The Show Must Go On

I cannot believe the show is over! It feels like the past seven weeks have flown by. I am not sure what I am going to do with myself now, it hasn't really hit me yet. My mom came in on Friday and just left this afternoon, so I have been pretty distracted. Top it off, Ryan leaves for Louisiana tomorrow to visit his best friend Josh for a few days. My first week/weekend home with no rehearsals and I have no husband too! Typical.



Last minute set decoration and construction. I miss building and painting! I came in to help out.

Opening night was a rush. Having an audience that laughed (and even gasped when the murderer was revealed) was fantastic. The only problem was the heat. It felt like it was a 100 degrees in the theatre and being under the lights? Oh it was awful. I usually don't sweat easily and I was soaked through! When we looked offstage all you could see in the audience were people fanning themselves with the programs. Luckily for us the President of the college was there and he left at intermission due to the heat. The next day this little beauty was set up in our green room pumping cold air into the theatre.

What a difference! Sure we lost some of our get ready space but we were just fine.

Friday was definitely different, and not just temperature wise. One of the actors in the show was in a car accident on his way to the theatre. He called us from the ER (since he doesn't have a cell phone) an hour before showtime. Luckily he was ok, beat up but nothing serious, but we still had a show to do. Fortunately our Stage Manager is an actor as well. He has seen the show hundreds of times and was able to go on instead. In the hour before showtime we were doing quick understudy rehearsals and line runs.... hectic! The actor was unable to come back for the other shows and our Stage Manager filled in the rest of the run. Between that news and a small and rather quiet audience Friday was the roughest of our shows. But thank you Annie (from simplify) for coming! I am sorry I didn't get to see you afterwards.

One of my new buddies Lacie was kind enough to do my make up and hair for the show. I couldn't resist a few self portraits backstage...

My mini make up hoarde

 Saturday my mom came to the show with Ryan (who also came opening night) as did the lovely Mrs Sykes and my ballet teacher! I was feeling the love that night. We had a fun audience who was really into it! A lot of people used their programs to guess who the murderer was.... my husband guessed before he saw the show (he did help me with lines enough and I never let him read the end parts) and my mom was surprised by the reveal. Not bad! Whenever the murderer was revealed a lot of people gasped or reacted and it was hard to keep a straight face!

The red and purple flowers are from Ryan and the white are from my mom. Gorgeous.

We had a low key cast party Saturday night and Sunday was another great show. We were kind of miffed because they closed the parking lot in front of the theatre (which we had reserved) for police driving training and our old people matinee audience had to hike across the campus. Not cool. But we still had a large turn out!

I have spent a lot of time with these wonderful people and I will miss them dearly!!! Thank you all for your support (:

It's the Day of the Show Ya'll

When I went to Catholic for college someone started saying "It's the day of the show ya'll!" in a very particular voice that unfortunately I cannot replicate in type, but it has always stuck with me. Every opening night in college for every show someone would be shouting it to fellow cast and crew as we saw each other throughout the day. As I awoke this morning it was the first thought that popped into my head. After two months the day has arrived, tonight is opening night! I can't believe it!

We have never performed in front of an audience. Our preview had maybe one random person there who couldn't come for the show but even he had seen act two in rehearsals. Tonight will be different. I can feel anticipation running like a current under my skin and a flock of bumble bees (forget butterflies) has been buzzing in my stomach all morning. It is a good thing surprisingly. I think if I ever were to do a show or a project and not be nervous/mildly stage fright ridden there would be a problem. This feeling makes it worth it. If I weren't nervous it would make me more nervous if that makes sense!

Yesterday my neighbor Miss Donna showed me that we made the local newspaper too!

Pretty cool! I made sure to go buy an extra copy too, just in case. I cannot tell you the last time a show I was in made a newspaper, probably high school!

Mel, the guy playing my husband, also helped me out today and got me a free haircut/trim. He works as a barber and insisted I go (yes, my split ends were that bad) and he would take care of it. I just got home and even though only an inch or so of hair is gone it looks miles better already! The woman doing it really wanted to take off more since it is thinning at the bottom but I knew our director wanted nothing more than a trim! Me too, truth be told. It seems to take a lot more work to grow my hair out as I have gotten older so cutting off a lot, even to help it grow, makes me hesitate. We shall see how I feel after the show.

So if you live in Jacksonville please come see the show! Apparently the elderly population of Jacksonville is notorious for coming regardless but we'd love to fill the house. Especially with people who won't say, "Wait, what did he say? I can't hear him!" very loudly during the performance (it happened in the spring show!). Tickets are disturbingly cheap and I would love to see you all there. 8pm tonight through Saturday and a 3pm matinee Sunday at the community college. My mom is driving in tomorrow and staying through Tuesday and I am very excited!!!

EEEEK! My first opening night as a performer in three years. I cannot believe I waited so long! I love this cast and crew and the show is a fun murder mystery with a twist ending that I think everyone will enjoy.

See you there!

Another Wishful Wednesday

This week I wish....

That the show goes well. Opening night is TOMORROW.

My husband was not assigned duty for Christmas Eve.

The job search was going better than it is.

I could just be paid to act. Life would be so grand.

What are you wishing for this week?

Don't Pass Out!

Yesterday I went to the mall since they were having a blood drive. I have always donated steadily since I turned seventeen, every church blood drive, all the ones at college except the year after I got my tattoos, so I always go. Eastern North Carolina is critically low at the moment so it is very important to donate if you are able to!

I got to the mall around 2pm or so and I unfortunately was there almost two hours. I had some computer trouble with my maiden name and my married name and then the woman taking my blood kind of messed up. She told me the vein was bruising and not working and asked to try my other arm. Translation: you missed the vein and now it is bruising under the skin... I've donated enough to know that! But I had already been there a long time at this point so I told her to do the other arm. The left arm worked fine but for the first time ever it was painful to donate for me. Normally I feel the needle go in and then that is it, nothing else. This time it hurt the entire time they were drawing the blood... I didn't say anything but I was not a happy camper.

After I collected my tshirt and free cookies I drove home to spend time with Ryan before rehearsal. I had big band aids on both elbows so naturally he made fun of me a bit! I wasn't hungry, I had already chugged a water bottle, but he insisted I eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich before I go. I got to rehearsal and someone actually brought in pizza for all of us! Score. I had a slice and we rehearsed for an hour or so then took a ten minute break.

Like I am known to do I went outside to smoke and then came back in to chat more with the nonsmokers. I had another slice of pizza, some more water, and then we jumped back into the scene. All I have to say is thank God the guy playing my husband had his arm around me. We got maybe ten minutes into the scene and suddenly I felt horribly sick to my stomach. I started sweating and I felt incredibly overheated and then my vision started to go dark. Bless his heart my fake husband felt me sway and prevented me from hitting the floor as rehearsal ground to a halt.

How embarassing!

They got me into a chair and I had more water and tried to breathe. I had a mini Hershey bar in my bag left over from our readthrough Monday so I ate that and slowly started to feel better. I think my blood sugar just dropped like a rock... it was very strange. Like I said, I have donated many many times, but I have never almost passed out like that! I was mortified. At first the director was worried I was ill or something but then I mentioned I donated blood and everyone relaxed. That had to be it. I took it easy the rest of the rehearsal, I sat more than my character is blocked to do but I made it through the night and was able to drive home and go to bed early (after making sure the Gamecocks beat Vanderbilt!).

My husband (the real one) said I must just be getting older. In college I could donate and then run to class then work for a few hours then rehearse without an issue. This time it took me a lot longer to bounce back, even being hydrated and eating. Noted. Next time I will be sure to take it easier!

Motto of the story: Don't donate blood on the day you have rehearsal. Passing out does not leave the best impression!

Rehearsals

I had my first rehearsal Monday night, just a read through, where we sit around a table and basically read through the script. Last night we got on our feet and are moving forward for the next seven weeks! Part of me is terrified, there is a lot of yellow highlighter on those pages! But part of me is also very excited. The cast seems great so far, a nice diverse group ranging from students to not, and the crew I have met has been good too.

The only downside is I do see a lot less of my husband. He usually gets home from work as I leave for rehearsal. I get home after 10pm and he is usually ready to go to sleep at that point! Yesterday he had duty so I went and had lunch with him, but haven't seen him since. I am hoping he gets home a little early today so we can have dinner together or something! Once it gets closer to the show Ryan will be in 29 Palms for training (most likely, 99% sure at this point) and will not get to see my show. Boo. He can come to a rehearsal before he goes to try and see it, but it won't be the finished product. Ah well... I know neighbors and friends (and family) have told me they will be there so I am still very excited.

That's all that is really going on right now. Rehearsals, ballet (last night was fun... an hour of rehearsal then ballet class then another hour of rehearsal!), housework, playing with the pup and other such things. It is busy, but not much to write about unfortunately.

I hate that my blog has gone so far downhill the past few months. I miss having interesting things to write about, things people actually would want to read.

But this is all I have. For now.

Routine to Random

The past week or so since I have written (possibly more) haven't been terribly interesting. I mean they weren't bad or anything, just not something I thought worth blogging about. Some highlights, but not enough to make a blog entry worth reader's time. At least in my opinion.

But things are changing!

Firstly, Breanna (the lovely Mrs. Sykes) and I have been taking an adult ballet class for the past few weeks. You can read my views on it on my last SpouseBUZZ article here.

Home life has been the same. Applying for jobs and spending time with Rylie and Ryan.

Rylie loves to go under our bed, Ryan decided to join her and they spent an hour playing. Cute.

Sometimes Rylie just wants to be close. Ryan was napping on the couch and Rylie kept kissing him and bugging him, so this was my husband's solution.



We love playing Draw Something! This was my husband's latest creation and it was so cute I had to save it!

Now our Rylie is very very destructive! She is a powerful chewer, so all of her toys recently have been completely torn apart. She literally had one nylabone left! So today we ran to PetSmart and got our pup some Powerful Chew toys. For over an hour she chased this Kong around the garage trying to get the treat out and now is chewing her bacon flavored HARD plastic S. Pup is still chasing the stuff around the living room.

Now last week a friend of mine posted on my Facebook that the Community College was holding auditions for Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap. I got excited and decided to give it a go and audition. I was pretty nervous, it has been a long time since I really auditioned for anything! I left really early and got to the theatre almost an hour early and naturally it was pouring rain. I forgot my umbrella so I went in looking a little bit like I swam there.

Ever enter a room and realize everyone in the room know each other already? I had one of those moments but luckily theatre people are pretty welcoming. Being a newcomer I wasn't sure how good my odds were but apparently it didn't matter..... I got cast!

This email arrived at 12:15am this morning, just as we were going to bed. I think I scared the crap out of Ryan when I screamed! I forgot how amazing it feels to see your name on a cast list! And Mollie has a lot of lines... I am going to be busy for the next seven weeks! Rehearsals start Monday and I am really looking forward to it. I will be out of the house and doing something I love. Perfect.

 Of course the show is in October (psst Jacksonville ladies, please come!) and Ryan is due to be in California for training the entire month. Sigh. It always tends to work that way doesn't it? Out of the six or seven shows I have worked on or been in since Ryan and I have started dating I think he has made maybe three of them. Not too bad but I wish he could come to this!


So hopefully I will have more stories and things to share soon now that I will be getting out of the house more. And thanks to everyone on Facebook and Instagram who already said congratulations and other such things, it means a lot to me!