(It's) Hairspray!

Good evening! I've been on a bit of a hiatus from the blogosphere lately because things have been extremely busy here in Burly World. This past weekend was the wonderfully amazing run of Lyric Theatre's Hairspray which I was so lucky to be a part of. I was extremely excited to finally be performing the show after months of rehearsals, and especially to be performing on the Flynn Theatre stage in downtown Btown, but now that show is over I'm really missing the cast and those same people I've seen everyday for the past four months. Like I said, though, we had an amazing run. Our audiences were fantastic and the show was awesome.

Here's a little story from opening night:

I had two major quick costume changes in the show. They were super fast so I had a dresser backstage to help me. She helped me get my pants on while changing my shoes, and this time I was especially nervous because it was opening night. Major pressure. I get the pants on and I'm just zipping up the fly as my dresser pulls out my hot pink neckerchief. I lift my head just as she pulls it from her pocket and BAM! her fist meets my eye. My dresser has successfully punched me in the eye.

I start swearing profusely (in my head of course just in case my microphone was on), and I clutched my eye.

"I'm so sorry!" my dresser pleads. Bless her heart. She didn't mean to.


"It's okay..." I say as the music for the song starts. I have to come on extremely soon.


And this is how I know I'm a true theatre kid. The first thing I thought of when I got punched was not "OH MY GOD MY EYE COULD BE SERIOUSLY INJURED!" but rather it was:


"OH MY GOD MY EYE IS WATERING! MY MAKEUP IS GOING TO RUN!"


I rushed to one of my cast mates and asked her if my makeup was running. Thankfully it wasn't, and the rest of the show went off without a hitch.

I decided that my momma name in the show was Shirley. She had a pretty well developed character even though she was only on stage for about two minutes.

Opening night concluded with an awesome opening night party with tons of food and drink and wonderful company. The weekend ended with strike which we all helped out with, and while it was long it eventually got to the point where I was dancing with a mop to "Time of My Life" from Dirty Dancing on the bare Flynn stage. Pretty successful.

Thanks to everyone who came out to see Hairspray! You made our show a tremendous success!

Peace out!

Hair. Hair. Crazy Hair.

Here are some spectacular updates or what's going on in my life:

1. I'M PRETTY STRESSED OUT but so isn't everybody around this time of the semester so I'll just skip over that one.

2. It's off! This happened awhile ago during Spring Break but I haven't gotten a chance to blog about it but all the hair I grew for Twelfth Night got cut off! Finally! I feel (and personally I think I look) much better.

Before

After

3. I got a new job! Yes folks, I got a new job for this upcoming summer. I am one of eight new Conference Assistants working at Conference and Event Services here at UVM. I get free housing during the summer and get to stay and work right here in Burlington! It's kind of like a dream come true. I'm so excited and the job is something that I'm really going to love doing, which is important. Megan is also going to be staying in Burlington during the summer working full time at Career Services at Champlain so you know there are going to be awesome adventures happening this summer. Stay tuned.

4. St. Patrick's Day and the UVM campus is normal. Everyone is going about their day, although everyone is looking a tad greener than usual. Then, on the steps of Royall Tyler Theatre, a figure emerges holding bagpipes with a group around him. It is Orion Lay-Sleeper, star of Twelfth Night, and yes...he stands on the front steps of the theatre and busts out some pipes.

It was awesome. (just sayin')

Okay, that is all for now.

Peace out!

Eden, Kate, and Jill Went Up A Hill

The tumultuous snowstorm that we had yesterday here in Burlington was a symbol---no, it was a metaphor---of the crazy, most intense day from Hell I had yesterday. It started with English class which went well despite almost falling asleep because it's at 8:30 in the morning and totally boring. Then at breakfast, my mom called me from Florida where my parents have been living the life going to Disney World, seeing my aunt and uncle, going to shows, and now going to see my grandparents. Completely jealous. Although I shouldn't really talk seeing how Megan and I already had our epic Florida adventure. Then I went to turn in this application for a job opportunity I'm pursuing here in Burlington for the summer. I'm not talking about it too much because I don't want to build too much hype just in case it doesn't work out. But if I do a fantastic interview, then there might be a beautiful chance. So anyway, this snowstorm was crazy. It was like a hurricane with snow, so much snow that you almost couldn't even open your eyes when you walked outside. I'm braving the crazy elements getting blown around and looking like a crazed snow beast when I finally find the building where I have to turn in the application. I'm trying to shake the snow off, but it's not really amounting to much so I just take the application out and walk into the office. A guy comes out of the office that totally looks like a college student. I thought maybe he was work study but then he introduced himself as the guy who I've been talking to this whole time about the job. It threw me way off. Not what I was expecting.

Then I went to work for more crazy times because these patrons can be CRAZY. Plus, I was trying to coordinate Chase, Lissy, and Avery to come to the show tonight and Lissy had to exchange her tickets, adding to the mass. And the snow made a ton of people come in late, but overall it worked out fine. After work I was rushing to fix my time card and put my hours in because I had to go to Redstone Campus for Catamount Singers, about twenty minutes away. I book it over there and walk into the classroom which was dark and noone was there, which was odd. I took my coat off, turned the lights on, and stood there. Then I remembered: Cat Singers was rehearsing in Ira Allen Chapel on Central Campus today because we're singing at an event. RUN! I sprinted through crazy snow, slush, and people to make it to Ira Allen Chapel on time. I actually made it seconds before we started rehearsing.......Thank you God.....

This was the event we sang for that same afternoon. Megan came to hear us sing, and the place was PACKED. The man, Cornel West, was really cool. He's my new homeboy. I liked what he had to say, but the whole time I was freaking out because he went WAY over time and my call for Twelfth Night was at 6. Another RUN moment happened after this show. It was amazing that I made it on time to everything yesterday.

This whole week has been sort of crazy, but totally fun. Eden came and stayed at The Q with Megan and I this past weekend. I missed her so much! She came to the show and we watched horror movies until late into the night and had an epic slumber party. Just like high school times. Very fun. That girl just brings sunshine wherever she goes. After she left, Megan and I just felt so sad because she wasn't with us anymore. But I am so proud of her because she is doing so well and creating a beautiful life for herself. Love you darling!

Jill and Kate, my beautiful friends from Lyndon, came to Btown Tuesday afternoon to stay with me until Friday. Kate is probably going to be coming to UVM next year (a fact I am very excited about) so they came to check out Burlington and UVM. Unfortunately, UVM parking hated Jill's car and the size of my closet room made sleeping arrangements a little difficult but somehow we figured it out. They came to show along with Joe and Kat, which made for an excellent night. I was so happy they were there staying with me. We all cried when they had to leave, and I miss them.

Now it's closing weekend for Twelfth Night, and things on that front are winding down. It has been an awesome run, and I'm sad for it to be over but I'm also ready to experience this semester without Twelfth Night as well. The added time to my schedule is going to be amazing. Maybe I can actually take my time with homework.

Closing weekend.

Peace out!

My Birthday

In case any of you didn't know, and I honestly can't find anyway you wouldn't know I mean, jeez...it was my 19th birthday this past weekend, and it was a pretty amazing birthday weekend at that. My birthday this year really revealed the love that exists in my life and really just how beautiful life can be. It all started last week when Megan came and spent a couple nights with me at Converse which hasn't happened in a long time. Of course, this happened while Twelfth Night was finishing its last rehearsals before tech so it got a little crazy so by Friday night, I was pooped and I got even more pooped after a long rehearsal that night. But it was a good kind of pooped, obviously.

Cast, crew, and orchestra photo!

Saturday made up for all the poopedness. After sleeping in which was wonderful, and much needed, Megan and I took the bus to Williston to go watch No Strings Attached which was actually a really good movie.

It's really weird because Natalie Portman is in like a million movies recently. It's like her agent was on crack when they scheduled her for all of these movies...

Anyway, back on topic: so we had a really good time watching the movie when we decided we were so hungry we could eat like a baby dinosaur so we went to Chili's for lunch! It was soooooooooooo good! Perfect birthday meal seriously. So then after going to Toy's R Us (see post It's the Little Things) and after going to PetSmart to look at puppies, kittens, birds, and fish, we walked through a snow tornado, took the bus, and went back to the Q to do homework.

As if that wasn't enough, the next day was tech day for Twelfth Night so that means a 9-9 day. I got to the theater a little earlier than everyone else so I was just chilling in the green room when all of a sudden everyone comes in and starts singing Happy Birthday to me. It was kind of amazing. Then at our lunch break, I'm just sitting there eating pizza when all of a sudden my friend Kendra brings over this cake and announces my birthday. I freak out 1) because I love being surprised with cakes and 2) the cake was in the shape of Doctor Who's TARDIS. If you don't know what that is, that's okay. A lot of people don't, but it made my day.

Then everyone said happy birthday to me and we finished the tech. It was such a fantastic day. How I described it at the time was that I was overwhelmed with love. I think that's the perfect way to describe this birthday. Thank you to everyone for making it so special and thanks to Megan for my amazing birthday presents and a beautiful day. I love you!

And now, tonight is the night! Opening night! Hope you all come out to see the show! Here's my hair:

Opening Night

Peace out!

Things Are Getting Hairy!

Taken on Sunday, one week and four days from opening night:

So, yeah. My hair's getting pretty long.

I hope everyone survived the crazy thundersnow we had last night. It was crazy! Whooda thunk that there could actually be thunder and lightning during the winter? It was like end of the world weather...and it's only 2011! Jeez, at least wait until the scheduled time world! Anyway, I had a pretty fantastic weekend. After a very LONG rehearsal, my parents came over to go out for my birthday (which really isn't until next Sunday, but that's tech day for Twelfth Night, and why not celebrate all month? I'm worth it!) They brought me the iTouch my grandparents got for me for my birthday. I love that thing! I can do everything with it. I'm starting to wonder how I survived without the iTouch. The only left to do to christen it is to give it a name...

After the thundersnow, UVM campus turned into an artic wonderland with snowbanks in the paths that you have to climb over, giant icicles, and ice everywhere.

It was absolutely beautiful, and Megan and I decided to enjoy it. Basically this entailed randomly jumping into snowbanks, and "Bracing for Impact." Inside joke...sorry...

Of course, Sunday was Superbowl day, but it was also the day of the re-premiere of Glee! So, Megan and I decided to throw a not-so-Superbowl party that was basically us waiting for the Superbowl to be over so we could watch Glee. We decided to go all out and make a fantastic dinner: Tacos!

We even made our own salsa with tomatoes which we chopped and pureed with peppers and garlic. It was really good even though it was missing something. That's okay, we'll work on it.

The meat smelled SO GOOD!

Look at that! How could you not pass that up?

That was my weekend. How was yours? What did you do for the Superbowl? Hope you all have some fun in the snow!

A giant sat down here...

Peace out!

Hair Update

I've been told that for my role in Twelfth Night, I must continue to grow my hair for the show. I haven't cut my hair since around Thanksgiving. For those of you who don't know, when my hair grows long, it gets big and CRAZY...so I decided to keep you updated on the status of my wild and cooky hair. Enjoy.
2 weeks and 6 days until opening night:

Peace out!