We Create Resonance

In which our Diva heads into a busy summer

Last week was one of my craziest ever, and that's saying something! It was funny -- as of Sunday night, my evenings were entirely free, but by Monday night, the calendar was a wall-to-wall patchwork of deadlines, auditions, day-job shifts, and a day as an extra on Boss, a new Starz series starring Kelsey Grammer as the mayor of Chicago. (I didn't work with him, but I did have a nice featured spot in the scene, and had a great time with the instant family they assigned me to that morning. You never know what's going to happen with background work, which is really the fun part.)

Bit more time to breathe this week, but still a lot to get done. In the midst of it, I came in contact online the other day with a writer/producer who was kind enough to share with me a draft of his script in development. There's a lot for his company to do before there's an opportunity to audition for the character I immediately fell in love with, and of course there are never any guarantees of anything. But it's nice to dream and to turn over this potential person in my head.

One week from today is the summer Resonance event. I'm not off to London this time around, alas, but I'm planning to be there by Skype. If you're in the UK, why not sign up to attend? You can meet the team, learn where we go from here and how you can help, and then tell me all about it afterward! :-)

If you're not in that neck of the woods (or even if you are), visit the Resonant Object Facebook page for instructions on submitting a video postcard to be part of the evening's presentation. It doesn't have to be terribly fancy; here's my team's contribution:

Or not

In which our Diva is a bit under the weather

I've been excited to get back to Villa Verone for the Festival of Singers, but I'm going to have to wait a little longer, as the flu has caught up with me. :-(

My initial response was to be bummed about the timing. But on the other hand, if I'm going to get it (and pretty much everyone is right now -- if not "THE" flu, at least a flu), there's no such thing as a good time, and this is actually way better than a lot of times. There are several wonderful singers still on tonight's program, and I'm still scheduled to sing on December 13. (We're skipping a couple weeks due to other events at the restaurant.)

So today I settle in with hot liquids, warm blankets, and fun TV, and put my energy into getting back on my feet. All the better to give them my best at upcoming auditions!

Song for today: "Moonfall" from The Mystery of Edwin Drood, because it's ridiculously beautiful and I don't get to sing it tonight. (Pardon the background restaurant noise; I couldn't find a linkable pro recording that I liked, so you get my little digital recorder at Villa Verone last summer instead.) It's fun to mention when introducing it that it was written by Rupert Holmes, the guy who did "The Pina Colada Song" in the 1970s. People are always full of surprises!

Theatre express!

In which our Diva heads back to the stage in a new way

Check out n.u.f.a.n. ensemble's Seven Plays in Seven Days one-act festival! One week from audition (last night) to performance (next Monday, July 20). I'm playing Jackie in "Triple Salami to Go," an eccentric little two-hander by David Kravitz, directed by Thirsa Hodits. Get more details and buy tickets here.

And yes, this is overlapping with Elgin Opera's "Comedy Tonight!" -- concerts Friday and Saturday nights and Sunday afternoon, then 7 in 7 Monday night, with rehearsals slotted into the nights between now and then.

And yes, still shooting that scene for One Night overnight between Saturday and Sunday.

What can I say, I embrace my crazy. Come check it out!

And the beauty is, I still meet people I know

In which our Diva is holding breath and keeping fingers crossed

Posting on the fly. If I stop and think about how much I have going on through the rest of this summer, it's enough to make my head spin! So I'm just being in one place at a time and loving it. (And not thinking too much about how my house looks kinda like we were raised by wolves.)

The first concert of Elgin Opera's first Summer Music Festival is this weekend's "Broadway Night." Download a PDF of the festival brochure, and come join us!

There are a million things I want to post about right now, and no time to put them into words! Remember, if you ever want to know where and when you can see me performing live, check the events calendar on my website.

Song for today: "The Beauty Is" from The Light in the Piazza, which I get to sing in this weekend's program. I love Clara's sense of wonder and adventure, finding commonality with a foreign place and people. I hope I always remember how to approach the world that way.

Character whiplash

In which our Diva is back from the wild hinterlands of Hollywood Midwest and really freakin tired

Timing worked out. Hair is purple. Two very different characters in three days are in the can, w00t!!

And I am off to collapse on the couch now.

Staying a step ahead of circumstance

In which our Diva is grateful to be of an adaptable nature

Weird, weird week, driven mostly by two different shifts in the Cyrus shooting schedule. The second of which (due to a late-breaking emergency for an actor being flown out from LA) occurred too late for me not to drive to Michigan on Monday afternoon. Ah, well. At least I got to meet pretty much everybody, including the guy playing the younger version of Brian Krause in my scene, so I'll feel that much more at home when I go back to actually shoot on Saturday. That's more valuable than it might be in circumstances where the crew haven't already been there for almost a month, and most of the other actors still there have been for a week or two.

So, no stories yet, except that the motel is oldish and cheapish and really freakin cold -- it took my room several hours to warm up the other night with the heat on full blast! The people running it are nice, though, and seem to be having fun with the outpost of Hollywood Midwest that has essentially taken over their second floor. The town is also smallish, but as it has actual businesses and stoplights, I'm trying not to snicker aloud at a few dyed-in-the-wool city folks who are fairly convinced they have been consigned to Hell. (They're mistaken; it's actually a fair bit east and a little north of our location.)

Meanwhile, one of my zillion recent auditions got instant gratification -- I was the last person reading last Saturday for a student film at Columbia College, and the guy offered me the role on the spot! It's a punk girl grieving for her boyfriend, and I was actually kinda looking forward to having purple hair for a couple weeks. With the schedule shift, though, it's looking like we might need to downshift to clip-in extensions, because various people's schedules may result in my shooting one short scene Friday morning before I head back to Michigan. And Tanny is not the purple hair type, to say the least. I'm jazzed about filming as such radically different characters so close together, but wasn't banking on it being quite such a game of Schedule Tetris! %-}

Whoops.

In which it's possible our Diva has a few things going on

I managed to completely forget the Tonys were last night. *headdesk*

And if you call me 'Emma baby' one more time, I will scream

So. Bailiwick is looking for an understudy for Tell Me On A Sunday. Which I adore and which nobody ever does.

"Must be able to rehearse the last two weeks of July and participate in tech the first week of August."

Y'know, exactly when I'm in the final blitz to have everyone dressed when Shrew opens July 26. And of course the show runs through the weekend I'm covering the Widow/Servant.

I hate linear time.

No rest for the wicked

In which our Diva has a few irons in the fire

Three-day weekend FTW! Will no doubt want another when it's finished, as I will be using it to Get Stuff Done, but at least I have it do that in.

Stuff to Get Done includes as many costume renderings for Shrew as possible. I was hoping to have them all done by now, but the real drop-dead date is the first rehearsal in mid-June. Will probably be sketching madly away while socializing with company today.

Tomorrow will be all about studying new scene for acting class, brushing up on audition monologues and songs (everyone and their dog has general season auditions in the next couple weeks -- also need to put in for slots for those!), and getting mailings together for agent queries and a couple auditions that require snail mail instead of electronic submissions. Also need to order prints of new headshots.

Search for better-fitting day job continues apace, with sod all to show for it. Suspect at least some of them are getting filed in the "overqualified" (i.e. "she's going to want too much money, isn't she?") category, while others are looking at my rather eclectic work experience and going "Bzuh?" Sent a snail mail resume for one last week that I would really love to get; not saying any more 'cause I don't want to jinx it.

Dear AEA: Your Contract Associate job sounds faboo. Whywhywhy do you have to say "Employees of Actors' Equity Association are not permitted to perform in or stage manage any Equity or non-Equity production"??? [emphasis mine] I do not love you. (Not that this is particularly news.)

Monday is for housecleaning and car shopping. Car shopping is a necessity because (a) the one-car household thing is getting OLD; (b) the one functioning car does not have functioning air conditioning, and I'm so not doing that another summer; (c) better mileage plz!!; and (d) need new car before driving to Toronto in July for reasons (a) through (c). Have been looking very seriously at the smart car now that they're finally available in the U.S. If you've ever parked in the North Side neighborhoods where most of Chicago's storefront theatres are, you will immediately understand the appeal.

Evenings are for writing. Was writing an action scene yesterday (um, yeah, for the Lizzie project. Sure. *sheepish g*), and getting up to walk through the moves (to make sure they made sense in real space as well as in my head) made me realize how much I miss fight work. Good thing there's a Babes workshop coming up in a couple weeks. (For which registration is another thing on my to-do list this lovely holiday weekend.)

So, still lots going on, but all of it worth the doing.

I am actress, hear me snore

First class at Chicago Actors Studio last night. Like the coach, like the atmosphere, like the other members, and think it will be just the right kick in my slightly stagnant pants for this moment in time.

It's a good sign that I didn't realize until I was in my car that the ostensibly 7:00 - 10:30 class had run past midnight. Really it is. Getting up this morning, however... *YAAAAAAAWN*

If they continue to have 17 people attending the Monday night class, it's going to be an interesting 10 weeks.

Defying Gravity

In which our Diva has possibly had a little bit of caffeine today

Plans for the weekend falling into place. Bonus: I don't have to swipe the car and leave hubby stranded all day Saturday! I do have to spend 3 1/2 hours in transit on Metra up to spend Friday night with BigBabyBrother and Sister-in-Law-To-Be, which is okay because (a) I'm going to record my monologue and the audition side on my Zen for memorization purposes (since I haven't memorized either yet!), and (b) I missed SiLTB's shower last weekend for the Elisir matinee.

I realize I'm at least slightly insane for schlepping clear up to Milwaukee for this thing, but it is so utterly up my alley and would be SO MUCH FUN. (Do I get extra points for that? No, seriously. It should count! And hey, the mindset worked out last time...)

Meanwhile, there's been a slew of possibilities in the Chi breakdowns on actors access this past week, including one I just submitted for that will have me busy Sunday if I hear back from them. Bonus: these guys listed it as filming in Bartlett (very close to home) and Villa Park (location of Office of Doom). Also, you will note, up my alley. (It's been three months. I'm totally recovered from being tired of washing dried stage blood out of my hair.) They want me. They know they do. ;->

Pondering next week's Wicked chorus call. On the one hand, there's the "third time's the charm" theory. On the other, Equity members will be seen first. :: mourns Eligible Performer program yet again :: Thinking I'll probably hold out for the next open call instead.

Tonight, meanwhile, off to a friend's house to watch her six-year-old watch Much Ado About Nothing. Since she apparently jammed on Hamlet (!!!) last week, I can't miss this. Then home to pack an overnight bag for the trip up to Wisconsin, as there will be zero time to do so tomorrow due to the intersection of work and train schedules.

*whew* Keep on movin'...

Schedule Tetris

In which our Diva wishes desperately for a teleporter, and exercises firm denial against the suspicion that she is Getting Too Old For This Shit

The line between "challenge to be overcome" and "the Universe is trying to tell me something" is really, really fuzzy sometimes.

Case in point: Over the past several days, I've been exchanging emails with the director of a student film that sounds immensely cool. And I hasten to say the guy has been about as accommodating as anyone could reasonably expect. But on the ramp into tech week for Elisir, it's all too easy for audition times to run into rehearsals I can't afford to miss. Which they have, twice -- the original date, which he rescheduled independently of my conflict, and the rescheduled date tomorrow. When I emailed him asking if I could possibly make any other arrangements due to my conflict tomorrow, he replied that he had an additional session scheduled for this evening.

Which I could, technically, by the edges of my fingernails, maybe make.

If I drive off with the only functional car in the household, leaving the hubby to his own devices to get to our social commitment tonight (from which I would, of course, be playing hooky).

If I log in to Office of Doom tomorrow morning to finish making up the hours from an appointment I had on Tuesday. (And I say that with much kowtowing to the gods of telecommuting, because making up hours is a helluva lot easier when I can do it from my attic.)

And if the obscene quantity of snow between here and the Art Institute is sufficiently off the roads by the time I head out.

Balanced against the fact that the director is a bit overwhelmed by the response he actually got to his audition posting, which is why he's having an additional session in the first place, and, well.

So, um. Challenge? Universe? Which one am I trying to talk myself into? Not quite sure.

The never-say-die voice is saying "Haul your ass into the city by hook or by crook, and deal with the tired and the crazy."

The grownup-with-responsibilities voice is saying "Let it go, there'll be other times, and you have Things You Need To Do. Plus, where do you get off inconveniencing hubby and hosts of social commitment?"

Neither voice is all that appealing at the moment. Which is kind of annoying, considering how often these situations come up.

As long as the voice saying "Screw it, run a hot bubblebath and HIDE!" doesn't win, I think I'm okay. But boy, does it get loud sometimes...