2013's Work in Review

Gigs

Main Street Theater

The Magic School Bus LIVE!

Into the Woods (in rehearsal - opens Jan 16th, 2014)

Texas Repertory Theatre

Company

Blithe Spirit

Jeff McMorrough as Rosencrantz, Matthew Keenan as Hamlet,
and me as Guildenstern.  Photo by Pin Lim.

Stark Naked Theatre

Macbeth

The War of the Worlds (reading)

Classical Theatre Company

Hamlet

Image Source

Legacy Community Health industrial

Highlight

The War of the Worlds was an unexpected blast.  To be honest, when I first read the script I thought, "how on earth do you make an hour-long news broadcast interesting?" But we did, and had so much fun, as did the audience, so many of whom said it was their first time at Stark Naked Theatre.  I could feel the audience on the edge of their seats.  Plain old-fashioned good storytelling is a wonderful thing.

Lowlight

Touring children's theatre is both a blessing and a curse.  There was a lot to love about the Magic School Bus tour, but the bone-crushing fatigue of the busiest weeks was among the hardest things I faced this year.  But there's also something to be said about the satisfaction of working that hard - it's kind of great.

Auditions

This year I auditioned for Houston Shakespeare Festival, many voice-over spots, Main Street Theater, Texas Shakespeare Festival, Ozark Actors' Theatre, Stark Naked Theatre, Back Porch Players, Classical Theatre Company, the Houston Theatre Alliance, Tall Tale Pictures and Ensemble Theater.  Twenty-four auditions all told, of which four got me the gig, plus I got cast in three projects based on earlier work.  So we're looking at about one yes for every two nos.

Highlight

The audition for Time Stands Still at Main Street Theater was exhilarating.  There are full performances I haven't enjoyed as much as I enjoyed that audition.  I got to read four times with different groups of people, and the joy and satisfaction of hours of hard slog in preparation meeting magical in-the-moment creativity was something pretty special.  Plus that's just a kick-ass script.  I walked away almost (almost) not even caring if I got cast or not, just thoroughly satisfied with my performance that night.

Lowlight

Nerves on an empty stomach saw me hurling up my guts about half an hour before my first Macbeth audition - nausea is the worst feeling in the world, I reckon.  Good old body, though - it got it together at the last minute, managed a very respectable audition, and got me through to the next round of callbacks.  I even got the gig.

Training

This year I worked on dialects at home with some helpful resources; took Hope Stone's teacher training, contined in Kim Tobin's Meisner class as well as taking her audition preparation class; and took ballet, jazz and tap classes.

Highlight

When you first work with Kim Tobin you get the impression that she can read you like a book.  Now that I've worked with her for over a year I have this spooky feeling she can see into my soul and every so often just knows exactly what I need to hear.  I have often despaired as I progress to new levels and realised just how much I don't know, but Kim gives me a great mix of encouragement and a kick up the ass when I need it, and her studio has become a sacred place for me that has seen so much of my growth.

Lowlight

The teacher training at Hope Stone was valuable but occurred in a very busy time for me (during the Magic School Bus tour of exhaustion), so I wasn't feeling particularly patient when the session ran overtime that day.  Something must have made it through my fatigue-fogged brain though, because my teaching has improved.

Other Work

Hope Stone - teacher and blogger

Main Street Theater - substitute house manager

Houston Grand Opera - lightwalker

I have grown a lot this year, and enjoyed such landmarks as moving from children's theatre into grown-up theatre, earning my first Equity points, getting cast in a film project and getting up the guts to submit a play I wrote to a theatre.  I hope your 2013 has been satisfying - would love to hear about it.