Saturday, February 18, 2012

from Seth on 2-18-12

I'll admit I am a horrible blogger.

When Courtney and I moved to NYC we promised our families and friends we would keep a blog going on whatever was happening on our “adventure”.
Well I can say one thing.. We are busy. I'm not sure we have time to spending writing blogs. Even right now I'm writing this from our Internship’s office.
On a different note, Courtney and I are currently trying to audition for anything we can. We just finished working on a project, a children’s musical called “Welcome to Tourettaville”. The show teaches kids how to deal with our differences and to treat others with kindness. It’s cute.
Courtney is still working at Ruby Foo’s and she loves it and hates it.
I am still working as an Assistant Wardrobe Supervisor for the Off-Broadway musical Silence! The Musical. For those who don’t know it is a musical parody of the film The Silence of the Lambs. You can catch the TV commercial on either TV or youtube (caution: strong language).
My boss at my internship has guaranteed a few jobs for me coming this spring to work as a production assistant for some musicals, so there is something to look forward to. 
I really love performing and being up on stage but for right now I feel my best contributions to the theater are in tech work. I need to take more classes, pump some more iron, and gain more weight before I can feel like I would be great on the stage up here. It is really a different world, and self-consciousness gets the best of us a lot of the time. There are still a lot of times when I want to go home to TN and I'm glad to say that I fight them because overall I am very happy I am here.

from Courtney on 2-07-12

  Beautiful weather is gracing us with its presense for the first time in weeks! The sun is shining and it's not biting cold outside! Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, to everyone who has been keeping up with us throughout this transition of a move from the beautiful hills of middle Tennessee to the rather unforgiving concrete universe that is New York City. Nothing puts a bigger smile on my face than seeing a text message from a friend from home or a random call or a facebook note! Even a simple invitation to play a game of "Words With Friends" from a family member or old school-mate is enough to make me feel closer to the people I miss most:) Making friends up here (anywhere new really) is difficult and takes time. However, today is the sixth month mark of the day we packed up our lives in that little car, and I feel blessed to have as many friends up here as we do:) That's one great thing about theatre - we are all crazy and therefore we all accept each others craziness - instant friendships;)
    The daily struggles of living in this area are much more challenging than those from down South. Transportation is a constant test of patience, food is unreasonably expensive if you're not careful, and the weather is more unpredictable than the swimming patterns of a gold fish. Money is tight and much more difficult to come by in these parts. I am still working as a host for the BR Guest Restaurant and have just picked up a second job with a Broadway merchandising company (to begin in March!) so hopefully the two combined will help! For the past week I have been working as a sub at "Silence! The Musical" with Seth and have really enjoyed working with the talented cast and crew of the show. Being around theatre in any capacity is always worth the experience. Over the weekend we wrapped up our tour of the Musical we were performing in and now its continuing to seek the next gig. These little short term theatre jobs are always a blast and hopefully I will be able to continue picking a few up here and there. I am still working for the incredible Pat Addiss and I still volunteer my time when I can at Amas. Two internships + two jobs + auditions + classes. It's ALMOST worse than college....but not quite;)
While all these little part-time jobs allow me to pay my bills and take a few classes here and there, auditioning is my full-time job. I spend at least two hours a day searching for new audition postings from numerous different websites and the rest of my free time preparing for these auditions. Whether I'm stretching to force a better extension (what I'm doing as I am typing this, actually;), going to the gym to build up cardio and strength, singing or sometimes trying to sing, learning new songs, researching monologues, looking up casting directors and choreographers, etc., the list seems endless and yet I push myself through the ritual every day. Auditions are really picking up now - it's that season. Some of them have gone really great! Last week I went to an open call for Spring Awakening and made it all the way through the end of the day out of over three hundred people! A few others have had great results like getting put on file and receiving invited appointment only emails, but most auditions end with a lovely (or not so lovely) "thank you" from the director accross the table. ("The Last Five Years" was right...ALWAYS MEN!!!) And then there are audiitions like the embarrasing display of attempted talent I put forth this morning - Not so great. Sometimes you just have those days, I guess. You get off work at night, get four to five hours of sleep, wake up at 5AM to put rollers in your hair or iron a dress, haul your suitcase weight of a bag on busses and trains and then that mile you have to walk to arrive at the audition center by 6:30AM to sign in on an unofficial list you pray to God they accept, and you wait. And wait, and wait, and wait - becuase you showed up at 6:30AM to an audition that doesn't begin until 10:30AM. With any luck, you will have signed in at a number below 80 to even consider being seen before lunch, if at all. In the words of Laura, "You pray you get the callback and when you get the callback, you pray the callback ends before your next shift at work begins!". That pretty much sums it up. 
My mood has begun to opperate on extremely high highs and extremely low lows - there is no middle ground anymore. It's up or down. This constant rise and fall in emotion is slightly annoying and can really get to me. I think that's the most difficult part of this business. I'm learning to live with it - I'm learning to be patient and forgiving with myself and how to spend my time wisely. If I have one goal this audition season (besides booking a gig, of course) it is to learn everything I can from every audition I attend. I learn to make minor adjustments to my resume, choose a different 16 bars, don't stretch my legs to the point of being weak while I'm waiting for three hours...little things:) I am writing down all the choreography I learn so that when this company comes around next year using the same routine I'll be ready! For the most part, I've been able to maintain a positive attitude thus far - though I'm sure Seth and my Mother can testify to plenty of times when I have been quite the opposite of positive. I'm doing my best. I do at least three things every day that could better myself - something for my spiritual health, something for my physical health, and something for my career. Sanity has to start somewhere!
All in all, the everyday here is not so everyday because each day brings something completely different. I want everything this city has to offer me and I won't stop working for it until I have reached my goals. 
Tomorrow brings another early morning audition and a Broadway show before work! Bring on the inspiration!!!