and all that jazz

I’m ashamed of how negative this post will probably be.

Really, I’m sure New York has fantastic intentions…but tourist wise, my first trip there was a flop. Let me explain-it’s not the city’s fault. Honestly, lets all just blame the naked cowboy…or the TKTS box office…or both.

Let’s start from the very beginning. Last Wednesday afternoon, so what, just barely a week ago, I took a train up to NYC from New Jersey with my aunt and

Godspell Promotional Montage (click!) Hunter Parrish as Jesus

dear, dear father. We were originally planning to go for two days, take along the entire family, meet a friend for dinner, and see three shows…

But that obviously fell through.

As you, reader, may have caught onto by now, I got to go for about six hours. We got to Times Square around noon, bought tickets for Stephen Schwartz’ Godspell at Circle in the Square. Honestly, it was a lot better than I thought it would be. Hunter Parrish was by far the most attractive Jesus ever to hit the stage, and Uzo Abuda, Wallace Smith and Anna Maria Perez de Tagle’s performance in general blew me away. The show’s energy was electric-I didn’t lose focus once. The updated portion of the show was very impressive as well. Usually when things are brought into a more modern era, it’s done very carelessly and effortlessly, which is very obvious onstage. Instead, the pop culture references strengthened the story line. Although I couldn’t say the show was anything close to RENT, I do believe it has affected many, many teens (considering my father was one of the oldest people in the audience-and this is for a revival!) So, readers, if any of you happen to pass through New York sometime soon, please do “check this out” if at all possible. Try to see it before Corbin Bleu replaces Hunter Parrish too…just an idea.

Breathe. I feel more enlightened. However…back to ranting. The show ends around 4:30pm. We head back to Times Square to get tickets for the final preview of Disney’s Newsies. Tickets have been available all day online, right? Why wouldn’t they be at TKTS for half the price? Well anyway, back to the line we go. Newsies is listed on the ever-changing board of shows and everything. The tickets are guaranteed. Just as we get to the booth, those golden tickets are sold to the person in front of us for the lucky price of $70 each. Only work I can say? Humph.

We grump back over to Juniors for dinner. I end up eating half of my mashed potatoes and none of my soup. We then head over to 81st street in search of Zabars and realize we’re on the wrong street just after closing time. Lovely. The night ends with a good old NY pretzel, being locked out of our parking garage, increasing my risk of cancer by around two percent (yep, thanks second hand smoke) and finally getting back to my aunt’s sweet little apartment.

Needless to say, we’re crowning this a “practice round.”

Readers…what are your best (and worst) NYC experiences? Post below!

Welp, the title says it all, but not in the way you’d think.

I haven’t posted for, what, four months? Has it been longer? Nevertheless (and really, as usual), I have an excuse.

My dears, yours truly has been busy. No, really, I’ve had a hectic year. And with that, I’ll start the hideous (pronounced hid-jus) updates.

I started rehearsals for Roald Dahl’s “Willy Wonka” at the Booth Tarkington Civic Theatre sometime around late October. I was originally cast along with nine other kids as a “Candy Kid.” Basically, I had a cute number (The Candy Man), a few little crossovers in Act One, the Act One Finale, and then nothing until the Act Two

I don't like the look of it!

Finale. Thankfully, because yours truly is actually starting to work on her level of responsibility, I was recruited along with a friend of mine to also join an adult ensemble of Oompa-Loompas in Act Two. There were around eight of us, and I’m glad to say it was a fantastic experience! Being the “cute kid” in the group, I got a couple creepy solos and then a fun duet in our second snippet. The choreography was a bit more intense than I first guessed, but I loved it just the same! My skin, however, is still recovering from twenty something days of heavy orange stage makeup.

I’m also currently in the middle of my second year in Civic’s premiere youth performing troupe, “Act One,” which tours all across Indiana and showcases the talent of about thirty Indianapolis, Carmel, Zionsville, Fishers etc. kids with a passion for performing. With the Superbowl in Indy this year, we were given a really enjoyable opportunity-performing at the Superbowl Village’s Family Day! Showtunes at a sporting event may sound strange, but hey, it worked.

Just a week ago, I was informed that I am now a member of Young Actors Theatre‘s Improv Troupe, “Improvizas.” Including alternates, there are about fifteen members. I’ve never worked with this theatre before, but I’m excited to try it out. Unlike the majority of the things I do, YAT is a strictly youth theatre which serves kids in the Indianapolis area. They offer multiple mainstage experiences for kids, teens and youngens to participate in, using a class-like structure. It costs, but I’ve heard just about everyone that’s done it has fallen in love with the theatre. The troupe is a side thing-open to whoever. I start rehearsals in a couple of weeks-I’m super syked, so we’ll see how it goes!

Next on the busy busy busy agenda is something I’ve just recently started focusing on-playwriting. I’m currently a semi-finalist in the Indiana Repertory Theatre‘s Young Playwrights in Process (YPiP) contest, which is open to middle school and high school students in the state of Indiana. Just weeks ago I attended an intensive weekend workshop specifically for the semi-finalists, and goodness, was it a fantastic experience. On the first night, we had all of our plays read by professional actors. The next day we went to a Playwriting 101 workshop, ate an amazing lunch (courtesy of our dear friends at the local Panera), met privately with dramatic professionals (dramaturge, director, professor, etc…[Woah, I'm using too many parenthesis. Ouch.]) then started the rewrite process. Guess who sat at the playwright in residence’s desk? Yup, this girl. It’s been a great experience-I’ll hear about who’s a finalist by April 10th. If you’d like to follow the hubbub, feel free to join the conversation on Facebook.

. Tomorrow I’ve got IRT Conservatory auditions as well, in which I’m hoping to (maybe…) be phenomenal at! For those of you not familiar with the program, the IRT’s summer conservatory intensive is a one month long adventure right here in downtown Indianapolis. It’s by audition only and is taught by some of the city’s strongest theatre professionals. Wish me broken limbs! (No luck please…)

Last but not least, I’m currently in the middle of a musical theatre intensive at Civic. It’s simplistic, but so incredibly enjoyable! Basically, we work directly with Civic’s best while putting together a come-all youth review. It’s one of those “everyone’s a star, no small parts, only small…etc.” things, but it’s great experience and the music is great to add to my repertoire. Plus, every year I do it my ability to move and dance seems to strengthen. One more year left after this until I age out…we’ll hope next year comes slow.

Well, my dears, that’s about it. My ten-minute long Jersy Boys song is about to end, which means I really need to get to bed. Enjoy the rest of your lives, check back soon for more jazz!

Song: \”Not a Day Goes By\” from Sondheim\’s Merrily We Roll Along