A recent blessing has been the access to Backstage.com with the help of our new roommate Ann Marie who is a singer actress that has lived in NY for a good while. Backstage.com (or the printed version from newsstands) or Actorsaccess.com are the NYC version of TheatreinChicago.com/Auditions except they require money. It's been so much fun browsing through auditions to see which ones I can fit into my schedule. There have been broadway ones (Phantom of the Opera, Elf, Mary Poppins..etc) that I would absolutely LOVE to audition for, but a problem is presented. As I was informed from my singer/actor friend, Ryan Roets, who recently moved to the city as well, a non-equity actor can attend equity auditions, but they have to sign up at the beginning of the day unsure of whether the casting people will want to see them or not. They have to wait until all of the equity actors have been seen, and the casting directors may not even desire to see them audition, so they could have waited all day without getting to audition. This requires a lot of time, so I'd only be able to audition on my days off. Attempting to audition would be more about them seeing you as a new face to the talent pool than getting the role, although that would be incredible.
Other than her kindness of informing me/helping me out with the websites, she has a bookshelf full of happiness. A whole collection of musical theatre, theatre, and NY books is sitting in our living room, and she offered to let us borrow them as we need it. She is away in England and Italy for the summer on an adventure :).
There are potential auditions this week, but the one that I am set on attending if I get out of work in time is tomorrow night. It's for an independent film titled "Tompkins Square Park", and I would be going for either the role of Sara or Mercy Matthews. I'm excited yet nervous for this opportunity, because I've never attended a film audition before!
On the subject of acting, I've talked on this topic with my sister and a little with my friend Adam. Why is it that it's so much harder now to "make it big" in the theatre world now compared to 20+ years ago? Listening to our new friend Kevyn Morrow on his career takeoff at 19, reading other seasoned actors' stories, and more brought on this question. I thought perhaps drama/music education requirements in schools now could have developed the interest in more young people so much that it's somewhat of a trend. Rebecca threw in the thought that possibly since people aren't getting married until later on in life, there isn't as much obligation to get a steady paying job that can support you and a family. Thoughts are greatly appreciated!
You hear New Yorkers tell you of the hardness of living in the city, but you don't really know what they're talking about until you experience it. We've had just a taste. It's hard on your spirit, even your clothing/shoes, it's tough relationship wise (finding good friends and such), financially....and more...but there are so many nice things about the city that balance it out. We've started to make friends here (unfortunately more than half of them are only in the city for the summer), we've come to find amazing restaurants that will be visited by us in the future (Shake Shack is absolutely amazing and it's horrible that one location is right by my museum...Yougurt land...and more...), all of the events to attend, museums, and other activities make it a fun place. A favorite spot of ours will be the South street seaport at Pier 17. We've visited before, but last Thursday night we went down there for the evening, bought a really good burrito from the food court, and just sat and gazed at the Hudson. Soaking in the music around, the calmness of the water, the sights of the dinner/tour cruises around the city was so very relaxing.
I learned that if the locals are waiting in line for a street vendor, then the food must be tasty. Rebecca and I ventured to the MoMa (Museum of Modern Art) a couple of Fridays ago, and passed by a vendor that was making chicken and rice and gyros. We made up our mind to stop by after we went in the museum. We didn't have much time there, but we admired Van gogh, Rauschenberg, Louise Bourgeoise, Louise Nevelson, Picasso, and many more. We also came to the conclusion that in order to keep our availability even more open for possible meetings of new friends, we needed to admire the the future museums we attend a lone. Two is more intimidating than one. ;)
I've been somewhat obsessed with ice cream upon moving here. I've always loved it, but it's either the sweltering heat inside the apartment and outside or seeing and hearing an ice cream truck on every corner. Don't worry, though, I've learned to resist most of the time...it's only when we're in McDonald's that the $1.00 cones really scream my name.
4th of July fun? I'd hoped to magically find a super cheap flight to Orlando to join my friend and his family at Disney for the holiday like we had dreamed of doing a year ago, but unfortunately I couldn't justify putting a $300 flight on my credit card. SO, Disney fun has been put off, but NY Independence day plans were memorable. After we attended this gorgeous church.....
I grilled hamburgers on a george foreman while Rebecca made her Red, White, and Blue cake (which is a tradition...and SHE must make it every year).
Later in the evening we enjoyed these....
It was the Macy's annual 4th of July fireworks. There were as many people smushed together as those that view the Macy's Thanksgiving parade, except throw in the hot muggy weather..and you've got the 4th of July fireworks! It was a beautiful display, though. I kept on longingly looking at the Norwegian Cruise Line ship not too far from us..wishing to join the people who were celebrating on the ship. We almost purchased tickets to go on the circle cruise line mini tour boat to float in the Hudson and have a magnificent view,but we decided against it. Really wished the family could have been there with us. It was the first 4th we haven't been together I believe.
If you look carefully in the picture below..you'll see me...taking part in the most outrageous thing we've done in the city.
Friday morning, Rebecca and I got up at 5:00am to stand in line for Standing Room only tickets to see August Wilson's "Fences" on Broadway which starred Denzel Washington and Viola Davis. The show was closing on the 11th, and every ticket was sold out, except for the SRO tickets that become available on the day of the show. When we arrived at the theatre, our hearts sank as we saw a massive line of people already. They began their line at 3:30am. We stood for a while wondering what to do, and we talked with the people around us. We met Kevyn Morrow who is a very established actor, and he happened to give us theatre tips for the city. We all decided that we were too far back in the line to even have a chance at getting tickets so we put our minds to it to camp out the next evening. Rebecca texted our friend Adam Robitaille who only lives an 1 1/2 train ride from CT away to see if he wanted to join us. To our surprise, he was up for it! Since we couldn't get into Fences that morning, we didn't want to go home empty handed, so at about 8:10am, she and I walked over to the Promises, Promises (starring Kristen Chenoweth and Sean Hayes) theatre and were 3rd in line to get rush tickets when the box office opened at 10am. Soon after we arrived, a large line formed behind us, but we felt great in knowing that we'd get tickets. 10am rolls around and we got tickets for that evening!! So..we went home and slept, got ready for the show, attended the very well done show (can't believe we actually got to see Kristen Chenoweth), and heard from Adam about his arrival time to join us to camp outside of the Cort Theatre for Fences. He wasn't going to arrive until about 1:30am at Grand Central Station, so Rebecca and I decided to take a walk over to "Fences" to see if there happened to be a line. We were kidding at the moment, but when we got there to check it out, there were already 5 people in line. We had no other choice but to park ourselves there. Soon after, adam joined us for the camp out. We met many fun people, including Sam and Danny who shared their salsa/chips and played yahtzee with us. The most memorable person was the lady we nicknamed "Miss Houston" because she would not shut her mouth about HAVING to see the show, because she flew in from Houston and has been saying Rose's monologue since she was 13. Lady, like we were going to say, "Oh, ok, you can have my place!" Nope. She didn't get in line in time. Channel 7 ABC news even came to shoot a bit about us all. I had to leave the party at 5:30am when it was light enough for me to go home by myself to get a couple of hours of sleep for work (ugh..yes..I worked 11-5 then went home to change to see the show). The rest of our friends stuck it out and we got tickets to see the show!! It was a phenomenal show. I really want to read the other 2 plays that August Wilson wrote as a part of the series. It was absolutely worth every minute of the 11 hours people camped out for tickets.
With our friend Kevyn Morrow...
For more photos documenting our adventures... Click Here for Rebecca's Photo Album
More stories to come!!
No comments:
Post a Comment