One More Week

First of all, let me say I know my blog is crazy boring lately, I just don't have the time to do anything creative, so it's just updates here and there, blah, blah, blah.

So, we are officially half way done with our 12th Night run. It was a great week. After a lot of weirdness leading up to our opening, the actual run of the show has been a lot of fun. We had a smaller audience tonight, but a good audience never the less. I just feel super lucky right now that I get to be in a show where I wear a tie, fight with one of the funniest dudes I know, be felt up by a beautiful lady, kiss a gorgeous guy, and speak Shakespeare's lines on a nightly basis.

I was struck with sadness driving home tonight realizing that I have one week left in Utah. There are still so many people I'd like to spend time with, places I'd like to go. I'm going to be so uber sad to not see my friends every day as I have been for the last several weeks. Plus it will be weird to return to my responsibilities back in Burbank. But I don't want to get ahead of myself, I'll just enjoy my time here while I can.

More Utah

Yesterday was our last day of teaching at Youth Theatre - huzzah! In the end I really grew to love my little ones. My home room class consisted of twelve 12-13 year olds - and they really were pretty adorable. I'm gonna miss those little butts (not literally their butts, you know what I mean). I did love having weird little stories each day of what a kid said or did - teens are strange and awkward and so amusing to observe. I was really lucky in that I didn't have any brats - all good kids. Last night we stopped by their party called Teen-a-palooza. It was so funny to me - kids mingling, dancing, bein' awkward.

Twelfth Night is going really well. We had a great show last night - enthusiastic audience. Two more shows this week - tonight and tomorrow night and then we have a couple of days off. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I love my cast. I look forward to seeing them every night.

Whit's old time friends, Ryan and Kristen came for their first trip to the SLC to see our show, so today we are going to give them a taste of natural Utah - take them to Big and/or Little Cottonwood Canyons. Should be pretty - I love those canyons.

Buckle up.

Well, I was going to wait so people could be surprised when they saw the show, but here is a pic from 12th Night - that's me sans hair with my bro. Jay Perry in the background (thank you Liz Perkins for the pictures). Tonight is our 2nd Dress/Preview, tomorrow we open - my bowels are starting to churn with nervousness! I hope everyone I know in Utah can come and see the show and I hope I don't screw it up!



July 30th - August 9th (no Mon. or Tues.) matinee on the 9th at 2:00 all other evening shows at 7:30. Babcock Theatre, University of Utah. Tickets through Kingsbury Hall 581-7100 or kingtix.com

And another update

Just a quick update - any of my updates these days are going to have to be quick as time is a very sparse thing lately. To follow up on my last post, I did cut my hair, oh boy, did I. It's short. I cut it on Tuesday so I am still getting used to it, but it's okay. It's good to have a change, it doesn't look too bad. If I had a picture I would post it, but I don't and it's probably better that people are surprised when they see me in the show (if they do). Rehearsals are going pretty well, we are running every night now, it takes lots of energy but it's nice to be using this kind of energy again - this intense, complete, mind, body and soul focus. We open in less than a week - yikes! I mean we'll be ready, but it's still scary, I just don't want to suck. For those reading this that want to see Twelfth Night, it opens on Wednesday July 30th and runs to Saturday August 9th (everyday but Monday and Tuesday). It's at the Babcock Theatre (basement of PTC) and you can get tickets from calling or visiting Kingsbury Hall. So there's that.
We have just about a week of teaching left, cannot wait for that to be over.
Later.

To cut or not to cut

That is the question. I am in the middle of trying to decide what to do with my hair for 12th Night. I dress up like a boy and I'm supposed to look like my brother. The guy playing my brother has very short curly hair. He's getting it chemically straightened, so we'll see how it looks then, but basically if I want to really match it I've gotta go pretty short with my hair. There's no budget for wigs and no wig person to tend to the wigs, so basically I was told that wigs are not an option. So, okay, I can cut my hair, but there's a short haircut and then there's boy/pixie short. I know it's just hair, hair grows, but cutting it that short would mean a year to two before it really grew out - that's a long commitment. In talking about this people say that I'd look good with short hair, that I could pull it off, but I do know I'll feel pretty unattractive for a while, most likely. What to do, what to do. . . Luckily I've been pretty sick of my hair lately, it usually just ends up in a pony tail or a bun, so a change will be welcome - but it looks like it might be quite a change.

Animated

These are pretty fun:

I'm Back

Hoorah! We tapped into the internet thanks to a neighbor so we are in business at my parents' house.
I wanted to talk a little bit about teaching.
So I'm not going to lie, I was dreading teaching. I just got stressed out thinking about having to entertain a bunch of teens for the Summer, but it's been going pretty well. We're teaching at the University of Utah's Theatre School for Youth. I have my home room class which meets twice a day, I teach two Dialects classes and a class called Acting Methods(?). My home room class consists of ten 12 & 13 year olds. We're writing a play right now to perform at the end of the session. It should be pretty cute (I hope). Acting Methods was weird to me - I got assigned this class and I had no idea what to do with it - it's just such a general term, so I started teaching them Uta Hagen exercises, I have no idea if they are liking that class, but whatev'. I love teaching dialects. I don't feel like I'm particularly qualified to teach this, aside from the one dialects class I had in college, I don't have a great amount of knowledge, but I sure do enjoy it. This week we worked on a British dialect (RP) and it is fun to try to get the kids to stick their little lips out to make the correct sounds. It has reinforced the fact that I really love speech/language/dialect work - maybe I will finally fulfill my dream to go to Central School of Speech & Drama in London and get a degree in this so I can be a dialect/speech coach.
As extremely tired as I am from teaching, it has been good for me to review a lot of acting information - it is good timing to remind myself of the basics and the lessons I learned in the Actor Training Program as I am working on 12th Night.
By the way, rehearsal tonight was incredible. We worked on an Orsino/Viola scene which is just so beautiful. I adore working with Creighton James - I love this show, I feel so lucky.
Okay. I'm going to sleep.

Utah

Wow. This is the first time I've been on the internet this week. I'm staying at my parents' house and they don't have internet access and I finally got a password to get on the computers at the University of Utah. I wanted to write a quick blog update while I have a few minutes left of my lunch break.
It has been super busy. Super busy. We started teaching and rehearsing on Monday - so it's been getting up early for school and teaching from 8:45 to 3:30 and then going to rehearsals anywhere from 5-11 at night. There is no down time, no relaxing. I mean nothing I can't handle - it just means I am tired.
Rehearsals are going well. The cast is absolutely amazing. I am constantly amazed by how great my fellow actors are in this show. It's such a fun, positive, exciting process already and we've only had our first three rehearsals. The first table read on Monday night blew us all away. The best table read I've been to. I guess it's just my own low self-esteem, but I do fear being the weakest link - or at least a weaker link - but I need to not worry about that and just enjoy playing with these people. Most of my scenes are with Amanda Fulks (Olivia) and Creighton James (Orsino) and I am besotted with both of them. I couldn't ask for better scene partners. Sean Kazarian is playing our Andrew Aguecheeck and he makes me laugh so hard, it's a fantastic character. Whit is, of course, going to be a great, unique Malvolio. So that's 12th Night, so far.
Dang it! I gotta get to class already - so I'll write about my school experiences the next chance I get.

A couple more pics

My dear friend, Liz and her husband, Dave were in town - it was great to see them again!


Had a couple exposures to use up, and I actually like this picture of Whitby and I:

So Long, Farewell

Thought I'd post a few pictures from my last day of work on Friday. I'll miss my friends from work, but I must say it was nice to not have to go to work today and to know I don't have to go to work tomorrow. I look pretty haggard in these pictures, I must say, it's sort of embarassing, but I'll post them anyway.

My desk:

Me and "The Replacement"

Olivia and Kristin:

Shop dudes: Antwione, Jesus and Armando:



My boss, Sue:

El Jefe, Ron:

Sydney:

Noorsy:

Maria and Joseph-to-be:

One last Image IV cake:

WallE

I loved loved loved this movie. Pixar, you've done it again. It's pretty amazing to tell a story so beautifully with no dialogue for the first 3/4th of the movie. The issues addressed in WallE are THE issues that we so desperately need to work on - and they are, of course, handled with humor and poignancy. The story was interesting and creative and the characters were fantastic, led by the adorable little WallE.

One Day More

Tomorrow is my last day at Image IV Systems, Inc. I've worked as a receptionist here for about 2&1/2 years. When we first moved to Burbank I signed up with a temp agency and this was the first job they sent me out on - it was supposed to be a two week stint, but they asked me if I wanted to stay on and well, here I am. I never would have thought I'd work at a weird little office in industrial Burbank that sells copy machines, but now that I'm leaving I realize that I've had a good time here. I've made some great friends, had a lot of laughs, read a ton of books, played too much solitaire and day-dreamed while watching the trucks drive by outside my coveted window.

For so long I longed for a different job, a job that I could put my heart into, but now that the end of this job is really here it's strange. I got comfortable here, I know what I'm doing here, I'm confident here - but I know this is the time to break free and start anew, get out of the comfort zone I've fallen into. I'm scared to not have a job to go to, but now is the time, I suppose, I'm young, I don't have kids, we'll figure it out.

On Wednesday we're heading up to Salt Lake City, Utah to perform in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. I'm also scared for this, I'm playing Viola and I feel so unworthy of such a wonderful role, but I also can't wait to act again along side a truly wonderful cast of actors. I'll get to hang out with friends again that I miss terribly. I'll get to feel the overwhelming nerves of standing off stage waiting to step in to the light and inhabit a new world.

I'll miss my friends at Image IV, I might even miss my long days of killing time. But it is time, time to move on. Thanks Image IV. I'll miss you Sue, Rickie, Maria, Olivia, Noor, Dr. Jones and everyone else! I'll visit. Here I come Salt Lake City. I'll see you in August Warner Bros.? Culinary School? We'll see . . .

Pod People

Well, I've never said I was a trend setter - I'm a late bloomer when it comes to a lot of things, so after years of MP3's being available, I've finally joined the ipod generation. I'm a person who still has and cherishes my mixed cassette tapes but I had the opportunity to get an ipod for free, so I did. I have a little pink ipod nano and it's great. I spent this weekend downloading all my cd's and it is so exciting to have all my music in one tiny little contraption (wow - what am I 80?). The last couple of days walking to and from work I've put my ipod on shuffle - I love shuffle it is one huge mixed tape - it's been so much fun.

The Hertfords

The following remind me of my dear husband, Whitby:
Garret Dillahunt looks like a gigantisized Whit:


Whit's acting reminds me of Dreyfuss:

Whitby's laugh is absolutely like Krusty's:

And one of my nicknames for Whit is "Sponge-Bob Square Teeth" because I think Whit has square teeth:

Is it weird that two of the four are cartoon characters? Maybe. Or maybe it makes perfect sense. This is not an accurate depiction of Whit, it's not really a description, more things that remind me of Whit for very strange reasons. Love you Whitby!

Who am I?
As I've mentioned before on this blog I look like Emma Thompson:


I sound like an eight year old with a cold:
(by the way when you type in "eight year old girl with a cold" on google images, you get pictures of weird child predators, yikes!)

And I have the Little Ms. Know-it-Allness of Lisa Simpson:

Voluntary Torture

I haven't yet shared a bit of a freaky experience I had last week. I was at my salon getting my eyebrows done and there were a couple young girls in training, who were watching. My lady said that these girls needed to try perming and tinting lashes and that if I was their model, I would get these services for free. I had been curious about the lash tint, but it is an expensive habit, so I hadn't tried it before, so faced with the opportunity to do it for free, I decided, why not?

This is quite an ordeal, let me tell you. The girl ended up doing a nice job, but it took possibly triple(triply?) as long as it normally would since she was being extra careful. Having your lashes glued to a rod and covered in perm solution is sort of crazy. By the end my eyes were red and stinging like crazy. Eyedrops helped a ton, but it still was a lot of stress on my wee eyes.

The next morning my upper lashes looked fantastic, dark and curled, but the lower lashes were all jagged and wacky, so it was back to the salon, where the girl fixed them to look just great. I like the results, dark, curled lashes for 6-8 weeks, but I don't know if it's worth the pain and hassle - it looks like back to mascara for me. Oh, the things girls will do.

Happy Birthday!

Today is my sister-in-law, Brighton's birthday. She's in Thailand. She's cool. Love you, B-town.
It is also my number one celebrity crush's birthday: Hugh Laurie.
Happy 49th Birthday, Hugh. Thanks for BlackAdder, A Bit of Fry & Laurie, Jeeves & Wooster, Peter's Friends, Maybe Baby, Sense & Sensibility and House (to name my faves). You get hotter with each year that passes (so do you, Brighton).

Just another boring post about something I like.

Last night I was watching Shawshank Redemption for the umpteenth time and it still deeply moved me. I think it is one of the greatest scripts of all time. The movie is perfect, really. Definitely in my top three movies, I'd say. When Andy plays the Mozart duet over the prison's loudspeaker, I still hold my breath along with the prisoners. When Andy is missing from his cell and the Warden rips the poster off the wall revealing the huge hole, I still squeal with excitement. When Red travels on the bus towards Andy and utters the final words, "I hope", my tears still swell. And there is nothing better than Andy standing in the rain with his arms spread open experiencing freedom. It's just the best. I first saw this movie on a small t.v. screen in a van as I travelled home from Oregon with a group of girlfriends - I remember stopping at a gas station after the movie ended, just sobbing. I introduced this movie to my parents who also love it. My dad will sometimes mention it ("What a movie!"), however, I don't think he's ever said the title right, it's always Shawshang...Sheshaw... or some variation thereof. All I can say is, if you haven't seen it or if it's been a while, watch it, it is everything great about story telling and film making.

Slings and Arrows

On Sunday I watched the final episode of the brilliant Canadian series, Slings and Arrows (on from 2003-2006). I had seen bits and pieces of it in the past, but a few months ago they started showing it on IFC from season 1, episode 1, so I started the journey and boy did I love it. It quickly became one of my all time favorite shows. I mean, obviously, it's a show about a Shakespeare festival - of course I loved it. But it really was better than I could have anticipated. It was one of those great shows that can't be defined - a perfect blend of comedy and drama. It's beautiful writing and a great cast of Canadian actors. Mark McKinney of Kids in the Hall fame wrote this show and plays the managing director of the festival - he is so crazy funny. Paul Gross plays the central character of the show, Geoffrey Tennant, and I just love him - I'd never seen this actor before, but I am now a big fan. I'm sad it's over, but like so many of the best television shows (The Office, really any of the Brit. shows) it told the story it wanted to tell and ended, rather than dragging it out season after season. I was endlessly inspired watching Slings and Arrows, I'm glad I gave it a shot.

Costanza!

Do you remember the Seinfeld episode where George remains at his job although they want to fire him, because he has a contract and he wants to make his money while doing the bare minimum - so even when they lock him out of his office, he crawls in through a vent and just won't leave? I'm George right now. I gave my notice for my last day of work to be June 30th (now it's the 27th) - but they hired my replacement a week ago. I trained her, I've shown her everything there is to show. She's at my desk, doing my job now and I am still here at work with NOTHING to do. I've helped all the people I could help, filed all the filing there was to file, so I decided to just set up camp at an unused cubicle. I cleaned off the desk and here I sit. I mean, I can't really complain (more than I have) because I'm getting paid, and I want to get paid, but this is crazy - I'm getting paid for literally nothing. I did lightly suggest that they just pay me through the month and let me leave early, since it wasn't my fault that they hired my replacement so early, but I guess they feel better about me actually occupying space in the office in order to earn my money - I guess I'm generating warmth as my contribution to the company. And I have THREE more weeks to go! Oi.

Cake

Last week we threw a baby shower for one of my co-workers. It was a Baby Winnie-the-Pooh theme, so I decided to be ambitious and make the cake and cupcakes for the shower (along with doing the decorations, ordering the food, etc.) I am a fan of Ace of Cakes on the food network and have actually been contemplating going to culinary school for baking/pastry. I've enjoyed baking all my life, but this was my first foray into making such a cake. The cupcakes were a little stressful (new recipe), but the cake was a lot of fun. It was raspberry filled and had a basic buttercream frosting. I made it to look like a pot of honey (or as Pooh spells it, Hunny) and the cupcakes all had little bees on them. I think it turned out quite nicely. It looked cute and tasted great. It was just satisfying to have a vision in my head of what I wanted the cake and cupcakes to be and then to actually have it turn out as I had envisioned. I am now an Ace of Cake.