit, I haven't seen as many episodes as I would like. I've seen all of TNG and Voyager and probably half of DS9. With Star Trek (the original) I've seen both the original and second pilot, an episode called Mirror Mirror, and any others I happened to catch on TV. I pretty much avoided Enterprise. I love the concept of Star Trek. The thought that we have a bright, peaceful future (on our own planet anyway) where those in charge aren't totally corrupt and people consider the consequences of thier actions (yay Prime Directive). I also believe in aliens because there is no way we are alone in the entire universe. I've always mused about what could be waiting out there, just beyond our current reach. What other population could be looking up at the stars and wondering if we existed. I've always been interested in Astrology and Astronomy (I was lucky enough to have a Planetarium in my high school which allowed for an Astronomy class).
I guess you could say I'm just a dreamer reaching for the stars. And with that, I bid you good night.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Introduction
I've always dabbled with journals. I had a greatestjournal (remember when that existed?), a livejournal, and I have a regular ol' written diary. Problem is, I've always had a hard time sticking to them. My diary is still half empty and the first entry was in '04. For the average person, it wouldn't really seem a problem. For myself, however, it is. First of all I tend to be sentimental and like looking back at old photos and writings. But more importantly, I'm a creative writing major, so logically I should be writing my ass off daily. I'm wondering if this blog will help me at least do a bit more writing.
I'm at an interesting stage at my life at the moment to write about. It's the July before my last year at college. I have a year before the ever-looming "real world." I came to college with a hastely made decision to be a creative writing major. Within the last year and a half, I have doused myself with theatre. I've always loved Theatre as a hobby. It all started with acting lessons with a local actor, Bob Fallon, at the Margerat Egan Center back in elementary school. Of course I was also taking crafts and cereamic classes while joining Chorus at school. I've always been atristic. I remember the first thing I wanted to be when I grew up was an artist in third grade. I think I actually focused on physical art more than performance art in my public school days. Sure, I was in Drama Club in both middle and high school, but I was choosing art classes and art clubs along side drama.
Acting from a young age has helped me overcome some shyness and stage fright (not that I don't still get the jitters before I go onstage). However, I was always the heavier girl who got cast as "the nurse," "the principal," "the police officer" or not at all. Thus my confidence in pursuing such a career was always getting let down.
My first two years of college weren't much different. I was cast in only 2 plays. The first, only one person who auditioned didn't get a role, and the second I didn't even audition for--they were just asking for extras. Don't get me wrong, I was grateful for the stage time, but I didn't feel quite like I belonged.
What prompted me to try and pursue my passion to be an actress may sound crazy. In March of '08, I went on my school's honor's trip to NYC to see Spring Awakening. All I knew was that I was getting to go to NYC for the day with my then boyfriend and see a Broadway show for $20. Also, I would be able to meet up with my friend, Jen, who goes to school near the city and get her in to see the show for $30. Obviously I was sold. Even if the show sucked, who could beat a deal like that? Well the show didn't suck. It was actually amazing (and admittedly, had some nice eye candy) I spent the first half thinking the girl who played Ilse was an RWU alumni. Looking at the program at intermission let me know she wasn't. I then spent the intermission talking to the professor sitting behind me (who later would become like a father to me while studying abroad in London) about the symbolic nature of the themes and set.
Jen and I loved the show so much that we were determined to see it again...onstage. We got tickets for the following July (or was it August...) to sit onstage. It happened to be the first week Hunter Parrish would be Melchior. She was a Weeds fan but I only know him as the white kid in Freedom Writers (good movie).
Sitting onstage literally changed my life. It felt amazing to be on a Broadway stage, among the action. We felt like part of the cast. We saw them wink and point at each other. We even saw the boys trying to crack up Hunter while he had his back turned on the audience. It reminded me of everything I loved about theatre--the comradeship, the energy, the art. I knew that was where I belonged. Onstage. It felt right.
I remember going home and emailing the aforementioned professor about the experience and how my passion for acting had been re-ignited.
Last fall ('08) I spent an amazing semester studying theatre abroad in London. Six of us even got our own acting workshop with a West End and Broadway director. I wish I could go back and do even more.
When I returned in the spring, I was cast in a senior directing project which was The Bald Soprano as Mary. Our director, a friend of mine, was amazing and I learned a lot about myself and acting under her care. I also learned how much respect I have for techies after working as a stage hand and prop master for Little Shop of Horrors. Mad props (wow bad pun). It also made me realize how much I want to be in the spotlight. It killed sitting backstage, watching my friends doing what I ached to be doing.
This summer I've decided to put myself out there more and build my resume. My resume that I had to make for my musical theatre class was in pitiful shape. If I eliminated high school, the list was very sad. So far this summer I had my first "film" stint. A New Haven Theatre Company member has created this type of kareoke theatre called UBRSTAR (I thought it was "uber star"but found out it was "you be are star"). I acted in the video for "Summer Nights" from Grease.
I auditioned for some stage readings and a student theatre company production. I didn't make either. I was frustrated and felt like things were looking hopeless (many auditions had occured during finals or where too far away). Then one more audition popped up for another student group. I ended up going to the audition and landing the role I read for: Emily from Bang! Bang! You're Dead. I got the call while with a friend in New York, ironically going to a casting agency audition (turned out we had enough experience that they didn't need us to read sides and we were just told to email our headshot and resume).
Rehearsals start tomorrow and I'm really excited. Without a job, I've felt bored all summer so far and like I've been waiting for something to happen. Hopefully this is it.
Far too tired to write more. Off to bed.
I'm at an interesting stage at my life at the moment to write about. It's the July before my last year at college. I have a year before the ever-looming "real world." I came to college with a hastely made decision to be a creative writing major. Within the last year and a half, I have doused myself with theatre. I've always loved Theatre as a hobby. It all started with acting lessons with a local actor, Bob Fallon, at the Margerat Egan Center back in elementary school. Of course I was also taking crafts and cereamic classes while joining Chorus at school. I've always been atristic. I remember the first thing I wanted to be when I grew up was an artist in third grade. I think I actually focused on physical art more than performance art in my public school days. Sure, I was in Drama Club in both middle and high school, but I was choosing art classes and art clubs along side drama.
Acting from a young age has helped me overcome some shyness and stage fright (not that I don't still get the jitters before I go onstage). However, I was always the heavier girl who got cast as "the nurse," "the principal," "the police officer" or not at all. Thus my confidence in pursuing such a career was always getting let down.
My first two years of college weren't much different. I was cast in only 2 plays. The first, only one person who auditioned didn't get a role, and the second I didn't even audition for--they were just asking for extras. Don't get me wrong, I was grateful for the stage time, but I didn't feel quite like I belonged.
What prompted me to try and pursue my passion to be an actress may sound crazy. In March of '08, I went on my school's honor's trip to NYC to see Spring Awakening. All I knew was that I was getting to go to NYC for the day with my then boyfriend and see a Broadway show for $20. Also, I would be able to meet up with my friend, Jen, who goes to school near the city and get her in to see the show for $30. Obviously I was sold. Even if the show sucked, who could beat a deal like that? Well the show didn't suck. It was actually amazing (and admittedly, had some nice eye candy) I spent the first half thinking the girl who played Ilse was an RWU alumni. Looking at the program at intermission let me know she wasn't. I then spent the intermission talking to the professor sitting behind me (who later would become like a father to me while studying abroad in London) about the symbolic nature of the themes and set.
Jen and I loved the show so much that we were determined to see it again...onstage. We got tickets for the following July (or was it August...) to sit onstage. It happened to be the first week Hunter Parrish would be Melchior. She was a Weeds fan but I only know him as the white kid in Freedom Writers (good movie).
Sitting onstage literally changed my life. It felt amazing to be on a Broadway stage, among the action. We felt like part of the cast. We saw them wink and point at each other. We even saw the boys trying to crack up Hunter while he had his back turned on the audience. It reminded me of everything I loved about theatre--the comradeship, the energy, the art. I knew that was where I belonged. Onstage. It felt right.
I remember going home and emailing the aforementioned professor about the experience and how my passion for acting had been re-ignited.
Last fall ('08) I spent an amazing semester studying theatre abroad in London. Six of us even got our own acting workshop with a West End and Broadway director. I wish I could go back and do even more.
When I returned in the spring, I was cast in a senior directing project which was The Bald Soprano as Mary. Our director, a friend of mine, was amazing and I learned a lot about myself and acting under her care. I also learned how much respect I have for techies after working as a stage hand and prop master for Little Shop of Horrors. Mad props (wow bad pun). It also made me realize how much I want to be in the spotlight. It killed sitting backstage, watching my friends doing what I ached to be doing.
This summer I've decided to put myself out there more and build my resume. My resume that I had to make for my musical theatre class was in pitiful shape. If I eliminated high school, the list was very sad. So far this summer I had my first "film" stint. A New Haven Theatre Company member has created this type of kareoke theatre called UBRSTAR (I thought it was "uber star"but found out it was "you be are star"). I acted in the video for "Summer Nights" from Grease.
I auditioned for some stage readings and a student theatre company production. I didn't make either. I was frustrated and felt like things were looking hopeless (many auditions had occured during finals or where too far away). Then one more audition popped up for another student group. I ended up going to the audition and landing the role I read for: Emily from Bang! Bang! You're Dead. I got the call while with a friend in New York, ironically going to a casting agency audition (turned out we had enough experience that they didn't need us to read sides and we were just told to email our headshot and resume).
Rehearsals start tomorrow and I'm really excited. Without a job, I've felt bored all summer so far and like I've been waiting for something to happen. Hopefully this is it.
Far too tired to write more. Off to bed.
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