summerstock

greetings from bloomfield indiana everyone.

my calendar tells me ive been here since Monday evening but my head and heart feel like ive been here for weeks. it's nuts here, guys. like, you don't even know. Sunday, the theatre flooded and the whole company (30ish) moved out of the dorms and into a mansion owned by one of the theatre's board members for a few days. indoor tennis courts, indoor pool, 7 bedrooms, 3 living rooms, HUGE basement, so that's the scene i arrived to on Monday. Tuesday morning we started rehearsing for the play i'm stage managing and i started to get really discouraged about seeing everyone else act and knowing i'd be behind the scenes all summer. by Tuesday afternoon, one of the ensemble members in godspell (the show that opens this week) was diagnosed with tonsilitis and they sat me down and offered me an understudy role (for those of you not in theatre, that means i learn all of her lines, songs, choreography, etc. in case she can't perform).

i jumped into the runthru Tuesday night with only a script and a few blocking notes and apparently impressed the hell out of everyone by jumping around and singing all her parts perfectly and making all of her goofy characters huge and my own style... basically the director (who's the producer for the whole company) said afterward that i am "fucking fearless!" it was a very exciting night. i spent the next day in one on one choreo and music rehearsals in the mansion, then Wednesday moved into housing (an L shaped dorm building with 2 bathrooms, a communal kitchen, etc.) where i share a room with an au friend, and showed up at the theatre Thursday night to do a full costume, makeup, and tech dress rehearsal as this new part (still not knowing for sure if i'd be needed to perform for an audience yet). it was my second time through the show and didn't use my script and only missed one moment of acting (ps-- let me explain this show-- it is a judas character, a jesus character, and 8 ensemble members who are on stage from the opening number to the closing song. jesus teaches and we all play different parts of parables and sing solo songs and dance to everything and move the whole set by ourselves-- it's CONSTANT. and our version is set in a circus and i play a clown and i have the most amazing costumes and face paint ever!).

after that rehearsal, the director pulled me aside and said that even the girl i'm standing in for feels better, he's going to let me perform at least once this weekend because i've "earned it." she's still not feeling well so i'm stepping in for Sat and Sun, and she'll take all of next week. whew. AND all this time ive been stage managing in the mornings and some afternoons. i stop to eat. i've barely talked to ryan, i forget that another world even exists, this place is every minute, every day, theatre and switching from show to show and living with all theatre people...

but at least now i get to perform once (other than a baby eating vampire in dracula). and i've shown everyone that i'm an actor/singer not really a stage manager. that means a lot to me. so now i'm trying to organize getting ryan down here for a show this weekend (if anyone else is interested in driving 2 and 1/2 hours, the show is VERY high quality and lisa and i are in it the whole time. (saturday evening and Sunday matinee). so yeah-- theatre is my life right now. it's a good trial. see if i like it THIS much. see if ryan and i can survive through it. see if i keep my sanity. this has been four days... im here until August. here we go.