The Theatre Lady

Well, Katy, Magen, and I stayed up until four o'clock this morning, laughing, crying, talking... We knew it was our last night, so we had to get it allllllll out. This morning we got up, showered, and packed up all of our belongings. We got checked out of the room and we all went to lunch. Then we trucked over to the theatre for hair and makeup. I don't know why anyone does drugs. The high I get in the dressing room, putting the finishing touches on my character, or standing in the dark, behind the curtain, waiting for the show to start... Nothing could possibly top that adrenaline rush. Nothing. I actually happened to get a few pictures in the dressing room pre-show. Here they are! Me as Miss Lily St. Regis! Katy as Grace, me as Lily The show went superbly! I can't wait till I get my DVD of the performance, I will try to upload some clips from the show. I will be uploading more photos as they become available. I have had so much over the past week. So. Muc...

I love this place. :) Like seriously guys. BAP is so special to me (and others) because it's this... meeting place for those who just don't belong in our respective Mid-Western towns. We like to sing and act and dance, and we're kind of weird, and people in our hometowns just don't understand us... but at BAP, we find our kindred spirits. It's like this haven in the middle of sports driven, good-old-boy nowhereville. I've met some of my very best friends here. It is the event that truly convinced me that theatre is what I want to do with the rest of my life. I just love it:) So first of all, we were up until one o'clock in the morning dying Ava (AKA Annie)'s hair red. It turned out so cute. I'm extremely jealous. I've always wanted to be a redhead. Then we sent her to bed and the rest of us (Alison, Sheldon, Kasey, Magen, Katy, and I) stayed up giggling and talking. We even discussed possible shows for next year! (Although we wont know anyt...

Today was a great day. We worked our butts off this morning, really perfecting the show. Then, after lunch we got to the pool here on campus and swim. I'm not that great of a swimmer, but I love it never the less! We all had a lot of fun, I can guarantee you the younger campers will be sleeping sound tonight. :) Katy, Magen, and I have been furiously working lines and songs. We must be off book tomorrow.  Eek! I'm not sure why I am so nervous; this is my fifth show with BAP. We pull this off every single time. But the perfectionist, Type-A personality in me is determined to have this show down. We are allowed to call for lines tomorrow, but on Friday we don't even have that! We also got to add our canine actors today. Dodger, the dog playing Sandy, is ADORABLE and perfect in every way. His owner is a choir teacher, so I'm slightly surprised his name isn't Sandy. We Dottie the Basset Hound and Princess the Dachshund playing mutts in the Hooverville scene. They ...

What a day! Today we learned the choreography for 'New Deal', and reviewed everything that we have learned so far, meshing song and dance together. We also finished blocking to the end. We officially have learned the whole show. It's Tuesday. We are waaaaaay ahead of our normal schedule, we even got sent back to the dorms early so that we could begin to memorize in preparation for Thursday, when we are required to be completely off book. A less happy note: the autistic camper that I previously mentioned has left us. It's a bummer. Although, she will get to go swimming with us on Wednesday! SO she is not completely withdrawn. A quick shout out to our wonderful counselors, Kasey, Sheldon, and Julio. They are FANTASTIC. For instance, Katy and I are in Magen's room (we're suite mates, so we spend a lot of time over here) and there was a knock on the door. We open it to find Kasey and Sheldon, and they proceeded to sing 'I Could Have Danced All Night...

Hello theatre people! I am at BAP and life is so incredibly good right now. There are 20 campers aged 11 to 20 here. We auditioned when we got here and had callbacks following dinner. We've aready been cast and start rehearsals tomorrow! Here is the BAP: Annie Cast List (To the best of my abilities) (Their ages are written next to their names) Annie: Ava (11) Daddy Warbucks: Marshall(16) Miss Hannigan: Magen (19) Grace: Katy Moore (18) Rooster: Arthur(16) Lily: Jordon Shyanne(18) <Me! Ms Drake: Abby (15) Pepper: Erin (12) Duffy: Ella (12) Molly: Hannah (11) Tessie: Parker(11) July: Molly(11) Kate: Brooklyn (11) Ensemble: (This includes Hooverites, servants, stars, and the like!) Cassi(14) Jessica(13) Elizabeth(12) Abigail(14) Bethany(12) Kaylee(15) Torrie(12) Some interesting facts is that we have TONS of BAP family members! Magen, Marshall, and Ella (Miss Hannigan, Daddy Warbucks, and Duffy) are siblings! So are Bethany and Abigale. So are Arthu...

Yesterday we went back to White Deer yesterday for District. We performed first, which is definitely my favorite time slot to perform in. We got on the stage and put on a good show, but our timing was a little off. Well, after us performed West Texas, who had moved on with us, then Claude who performed a play called "The Curious Savage". They were good, but I personally felt that they could have done more with their characters. Last was Panhandle, who did "A Midsummer Night's Jersey" which is just like it sounds: Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream" set in Jersey Shore. I absolutely hated it. It was a complete mockery of theatre. Yuck. At the critique, Taylor, who plays my mother, was awarded Honorable Mention. Then Katy, Victor and I were awarded All Star Cast. Then, (of course) Adrian was awarded Best Actor. However, we were all very surprised when a girl from Panhandle (The Jersey play) got Best Actress. Did this mean it would be us and P...

It has been an incredibly good week! On Thursday we packed up all of our props and costumes and went to White Deer for Zone contest. All of our props-plus the light manager, Tyler We had the second time slot, after Gruver. We got ready in a math classroom, feeling very nervous. But when we got onstage everything started clicking. We had SO MUCH fun. Which is good because sometimes after you have rehearsed a play for so long, things start to drag. But no, we kicked some stage butt up there! After we got done we got to see the other plays. Gruver had done "I Never Saw Another Butterfly" which is about Nazi Germany, West Texas did "A Girl Called Opal" which was set in Oregon, 1905. Sunray performed a play called"Proposin" which only had three characters. And finally Booker did "Tevya's Daughters" the play that Fiddler on the Roof is based on. After the final play left the stage, we went back to our room and got dressed up for the crit...

Well, today we performed the play twice, once for the high school and once for the community. Everything went very smoothly! Both the students and the town have been very complimentary. They said this their favorite play we have ever put on! I'm so happy that they enjoyed it. Today was very emotional for me. This is eighth and final play I get to perform with Stratford High School. I'm going to miss it very very much. Several people have told me that they think I will get Best Actress at the Zone Contest on Thursday, but this is highly unlikely. While I am giving the role everything I have, There is an unspoken rule that Best Actress and Best Actor have to come from different schools. In fact, they generally must distribute the 8 All Star cast medals and the 8 Honorable Mention medals evenly to the participating schools. And I can almost guarantee tat Adrian will get Best Actor. So I'm just hoping for All Star Cast! I don't have any photos to post yet, but when th...

So yesterday was a fun day! My cousin Nicklas got married to a wonderful girl named Sarah. I hadn't been to a wedding since his sister Keitha got married in 2006, and I didn't remember much, so all of my nuptial related knowledge came from the wedding scene in The Sound of Music (which I was in this summer). The entire family really enjoyed themselves. Very romantic ♥ And furthermore, this was my first time to get to go out with all the single ladies for the bouquet toss, and lo and behold... Look who caught the bouquet!  I sent this picture to Adrian. He's skiing so he hasn't received it yet. ;) Anywho. The purpose of today's post is regarding the myth that theatre is a nice, safe past time. Wrong! Theatre is an art that imitates life, and that art sometimes turns a little painful. It's something that happens all the way from children's theatre to Broadway and West End. Afterall, Idina Menzel was absent from her closing weekend in 'Wicked...