Just a little update

So I hardly have internet access unless it's through a temp job so I thought I'd give a brief update.

Wednesday night after what turned out to be really relaxed, fun day at Juice Pharma Ad Agency, I went to Home Depot. It's kind of funny visiting a Home Depot in the heart of New York City. They have everything a standard Home Depot has you just have to have the big stuff delivered to you because there's no way you're pulling a big old 4x4 up to a loading dock in NYC.

I bought a bunch of painting supplies and tools to prep my room, (and the rest of the apartment), for a much needed coat of paint. I hauled my purchases around while I went to the gym before I headed home to Astoria.

By the time I got to the apartment it was pretty late and I had an early audition so I showered and went to bed (which is an air mattress on the floor of my room in case you were wondering).

At 6am Thursday morning I was up and getting ready to audition for a touring production of the musical "Little Women." They were searching for some understudies as well as a couple of regular lead roles. There where over 300 girls there of every size shape and color imaginable. I pity the people casting this production. I was number 143 on the sign up list because I had to wait for the stinkin' subway. My commute isn't bad but on mornings of early auditions it kills me because even when I get up early I'm still far down on the sign up.

The audition didn't even start until 10am so I had a lot of time to sit around, read, eavesdrop and bs with the other auditonees. It was alright but I was so tired I felt like my eyes where gonna roll back into my head. I have been reading that book "Skinny Dip" it's hilarious and a pretty quick read, if anyone's interested?

So at about 9:30am some representatives from the touring company told us all (All 300+ that were smashed into a small holding room and the hallway) that we were going to be typed. Since they are a non-equity touring production, they decided to type all the auditionees to save time. "Typing" means they brought us into a room 40 at a time, had us stand in rows and looked us up and down, scanned our headshots and resumes and decided if they wanted us to stick around and sing for them. They had a pretty good idea of what they were looking for for "Little Women" so they were able to scan us over quickly and say "yes" or "no."

It made me a little nervous. I've never been typed quite like that before, it was basically what some actors call a "cattle call." When my line was up I tried to look as "Little Womenee" as possible and I tried to stand like I always see celebrities standing on the red carpet. haha.

Well whatever I did worked because they had me stick around and sing. Thank God. Had I gotten up at 6am just to be typed out I would've been so disappointed.

I waited around and warmed up for a couple HOURS. Then I finally got to sing. The accompanist was the worst I've sang with here in New York but I was still able to pull off a nice 16 bars for the casting directors. A couple of girls were nearly in tears because they felt like the accompanist blew the audition for them. My rule? Just keep singing. No one's gonna rain on my parade when I woke up at 6am and wait nearly 4.5 hours to sing 16 bars. Sink or swim!? haha

After my little ditty, the directors and accompanist complimented my singing and I was done. I've noticed a trend: "Wow, what a lovely voice."... not cast. Well, I have a lovely voice. How about that? One day I'll get cast. :)

I don't know if I'll be cast in the production of "Little Women." It seemed like they were looking for 'Beth' and 'Amy' types after a while of sitting and observing. I'm not really either based on first impressions. But who knows? Stranger things have happened.

After that I went to my callback audition on Long Island for the Sopranos spoof dinner theatre. I got to take the LIRR (Long Island Railroad). That was an adventure. I had to take the subway to Penn Station (West Manhattan) then transfer to the LIRR trains. It reminded me of taking the train all over the UK when I studied abroad. I was a little surprised/annoyed with how slow those trains travel. Just like in the UK.

I arrived in Manahasset Long Island which is a cute, quaint little town where the callback was being held. The theatre was located right off the train station (thankfully). The callback went really well. It was a lot of fun. I got to play a really old Italian woman with a foul mouth. It was a blast. I read from the script with other characters and then they had us improv as the characters for a while. I thought it went well. We all had a good laugh, that's for sure. I'll know about the casting for that show by the middle of next week.

After the audish I took the LIRR back to Manhattan and train hopped up to the Upper East Side for my Community Group Meeting. I was pretty late to the meeting but I still got to discuss the part of "Mere Christianity" we read for this week. The book is really incredible and inspirational. Also, I really like the people in my group. We're becoming fast friends. :)

I finally got back to my apartment at 11:30pm Thursday night. What a long day. I talked to my parents and Kelly for a while then promptly passed out.

I got up and went to work at Juice Pharma Advertising again today. (Great name huh?) 'Nother good day at work. Now it's time for the weekend. Apparently they like me there because they want me to come back. I thought that was nice. I'm gonna come back next week when I can but auditions are my first priority. They're really understanding and encouraging which is nice.

I'm traveling up to Rhode Island this weekend to see my friend Pattie in a show she's in at Brown/Trinity Rep. She's a graduate acting student at Brown. I'm so proud of her and I can't wait to see her performance! She's a close friend of mine from Evansville. Also, our friend Megan from Evansville is coming into town to see the show as well so we're gonna have a little party. I can't wait!

Well it's Friday night, I think I'm gonna go get my party on.