A Life In A Day

Undergraduate Rep: Boomshakalaka

So judgement day came and went and everyone made it into the show.  We had three shows starting on Wednesday going through Friday.  It really did go great.  I was happy with how my show came out, it's exactly how I wanted it.  Everyone elses shows came out well too, each one matching the actors personality.  Marc's show was called the "BONERfyed truth"..you can basically guess what it was about.  Kayla's was a musical game board challenge, Shannons was about war, Tully's was about therapy and Lizzie's was about the earth.  All very different, I'm sure it was an experience for the audience.  I hope anyone who came enjoyed it, the actors definitely did.

Judgement Day

So the show is now officially less than a week away.  This Monday will be judgment day.  This means that all 6 of us will be showing our shows to Adam and Carrie for the first time, and they will be deciding if we make it in the show.  Soo let's cross our fingers!

Since I have been talking mostly about logistics and about the other shows I've been in, I'm going to go into detail about some of the technical things I'm going to have in my show.

My set is going to be a physical timeline.  The lights I will be using will be set onto 4 parts horizontally across the stage.  The first part is the young girl where I will be singing, "I Know It's Today" from the musical, "Shrek" and then doing a monologue from "Catholic School Girls".  I will have a pack of diapers at the end of the stage, a rocking horse, and a child's book of poems that I use when singing the song.  Then I go on to the teenage part.  I will be doing a monologue from, "Fat Men in Skirts" and my set will be a side table with pom poms, a graduation cap and a trophy.  For the adult part, I am doing a monologue from, "The Altruists" and my set is a table with a martini glass on it and a terra cotta pot.  Following the adult scene, the lights will go out and then 30 seconds of, "Thank God I'm Old" from "PT Barnum" will go on while I put on my costume for the old lady.  I believe I will be wearing a track suit and hat :)  For that set, I have a rocking chair and a pack of depends.  And I will be performing a George Carlin piece on getting old.

So as you can see, the baby set and old lady set are juxtaposed to be similar. (Rocking horse, rocking chair, diapers and depends)

We'll see how it goes on Monday, as for now I am learning my pieces so I won't disappoint anyone on Monday!  Wish me luck!

Celebration of The Arts

On Wednesday, April 20th, the drama program put on their first show on the main stage.  It went so great!  We started off the night by serving food out in the lobby in our costumes for the huge audience that came out to see the show.  We opened the show with, "Be Italian" from the musical, "Nine".  Following, there were so many different kinds of songs including awesome singing, and really fun dances.  There was hip hop, bollywood, contemporary, broadway, ballroom and a lot more.  What we want to come out of this show is to do a musical next year..so we're crossing our fingers!

End of show!

Over the past few weeks I've been having trouble thinking about what to do for the old person part of my show.  I had a monologue that I thought about using, but I didn't think it fit well in my show.  So as I was researching and trying to think up pieces to do, my boyfriend mentioned the George Carlin bit on getting old.  I immediately looked it up and loved it! I have to change the stuff about men to being a women.  But otherwise the piece is perfect and hilarious, a great ending to my show.  So here is the link to him performing the piece.  Let me know what you think!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDUxq1JtOhI

Preparation for Celebration of the Arts

So on this weeks agenda, we are rehearsing for our show next week.  Celebration of the Arts.  It's a big one.  Our first show in the big theatre, gotta fill 750 seats...yup.  Sooo anyone who is reading this, definitely come out to see this show next Wednesday, April 20th.  It really is going to be great.  There are so many different kinds of dances, songs, and combinations of both.  I am in a bollywood song (love this dance so much!!!), a song called "Be Italian" I think it's from the musical, "Nine", "You Can't Stop the Beat" from "Hairspray", "Don't Tell Mama" from "Cabaret", and then a jazz number to a Lady Gaga song.  So we have our work cut out for us for sure, but it's going to be great!  We'll be having a production meeting on Friday for undergrad rep about logistics of everything we want accomplished.

The Vagina Monologues

So this week I was involved with the schools production of The Vagina Monologues.  I performed the monologue, "Because He Liked To Look At It".  Yeah, pretty interesting..I guess you had to be there.  Even though most men would not enjoy the idea of listening to women talk about their vaginas for an hour and a half, you might be surprised.  A lot of the pieces are actually pretty funny and the show itself is a really great cause.  Every year Eve Ensler (the playwright) writes a new monologue, which we call the "spotlight" monologue because she writes it according to the cause that we focus on every year.  Last year it was sex slavery in the congo, this year the monologue was about a female activist that was helping over in Haiti and died in the Earthquake.  There was also a group piece that involved the whole cast which was about the sex slavery that happened in Japan and how the women that were abused so many years ago have asked for an official apology from the Japanese government, but that has not yet been granted.  So despite the show being a ton of fun to be involved in (screaming about your vagina is oddly invigorating), it really is an amazing cause to support.  And hey, what can be better then helping a charity AND getting entertained at the same time?

This one is a picture from last years show!

First Production Meeting

This week we had our first production meeting for the undergrad rep.  We found out there are 6 performers all together, three seniors and three undergrads.  The seniors get 15 minutes each and the undergrads get 10 minutes each.  We discussed production meeting schedules, our final evaluations, and production crew.  We  found our official stage and house manager for the production.  Our next meeting will be a creative discussion about what we want in each of our plays and how our plays will be connected together.  We were told that all our plays have to connect into a major theme. So far we have been talking about the theme of time.  Some of our plays have that in common, a lot of them play with the idea of time progression.  More to come next week once we have the next production meeting.

The Directing Showcase Pictures

The Directing Showcase

The show went great! The audience seemed to enjoy every show, even though we depressed the crap out of them.  I think all the directors were proud of their work, the set looked great, and most importantly we made the bosses happy! =D Vagina Monologues next week!

All Girl Band

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=199575796740331

Here is a performance from our Musical Revue show called, "All Girl Band".  Let me know what you think and enjoy!

My Birthday Week! =D

So the past Wednesday was my 20th birthday, and I got the privilege to perform in the musical revue on that day.  I did a bunch of group numbers, a duet, and a really awesome solo called, "Party Dress".  It's pretty much about a 6 year old singing about her party dress.  Soo on my 20th birthday I got to play a 6 year old!

March Madness..well April too

So I really haven't had time to add much new stuff as far as videos go on my blog.  This is because of all the shows I am involved with right now.  I'm currently in 5 shows all happening close together as well has keeping up with my school work and RA work.  So for todays post I'm just going to tell you a little about all the shows I'm in.

Musical Knight- Kayla Golladay and I are directing this one together and are also performing in it.  It is a musical revue which we have had 2 weeks to prepare for.  We have been cramming to learn all these songs and make it a great show because we are so excited to finally be singing and we want to prove to our school that we are good enough to put on a musical.  And just to add, this show will be performed next week, Wednesday, March 23rd (my birthday!!)

Director's Showcase- We have a class here at Lynn called "Directing the Actor".  Each person in this class had to pick out a ten minute dramatic scene to direct.  I'm in a play called "Playtime" directed by Natalia Marquez.  It's about a mother who is abused by her alcoholic boyfriend and her daughter who is a runaway living on the streets as a result of the abuse.  It's VERY intense.  And the best part about being in this show is that my very own mother is playing my mom.  This is the first time I have ever performed with my mother, and saying I'm excited is a serious understatement.  =) The picture is of my mom as Fruma Sarah from Fiddler on the Roof.  (You can imagine how scary it was when my mom would get mad at me growing up ;) )

Vagina Monologues- This is my second year being involved in this project.  It is such a blast being a part of this show and what a great cause! This year I will be doing the monologue, "Because He Liked To Look At It".  You get the idea just by the title...

Dance Knight- Our second dance show of the year! Directed and Choreographed by Bianca Barioli.  We have so much talent in this show and we finally get to perform on the main stage in the performing arts center!

Undergraduate Reparatory- And of course my one woman show!

It's hard to keep it all straight, but I really can't complain cause I'm doing what I love.

I'm Baaaaaaack

Ok so It's been a while since my last post.  Just had a week off for spring break.  I went to Key West and Orlando, lots of fun but now its time to get back to work =/

I have my official piece for the the teenage portion of my show.  I'll be doing the popo martin monologue from Fat Men in Skirts written by Nicky Silver (who also wrote the monologue I'm doing from The Altruists).  It will most likely be the only dramatic piece in my show...It actually isn't really dramatic till the end.  She is a peppy little cheerleader talking about school and she mentions how she is now a schizophrenic.  She is smiling and bubbly until she gets to the part where she talks about how she tried to kill herself and she was tired of smiling and always being happy.  You'll see more when I get the chance to record it.  So now just to update, my show will include the following:
I know it's Today-Shrek
Catholic School Girls
Fat Men in Skirts
The Altruists
And then possibly an old person monologue from The Odd Couple Female Version written by Neil Simon.  Unless someone has any suggestions for an old person monologue? Preferably comedic.  I also want another song somewhere in there.  Maybe as an adult or as an old lady.  Always open for suggestions.  Hopefully I will have a video up soon when I get the chance to catch my breath!

The One Eyed Guru

This monologue is from One Eyed Guru.  Let me know what you think!

Updates

Hi everybody!  So I have some great new ideas (thanks to your help) for my show.  I have a popo martin monologue that I think I can use for my teenage section.  I'm also going to look at some pieces from PT Barnum, specifically, "Thank God I'm Old".  The show is supposed to have a lot of fun characters to play.

Tomorrow I will upload a video of the dramatic monologue I've been working on in acting class.  It's from "The One-Eyed Guru".  The play is only a 25 minute one act, but I like the monologue.  It's about this woman's cheating husband.

This picture is one of my headshots...one of many that I can't pick from.  Just thought I'd put it up to add some color to this page!

Video Updates

Alrighty so I'm going to meet with Ms. Kayla super guitar star soon so she can help me film my next piece.  I'm either going to film the song "I know It's Today" from Shrek or The monologue from "Catholic School Girls".  Any requests?? I'm also working on a dramatic monologue for my acting class from the one act One-Eyed Guru written by Andrew Biss.  I may film that one as well just to get some advice as an audition piece, or if you guys like it enough I could actually put it in my show.  The monologue is about a wife who found another woman's scarf underneath her marital bed.  She knew her husband was cheating, but finally worked up the nerve to confront him about it.  I probably won't use this for the show, but hey, creating this show is meant to strengthen and showcase my abilities, so some extra advice on some additional pieces is always helpful.

Oh and I decided to put this picture up because I haven't put up a picture in a while and most importantly because it is my great grandparents on broadway in the 30s, Doug Leavitt and Ruth Lockwood.  They are such a great inspiration to me and I think it's an adorable picture.  Thanks for the great genes! 

Any advice?

Ok so I have a lot of pieces that I think will start bringing the show together.  If you don't already know, my show is going to include me as a young girl, a teenager, a woman and an old woman.  The part I'm having trouble with is finding a good teenage piece.  I'm looking for something funny preferably, or a psychotic teenager would be fun to play too.  But I'm not really sure we to look to find something like that. Any advice?

My first deadline

I need to start setting some sort of timeline for myself so I can stay on track.  I'd like to have the "young" portion of my show finished by the time we come back from spring break which is March 14th.  Hopefully I'll have more than that by then...but we'll see.  I have a few ideas for my young self.  I think I may start off with the first part of the song, "I know it's Today" from the musical Shrek.  The little girl is counting the days until her prince comes to rescue her from her castle.  The song continues with the teenage version of Fiona to the grown Fiona, but I'll only sing the first part.  I sang this part my senior year at states, we loved performing it and even got critic's choice for best small group musical!  It's cute, very young, and I think it will make a good opening to the show.  I also have a monologue from the play "Catholic School Girls" written by Casey Kurtti.  The monologue is set in a church with Elizabeth, a young girl describing what you're supposed to do in church.  She describes things so innocently and determined.  She says things like "Whenever you hear the name 'Jesus' you have to bow your head or else you have a sin on your soul."  It's really funny and I've always wanted to do this monologue but have been too young to do it...so here's my chance!

And the votes are in...

So you guys voted, and the character you wanted to see was Mid-Life Crisis! So here is The Altruists By Nicky Silver...Comment and let me know what you think, if you have any suggestions please let me know!

A Life in a Day

So I have found the theme for my show!  It came quicker than I thought it would (that's what she said).  Anyways, I've always known that my niche in acting has been character acting, so I wanted to incorporate that somehow in my show.  So I've decided to go from birth to death.  From dipers to depends and everything in between.  I'll start as a little girl and end as an old lady using song, dance and fun monologues! I'll use dialects, wacky characters and maybe even some drama to mix it up a bit.  Oh, and that's not it! I have also found the title for my show.  Instead of, "A day in the life," I'm going to call it, "A Life in a Day".  I'm really excited to start putting this together and I already have a few ideas in mind.  By the next post I'll have some sort of schedule put together for deadlines and then I can start putting videos up of my pieces.  And speaking of characters, I put up this picture of me from back in the day when I played Ms. Darbus in High School Musical.  Horrible show, but that part was a blast!

Last Woman Standing

Welcome to my very first post! I created this blog to share my experience as I create my own one woman show.  At the end of April I will be performing a 20 minute show,  so over the next 12 weeks I will be talking about everything I am planning and posting videos of what I have along the way.  My show will consist of monologues, dance and song.  And my blog will include everything I'm researching, what themes I am thinking about, what songs I'm choosing, how I want my show to physically look and everything else that could possibly go into creating a show.  At the end of these 12 weeks, my class will come see my performance and I will have a great collaberation of pieces that I can use in the future for auditions.  It should be an interesting semester and I'm really excited to prepare for my show!