New show auditions

well, the audition information has been posted on-line. Auditions will be January 9th and 10th. Because of the nature of the show, I can cast multiple people in the show or very few people. That makes it nice, but also challenging. This show also lends itself to slapstick and improv so the auditions need to be more than cold readings.

Cold readings are auditions where the actors come in and read from the script only.

So this next week I'll be figuring out some improv games to use as well as marking a few readings.

Auditions are terrible for actors because they always wonder why they didn't get the part or if they do get the part they try to second guess the director as to why they were chosen for the role. We all know that two people can be equally talented, trained, experienced but what it really comes down to is does the person look the part. People can be too old, too fat, too short etc. They will not be cast.

Auditions are terrible for directors too. You hope that you've cast the best person in the part. You worry that what you saw during auditions isn't a true picture of what they can do. Maybe that was as good as they are. Maybe you got them confused with someone else and you thought they were the person you really liked. Thank God for digital cameras - I can see exactly who is who when I get done. In the past I used to write notes to help me remember. Casting a non-equity show - especially a community show, where you're a new director and don't know who's a diva, who's husband is sleeping with someone else in your cast, who's auditioning only to have a showmance makes casting a minefield. I worked on a show once where one of the leading actors was dating the ex-wife of another lead while chasing another woman in the cast. The ex-husband told the ex-wife - fireworks. I worked another show where one of the women had dated 3 of the men in the cast - tense.

Ahhh...auditions - love them, hate them. They are a rite of passage in theatre.

Book Review Sonora Sundown by Janet Dailey

These books were much more enjoyable when I was younger. This book's contrived plot line is highly unbelievable. I guess when I was 16, wearing rose colored glasses, a 20-year-old woman with a 34-year-old man was romantic. Now, I think it's slightly perverted.
20-year-old Brandy, gets lost in the desert and stumbles into the camp of a 34-year-old possible cattle rustler, who turns out to be a famous actor.
I have to remember these books were written in the late 70s. Strong, domineering men were the romantic ideal. But today I wonder, what would a 34-year-old man see in a 20-year-old naive, virgin. More so, what would she see in him? There are 12 years between myself and my husband. We were 44 and 56 when we were married. Our children were grown. He had grandchildren and I find that our ages are somewhat of a block. He grew up on Leave to Beaver and I was a Sesame Street kid.
The other thing that I didn't really like was the abrupt ending. They were not really seeing eye to eye, but she loves him - for no other reason than he saved her. He is annoyed with her jealousy, but he walks in at the end and tells her they are getting married in August. He kisses her and the book ends. Really? What about her parents? What about the wedding plans.
A side note, these books probably should be written in the order they were written because LaRaine who was a minor character in Dangerous Masquerade showed up in these book. If you didn't know the back story on LaRaine some of the comments wouldn't make sense.

A new show

Well, the pre-production meeting was held. I'm not sure I'm any more in the know than I was before, with the exception that I have a wonderful producer -Kyle.
I will be directing A Carol Burnett Show Tribute - dinner theatre production for a semi-local to me community theatre. The group has secured the rights to the script (sketches); I believe the show will go up the second and third weekends in March.
Today I finished up the rehearsal schedule - based on what information I have. Currently, I work on Wednesday evenings so that cuts rehearsals to three nights a week, but luckily for me - spring break is in the middle so I can have 2 Wednesday nights. I figured out the amount of hours - and I'll be able to put in a minimum of 89 hours - possibly a few more - but that puts us in awesome shape if the old adage holds true - 1 hour of rehearsal time for 1 minute of playing time. The show should run about 90 minutes.
This is a dinner theatre so we have to figure out the logistics of food, seating, and sight lines. It's a challenge, but this is something for me to look forward too. After my last show closed, I was terribly depressed. That was silly because I knew this show was coming up, but I spent so much time working on the last show, that I felt quite bereft after it closed.
Auditions will be January 9 and 10 in the evening. I will be having the actors do improv, games, movement and maybe some cold readings and maybe some singing.

Book Review: Motor Mouth by Janet Evanovich

Ok, so maybe the situations are a bit implausible, but I do adore Evanovich's style and crazy characters.
Barney (Alex) and NASCAR guy (Sam) are at it again. Barney is a spotter for Sam's team. They're not together because he was doing a sales clerk, but she's still working with him. Another spotter (Gobbles) gets in a tight spot and then, well, in typical Evanovich fashion - everything falls apart. Barney and Sam hijack a car hauler of a competitor, rescue Gobbles, chop up two cars, find something suspicious and possibly illegal and find a dead body which Sam's St. Bernard, Beans, takes a bite. In the process of dumping the truck, Beans gets left behind and the bad guys are on to Barney and Sam. Of course they end up in Miami and Rosa and Felicia make an appearance.
When a bad guy kidnaps a person, especially a foreign bad guy, I don't think they just threaten to chop off their fingers. I don't think henchmen get multilple chances to get it right, but to make the story more interesting - these guys do.
This book besides being funny has enough suspense to make me worry that something bad is going to happen and someone is going to die. I highly recommend the Alex Barnaby series.

the party costume

So I have to go to my husband's company party. BOR-ING. He says I said I'd go, but I don't remember saying yes. He sent in the reservations. He said he'd go without me and he would. So now I have to find an outfit. It's a costume let's face it.
I looked at what the women were wearing last year and for the most part they looked like the happy hookers. Super short skirts, super high heels and plunging necklines.
I'm thinking jeans and a sweater. I'm not sure if that's appropriate, but if I have to go to this obnoxious waste of money and time, I might as well be comfortable.
As for the rest of the costume - no jewelry and no makeup. No sense in looking good, my husband gets jealous if other men talk to me so I'll try to blend into the background.
I suppose I could always wear the same thing I wore last year.

Resolutions

Ahhh...it's that time of year again...time to think what I want to do in the upcoming year.
2012 - My oldest daughter will turn 24 and celebrate her 1st anniversary in July. Her husband will return home from his deployment in June. She will move to NC in May.
My younger daughter will turn 23, have her first baby and celebrate her 3rd anniversary.
My youngest will turn 21 and move somewhere with his father.
Me, I'll be 48 and celebrate my 4th anniversary if we make it that long. There are days when I wonder. Do I have any major goals - not really. Next year when I look ahead to the up coming year - I'll probably just be able to cut and paste and change the age. I'll continue to work part-time at the local junior college and substitute teach. I'll still owe a gazillion dollars in medical bills and twice that much in student loans. We'll still be living in this crappy trailer park because we can't get a loan to develop our property - that is if my husband ever gets his butt in gear and finds the guy who was suppose to give us an estimate for developing the property. The guy looked over the property and what we wanted to do back in August and we haven't heard from him since. I guess he doesn't really need the work or something. I don't know him or I'd hunt him down myself.
I'll probably lose a little weight and gain a little weight. I'll probably get a little grayer and a bit slower. And hopefully, I'll still be here next year.

book Review: Metro Girl by Janet Evanovich

Classic Evanovich! I guess part of why I love Evanovich books is because she writes in a formula style and I know what to expect. I have read all of the Stephanie Plum books and this one follows the same pattern. Girl gets sucked into a mystery/situation that she is unable to handle, but she tries by bumbling along. Then there is the hot guy who thinks about sex a lot. In this case it's Sam Hooker, a NASCAR driver who is also inept at solving the problem, but he's along for the ride so to speak. Plus there is a fat tough woman - in this book it's Rosa, a cuban immigrant. And then you have to have some odd-ball character - in this case it's Judey - the gay guy and his dog Brian. Much like her other books, Barney bumbles and stumbles along, gets in trouble, gets out, gets in a bind and the hot guy rescues her at the last minute and in the end, everyone gets together and hangs out.
It was a fun read. I enjoyed the fact that Hooker is kind of a wus and not all tough and macho. I chuckled through the book because Evanovich has a flair for over-stating the obvious in such a way that I find it funny. I highly recommend this book. It's more like some of the early Stephanie Plum books.

Holiday anger

Ok, so I'm angry - more than angry - I'm furious. Why? Because I have to go to some stupid holiday party. I dislike parties in general - they're loud and crowded and everyone is fake, but mandatory company parties are the worst. So I have to go to a company party where I don't even work. UGH!

I could not go, but then my husband would have to put up with the gossip about our marriage - people would be wondering if we are having problems. Plus, I'd spend the evening wondering which woman was hitting on him. A single man at a party with booze is fresh meat to a lot of women.

I could suck it up and go; I went last year, it was 7 hours that I'll never get back. Let me lay this out so you can see how awful it was. The party was scheduled from 5pm-1am at a local college. Hors de ouvres were to be served from 5-6. We got there shortly after 5 - we never did get any hors de ouvers. My husband said he didn't want any and I was trying not to look like a pig. So why we had to get there so early is beyond me. We found a table toward the back of the room. We were the only people at a table for 8. There was an unlimited open bar. I don't drink and my husband only drinks beer. He got up 3 times to go get a beer during the evening. Dinner was a buffet, but the roast beef was tough; and I don't like vegetables so that left salad. I assume there was dessert, but we didn't eat any. About 4 hours into the ordeal, I had to use the ladies' room. There were a bunch of factory rat women in there with so much makeup on they looked like hookers and most of them were wearing tight short skirts and super high heels and big hair. I thought big hair went out in the 80s.
Then the DJ began. He was loud and people were drunk. We don't dance so we sat and watched. I just wanted to go home, but noooooooooooo. We had to stay until 12:30. He didn't win any of the door prizes so it was pointless evening. During the entire episode, I think 3 people stopped by our table and said hi - all women.
Now, it's that time again. I'm fatter than ever and now he's a regular employee. The other day I stopped by his office and his boss asked me if I was looking forward to the party. I told her I wasn't going and she told me I had to go. I don't have to do anything. I told her I went last year and I was bored. So she told me that I could hang out with her and her friends. Like that's going to happen - not.
I can't imagine hanging out with someone I barely know. And furthermore, and I'm going to sound like a snob, I have nothing in common with these people. I'm a college professor and these people are factory workers. They play bingo and drink beer. I prepare lesson plans and read books. I've heard them complain about having to take classes and what a waste it is. Well, I think their parties are a waste too.
I went to one other company party with him - I was trapped at a table with another wife for 5 hours. (Yes, my husband likes to make these things an all evening ordeal) First, I was pleasant, asked her how she was doing etc., but as the evening progressed, she became drunker and drunker. By the time I was able to escape, she was crying and telling me things that were much more personal than I wanted to know. I heard her life story including all of her sexual exploits. I was mortified.
Do I have a choice, I suppose there is always a choice; I can stay home and make my husband angry. Actually, I don't think he would care if I stayed home. The question should be, am I comfortable staying home? And the answer is no. So I'm going to smuggle a book and a small flashlight in my purse. I know there is a quiet spot off the main dining room and I'll go read my book there. I'm not going to sit there for 7 hours again doing nothing.