August Happenings-- Theater-ness

So, if the last post sounded mildly cryptic, that's because: 1. I wanted it to be, so I could write about the fun stuff in more entertaining detail, and 2. It was late and I while I wanted to put something up, I didn't want to write out said details at that moment. So here are the entertaining tidbits :)

Oy, where to start!

Theater Awesomeness:
So. Marie arrives in California. Marie is bored. She emails a local theater to volunteer, having heard that it's one of the longest running community theaters and runs good shows. Three or four weeks go by, and still no answer. Marie figures that they either didn't like her email, or didn't want volunteers, and gives up the idea of hearing back. Sometime around the next day, an email pops up in her inbox. Theater manager wants to meet. Marie goes to the theater, and instantaneous friendships, adventure, and delight are born.

The manager I met with was Jessi, an adorable girl who is simultaneously friendly, organized, direct, kind, a goofball, and awesome. We clicked instantly and she is an amazing manager, plus a bucket of fun. She showed me around the theater, said she could definitely use some volunteer help, and it was only a matter of deciding where to put that help to use, since there are a ton of productions going on. She broke off in the middle of talking about theater, and said she had permission to ask if I would also be interested in working at a Haunted Maze she manages in October. When she found out I knew airbrush makeup, she was absolutely delighted and informed me they had a paying position as head artist.  Then I was delighted!

A few minutes later, one of the production directors walked in to take care of some business, and so we were introduced. Jessi and I had already discussed how the schedule of the Haunted Maze would definitely overlap with two of the Little Theater productions, so when the director amiably invited me to audition for his show, I thanked him but knew in the back of my head that there was little chance of me even being on stage crew, much less acting in it. But he was cool, and people at the theater were SUPER super nice and friendly. I even met a guy who had been working at the theater since before I was born, an ex-hippie named John who is the dearest little man. He emanates a feeling of care and good-naturedness, and it was so cute to listen to him later as he ran a Light Hang. (For any of you non-theater peoples, a light hang is when the crew adjusts the big overhead lights so they're in the right spots for the next show. It's pretty technical and can take a long time.)

The next week, I got a phone call sometime in the afternoon from Jessi. She told me that there had been some situational changes at the Haunted Maze, and after trying to work out the problems for a long time, she was quitting. She described the circumstances and told me that I was still free to make my own choice to accept the Head Makeup position. She also said the reason she was calling me (before the boss even knew she was quitting, haha) was so I could still audition for the show I was invited to, since she knew I was eager to get back on stage. I was quite touched by the fact that she would go out of her way so much for me. I thought over the circumstances and decided it would be better for me not to take the job. (Not that it was a bad situation or anything, I had just worked with difficult artistic personalities before and wasn't keen on repeating the experience.)
Accordingly, I realized that meant I would be auditioning that night.... and that I needed music, a dance skirt, and to be warmed up, confident and ready to go.

Haha.

Some of you might know about my horrendous auditioning experience in high school, and if you do, you know that auditions still make me nervous. I am gradually getting more comfortable, but I really have to prep to calm myself down and tell myself it's okay if I screw up or don't get in.

After several mishaps with acquiring suitable sheet music and finding a printer that worked, I sang all that day, hoping my voice wasn't too rusty, and scurried about taking care of business. I finally found the church they were holding the auditions at, and was relieved to find that the director was awesome and the other girls were friendly and chill. Even though the dance audition was heavily ballet-style, somehow the week-long class I had taken at BYU was enough for me to look like I knew what I was doing as a ballerina.

Singing isn't my strong point, but the vocal audition was at least passable. My voice cracked during the most dramatic part of the song, and while I was cringing inside, I was proud of myself for pushing through it and not looking awkward. When the director asked me to sing it again, but with a Belt style, I figured, "What the heck", and belted my little voice out. Still not perfect, but I felt good for following through with directions without excuses.

Auditions finished, the director asked me to stay afterward and do some additional choreography. It rocked. He was impressed with how well I followed, and how gutsy I was when I would leap into the choreographed lifts. I was happy that he was such a good choreographer/dancer, and that he knew what he was doing. Things were awesome. As I left, he told me that I didn't need to come to callbacks the next day.

I was quite puzzled at that. However, a few days later I got an email informing me I had been accepted into the cast. Woohoo! Thusly, rehearsals for Oklahoma! start tomorrow night. I can't wait.

Last week, as I picked up my script and got fitted for my costume, I got to ask the director why I hadn't been asked to come to callbacks. He said, simply, "You were hands-down the best dancer at auditions. I already knew I wanted to cast you, and where you were going to be. There was no point in making you come in to read or sing more just for formality's sake."

So there you go :)   I was secretly hoping for the leading part of Laurey, but I think I have to vamp up my voice more for next time. I'm wanting to take some private voice lessons to learn how to sing Broadway style and belt better.  We'll see. I'm also going to audition for some of the upcoming straight plays (shows that don't have singing and dancing, just acting), which I think would be fun. We'll see about that too :)

In other theater news, I was briefed on how The Little Theater's new sound board operates, and invited to their open-mic-kind of performances called "No Shame Theater" (where you can present any performance so long as it's under 5 min and completely original). I'm tentatively working with an old connection of mine to write some music and do some choreography I've had simmering in my head for a couple years. I'll keep you posted on how that goes!

That's all for theater news. On to other equally exciting things!