Day at the Zoo

This morning, Rob and I had the pleasure of spending some time with Jake, Jeremy and girl Erin (or, Gerin, if you will) at Niabi Zoo. What was supposed to be a yucky day of rain turned out to be the perfect day to hit the zoo with some pals, and it was a blast.

It had been a few years since Rob and I had been, and Niabi had done some radical changes and renovations. It's really looking quite nice these days, with many new exhibitions to see and take part in. The coolest was the Austrialian Walkabout, where you walked freely with both Emu and Wallaby, then onto Lorikeet Landing. After paying a dollar, you can come into the enclosure with many of the Austrialian Lorikeet birds, offering yummy nectar for them to come and enjoy. When I first walked in, four birds landed on my arm at once! It was pretty cool.

We saw lions, tigers, and bears (oh my! come on, I had to) as well as giraffe, monkeys, reptiles, elephants, elk, bald eagles. You name it, we saw it today. Here are some fun shots I took. Enjoy!


Can't remember what this monkey is called, but it had a cute baby with it.



The Beastmaster with his lorikeet. You gonna eat that poor bird, Jake??



Jake, Jeremy, Rob, and my arm, all with the Austrialian Lorikeets



Jake made up a cute song about this guy. Ask him to sing it for you.



Three of the four giraffe at Niabi



Cool shot of the token Niabi lion

Week in Review/Saying my Goodbyes

Last night, we celebrated in style, both our closing night and Bryan's 27th birthday. My bestest friend Chuck was in from the Nati, and we had a nice visit. Our closing weekend for Elegies was pretty great, as last night we sold out. We were pretty happy to have such wonderful crowds and happy audiences. Everyone (well, most everyone) loved the show and were happy to our organization. We were pretty happy with our take, and we even made a nice profit!! Woot! Now... on to Kimberly...

I am exhausted after a late night, a busy day of strike, but actually, a busy 7 weeks of crazy life. Now that Elegies is over, I will focus on just directing and producing Kimberly, which will be more my style. Am looking forward to August when Rob and I will have the entire month off to do nothing but relax, visit with fam and friends, and make that baby.

Here are some pics from last nights festivities!!



Pat, Martie (Pat's wife) and Esther



Chuck, me and Rob



Chuck, D and Bryan



Denise, me and Chuck



D and Chuck



Dana and Jackie



D, Bryan and me

She's Ohio's Mazarati

When Rob and I moved to Nati in 2002, I spent many nights singing this song from the tv production of 1987's Babes in Toyland. Rob still doesn't believe this song exists. I have proof now.

Enjoy the young Drew Barrymore and Keanu Reeves.

Week in Review

Last night, I was very drunk.

Cait, the AD for Prenzie, asked me point blank as I'm drinking out of a bottle of champagne, "You must not be knocked up yet then, eh?"

Indeed, my dear Cait, I am not knocked up yet.

But last night, I celebrated in style, with the best friends a girl in the theatre community could have, to end what was, one of the most terrifying, heartbreaking, thrilling weeks of my life.

I took the week off of work to focus on last minute details for the show, the company, etc.. After our Wednesday night dress, Rob and I came home to a phone call that my grandpa (mom's dad) had just passed away at 10:35pm.

Now, I've lost grandparents. Both my dad's parents passed 6 and 8 years ago, respectively. The death of my grandmother in 2000 was a heartbreaking loss that I'm not sure I will ever get over. She and I had a close relationship. But for some reason, I took this death of my mother's dad especially hard. Not that I was terribly close to him, but because I hated to see my mother lose a parent. My mom is truly not only my mom, but a close friend. I don't even want to think about what it will be like to lose any of my parents (I have two step-parents, but I never think of them that way). So to witness my mother in such pain incapacitated me for much of my Thursday.

I couldn't help but find it fitting that Grandpa would pass away during tech week of a production entitled Elegies, which each and every song deals with loss and death.

But I made up my mind that the show must go on. Once I spoke to my mother Thursday afternoon, and heard not just grief, but acceptance, I knew she would give her blessing for us to continue on.

Friday, I spent most of the day fine-tuning the details of our opening night. Little did I know that my day was only to get better.

We had a small showing last night of 30 people, but the folks that came LOVED it. So did Ruby Nancy, one of the local theatre critics, who pulled me aside after the show and said "This was great. I'm so glad you all started a theatre organization in the QC". However, this comment was just an addition to the embarassment of riches that put me on cloud 9 yesterday.

RTC will receive a $10,000 start-up grant from the Riverboat Development Authority.

I couldn't believe my ears when Chris Jansen told me, just 5 minutes before curtain last night. When Rob and I wrote that grant in February, I thought it was to be a fart in the wind, never thinking we'd actually get it. But here we are, with 10K in our back pockets. I don't even know how much money that is. It seems that RTC will be around for more than just a season or two!

So last night, we celebrated in style, heading over to D's for an excellent party. I made a toast to everyone in the room, to "young theatre in the Quad Cities", after making our big announcement. What better way to head into your first foray of theatre?

Someone said to me last night "Get ready for greatness, Al". Could they have been right?

Longing

My life has been filled with adventures I had never thought I would get the chance to do. I moved away from home. Far away. I lived my life for five years within the confines of an entirely new existence. I made my home within the beautiful historic neighborhoods in Cincinnati, and the sleepy ocean town of Eureka, CA. I came home just 10 months ago to find myself in a world exciting, new, the same. I befriended some wonderful people who I couldn't imagine my life without now.

Yet no matter the life experience I've chucked away since 2002, why is it that one little thing can turn my world on its axis? Without giving away too much, all I'll say is that you expect your life to be one way, because it's always been like that. But one thing can happen to turn your wildest dreams into reality. I'm not talking about the theatre company. I've experienced what can happen when you work hard and put your mind to it. I'm talking about people. Or person, rather. You expect Person to treat you one way because it's been that way since forever. And then something happens. Person changes. Person begins to treat you in a way that you had always hoped they would. How do you respond?

Because it isn't real. Not really. I've had enough therapy to understand that. The A-ha! moment is only an A-ha! to you. Person has no idea what you've been through and how your life is different because of them. Do they? I mean, unless you tell them, of course.

It's late. I'm tired. I'm rambling. Bleh.

Betch.

Omigod, betch. You can get your own and show your love for Kelly here.

Week in Review

Well, it was an interesting week, to say the very least. Lots of articles came out in various papers (with lots of various rumblings along the way), but all in all, some good publicity!

Elegies opens in just 5 days. Holy. F*#king. Shit. I can't believe it's so close. We are primed and ready. I think. We are in that "we open next week, and are we pulled together enough to do it?" phase. We have two dress runs, then the press preview. Yikes! We are excited. I am nervous as can be. But I took the week off to focus on last minute details (plus a few spa treatments thrown in- I need an eyebrow wax desperately). Hope you all can come out to see it!

This weekend was the performance of my one-act play entitled The Third Date. It was such a blast, and Jess and Jake nailed both performances. Both are such talented, natural actors with great comedic timing that they pulled it off without a hitch. I was so lucky to have them for my baby's first run! Plus, the crowds really responded to the short play about a young couple in the beginning stages of fluttery romance. I got a lot of "Ally, that was so awesome! Have you written anything else?", which was nice to hear. Once the summer season is over, I plan on doing some more writing, and submitting this one to Playscripts, Dramatists, and Sam. French to see if they'll publish. Who knows!! Afterward, we spent some time hanging out and celebrating at the Blue Cat.


Jess, me and Jake

This weekend is also opening for Prenzie's Life's a Dream, which we are looking very forward to seeing next weekend (when we can squeeze it in!!). The Prenzie's showed up at B. Cat after their own show, and we proceeded to drink and be merry.

D, Dana and Jackie


I am looking forward to a week of last minute details and spa treatments before we open. Wish us broken legs. Please.

Come see Elegies, open May 16!!!

Here is a clip from Joe Papp from Elegies.

Printemps

This is something I missed during my years away from the Quad. Spring.

While I dislike Spring due to the horrible allergies I get (and am going through at present), it sure it beautiful. Sure, Spring happened in Cincinnati, but due to the climate being a bit warmer, or the different river valley or something, Spring always happened so FAST there. It was buds on the trees, then Summer. Here, Spring happens over a period of a few weeks, emerging ever so slowly. It's just gorgeous. Last year, we didn't get a Spring being in California. Everything was moldy or wet or rainy or green. There weren't any colors. Depressing.

It's gorgeous today, and supposed to get up to 81 degrees. Yikes. Now if I can just find a pair of shorts that fit...

Which brings me to the workouts.

I have to admit, I put on a nice layer of winter fat this year. Ah well. Rob and I were so busy, we neglected to take care of ourselves, which meant eating poorly and not getting enough exercise. However, the past few weeks I've really been at it- pilates in the morning, then the cardio at the gym. Plus eating healthy. I can start to see the prize at the finish line. Size 8's again. Dammit Whitey's!
We also went to Bike and Hike this weekend and spent a hefty amount for a new bike for Rob. He's in love. He's commuting to work now, which will hopefully help him take off his winter weight, too. Once summer hits, I'll be taking a pilates class at the Y, along with finally being able to work out EVERY day, not just 4 days a week. Rob plans to ride his bike to work every day (yes, he'll still be going in to Augie during the summer, but only a few hours a day), then home for a run. He said when he lived in Houston, he rode his bike to school/work every day, then came home for a six mile run. I've seen the pictures. The boy was SKINNY. Am looking forward to that.

A hah!

I finally hit the nail on the head this afternoon. I have been wondering why I have been so worried about this show opening, and subsequent articles coming out about it.

It's because I'm performing in my own first show.

It's strange, because this kind of thing happens all the time in other cities. It happened quite often in Cincinnati, frankly. Many shows I worked on with New Stage, the director would often put himself in shows if he felt no one else was right for the part.

Our auditions in mid-March were... sparse, for lack of a better word. I would have loved to find a young, high mixy/belter that could handle songs like Passover and Anytime. However, I was lucky to cast the roles that I did. Bryan had already signed on a few months before. Had Dana and Jackie not shown up, quite frankly, I would have been screwed. Let's not even mention Pat, who showed up on the last day of auditions and totally wowed us with his gorgeous baritone voice. But if he hadn't come in? I don't know what we would have done. I had two other women sing for me. That was it. Both were low altos, and probably not capable to handle the high stuff with ease. So I made the game-time decision to just do it. We made it by the skin of our teeth. What would we had done if we decided to do a huge show with a big ensemble? We would've been toast. I almost had to call off Bees, because I was short two men. I had many talented women show up for auditions, enough to cast Kimberly and Bees both, and had to turn some women down. Thank the FSM that Aaron and Dustin were so awesome, I put them in Kim, too. But for Bees? I actually had to solicit people at a Prenzie party to see if they would be in my play. Lucky me, they agreed.

My beef is that folks will see me as some sort of self-casting freak who thinks her shit doesn't stink, when honestly, it couldn't be more far from the truth.

Is this what it is going to be like in the future, too? While I enjoy performing, I'd so much rather be behind the scenes and create rather than be on the stage. I hear from my friends at Prenzie, Green Room, and My Verona that it's like pulling teeth to get people to audition. Lucky for them, they end up getting top notch actors for their shows, but then they run the risk of crticism for casting the same folks in every production. What else are they to do?? It's just a double-edged sword. You can't win either way.

I truly hope that, in the future, I'll have to beat auditionees off with a stick!

Week in Review

I know. I can't believe I didn't post this week. Not once. But I will say that producing, performing in and vocal directing Elegies has been absolutely crazy. Yesterday was our first run through, and we rocked it. Of course there were a few minor little hiccups, but overall, I think the entire cast felt great about it. It runs about 75 minutes with no intermission, which is a good amount of time. People can usually sit for that long. Let's hope we're right.

Quite honestly, there isn't much else to report about the week's going-ons. My life right now consists of Elegies and rehearsing for my One Act, which you can see at The Green Room next weekend.

I had my interview with Mike Schultz this past week, as well as David Burke. I always wonder if I come off like a total dope. I hope I say the right things, or say them in the right way at least. I tend to overthink much of what I say to them as the days pass, but both men are great people as well as talented writers, and I know they will say good things about our organization.