Okay, maybe not alarming.
But to begin with, I'm updating my blog twice within the same month! Given the recent trends, this has to be some kind of record.
Audition update:
Since we last spoke, the total is 9, of a potential 12. This my friends is pretty damn good! Not as good as I was doing when I was actually productive, but pretty good.
Last Monday night I auditioned for 2 a.m., a new play with Manhattan Rep. Read sides and felt pretty good about it. The sides were loooong! I actually read a more or less full-length scene in an audition, which was odd. Funny scene about a girl who broke up with her boyfriend. His tactic to win her back is to pretend her breaking up with him spared him the trouble... only to have it totally backfire when it completely pisses her off and she unloads all the things she's mad at him for... toooootally not something I would do. Nope. Not at all.
Decided to pass on open calls on Tuesday as they were for Cirque du Soleil (for singers; obviously I have not gained a new and unhuman level of flexibility) and The Addams Family and let's face it, I'm just not dark and twisty looking enough. There may or may not also have been laaaaate night pancakes involved on Monday after maaaaaybe some cocktails that rendered getting up at 7 am out of the question. It happens. Baby steps. I worked heavily on revamping my website, however, and did some bonding with Backstage/Actors Access/Playbill. Not an altogether unproductive day.
Wednesday shlepped it to Brooklyn and Queens in the same day to audition for Pride not Prejudice, an educational touring company, and a new play at the Secret Theatre. And then to work. Did I mention I was in three boroughs in one day, if we count Manhattan?
Thursday I finally conquered my fear of the AEA center! Okay, okay, I didn't conquer my fear of EPAs or ECCs (yes, this is embarrassing. I'm working on it. Kind of. Well I will, now that I'm not afraid of the building). But I did have an appointment for something there and I went in and it wasn't totally intimidating. Until I saw someone who graduated the year after me there who had an appointment for something Equity. Aka he was actually union. And a year younger than me. Ugh. Men have it so easy. Attempted to go to an open call for Hamlet that afternoon but I made a crucial error in forgetting that Shakespeare people are even more eager than musical theatre people... how unlucky for those around me that I am both. Anyway, this of course meant that showing up for this open call around 5:30 (it began at 4), getting a time slot for "6:05" and overhearing that people who'd arrived at 3:45 still hadn't been seen. I overheard this at 6:30 and realized that, since the call ended at 7, the odds of me being seen were slim to none. Meaning none.
Couldn't get my shift covered for Monday of this week, which meant, sadly, missing the Rock of Ages Vegas call. Talk about something I'm actually right for. 80s? SIGN ME THE FUCK UP, PLEASE.
One day I will make it to a Rock of Ages call and it will be great. A girl can dream, right?
Tuesday I got back into open call land for Stiletto Entertainment Cruises. I would love to book a cruise ship gig and it's one of my biggest goals in the upcoming year.
It was at this call that I was struck again by how incredibly ODD the whole open call protocol is. You get up at the crack of dawn to sign an unofficial list and hope they'll honor it, and then sit corralled with 100 of your closest musical theatre friends as you listen to them warm up and watch them curl their hair and put on a full face of makeup. Before 9 am. My friends, this is not the kind of musical theatre girl I am in the slightest and yet this is part of my ordinary life. Last year, Columbia Guy somebody that I used to know pointed out to me that the whole audition culture is a very, very strange one. [Frankly, it was one of the things that endeared me to him but that time in my life has come and gone, and besides I have hashed that out EXTENSIVELY on this blog already (barf).] I had never thought about it that way until someone wholly uninitiated to my lifestyle pointed it out, but it's an astute observation. Auditioning in general is a weird notion, but I'll save my thoughts there for another post. Anyway, my return to open calling was shockingly painless as somehow, my 7:55 arrival time made me just number 13 on the list? CRAZYTOWN. Sadly, Stiletto likes to teach you music, meaning I was stuck in holding listen to all of my 100 closest musical theatre friends sing "A Moment Like This" over and over again. The. Horror.
Left from there to go down to 440 Lafayette, or as I will forever know it Playwrights' Horizons, for another educational theatre appointment. I have never felt older than I did sitting at Playwrights on a freshman class day, listening to them talk about Writing the Essay and Intro to Theatre Studies and dorms. And hating on Strasberg! Got briefly indignant before I realized I was quietly resenting an 18 year old from afar, and this made me feel even older. Also, being at Playwrights also always has the uncanny ability to make me feel uncomfortable even this much time later, so it's never my favorite audition venue. Eh. It is what it is. My hacking cough of the morning was getting worse, so I decided to pass on the afternoon open call for Jean Ann Ryan entertainment. According to auditionupdate.com, it was a zoo, so I did not feel at ALL bad about this.
Wednesday I got up and did it again for Theatreworks and an appointment for Midtown Arts Center. Theatreworks was SHOCKINGLY efficient for their usual audition style (guys I love you, but seeing 20 people in an hour is so not okay) and it was with great surprise that I discovered being number 63 put me at the top of the 2nd hour. Finagled the two auditions in the same time frame with relative ease, and ducked out out Chelsea to get to Nola. Midtown Arts Center was casting Legally Blonde, primarily, and I was the ONLY non-blonde at the call. Awkward. Note to self: at least wear pink to those. Got back to Theatreworks and was pleased that the auditioner who brought me in from last years' open call for another show was behind the table and remembered me! Feel pretty confident about how I sang there so fingers crossed for results from that this year.
Nothing through the weekend - missed Amateur Night at the Apollo which would have been fun I think, but sadly my job beckoned. Tomorrow's agenda is Prather Entertainment Group open call and an appointment for a Lady Gaga musical. Oh boy. Disney on Tuesday, that's always a joy.
Meanwhile, in exercise land:
So, I've been training with the help of the Couch Potato to 5K approach and I'm liking it so far! It works by training you incrementally with longer and longer runs. Pretty good, for a devoted elliptical (aka non) runner.
It's not exactly turning me into the runner of my dreams, nor is it really taking away my hatred of running, but it's mitigating it at least and it's keeping me on task. AND, I ran outside for the first time. This for me is HUGE, because I generally maintain that I'm devoted to the treadmill because it eliminates the human laziness aspect of me... well, wanting to stop. Turns out, I can motivate myself to keep going, and it gives you a lot more to look at!
I haven't signed up for a race yet because I'd rather feel confident that I can do it and then have the luxury of choosing a race rather than stressing about picking a race and meeting a deadline. Odd, that's usually the opposite of how I work... but once I get into the longer training runs I'll get down to the race-choosing.
I also bought new running shoes FINALLY! They're hot pink. I've been lusting after these:
Nike Air Pegasus 29
But by the time I finally got my act together and wanted to purchase them, I couldn't find them freaking ANYWHERE. Well, at least in the right size and color. Listen, the pink is really important to me okay. If I have to be shell out and spend real money on running shoes, I damn well better enjoy being seen in them. So instead I took to the internet, and bought these instead. For $10 less and brighter pink, I'll take it... even if I have to wait on shipping.
Asics Gel Nimbus 33
I've been making it to the gym pretty regularly and I think I'm finally starting to find my groove. Next step is getting back into dance class and then conquering my fear of group exercise classes at my gym. That's the stupidest thing ever, of course, because I've been going to drop in dance classes for years and it's exactly the same thing... but somehow the idea of doing it at the gym for something that's not dance just seems really weird. I've also decided I want to give yoga another shot. God, definitely stay tuned for that hot mess, as years ago I decided I wasn't zen enough for yoga. Then again, I also NEVER thought I'd train for a 5K either. Baby steps towards becoming a fitness guru!
Life, in other news, goes on as usual. I'm trying to eat better and mostly doing a good job of it, although I haven't been to the grocery store in ages so I'm getting bored of the same 6 things I can make myself with the food that remains to me at home. Working a lot and more or less LIVING out of the Manch. I've only wanted to tear my hair out and run screaming from the building once in the last two weeks, so there's something.
Say hello to my workplace!
Got my first checks from acting gigs, which makes me feel more like a real actor and less like the building above owns my soul and sanity. It's the little things. I also have been doing so much waking up and going to sleep early that for once, my sleeping habits actually resemble those of a functional adult! It's really, really bizarre. Worry not, I have an out of town friend meandering about New York this week so I'm sure the next time I make an appearance back at this blog I'll have some debauchery to speak about.
Lastly, my beloved San Francisco Giants (who I'm watching right now, thanks MLB.tv!) clinched the NL West. #ORANGEOCTOBER. Get ready.
This was the Giants' playoff anthem in 2010. I think the sentiment holds.
This productivity thing is weird. We'll see what else happens.
