Stormy Weather

A lot on my mind, so hold on.

I'm currently sitting in the bathroom in my basement because there is a tornado outside. The weather guys have been predicting this all day long, so I've been prepared, but since I'm obviously not on weather.com, I don't feel that my life is in any grave danger. This whole tornado thing happens about once a year for us here in the cities. Usually, nothing happens at all. Go figure. But other times, we really get whopped. I think its one of those other times. The last time it was really bad, we had four huge trees ripped out of the yard and some pretty rugged house damage. Hopefully this time won't be that bad. One good thing from the storm is that the humidity will FINALLY go away. Hopefully. Since graduation, I've been kind of a fanatic about exercising and since I hate going to the gym, I like to do as much as I can outside. However, because of the ridiculous humidity and heat, its been pretty brutal.

That brings me to my next point. In addition to being really active in order to stay in shape, I have been increasingly aware that my diet has a huge effect on my productivity as well. Gah. I sound like a crazy person. There is a ton of pressure on looks and appearance in the music theater market right now. Especially with the type that I'm currently auditioning for. Because I still look like a baby, I will be auditioning for "teen" from now until hell freezes over. This is fine because I really enjoy the material that fits me right now, but it is also a huge reminder that I didn't exactly have to be competitive in that way when I was in college. I have completely cut caffeine out of my diet....which might come as a shock to some because I vividly remember being chastised by castmates during Godspell rehearsals because I would down two Mountain Dews, an energy drink and a large Starbucks Frappuccino during the course of rehearsal. Sick, I know. I tried to stop with the soda about a year and a half ago and failed miserably. I tried to stop cold turkey, and couldn't even get to sleep because of the withdrawal headaches. One of the worst months of my life. This time has been considerably more successful. To date, I've been without soda for about seven weeks. Fortunately, I don't drink coffee besides the frappuccinos (which can't reeeally be considered coffee) so that hasn't been an issue. We'll see how long this lasts. Hopefully I'll be able to stick to it.

In other news, I am just finishing up my work with Sound of Music. Its been a good first post-college show for me. Not exactly my first choice for shows, but its been great to re-connect with old friends and colleagues. I go into rehearsals for Zombie Prom on Monday and I couldn't be more excited. The rest of the artistic team seem to be really fantastic people and the cast members are chomping at the bit! It will be a bit of an unconventional rehearsal period, but its all about being flexible and getting the job done, right? Its gonna be super fun too. So pumped.

Really exciting news! Already ahead of myself. Let me give some background. I first did the show "EDGES" a few years ago as a workshop project that was basically a lesson in patience and flexibility. However, I fell completely and irrevocably in love with the message that is at the heart of the production. The song "Coasting" sums it all up.

The lyrics are as follows : "Because really whats the point if we're just coasting on the surface? If you take a moment, you'll begin to find and say and feel. You'll discover something real if you are willing to reflect."

These lyrics have played a huge role in me discovering who I am (and who I want to be) as well as solidifying relationships with people that have become irreplaceable friends for life. This is why I chose this show to be a part of my senior thesis in college. I did my research on vocal pedagogy and pathology in contemporary American musical theater and halfway through the process, I decided that it would be an interesting experiment to mount a show and coach the singers with what I learned. So - long story short, I chose "EDGES". The cast of four singers were each phenomenally talented and incredibly brave to face the honesty and challenges of this material, but in the end, the show was a huge success and one of my best memories of college.

Now finally for the news! I was asked to sing the role of Man 2 in a production of EDGES in Chicago this winter. This was a really unexpected development in my life. I sent in some resumes and recordings about 6 months ago for a completely different production being put up by the same artistic team. While they didn't think I was right for that material, they thought of me when casting this show, and have offered me a contract for this show. I was initially more than ecstatic at the news, but after thinking about it for a while, doing this show would definitely have some drawbacks as well. First, it would take me out of Minneapolis for quite some time. I have worked really hard in the past year to rebuild my connections here and it would be hard to suddenly be unavailable for a large part of the next audition season. Second, I have already done this show twice, and while this would be a pretty publicized production, I have a huge part of me that wants to work on other material. I currently have no idea what to do, but will be sleeping on this for many nights before making an decisions.

Until then!