The Essex Steam Train & More...

Well, I was just hired for my next two paid gigs here in Connecticut! I was referred by a friend of mine from my most recent production of ANNIE with Artful Living Productions, Beth. She called me and said that they were looking for more actors for their upcoming shows and that she thought I would be perfect for them. So I contacted the creator and producer, Ira, and set up my audition for yesterday.

The Essex Steam Train joined with Ira put on interactive and fun journeys on the train stemmed by a storyline based on the time of year. So first there is FRIGHT TRAIN, a spooky Halloween ride, and then there is NORTH POLE EXPRESS, a joyful Christmas inspired ride.

The audition was fun. It was low key, but a lot. I was asked to bring two monologues, two songs, and be ready for cold-reading and improv. I was a bit intimidated, especially with the monologues. I haven't done an audition with just monologues that I prepared for a very long time. And all of my monologues that I did up at school didn't really fit for this family style of show that The Essexy Steam Train plays for. I ended up doing only one monologue and one song with a little reading and improv. So I dug out a monologue I did for Acting 3 my junior year at Middlebury from ANNA KARENINA by Helen Edmundson when Levin is talking about living simply in the country. I was going to sing "Being Alive" from COMPANY, but the room was way too small, and I would have blown his ears off with that belt. So I brought it down with good old "Old Devil Moon".

Then I got do do some improv and reading with Ira. What I was noticing during this was how rusty I felt about how to really delve into a text that I'm given not just with my brain but my whole body and all my senses so I could respond on all levels to the words. It made me really think about how to keep myself fresh and on top of that work that I did so often at Middlebury. My best friend from Midd, Cassidy, who was also a theatre major and helped me so much throughout my four years there both on and off the stage, just let me know that she was asked to be a part of a theatre company in LA where they have weekly classes to do just what I wanted: keep fresh. I just want to find a way to do this somehow without having to spend gobs of money for regular classes. 'Cause Lord knows I don't have that kind of money... :-)

Great news, I got gigs for both shows with The Essex Steam Train! Rehearsals for FRIGHT TRAIN start October 5th, and NORTH POLE EXPRESS start November 2nd. So when I thought I was going to have time... Now I don't. But, I'm being paid and getting a great experience under my belt of how to use theatrics, improvisation, and a story to bring joy and fun to all ages.

Here's the website to learn more about The Essex Steam Train shows and how to purchase tickets!

http://www.essexsteamtrain.com/northpole.html

While this is exciting, it is definitely going to keep me from going into the city as much as I was for auditions. But, I do feel like I'm starting to get a grasp around it all now, so whenever I can go in, I will. What I love about those auditions is that I seem to always see people that I know either from past productions or from other auditions. I've also made a lot of friends and people have been so kind and helpful as we sit and wait for our name to be called. Now that my nerves have started to settle about the whole "NYC Auditioning" hoop-la, I'm going to start bringing my knitting... :-)

So, I love YouTube. By surfing, I find so much great stuff concerning musical theatre, new artists, songs that would be great for me to sing, and watch people perform, which I learn so much from. Whether it's watching actions being played in a song or amazing riffs and vocal qualities to try, YouTube, as corny and weird as it sounds, is truly a great resource.

This whole blogging stuff is still weird to me. I don't even know if anyone is reading, so why do I put it up in public? An interesting process to say the least.