Cottonwood Joseph post #7: A Retrospective

I finally finished up my last Cottonwood Joseph post. Good times! I hope the Arts Councils' next show is as fun and successful!

[For convenience' sake, and because I'm afraid the Cottonwood Joseph blog will suddenly disappear one day, here is the post in full:]

This show was an illustration of one of my mom's favorite adages: "You don't regret the things you do. You regret the things you don't do." Meaning, I would have regretted not doing this show. Poor, poor Joseph, I was sooo tired during this rehearsal process! Tired and grumpy as I may have been at times, I never missed a rehearsal that wasn't already on my conflict sheet. I may have battled in my mind a bit before some of the rehearsals and the parade and subsequent performance, but I was never disappointed. This show was good for me!

And now, as is my custom, a run-down of some of my most cherished memories:

1. How cool is it that I was a part of Cottonwood Heights Arts Council history? I was a part of the first show they ever put together! And from what I hear, it was ridiculously successful. We had way more audience members than anyone expected, and way more fun than we had any business having. The Council put together a great proteam. The proteam put together a great cast. And the cast put on a terrific show. Everybody won!

2. SO. MANY. KIDS. Just so many. I don't know how the proteam did it. There were a ton of children in the cast, and some weren't terribly focused. Some of the adults -- including me -- weren't always thrilled having all of them around. But when it came time to perform, those kids were fantastic! For the most part they did what they were supposed to and stood where they were told. So cute. I don't know if I could ever direct a show with that many kids, but I might consider doing another show with kids, if they try as hard as these did. Good for them! We need a new generation of actors who know what they're doing, and goodness knows our director and childrens' director did all they could to train them!

3. I can still hardly believe I got to do this show with my best friend, her husband, my Charmios, my favorite theatre cohorts and all of the others. How lucky am I that I performed with so many people that I love, and met several more that I hope to perform with again in the near future. I am perfectly aware of how talented and cool my castmates are. What an inspired cast. It felt so good to see them every day. We cheered each other on, took care of each other, and I hoped spurred us all on to be better than we would have been otherwise. They were dedicated to finding and creating great moments wherever we could and I hope we succeeded.

4. I love that the Charmios all developed their own onstage personalities and we were all so different. I love that they voted me the "head drill leader"... after I told them that was what I wanted. I was the "mini Sue." Consequently, they put me in the front of the formation. Never mind that I struggled with the cheers. As long as we were smiling we were fine! It was a pleasure to work so closely with our Narrator "Sue" 2 and those terrific girls. They never made me feel old, they always made me feel welcome, and for that I am extremely grateful!

5. Bloopers:
a. During "One More Angel in Heaven" I was sitting back-to-back on the floor with Britney. She was facing the singers and we were getting ready to stand up and dance during the Hoedown, when she said, "There's a lipstick on the stage!" I turned around and, sure enough, there was a small, round lipstick right about where we were about to dance. "What do I do?" she asked. "Pick it up," I replied. She did, even though it turned out I would have been closer once we were in our lines. Later in that same dance, someone's bandana fell on the ground. This time I picked it up and swung it around as much as I could until the end of the dance.
b. As I mentioned, I was in the front of the drill team's formation during "Go Joseph." One night, the pom-pom in my right hand decided to spontaneously combust. The thing fell apart in my hand. I kept going for a second, trying to decide it if would be more distracting to leave the pieces on the stage or pick them up and disrupt the routine. Ultimately I swiftly bent and picked up as much as I could in one big handful and finished up. I didn't get it all, but hopefully I picked up enough that the audience was watching the actors and not the streamers left on the stage.
c. Not a blooper, but I loved running into the audience during "Go Joseph" to do our cheers. None of the Charmios ever thought we'd make it back onstage in time to finish the choreography but we always did. I sure did run my legs off to get there!
d. Little Bella roamed the stage. Much of the time she stayed pretty near her mom or some responsible adult, but sometimes she just needed some space. It would crack me up (and alarm me just a smidge) every time I saw her somewhere she wasn't supposed to. Sometimes I wish she had wandered onstage during the Potiphar scene so I could pretend to be scandalized as I dragged her off. I got to do it during rehearsal once, and it was funny!
e. Another time during "One More Angel," I watched my fellow drillmate Kenzie walk across the stage, grab cast member Amy's prop (a cross stitch in a hoop) and pretend to blow her nose on it. Satisfied with the horrified look on Amy's face, Kenzie skipped back to her place and sat down. I laughed so hard I had to put my face in my hands. Everyone on stage who hadn't seen Kenzie but could see me was really confused.

6. This show was a total PARTY every time we performed. It may also be the only play in history that improved with every subsequent show. We performed five times and every one was better than the last. It just felt good to rock out and play all night. I danced so hard during the Megamix that I could barely sing. Since I don't generally consider myself a strong dancer I generally throw all I have into the singing part, so the fact that I had so much fun dancing is a huge compliment coming from me! My favorite songs were "Go, Go, Go, Joseph," "Pharoah's Dream," and the "Benjamin Calypso" part of the Megamix (the part when we did the Macarena). SO FUN! I miss the workout I got every night and the requisite happy endorphins :D

So long, Joe! It was fun while it lasted!

5 x 11

I just finished my 5th show in a row. With no breaks in between any of them. This means I've been either performing or rehearsing (and sometimes both, because there was a lot of overlap) for nearly eleven months. And I've LOVED it! All of the plays, theaters, and people involved were all so very different I can't even compare them to each other. So I'm going to describe the differences and highlights of each:

1. Sleeping Beauty: the adventure story.
It all started when I auditioned for this show in September last year. I played a fairy, which was something of a dream come true for a girl raised on fairy tales. To be honest, I had really wanted to play Sleeping Beauty herself, but I am very glad I accepted the fairy role. The casting was too perfect. I got to play around and make up my own character in a lot of ways. Plus, the two women playing my fairy sisters are long-time friends and we had a blast in our efforts to steal every scene we were in (which included pretty much the entire show since we almost never left the stage). I was ecstatic to be doing a "straight" play, i.e. not a musical. The last non-musical I did was in 2004, I believe, which is weird because I consider myself a much better actress than a singer, but not weird because we all know how much I LOVE to sing. (...And then of course they cast me as a character that sings all the time!)The Childrens' Theatre did this show when I was in college and I was always sad I missed out at that time. I hadn't done a play with the Childrens' Theatre in six or seven years, and returning to this theatre to do a play I'd wanted to do for so long was wonderful! I had forgotten how much I love my Joanne, and what great work they do with the storytelling and young actors. It was also cool to do a period piece that did not take place in the nineteenth or twentieth centuries. The costumes were very Shakespearean, and we all had to train ourselves to throw out any sort of modern mannerisms, which is harder than you would think! My parents brought my nephew to see this play -- his first play! -- and he loved it, especially the dragon. I must admit, I loved the dragon, too, because not only were the effects cool, but from backstage it sounded like a videogame. I forgot how much I like the "backstage" experience! It was a nice welcome back after not doing a play for 10 months (the previous show was Babes in Toyland, Christmas of 2008)!

2. Kiss Me Kate: the comedy.
When I auditioned for this play, I knew nothing about it, except it was supposedly a classic, was an adaptation of The Taming of the Shrew, and had the songs "Too Darn Hot" and "I Hate Men" in it. I might have known that people dance around in their underwear. (Hmm, maybe that's a lot I knew about it.) The show covered just the right time in my life, because as you'll recall I lost my job during the rehearsal process. I've said it before, but my job-search depression would have been a lot worse without this show to go to every night. The cast was made up of all adults and sometimes the goings-on backstage were inappropriate (never TOO much). We had double-entendres for everything so we probably thought the show was funnier than it was, but we had a brilliant time! I was surprised to be cast in the ensemble in this dance-heavy musical, but happy for the chance to strengthen that weakest angle of my triple-threat triangle. Boy did the choreographer work us hard, but I managed to get it all down and my friends and family members were pretty surprised at some of my moves! I can dance! I sang the second alto part, which I loved! I adore singing harmony and it sounded so cool when we got the 8 part harmony right. Our music director called me his "power alto" -- I cannot even begin to describe how proud I am of that! Also, my hair looked awesome in every time period, both Renaissance and 1940s. I even had a cute slip to dance in, which was especially useful during a dress rehearsal where I had to change onstage and didn't make it in time (forcing me to continue a whole scene wearing just that slip...I didn't even have the green shirt at the time...). The play was double-cast, and we had a great time mixing and matching the cast members. Once again, I had a fantastic double, and I was sad that she was the one person I never got to perform with!

3. The Secret Garden: the drama.
A revisiting of a play I did 15 years ago. It's wasn't the musical and I was only in four scenes, which was lucky since I closed Kiss Me Kate a week before this one opened and could only go to a few other rehearsals before that. I played Lillias Craven, a ghost who was the wife and mother of two of the other characters. I loved getting to work with one of my favorite directors -- Emily Holmgren -- the person who taught me that knowing my character is the most important thing an actor can do. I definitely knew Lilias Craven inside and out! Sadly, I never thought of my character as creepy until someone pointed it out opening weekend; then I couldn't think of myself as anything but! I loved the relationships with the actors and characters and, again, revisiting old friendships. It was really cool seeing how very engrossed even the littlest of children were as they watched this talk-heavy, very dramatic play. They loved it! Children are much smarter than most people give them credit for. I had the BEST costume ever, and I loved getting ready. I didn't even care that my dress weighed, like, 25 pounds and people stepped on the train nearly every performance. I giggled when the cast would greet the audience after the show and little girls wanted a photo with the "princess." It was odd playing a character that no one could see -- odd enough that it was hard to get used to EVERYONE looking at me in the next show. I spent a lot of time backstage and made myself useful helping with scene changes and costume changes.

After I was cast in the Secret Garden, I formed the idea in the back of my head that I wanted to be constantly involved in one show or another for a whole year. Not a goal, per se, but just a thought that "I have time and it will bother no one, so why not?" It all depended on whether I'd have the energy and opportunities.

4. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers: the dream.
My favorite show ever. A dream role, show, and cast. I have never worked so hard in my life and loved anything so much. Even now, it's the show I miss the most. I don't know if I'll ever be a part of another show that comes together quite as miraculously as this one. We had so much stacked against us: the loss of our anticipated performance space, the loss of performances, almost no advertising, almost no support from the Arts Council, multiple injuries, and so forth, but it all worked well in the end. I am still just so proud of the show! It was such an overwhelming experience playing the character that glues the rest of the show together. I was in nearly every scene, had encounters with all of the other characters. If my performance wasn't believable the whole show would be garbage. Happily, I had help and plenty of time to prepare. My favorite rehearsals were those when Brett, Denise (my Adam and my director), and I would just sit around and talk about our motivations, our backstories, our relationship, and the historical context. I loved my character and all of the others onstage with me. It was so great getting to spend so much time onstage, so much time exploring different aspects of the story. I grew so much! I had a whole character arc! I was the star! I got to feature others and support them in their roles! I loved it every day and probably would have been really depressed when it closed if I hadn't immediately jumped right into the middle of rehearsals for...

5. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat: the party.
This poor show fought an uphill battle in my mind. My darling Kate asked me to audition and I was thrilled to be cast, but I was so tired after working so hard in Seven Brides that it was often a chore going to rehearsals. It was through loyalty and love for the friends involved, force of will, and a desire to let loose and party that I managed to get myself through this show! I am so glad I did it. I adored singing the music. I was thrilled that I got to play a drill team member and was repeatedly told I am a dancer (bless you, Stephanie M!). I relished in the dancing. I laughed a lot. I cried a couple of times. But in the end it really was a party. I had a blast playing with my pom-poms and -- miracle of miracles! -- I was able to touch my toes for the first time I can ever remember! Once again, my parents brought my nephew to the show -- his first musical -- and he loved it! Now he listens to the soundtrack all the time and wants to do a play with me sometime. I am so excited! I would love to have a family member to perform with. I am so jealous of all the friends who get to perform with kids or siblings! I must say, I'm used to getting yelled at by one or more members of the pro team at some point, but that never happened with this show. The whole experience was very positive. The very best part was the gift of spending six weeks with many people I completely love and don't get to see very often, if ever. I may be completely wiped out now that it's over, but I know that choosing to do this play in spite of my personal adversity was the right thing to do. I can't imagine not having done it. I still plan on posting one more time on the Cottonwood Joseph blog. I need a cathartic wrap-up.

Now that Joseph has closed, I am reveling in blissful non-participation. There were several plays I could have auditioned for to finish out the year, but I am too physically and creatively exhausted. I need some time to replenish, visit with some of my friends inside and outside of the theatre world, to go on vacation, to sleep in, to just sit around and do nothing, and to enjoy the last little bit of the summer because I've spent the entire time inside either at work, rehearsal, or in performance. I'll be honest: I'm pretty happy not to be doing a show at the moment.

I am really grateful for all of the support I've had during this time! For awesome castmates and production teams and people who came to see me perform. Most of the people that mean the most to me either came to or were involved in at least one of the plays this year. I was often surprised at people who actually came. I've become reacquainted with a lot of friends I'd only seen recently on Facebook; I love that more than one friend I hadn't seen in more than 10 years came to see me in Seven Brides! I am a little disappointed with some of the people who made no effort to see anything. Really? I'm in 5 plays, some of which were super-inexpensive, and you couldn't come to one? I understand some people live out-of-state and for others life in general is really busy, but I'm allowed to be disappointed anyway. I just keep hoping (but not too hard lest they miss the next, too) that they come to the next show.

I've grown up a lot in this last year, I hope. I've learned many lessons. I've learned that not getting the part I want doesn't mean I'm not talented enough to play it. I've learned that making the most of the part I do have pays off. I've learned that people see a lot more potential in me than I see in myself. I've learned that a show can overcome all sorts of obstacles if the people involved are dedicated and brave enough to do what must be done. I've learned not to be afraid to list conflicts on my audition form because if a production team really wants me they'll make it work and be really nice about it. I've learned that I can be the lead -- I can command and guide a show and I can do it well! I've learned that it's better to audition for a show and not get it than to not audition and wonder "what if?" I've learned that I have a lot more energy than I thought. I've learned that I need a break in between shows (or at least between every two or three). Best of all, I've learned that the theatre world is shrinking all the time and I have friends from all over the Salt Lake valley who generally care about me.

There are quite a few types of plays I'd like to do in the somewhat near future: a Shakespeare play, another crazy-big part in a musical, a tap-dance show, and a full-length straight play. Someone asked me a few weeks ago what my dream role is. Well, it was Milly in Seven Brides, and now that I've done that I don't know what the new dream is. There are so many parts I can and want to play!

What will I do next? I'm not sure. I would kind of like to audition for a Christmas show, but the idea of starting up another show makes me feel tired. I don't know if I'll be ready to jump into another play again in the next couple of weeks. I'm enjoying the freedom. (Yes, most Christmastime plays have auditions in August or September.)

It's been a good year for stretching my acting chops. Hopefully this next one will be, too. It probably won't be as busy -- I don't know if I can or want to continue to keep up this pace -- but I have my fingers crossed it will be just as satisfying!

An old sprain

Check out my left arm (around my mom) in this photo. Notice I'm wearing a brace? Well, I sprained my arm.

Two months ago.

Two months ago, I was in the last week of rehearsals for Seven Brides. I rang the cowbell for the first time and accidentally hit
myself with it. I remember thinking at the time, "That's going to bruise" and I dutifully iced it when I arrived at home that night and several times that day.

I think that after that, and aggravation caused by choreography where one of the brides grabbed my arm and pulled while I pulled the other way caused the sprain. It's been hurting more each day, but usually only when I'd twist something (like a doorknob), put pressure on it, or grip and pull. It was agony to lift my mattress while making my bed. Two weeks ago it just started to ache all the time. Well, all the time the pain wasn't stabbing me.

So I went to the doctor, she moved my arm a couple of times and said, "Does this hurt?" and determined that I sprained my arm. She gave me the brace and I am so happy! My wrist hurts MUCH less when I wear it! She also gave me some exercises to do to help heal my arm. They are painful, but I will do it. I'm excited that my wrist is going to heal and be fully usable again! I can't wait to make my bed without screaming anymore!

Of course, the brace is rather inconvenient. Typing isn't too awkward, but using utensils is a joke. Ah well. It's my own fault for not having this checked earlier.

What does it say about me that I get my most serious injuries doing musical theatre? I am hard core!

Lagoon Day!

The company I work for decided at the last minute that we should probably have a summer office party. About a month ago, they sent around a survey asking which of the following we'd prefer:

1) Lagoon with our families
2) REAL Salt Lake game with our fammillies (I like this typo so I'm going to leave it)
3) Bees game with our families
or 4) Lunch at the Sky Box for employees only

The Lagoon option won, so a few days later the party planner came by to ask me how many people I wanted to invite. I literally pulled the number 5 out of the air, but that's how many I actually brought. It was a pretty sweet deal: free tickets for all into the park, free parking, and a free lunch.

Can I just say that it's been a long time since I have worked with a company who would go to so much trouble for its employees? Especially for a non-corporate branch. The last place I worked for didn't even give Christmas bonuses. I am so grateful that I not only like my job, but the company I work for seems to like me, too!

I invited my parents and my older brother's family. They are awesome. We had the best time! Adam took the day off on Friday (the day of the party) and his family picked me up on the way to the park so that I could work for two hours in the morning. The G-unit was pretty excited. He had never been to Lagoon and I think he was glad to get to go with his Grammy, Boppa and me. I gave him a present I thought was pretty cool: a water bottle that has a built-in dry compartment which I filled with honey nut cheerios. I bought a Cars-themed bottle for him, and a Disney princesses one for me. G-unit ended up eating most of the cheerios from both. The best part was that the water bottles had a strap so he could carry his own. He was pretty resistant to carrying it at first, but after a few hours of persistence on his mom's part he accepted the responsibility as a given. Good kid.

We ended up arriving at the same time as my parents, who drove separately (and by "at the same time" I mean they happened to be the car in front of us at the parking lot toll booth).

I haven't been to Lagoon in 5 years, and I was really surprised by how much it has changed. There is a whole "kid land" section in the middle of the park that hadn't been there before! In fact, a lot of the rides were unfamiliar.

We started with the Log Flume ride, which had issues while we were in line, so we waited for nearly an hour. But when the ride was working again and we all took our turns, we succeeded in getting very, very wet, which was our goal since it was about 90 degrees that day.

Unfortunately, the long line apparently kept me from winning a prize in the raffle at lunch. Pretty much everyone stopped by to tell me my name had been called but they gave the prize away because I wasn't there. Even my NEPHEW told me which was funny because he had been in line with me. He must have overheard my mom tell my dad or something.

The boys and I decided to head over to Lagoon-a-beach for awhile and take advantage of all the water. We decided later it wasn't a great idea, since water and the extra exposure to the sun seemed to sap us all of our energy (by "all" I mean the adults -- G-unit seemed impervious to the sun). Meanwhile, my mom and Lindsey took the girls on the carousel and another ride. 'Twas nice to have an excuse to put on the bathing suit for the FIRST TIME THIS SUMMER (seriously, where did the summer go?) and fun to see the G-unit get excited about some of the water slides.

The park was PACKED. I think since it was the last Friday before most school started up again, everyone decided to get in their last hurrah. Consequently, the lines for everything were ridiculous. This did not keep us from standing in plenty of those lines, but it kept us from trying most of the new rides, like Wicked, Tsunami, and the Spider.

By the way: the Bat was a HUGE disappointment. We waited in line for just half an hour, but I would be shocked to discover that the ride itself was any longer than about 20 seconds. It felt like it was just getting started and all of a sudden it was over. Lame, lame, lame!

But the Tidal Wave, Music Express, Turn of the Century, Collossus, Centennial Screamer, and Jet Star 2 were as good as I remembered. Even better was the fact that my dad and the G-unit loved them too (well, G loved the ones he was big enough to ride, especially the Tidal Wave). My mom and Lindsey took turns watching the girls while the rest of us rode the rides.

About dinnertime, Lindsey took the tired babies home. They had played hard and won the hearts of hundreds of passersby (including my coworkers) and having conquered the park had had enough for one day. The rest of us ate a quick dinner, then split up for some more crazy adventures. Adam and I went on some of the wilder rides while Mom, Dad, and G-unit discovered the fun located in the aforementioned new "kid land." Adam and I were pretty suprised when we rejoined the others at 9:30pm to discover that G-unit was still going strong. The rest of us were exhausted and didn't want to fight the crowds any longer.

Not surprisingly, G slept the entire way home.

So, is Lagoon really "what fun is?" Sure. Definitely not as well-run or well-supplied as Disneyland, so we were disappointed there, but my family had a great time together. We didn't push ourselves too hard, and we loved getting a break from the regular routine. I am so glad I invited them!

Saturday morning, I slept in as much as possible, then went in to work for six hours. Not really fun, but definitely necessary since I hadn't managed to finish my project before that paid Friday holiday. I am grateful for my office which made Friday possible. So many people hate their jobs or are out of work and looking for a job. I am so blessed. It's good to be employed by people who care and to be doing work I don't mind doing!

The only comic that made me LOL yesterday

(Especially panel 3. I literally laughed out loud.)

Cathy Guisewite, I am going to miss you! Who else understands and satirizes the plight of the modern woman so well? Enjoy your retirement! It's well deserved!

Polly - a "glad" movie

I love this version of "Pollyana" set in the American south in the 1950s. Keisha Knight Pulliam is darling as plucky Polly and Phylicia Rashad is wonderful as the miserly aunt. I miss made-for-tv-musicals! We need more of them, yes?

I think I just figured out why I love tap-dancing so much: It is inherently cheerful. It is pretty much impossible for me to be sad when I'm watching a really good tapper... or when I finally nail a tough routine. LOVE. IT!