Getting caught up

I seem to be becoming more of a designer than a performer.  Two years ago I designed 5 productions (3 of them adaptations of Pride & Prejudice)  and garnered award nominations for 2 of them.  Last year I designed 5 more shows: Die Fledermaus, Tosca, Arsenic & Old Lace, The Importance of Being Earnest, and DOT.  Here it is barely February and I've already styled a wig for one show and am about to start styling 8 wigs (and possibly trimming a bonnet) for an operetta running in a couple of weeks.

As for getting on stage, there's been precious little being presented that a) I'm interested in, b) has at least one role for a woman older than 20 or 30, and c) fits my schedule.  Since doing Pirates 5 (!) years ago, the only time I've been onstage was for the 2023 Christmas Revels.  That wasn't as satisfying as I'd hoped - we rehearsed in an unheated ballroom, we only ran one weekend, and the cast was HUGE - close to 80!

The design work is coming along nicely - I keep getting the occasional award nomination (though that's probably a factor of far fewer designers than performers), I've gotten to do some really fun, rewarding projects, and worked with some lovely people.

But I wanna go back to swanning around a stage in a costume and singing choruses in public.  Not sure how to make that happen, with so few operettas and musicals having roles for older women.

What a semester it's been!

It's been a very busy semester musically.  The MT workshop did 2 cabarets and performed at the university's annual "open house" (every department pulls out the stops to entertain and advertise to family, friends, neighbors, and more).  The concert choir sang a world premiere with one orchestra the week before spring break (good thing my boot was "concert black"), then sang with a 2nd orchestra at the end of the semester, including a performance at CARNEGIE HALL!!!

I learned a lot, sang a lot, and generally had a good time.  Good thing I only took those 2 classes or it would have been a lot more stressful.

Another Sing-Out!

It's that time again!  Every 5 years, the theater company I keep coming back to hosts a marathon Gilbert & Sullivan sing-along over Labor Day weekend.  You sing through all the music (but none of the dialogue) of all 13 surviving G&S shows.  (Their first collaboration, Thespis, or the Gods Grown Old, survives only in fragments.) 

This will be the 3rd sing-out for which the host company will present one of those shows in a semi-staged, concert version, with a full orchestra on stage w/ the singers, and the principals in costume.  The company chose Utopia, Limited and The Grand Duke for these concerts because those two are rarely done.  When we presented Grand Duke for the first concert production 10 years ago, the response was so positive that we ended up staging it in 2010.  The response to Utopia 5 years ago was similarly positive and apparently the company did consider staging it, but Utopia is harder to cast because it requires so many strong male voices - eleven!

The standard format is to break the shows into blocks for which people can register as participants, or buy tickets as audience members.  Friday night opens with the singing of "Hail Poetry" from The Pirates of Penzance - sort of an unofficial G&S "national anthem," if you will.  Three shows follow.  Saturday is the one full day - a 3-show block in the morning, 2 in the afternoon, and the concert production and one other show after dinner.  Sunday wraps up with the remaining 3 shows, traditionally closing with The Gondoliers because the finale lyrics "leave you with feelings of pleasure."

Attendees come from up and down the eastern United States, the Midwest, the South, and sometimes even from Canada and the UK.  You get hardcore G&S scholars and fans, people who are completely new to G&S and the way the "veterans" quote from the shows, and everyone in between.  We have second-generation attendees, couples who met doing one G&S show or another, and people who've built long-distance friendships over Savoynet, the Gilbert & Sullivan Archive, or the International G&S Festival in England (first in Buxton, now in Harrogate).  Knowing a little G&S can serve as a connection when visiting or moving to new places (that's certainly been my experience), even if you've never had an opportunity to perform.  These sing-alongs are a sort of "family reunion" of G&S fans, of course, but also of opera and music lovers, fans of choral music (Sullivan wrote some rich, rewarding ensemble music for his performers), and those who enjoy wordplay of the sort Gilbert did so well.

I've already loaded my scores (including a few duplicates, just in case) into the cart I'll use for Saturday's marathon, got a hotel room booked near the theater, and am looking forward to singing my brains out this weekend! 😁💓🎵🎶🎵

And I'm in!

Got an email the other day telling me that I've been cast in this fall's Antigone - 2nd Attendant, Chorus, and Eurydice understudy.  The director said at auditions that she plans to incorporate a lot of movement - we have a choreographer - and maybe some music too.  I'm looking forward to it!  Too bad rehearsals don't start until the first week of classes, in August.

The director is the person who taught my Voice for the Actor class last semester, which I really enjoyed.  She often closed class with a 2- or 3-part song, different groups of us singing each part, all at the same time.  We all loved that; I hope she plans to build a little of that into Antigone.

I played Eurydice in a different translation of this play several years ago.  It'll be interesting to dig out my old script and compare it to this one once we get it, and to see how much this version will differ from that one.

Having a lot of trouble getting motivated to learn lines

I've been cast as understudy of one of the roles in the campus production of The Importance of Being Earnest.  As I understand it, there's an "understudy run" which is essentially a tech rehearsal on the set, with no costumes or only bits (e.g., skirts).  We don't get an actual performance, and I don't even know how much rehearsal we'll get before that run.  We're all supposed to be off book (i.e., have all our lines memorized) by Thursday, but I'm finding it really hard to make myself work on my lines when I haven't been to a rehearsal since the read-through (which I wasn't even required to attend).  For all that I'm getting the daily emails, I don't feel like I'm part of the production; it feels very weird.

Good voice lesson, right before another big audition

Later this afternoon I'll record another music school pre-screening audition.  Yesterday's voice lesson was surprisingly productive.  I'd gone in feeling a bit cruddy (ah, seasonal allergies), but C assured me I was doing well - in good voice, breathing well, good energy.

I had an "aha!" moment when she had me working an exercise to loosen the root of my tongue (because tension anywhere in the vocal production tract is killer!).  I realized that my tongue was tensing up upon my inhalation unless I remembered my back breathing (i.e., expanding my full rib cage on the inhalation).  Another reason to do that back breathing!

Coincidentally, my Voice for the Actor prof had just introduced tongue exercises on Wednesday, including one to release tongue tension.  I love it when my various classes dovetail!  It's like I'm triangulating on good technique, reinforcing it from multiple angles.

Similarly, what both C andd my TA voice teacher have said about sustaining energy through a vocal line just got a boost from the energy exercises my Voice teacher had us do in class on Monday, to sustain energy through and past the end of a line.  All good!

C got a call from her mother during my lesson that she had to take.  Once she got off the phone, she explained that there was a completely unacceptable situation in her mother's building that the family was addressing.  When she explained the situation, I was livid for her mother's sake.  We then joked about "OK, now caress your lover's pillow" as I prepared to run through my other song.  Maybe it was having my blood boiling, but boy, was my energy good for that song! :D  I may have to use that trick this afternoon.

I'm trying not to get too worked up about this.  I need to relax (hah - as if!), breathe, remember the main technical points I've worked on since I did this last year, breathe some more, and, most importantly, enjoy the music.  After all, I picked these pieces because I liked them and knew I could live with them for months (or, in the case of one, over a year).  Now they're old friends; I need to sing them with that love.

If nothing else, I'm bound to do better than last year.  That was discouraging - back to singing only a week after taking about 3 weeks off because those blasted seasonal allergies were making singing actually painful.  This year I'm healthy (knock wood), and I've got an additional year of technical work, practice, and coaching under my belt.

I plan to get to campus early, find a practice room, and review all the technical and textual points I want to perform, do some loosening-up exercises, and maybe even get myself to relax a bit so I can enjoy singing these pieces.

Extra, extra; read all about it!

Had my first-ever TV extra gig on Monday.  Last summer I'd responded to an open call by a professional casting company, which got me in their database and on their email list.  However, Monday was the first call for extras that I'd been able to show up for.

This being my first time, I showed up not really knowing what to expect beyond that I should plan to be there 12+ hours.  (It turned out to be 13.5 by the time I checked out that night.)  As instructed, I wore one wardrobe option suitable for the scene and packed 2 or 3 more options.  Fortunately, Wardrobe liked what I wore so I pulled my "entertainment" and a pair of flip-flops out of my suitcase, put them into my tote, and locked my suitcase in my car.

We had been instructed to report to a church parking lot, where they had trailers set up for Wardrobe, Hair & Makeup, and a few others (crew rooms?).  Once we'd checked in, been cleared by Wardrobe and Hair & Makeup, we boarded a shuttle to the shooting location, where we were directed to a great big tent (air-conditioned, thank heaven!) - Holding. They had a small breakfast buffet set up for us, and a constant supply of 4-oz water bottles.  There was also a small trailer with 3 little restroom cubicles.  I was expecting a porta-potty; not so!  These were actually rather nice-looking - they were decorated!  They had "paneling", a pergo-style floor, a flush toilet (presumably into some sort of tank, given that it was a trailer), a framed mirror over the sink, and even a framed picture anchored to one wall.  Three cubicles weren't really sufficient for our numbers (150?  200?), but at least they didn't stink, despite the August heat.

I was reasonably well prepared for my wait.  I had a tote full of crossword puzzles, some music to look over (most of which I didn't touch), and my flip-flops to wear in Holding instead of the heels I'd bought for the occasion.  Boy, was I sorry by the end of the day that I hadn't had time to break those new shoes in at all!  I wasn't the only one with spare footwear, either; I saw at least 2 women wearing very comfy-looking slippers in Holding.

We got a "pre-lunch" of sandwiches and sides (apples, bananas, granola bars) around 11, and a hot lunch starting around 1 or 1:30.  They announced the order - crew first!  The union performers would be next in line, with non-union performers going after the crew & union folks had filled their plates.  Some of the people who'd done these before said that working as an extra often amounts to getting paid to sit around and eat.

Those extras (called "background", or BG) in military uniforms were called first.  Mid-morning, they took about half the rest of us for an exterior scene.  It wasn't until 2:30 or 3 that they called all of us for the final scene to be shot that day.  They herded us all into the church, where we sat while they tweaked some technical things, and even tweaked a few of us (Wardrobe adjusted collars, brushed away fuzzies, etc., while Hair fixed a coupla women's tresses and Makeup powdered a few scalps so they wouldn't gleam).  They then ran the same short scene over, and over, and over, until I imagine most of us could recite the one principal's lines right along with her.  They adjusted the lighting and sound equipment, herded us first off to a corner, then back to Holding while they got it just right, and brought us all back.  They then ran the same scene, or tiny parts of it, several more times.  Each time, I think they tweaked some light or sound setting, or changed a camera angle.  For some of the runs, they had stand-ins come in for the principals.  (I wonder if that's to give the principals a union-required break, or the stand-ins some union-required work?)  In the end, it took about 5 hours to shoot a scene that ran only a couple of minutes.  Quite a difference from stage work, where you run a scene pretty much straight through, and don't have to worry about camera angles.

I was interested to see how very many crew they had.  Because we were told to stay out of their way & let them do their jobs, I couldn't exactly ask what they were doing or "What's this for?"  Still, it was interesting to see how very many different versions of tool belts & kits they were wearing and what they were stocked with - gaff tape, scissors, safety pins, makeup brushes, multi-tools...  One surprise was when they were adjusting the canopy overhead from which several cables were hung.  They started tugging on it and it moved!  It turned out to be a big, inflated rectangle!  They used several guide lines to move it over to a side section of the church; rather reminded me of the people who "walk" the big character balloons in the Thanksgiving Day parade.

Some of us were issued various props.  If you received a prop, you had to surrender an ID - something you'd definitely want to get back.  You got your ID back when you returned the prop at the end of the day.  That was just the first step in the check-out process.  Once you'd turned in any props you'd been issued and gotten your ID back, you got on one of the shuttles to go back to the church parking lot where we'd checked in.  Then we all stood in a long, slow line to finish filling out the forms we'd gotten at check-in, get checked off their list, and be sent home.  Filling out the form wasn't the boilerplate exercise you might think.  The several copies were not all the same form!  They were all stuck together as if they were multiple copies of the same form, when in fact the last 2 pages were a different form, that you had to fill out front & back.  No wonder the line was moving so slowly - none of us first-timers expected two different forms to be stuck together!

I'm already scheduled for another extra gig on Tuesday.  This time I'll have a better idea of what to expect.  For one thing, I won't be wearing brand-new heels for the first time!  Based on what I was told, I think I can get away with a pantsuit, which means flats, which means I won't have to take spare footwear for Holding.   I'll still take my suit w/ skirt as one of my wardrobe alternates, but will cross my fingers that Wardrobe will OK the pantsuit.  I'll also know how to fill out my paperwork this time, and will be sure to do that while I'm in Holding waiting to be called, instead of in the check-out line, in the dark.

It's only been a week, so I haven't gotten my paycheck yet, but one of the "pros" was saying extras get paid something like $88 for 8 (8 1/2?) hours, then time and a half for any time after that.  Apparently you don't get paid for the half-hour lunch break (the 8.5 hours?).  If that's accurate, that would mean I worked 4.5 hours at time and a half.  That works out to $74.25 for the overtime, plus $88 equals $162.25.  I wonder how much of that gets taken out for taxes...

I think the hardest part was probably sitting on set, as the pews in the church they were using were not very comfortable after an hour, and we were there much longer than that.  I was exhausted by the end of the day (about an hour's drive each way on top of a 13-hour day), so I didn't offer to work any of the calls later this week.  However, I did get myself booked for this Tuesday, so you can see that I didn't hate it.  We'll see what they have us doing that day.  I heard some good stories in Holding.  One VERY tall guy regaled us with stories of playing some sorta monster or Viking or something in some movie.  They rigged him up with a wig & beard and even built some sort of fur-lined cape that he had to wear for the fight scenes, which were filmed on a beach.  He said it was a week-long shoot, hard work - not just swinging whatever weapon he had, but wearing that cape, which he said got really heavy when it was wet - and that he loved it.  Another woman said that one gig she worked consisted of running a short distance, over & over & over again, along with a bunch of other people.

As I told some of my fellow extras, signing up for this has made me look at TV shows & movies with new eyes.  All those street scenes, scenes in clubs or restaurants or gyms or what-have-you, all need a LOT of people to make them look realistic.  Nobody particularly distinctive, just average janes & joes to "lend an air of verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative."  Just call me Vera Similitude. :)

First paid acting gig!

Friday was the taping for my first paid acting gig, and my first film work.  An organization affiliated with the university was taping mock interviews for a FEMA project.  I had two weeks to memorize about a 4-page script, then do the taping.  That was surprisingly quick - they only did 2 takes, so I was outta there in half an hour, including paperwork (signing a release, making sure my contact info was correct - that sorta thing).  I wasn't happy with my memorization - that first off-book rehearsal is never perfect! - but they were pleased and impressed, so I guess that's what matters.

I asked for a copy of "my" interview for reference purposes.  They have to add a disclaimer or something, since it isn't their project, but said I should get something from them in about 6 weeks, more or less.

Not sure I'm looking forward to watching myself talk into a camera for 10 mins., but it's one more bullet for my acting resume.