Two weeks ago I was asked by my theatre group to direct a reading of an unpublished play for their New Works Lab. I was ecstatic! I have been waiting for this opportunity with this group for as long as I’ve been a part of it and here, finally, was my open door.

I received the script and met with the playwright the very next day. I had read the script and had already contacted some actors to see if they’d be interested. The playwright was obviously unhappy with the short amount of time we’d have to rehearse and I could tell he was uneasy.

Well, yesterday, 2 days before our first rehearsal, he pulled the script from NWL. He apparently misunderstood the process and entire purpose of NWL and, I guess, wants better for his script. So, now I don’t get to direct. I’m pretty bummed.

Boo hoo for me, right? I can hear tiny violins everywhere.

My headshots are in! I’m uploading most of them to Flickr, but keeping them private, but I can post a few here. All photo credits go to Krista Lee Photography.

I didn’t get in the play. Oh well. Next time.

My headshots should be ready tomorrow or Wednesday!

I am so excited. I am finally going to get professional headshots! I can’t believe I’ve gone this long without getting them, but there you have it. Last year for Metamorphoses, I had a co-worker take some shots of me outside our work building and ended up using one of those to put in the lobby. People were nice and said they liked it, but you could tell a night and day difference between mine and the professional shots. Anyway, I go to the studio next Wednesday. I’ll be sure to let you know how it goes.

On a similar subject, I’m now waiting to hear about the play I had callbacks for last Thursday. I hate this inevitable waiting period. Actually, what I hate more is when companies don’t call you at all if you are not cast. I realize thats the way professional theatre goes, but I think it sucks. If they won’t call, they should at least post a cast list so you can see for yourself that you weren’t cast, instead of just being left wondering.

I just got the official word that I am being called back for the ABE show on Thursday night. Fun fun!

This weekend marks the beginning of a few new things. First, I auditioned yesterday for the new Actor’s Bridge show called “The Payout”. Its an original work written by Bill Feehely, the artistic director of ABE. Anyway, the audition went well. As it turns out, I was the first one who knew about the monologue on the website that everyone was supposed to become familiar with, if not memorize. So, when I showed up, I just did the monologue and left, after he asked me to come to callbacks. There’s a very slim chance I’ll actually get cast, because its a small cast and there are a lot of females my age auditioning for this one role. Its not the lead role, but its the only one in my age range. Anyway, I’m always happy to do stuff on the technical side too…although I’d really like to act again soon.

The other new thing is soccer. Today at 2pm is the first soccer game of the season. I’m joining a team on a different league than last year, one that already has enough girls, so hopefully we can sub in and out often. They played one game last week and tied, which is pretty good, I think. I’m not used to being on winning teams, so it will be great if that’s the case with this one. I found out about the league through a dear friend who just returned from being gone in India for a few months. Not only is it great that she’s back, but now we get to play soccer together! That rocks.

Okay okay. Here are a few pictures from St. Patty’s Day.

Some of the ABE gals

Indoor Bocce Ball

Don, The Cook

I really suck at this game, but at least I look good doing it.

Being somewhat Irish and all, I always feel a bit festive during the St. Patrick’s Day holiday. Not enough to be obnoxious, but enough to take a little pride in my heritage.

So, yesterday, Actor’s Bridge had a picnic at Neuhoff to celebrate the holiday as well as celebrate the birthday of one of the board members. We were tasked with bringing side dishes and desserts so I decided to go all out Irish style. For my side dish, I made some soda bread, which was surprisingly easy (I used the same recipe to make soda bread scones this morning). Everyone seemed to enjoy it and there wasn’t any left over for me to bring home. Always a good sign. For the dessert, I made a peppermint chocolate cake, which was really fun and easy to make. However, knowing now how you make frosting, I’ll probably eat it more conservatively from now on. I used two whole sticks of butter! Ack! But it was scruptuous and we have a nice chunk left over, which I’m counting on Jason to eat over the next few days.

We grilled out and had hamburgers, boca burgers, and hot dogs, on top of all the other dishes people brought. Needless to say, there was enough food for everyone, including the resident dogs of Neuhoff. We also played a few rounds of indoor bocce ball and I have some pictures to prove it, although the lighting wasn’t that great so the pictures aren’t really worth posting. We wrapped up around 5:30 or so and headed to McDougal’s in Hillsboro Village so we could watch the last half of the NCAA basketball game where Vanderbilt won in double overtime. It was pretty exciting even though I don’t really follow basketball.

Some of my ABE friends were going to a housewarming party at 7:30 in East Nashville, so I decided to tag along and try to get rid of more of the peppermint chocolate cake I made. Goodness knows we don’t need all that at our house. In case you’re wondering if I just showed up at a perfect stranger’s house, I did meet the guy a few hours earlier at the ABE picnic. So we weren’t total strangers, just new friends. The house is really stunning. It was built in 1905 and has space galore. I couldn’t believe how high the ceilings were and how open the floorplan was. He should be very proud of his new home and I hope it brings him a lot of good times.

That was about it for the night and I headed home around 9:30pm. All in all, it was a fairly relaxed, but still very enjoyable, St. Patty’s Day.

I guess its a little unfair for me to say “no more” but at least my dream of being a stage mother is over for now. That’s right, Clementine will not be participating in the People’s Branch show (however, I’m sure it will still be a good show).

I didn’t realize the tech rehearsals were this Tuesday and Wednesday during the work day. Finding out now, its a little late notice to ask for those days off. Especially since I’m in a conference all day Monday and Tuesday so I will have plenty waiting for me when I return on Wednesday.

I’m sad, but I think it will be for the best. Clementine was already asking to be called Miss Brown and was demanding her own stylist. Diva.

Tonight was the last showing of “Ordinary Heroes”…you know, the play I’ve mentioned a few times, and the one John H seemed to enjoy enough to go back a second time? Well, tonight was the end of it and it’s always kind of bittersweet when a show ends. Even if the experience wasn’t exactly what you thought it would be, it’s still an end to something that connects with our ultimate desire to be creative and expressive. Even though all I did was push the “go” button when the stage manager said to, I was still reminded of how much I do love theatre and the experience it creates. Of course, when you’re working with a talented group such as Actor’s Bridge, most every experience is special, so I guess that makes it even harder to say “goodbye” to another production. I want to get back on stage. Soon.