O Canada

Well, I was forced to go back on tour. I told the producers that I could not afford to stay on tour because of the additional lay-offs they gave us. After saying my goodbyes, writing thank-you cards, completely convinced by the "we'll work it all out" conversation I had with the company, alas, they have no mercy, no sympathy, and will not let me out of my contract.

It's a long boring story, but the contract stinks, and the bottom line is, I need an agent to represent me and help me deal with all of this in the future. I also feel ready to pursue getting my Equity Card (the actors union), so that I will be more protected in the future by the union rules. I've put in a lot of dues in the non-equity world, and I feel ready to move on to bigger and better things.

So we have 4 performances this week, 2 in Canada (we're waiting for our bus in the Toronto Airport as we speak) and 2 in Toledo, OH. Then we're laid off again for 3 weeks until the New Year.

I'll post an updated schedule for the rest of the tour, as soon as I get it, closer to the New Year.

Please keep us in your prayers, as we try to make the best of this trying holiday season, we'll stay positive, thankful to be going home to spend time with friends and family.

Merry Christmas!

Road Woes

Well it's been 2 months on the road, and we've run into more problems than I've ever had on any production I've ever been a part of. I recently had the opportunity to go to New York when we had a few days off, and I was able to sit down with some of the production people in the New York offices, and I thought it went really well. They were very happy that I was able to come in, and inform them of many things they had no idea about. Most of the problems we've had, were the result of a communication problem. It seems that there were changes made on the production side of things that the cast was not informed of, which made things very confusing for us.

Now, after thinking everything was resolved, we've been hit by an even bigger blow. Hopefully everything will be settled by tomorrow, but the company running our tour has asked us to take the week of Thanksgiving "off", in hopes that they would be able to cut our pay to less than half. We were supposed to go to Las Vegas, but that got canceled, and the company has been losing money. Probably because they also produce Spiderman on Broadway, and there has been a lot of money lost there, I'm sure...This of course, is not our problem, but we are trying to work something out so that we get our full pay and still get to be with our families for Thanksgiving.

I for one, cannot afford to not get paid, so if they do not pay us, than that could be the end of tour for me. But I doubt it would come to that, because after the meeting I had with the production office, I have a hard time believing they would do that to us. We may also be able to negotiate on an individual basis. It's times like these I REEEEALLY wish I had an agent!!!

Here is our confirmed performance schedule for the next week:

11/14 (tonight): Rocky Mount, NC 7:30pm
11/15: travel day
11/16: Jackson, MS - Thalia Mara Hall, 7:30pm
11/17: Jackson, MS - Thalia Mara Hall, 7:30pm
11/18: Montgomery, AL - David Theater, 7:00pm
11/19: Oxford, MS - Ford Theater, 8:00pm
11/20: Longview, TX - Belcher Theater, 7:30pm
11/21: Texarkana, TX - Perot Theater, 7:00pm

I'll keep you posted on what happens!

From the road...

I'm currently writing this on the bus, and we're driving from South Carolina to New Albany, OH. It's going to be a long, rainy day.

It's someone's birthday today, so we decorated her bus seat and gave her a crown to wear, cuz it stinks that her birthday is on a travel day...but at least we don't have a show and we can party later!

Everyone is sleeping...we have "quiet hours" until noon every day, which is really great. We haven't had many bus behavior problems, but everyone, myself included, gets really restless towards the end of long travel days. Playing movies on the bus helps, if everyone can agree on what to watch, which is never. Today the birthday girl's pick is "Hocus Pocus", my closest claim to fame, for those of you who know the story.

The bus driver is really great, his name is Mike. Mike is a Southern Man, very chivalrous and polite. I don't know how he does it. This bus is enormous.

And now for my weekly vent/ rant:

We've been on the road exactly a month today, and I've been feeling a little homesick lately. Okay a LOT homesick. It seems that everyone has had family and friends come to the show, except me. There have been missed opportunities because we don't get the schedule until the last- minute (which completely violates our contracts, which say we're supposed to get our full schedule of the upcoming week the Sunday before that wee begins!). Bailey, for example, was coming to see a show that got canceled this week.

The thing that keeps me going is that Chris and Millie are coming to see me in New Haven, CT in a week and a half! Counting down the days!

There have been a lot of frustrations about the logistics of this tour lately. Mostly having to do with the scheduling. The one-nighters are killing us. Not just because we're performing in a different place every night, but also because the drives are always so long. Our show is long, and we have late nights, and then early mornings because of travel, and the sleep we get on the bus is not restful. We don't have much of a turn-around when we get to the hotel before we have to be at the theatre, and then the cycle starts again.

This would be much different under UNION rules, but we're being taken advantage of because we're non-union, and they don't have to follow rules. It would make this production much more professional if they did. The tour I went on last fall was non-union, but they chose to follow the union rules anyway so that their cast/ crew were happy and had a good experience. THAT is a professional company.

Our hotels have been really nice, but for the last little while, they've been in the middle of NOWHERE. Literally. No food, no grocery, no stores, nothing in walking distance. I'm not sure what they expect us to do. I get instant meals from Wal-Mart for these such occasions, but a girl needs fresh food! I'm not asking for a Whole Foods everywhere I go (which would be nice, by the way) but at least give me a Piggly Wiggly!

Okay, enough of the negative. "keep it positive...", thanks Elle (Musical Reference).

Tour Fun

Just a few fun thoughts so far:

1. I can't keep track of what day of the week it is, or what time zone I'm in. We've been in all possible times zones in the last 2 weeks.

2. Every place we've been to has been new to me, I've never been to any of these places so far.

3. We've played two arenas with almost sold-out houses of about 1500 people, maybe more. Tonight's performance was in front of 1655 audience members.

4. Trying to sleep on the bus is tricky. Trying different positions every day, but can't sleep more than a couple of hours at a time at most.

5. I'll see Chris a month from today- yay? Not soon enough, counting down the days. I don't know what married people did without video chat on tour before these digital days. It really makes ALL the difference to actually see his face when I talk to him!

6. Best Place I've been so far: SEATTLE, WA!!!

7. Looking forward to: having people I know in the audience!

8. Trying to eat as healthy as possible, but we are limited by what restaurants/ shops/ grocery stores we can walk to. Pocketing all the free snacks at the hotels that I can!

9. WORST HOTEL ROOM so far: Butte War Bonnet Hotel in Butte, MT (we like to pronounce it BUTT, just to be immature). Just sketchy-looking in general.

10. BEST Hotel so far: Courtyard Marriott in Meridian, ID (the rooms were huge and nice, although there was no breakfast, there was the corn maze and it was awesome).

11. Best screw-up in the show so far: Last night in Butte, Montana during the "Dream Ballet", lets just say the you-know-what hit the fan:
The first girl who enters after Curly and Laurey start the dance, forgot her contacts and she's pretty blind. All the girls enter in a sequence that's only set to the music, so if we get thrown off, it all gets thrown off. Well, my poor, blind friend without her contacts couldn't see that she went into the wrong wing, got confused, and when we all tried to follow her, we were all behind the music. Eventually, we got back on, but then one of the other girls got her dress (and self) caught on the fence up stage, so we're all trying to keep from busting out laughing in this serious/romantic scene. We think the worst is over, when Ado Annie comes in with Laurey's veil and it also gets stuck on the fence, and she's trying to rip it off in the middle of the dance.

We've also had a few incidences where the "map drop" (which is actually supposed to drop in from the ceiling) had to be rigged to a pulley system instead when there was no "fly space" at the theatre (which just means the stage wasn't tall enough to drop scenery in). One particular incident involved a middle-aged tech-guy who actually pulled the map drop across the stage DURING scenes and dances. On top of that embarrassment, it kept getting stuck in very crucial moments, so where there was an important scene or dance, there would be this guy, YANKING on the map, trying to get it to pull across the stage. For SHAME!

Okay more later, phew!

Oklahoma National Tour - Idaho

We took a very early flight from NYC to Salt Lake, a small plane to Butte, MT, and then a 5 hour bus ride to Idaho Falls, ID. But we're here, and we open tomorrow night! It' been a rush of costumes, music, lights, sound, hair, and makeup ever since we got here Saturday night. Although it's been crazy, only one of us has gotten sick from all of it, which is good that it wasn't more of us, I guess. It's very dry here and the altitude is high, so we have a lot to adjust to. Our hotel is nice here, the outdoor pool is nicely heated, and there's a 24 hour gym with a sauna and hot tub!

New schedule info to come!

Chicago

Here's the WHOLE story if you're interested in my crazy adventure:

We had just arrived back into the US from our European trip at midnight the night before. At noon, I received a call from a friend who had done a show the summer before at the Summer Theatre in Meredith Village. She said the director was looking for an emergency replacement for the role of Velma in Chicago. The catch was: there was only 3 days until opening night! I said I'd love the chance to put this role on my resume, but I had never done the show before. She said she would just tell the producer I had done it. I said "No! Don't say that!" but it was too late. The producer called me to offer the role, and I told her that I actually had performed some of the songs for cabaret shows and was very familiar with the music, but had never done the show itself. I assured her I thought I could do this and would love the opportunity, so she told me to get on the next bus to Boston and they'd pick me up from there.

I called around everywhere trying to find the script to the show, but no one had it. Finally I found one at the Marriott Marquis Broadway souvenir shop in Times Square, so after coping the score (which was over 200 pages) I lugged my suitcase to Times Square, picked up the script, and caught a cab to Penn Station. On the bus, I listened to the soundtrack, highlighted my script, and tried to memorize the music as much as possible.

When I arrived in Boston, I was picked up by one of the staff members and we drove 2 more hours to Meredith, NH. By the time we got to where I was staying, it was almost 3am. The accommodations, were less than sanitary, but that's another story. Welcome to non-union regional theatre.

My schedule for the next two days went something like this:
I woke up at 7am for an 8am rehearsal. That's 4 hours of sleep people.
I worked with the director until the cast came in for rehearsal at 11am.
We ran through the show at 1pm, and plugged me into the scenes.
We had our first non-stop run-through at 6pm. I worked with the band at 10pm.
In bed by 1am.
Up at 8am, 2 dress rehearsals.

Finally Tuesday, we had our final dress rehearsal in the morning, and opened that night!

I finally got a hang of things, and was able to actually enjoy my work at about Thursday of the first week.
Then we ran the show one more week and I was done, two weeks total. It literally flew by in a flash.

I really enjoyed working with everyone there, everyone was so encouraging and helpful to me, it was amazing how everyone joined forces to get it done.
It was a great personal experience too, I am so glad I was able to test and push myself to my limits, and find out that I am capable of doing more than I ever thought I could do! I am proud of my performance and proud of myself. It was a priceless experience, and I'd do it again!

Dillon, Colorado

Well, here I am in Dillon, Colorado, getting ready for my first rehearsal for the play I'm in. The plane ride over was pretty turbulent, and if you know me, you know it was a rough ride and took lots of courage! haha. But I have Millie here with me, so that's really nice.
Below are a few pictures, one of my room, one of the living room, and one of the view of the ski slopes from our balcony. We have a great condo, I'm rooming with the other actor who came from New York City. His name is Reymundo, and we're going to get along great for the next month! Our condo has 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms (thanks GOODNESS I don't have to share a bathroom!!), a huge kitchen with all the pots and pans, and appliances we need, and a great living room with a big balcony and a big flat screen tv! The complex has an indoor pool and hot tub, and general laundry on the first floor (takes quarters).

The weather is not what I expected. Unfortunately it has been nothing short of a snowstorm since we got here. It's beautiful to look at but not fun to run around in. The theater is pretty tiny, seats about 65 people (which was the size of the theatre in the west village I just performed in, so I'm used to it). It's also about a 7 minute drive from our condo, so not walking distance like we were led to believe.

We are anxious to meet the two other members of the cast who are Denver locals, we have rehearsal today at 2pm (Mountain Time!).
I am jet-lagged for sure, and having a hard time breathing in this altitude. I got two migraines yesterday and kept waking up totally dehydrated, although the condo came equipped with humidifiers, which helped.

It's going to take some getting used to, and I hope this weather gets nicer, but I'm excited to get started.

The Sound of Music

I auditioned today for The Sound Of Music which will be rehearsing in New York City, then previews in Tampa and finally goes to Atlanta TOTS (Theatre of the Stars), which is a HUGE equity house, and a lot of Broadway alums have performed there. I have heard amazing things about this director so it was a big audition for me.

I went to the Equity Chorus Call audition on Tuesday, only to hear at 6:30pm that they weren't going to see non-equity. However, as a reward for waiting all day until the very end, they took our headshots and said that they would call us in to audition Friday (today), and that's what happened- this NEVER happens!!! Very exciting.

So today there were probably 50 or so non-equity girls auditioning, and they were having kids and equity callbacks later that afternoon and into the evening, so who knows how this whole process works.

I went in and sang "Sixteen going on Seventeen" since I'm too young for any adult role and too old for any other child roles. I knew the accompanist, (which is always a help and a relief) Julie Bearden, and she said they actually hadn't heard that song much, which was a huge and wonderful surprise to me!
After I was done, they asked me my height. I figured they wouldn't ask if they didn't like me, because they would care. I went out and asked the girl who went in before me (who was very good but not my type), if they asked her the same thing. She said yes. Then I asked the girl behind me, (whom I didn't hear but is the same type- blonde, same height, etc). She said no, they didn't ask her height. So I figure that's a good thing for me! Yay! Success!

So we'll see if anything happens from here...

Grease National Tour Auditions

Here is the scoop from the Grease call today.

I got there at 7:00am, and was done at 5:00pm.

The first thing they did was type-cast everyone because there were over 500 people there in the end. After they typed, we guessed there were about 80 people left.

They brought us in to dance in two groups for 40 people each.
The combo was fast-paced but technically easy, it was to the hand jive. We performed the dance in smaller groups of 4.

Then they made another cut, and I was asked to stay and sing 16 bars of a pop song appropriate to the show. I sang a cut from "One Night With You" from All Shook Up, and I felt that it went really well. They were cutting some girls off early, but they let me sing the whole thing. Not sure what that means, but they asked me to stay and dance again!

It was now down to 39 people I counted in the room. The choreographer added on to the dance combination we learned earlier, about 4 8-counts more. Added a high kick, some more rhythm stuff, and after each group was done, each person was asked to do a double pirouette. We performed the dance this time in groups of 3.

After we were done dancing we gathered in the holding room. A casting assistant called up some girls to read and sing tomorrow, mostly Jan-looking, none of them my type as far as I could tell. Dave Clemmons came out with two groups of headshots. I was in the first group, and a friend of mine was in the second. Dave told my group that that's all they needed today, he's not sure where we'll go from here but he is putting us in his file for this show and for future shows as well. The second group was told that they needed to sing for the director because he wasn't there when they sang before. Not sure if he saw me already or not...

So I'm concluding that I didn't get anything, at least for now, because I got the impression that they weren't looking for all the roles, although I think they were looking for ensemble, but I'm still confused. You never know, I guess.

The choreographer happened to be the assistant to Kathleen Marshall from the workshop that I did just about a month ago! She is super cool and it'd be amazing to work with her, she's been on Broadway since she was 18! Not sure if she recognized me or not, but she kept me for a long time.

I am proud of myself for getting that far, it was definitely a big step for me, and I feel like it was a great audition day. Back to the grind tomorrow.

Audition MADNESS!!!

It's been awhile since I've blogged, and here is the reason why: I've been auditioning like CRAZY!

In the past three weeks, I've calculated that I've been to about 20 auditions, callbacks, dance calls, etc. All the while, trying to make rent whenever I can fit work it in, and my weekends have been busy with Cabaret in the West Village.

These past few weeks of auditions have been particularly stressful and time-consuming because it's spring break for many schools this month, so we've been invaded by high school and college-aged kids, dreaming of getting a summer job. BUT I HAVE ALREADY GRADUATED, PUT IN MY SCHOOL DUES, and I NEED A JOB!!! I just want to scream at them. They show up at 4:00am (or earlier in some cases), and sign up themselves, along with 20 of their friends who don't show up until the audition begin at 10am. So When I show up at 6:00am, I am somewhere in the 120s! It has been mass chaos, unorganized mayhem. But I am forced to put up with it so that I can get a summer stock job.

I just want a few EMC points (points towards my Equity card) so that I can get into Equity calls, and avoid the open calls at ALL COST. But I have to get into Equity calls to get the Equity shows, to get Equity points. So it' a vicious cycle!

Chris and I have had the opportunity to audition together a few times (one of us goes in before the other, and it's obvious by our names and rings that we're married). It's funny, casting directors usually love it, but we've found a few people that seem to not go for it. Boo. It'd be nice to work together.

It is our final weekend of Cabaret, our final performance is Sunday at 3pm. I have several friends coming this evening which will be fun! There are also a number of agents and casting directors attending this weekend.

I was cast in a regional theatre production of the play The Little Dog Laughed, in Dillon, Colorado (on Lake Dillon). It's about 1 1/2 hours outside of Denver, and the contract is from April 24- May 30th, and it's pretty good pay for a non-union theatre, so I'm excited! I'm also excited to be in a play again.

I've decided I want to start going out for cruise lines. I think if I'm going to do it at some point in my life, I want to do it now, because we need the money. One 6-month cruise could put us completely out of debt. AMAZING! The pay is incredible, you get an end-of-contract bonus, and everything is paid for- everything! All you do is save and come back with a huge wad of cash!

Okay that's my update. More later. Off to Cabaret.

Cabaret Rehearsals

Tonight will be my second rehearsal for Cabaret in the West Village. I really like the choreographer. She has a lot of connections at a lot of union theatres, so I will definitely stay on her good side! She is also giving us discounts to take her dance classes on Thursday nights and Saturday afternoons for Tap and Theatre Dance. That's exciting, because classes normally run $15/ class, and now we can take them for $7/ class!
Yesterday we learned the opening number and the "money" song, and now we will review those numbers and hopefully start another number. I think overall this will be a good experience, even if it's just networking with people in the business, you never know who you will meet.

Cabaret

Should be an interesting experience. I only hope the 4 and 1/2 hour callback doesn't reflect what our rehearsals will be like. We don't get paid anything except that we'll recieve a ticket code, so that when we advertise, we tell people to use that code, and we'll get $5 per ticket (at $25 per ticket). I'm a Kit Kat Girl, one of the Klub girls, and it will be a good dance show for me, ANDI will be playing the violin as well. There will be beer and wine service, and it's in a good location (the West Village). They are very understanding about conflicts since they're not paying us anything, which seems fair. There were a tons of girls who auditioned, so I feel lucky to have an opportunity to perform in the city, even though it isn't the biggest credit of my life. Experience is experience, and exposure is good.
I'll be blogging a bunch, I'm sure.
Plus, I'll be auditioning for summer theatre at the same time. Cabaret goes up the second weekend of March runs 3 weekends, Thurs, Fri, and Sat at 8pm, Sun at 2pm?

Student Films

Today I auditioned for 3 student films at the New York Film Academy in Union Square, and I have another on Monday. It's always kind of awkward auditioning for student films because you never know who you'll be working with, or if the script you'll be handed will be any good at all. I've had good and bad experiences, and I have to say that this was actually a good experience!
They were all very professional, encouraging, and friendly.

The reason I am auditioning for student films is to get as much on-camera experience as possible, and to get some good-quality material for my reel, which will eventually be on my website.

Bad Audition Day

Today was a bad audition day, but I am not discouraged! I knew it was too easy that I had gotten all the way to final callbacks on the first audition back from tour...

First I auditioned for the Jenny Wiley Theatre in Kentucky. One of their shows is Cinderella, which I thought I'd be good for now that I'm blonde. I also thought I could just pull "In My Own Little Corner" out of my pocket, without ever hearing the piano part, and use it for the audition. BAD IDEA! The accompanist was not very confident, and I was NOT confident, so it was the softest, quietest version ever. My friends outside the room couldn't even hear me- WHAT? It wasn't bad, but it wasn't hear either...

So I took it as a "warm up" and decide to kick some butt at the next audition.

I had an appointment for 2pm for FAME at Nola Studios. I was singing Vanessa Carlton's "Ordinary Day". The character I was auditioning for was shy and sweet, so I thought the song was appropriate. After I finished what I thought was a great audition, the director looked at me and said, "Kelsey, that was a great acting piece, but I would recommend using a song that showed more range, because I can tell there is a lot more to your voice. That said, it was a GREAT vocal audition, but I think you could find something that showed a bigger range vocally". SO I thought he was going to call me back because I thought if he was interested, he would want to hear me sing something else to prove that I had something with range. But NO. No callback. Weird.

So I guess that song will be taken out of my book. Right now.

Bad Day. Moving on- Yay!

Final Callbacks, Lake DIllon

Final Callbacks for the Lake Dillon Theatre were this past Friday. First, the dance callback. It was a new combination to Mimi's song from Rent, so basically it was shaking your butt and acting sexy: super easy.

Then 2 hours later I came back after a lunch break at Subway, to sing cuts from the shows, but none of us could tell what we were called back for, it was such a mixed-bag of people. I sang "Fallin'" from Smokey Joe's Cafe, with about 10 other girls. They hadn't narrowed down the contenders much for being final callbacks. We were one group of ten, and there were two other groups as well.
After that I was told to stay and read for a play they were producing. No one was asked to read from the musicals all day except the guys- weird. They just sang the girls and then dismissed them.

And that's it. Pretty confusing if you ask me, but you never know.
So now I wait.

Lake Dillon, CO Summer Rep Auditions

Last night we flew back into NYC from LA at midnight, got home at 1am, then I woke up at 7am to for an audition appointment with the Lake Dillon Summer Theatre Season. Their season consists of: Rent, Hair, Smokey Joe's Cafe, 8-Track ( a 70's revue), and Rapunzel (a rock musical).It was held at Chelsea studios. I went in at 9:10am and sang the bridge of "Pocketful of Sunshine" and then they asked me to sing a second song. I chose "Mercy" by Duffy, and both went well. The asked me to come back at 3pm for a dance callback.They also asked me to come tomorrow for a callback for one of their theatrical plays they were also casting! The dance callback today was a simple combination to a song from Smokey Joe's Cafe, and I nailed it! They called me at 8pm tonight to tell me that they want me to come in tomorrow for a final callback: dance from 12-12:30pm, then read and sing from 3-5pm. We'll see! It'd be so nice to book a job on my first audition back from tour and the holidays! I'll keep you posted...

...Spelling Bee musical audition

Since I've been gone for 3 months and I'm about to leave for a week to LA to visit family and friends (and get new headshots!!!!), I thought I should try to throw an audition in the mix just to get back into things. Well it wasn't as easy as I thought it might be.
I woke up at 6:00am and got on the 6:32 A train leaving from my apartment at 185th and Fort Washington Ave. in Washington Heights. The studio I was going to is was Ripley-Grier Studios on 36th St and 8th Ave, which only took be about 30 minutes.

For those of you who don't know the "pecking" order at these auditions, here is a short summary:
Equity Actors with appointments(Actor's union)
Equity Alternates
EMC (Actors who have points towards their union card)
Non-Union Actors (ME)

So I arrived at 7am and things were looking good, since I was #3 on the non-union list. Then at 8am everyone and their mother, father, brother, sister (you get the idea) arrived.

At 9:30am the monitor allowed the non-union actors who had formed a line, to sign in "officially" and then I left at 10am to go back home.
I got ready for the day, and my husband Chris and I met with my sister at MoMA to see the Tim Burton exhibit (because I knew that it would be at least 1pm before they saw non-union actors. I called my friend, Liz Froio to check in and see how things were going, and she said it didn't look good. SO I went back around 2pm to see for myself. She was right. But the audition ended at 4pm, so I thought, "What's 2 hours after I got here so early this morning?" and waited patiently.

The monitor came out of the room at 3pm and told the non-union actors what we didn't want to hear after sticking around for 8 hours: that there was no way they would see non-union today. A few of us spoke to her and asked her if there was any chance at all they might see us at then end, if the magically got through everyone. She said that she would get as many people in as she could, and we were welcome to wait, but it was not likely. So since there was the smallest inkling of hope, I stayed. And then I left a half and hour later when I was absolutely sure it was impossible. How did I know? They turned away the EMC actors too!

So this is my welcome back into the world of auditioning? Thanks a lot New York City. It would be lovely if every actor knew their type so that everyone who was actually right for these roles was seen. Take a Type-Casting class people!

Try try again...next week.