happenings

Quite memorable events filled my last week. Rehearsals for Sunset Boulevard began, the first performance of our improv class took occurred, and I flew home to North Carolina for an audition!

Betty Schaefer in Sunset Boulevard being my first lead role in Chicago, I was extremely nervous going into rehearsals. So many different scenarios were playing in my mind. Shortly after I stepped into the rehearsal room and saw dear friends that I had been in shows with previously at this theatre, my nerves were calmed. I knew it was instantly going to be a fun show. Every single time I listen/sing through the music/even think about this show, I get super excited. Next week we begin staging, so this weekend I'm going to be doing a lot of character analyzing and memorization.

I'm so proud my fellow improv classmates and myself. We have been together for 6 months! Last Friday was our first performance. About an hour before the show, we were all asking each other the level of nerves we each were experiencing, and I said with a wink, "Nope, I'm not nervous! I'm used to performing." Hah, I ate my words 5 minutes before we went on stage. Improv performance nerves are a completely different category than I'm used to. The show was lots of fun, and according to classmates my nervousness didn't show through, so that's good!
Our first class of level D was this past week, and it was quite intense. We're going to get to learn how to do hosting so that we can run our own show, and we also get to have a class dedicated to learning musical improv! One of the many things I took away from class Tuesday was the fact that I need to get on educating myself in the movie world. My family and I didn't venture far from Disney movies growing up, so there is a lot of catching up to do in order to be able to adequately perform on audience topic suggestions. Besides that, as can be confirmed by friends, there's a lot of movie quotes/moments that fly right over my head. Another thing I struggle with in class that I've mentioned before and that I just need to get over is to stop over thinking. Just go out there and do it.

After a good bit of mind debating on what the smart decision would be, I chose to fly home to NC for the weekend to audition for CPCC Summer Theatre. My sister, Rebecca, has done a lot of fantastic set design/painting for them over the past couple of years, and when she heard of the upcoming auditions, she encouraged me to attend. I've felt guilty for hardly spending any time with my family the past couple of years, and I realized that this would be the perfect opportunity to spend a bit of time with them if I was cast. The theatre's summer lineup would be so amazing to be a part of! I flew in Saturday morning (this was the day after my improv show, so I was dangerously running on 2 hrs of sleep for this audition). The audition went very well, and I loved being introduced to people that Rebecca has worked with previously at this theatre. I won't find out until shortly after March 23, since they are holding another round of auditions at a theatre conference in TN. As always, it was so nice to be home, to get to have chats with Mom, spend time with Becca, and catch up with my little brothers.


Lastly, today would have been my dad's 56th birthday. In the days leading up to his birthday/passing/my parents anniversary, I'm reminded of  "O lieb" which is a poem by Ferdinand Freiligrath set to music by Franz Liszt. I sung it in my senior recital as one of the songs in memory of my dad. Here's the poem and below is a lovely performance I just found. It's even more gorgeous if you just listen to Liszt's Liebesträume no. 3 which is just a piano solo.