It's a wild wild life

So much has happened in the past month. I keep wanting to sit down (or lay down, as I'm doing now) and write about things but...honestly...things usually happen so slowly that it's difficult to write about with any kind of end. It would have been a series of starts and middles but no ends. And that is annoying. I've had jobs like that and I haven't liked the fact that there were never any "ends". Why put you (whoever YOU are) through that.

But it's time to chronicle. It's been a month, after all, and things have happened. So let's see what I can catch up on...

I think I noticed that the last time I wrote was December 20th. That was the final performance of "Six Degrees" and the closing night party, which was fun. The show ended up, I guess, being good. As I think I said, it was a tough thing for me to gauge since I was in the backstage area doing crosswords and talking with other cast members the entire time. But I got through it. Not much else to report there.

Then Christmas. I opted not to go anywhere for the holiday and just kind of hang here for a while. So I did that. The next day I was off to the South Shore commuter train to South Bend, Indiana where Heidi picked me up and I spent the week with her and her fellow castmates and friends and helped them all ring in 2009. It was fun. She had a bunch of shows to do so I stayed back at the Grey House (one of the Actor's Houses) and watched the first season of "Lost". Got through that before Champagne Time. While there, I auditioned for the Artistic Director of the theater. Worked with Heidi a little on two songs he wanted to hear me do and managed to get through them. Truth be told, it was a difficult time with Heidi. She was ending a contract, had nothing really lined up, and was working very hard that final week. Then I come along to just...be there...and kind of got underfoot a little. By the time she helped me go through the songs, she was kind of stressed and, admittedly, I am not always the best vocal student.

A brief history of my singing experience: I have none. In high school and sometimes during the summers in college, I would be a part of musicals where I would invariably get cast in the chorus. I almost always had the largest chorus part in the show. If a random guy was needed from the ensemble to say a few lines...it was me. My one real solo was in high school my Senior Year and the director, despite my pleas to the contrary, had me standing still in the middle of a spotlight singing in nothing but my underwear. It was uncomfortable on MANY different levels. I never had a voice lesson in my life. And the opportunity to have a singing audition always seems to come just as I'm feeling nearly bullet-proof as a performer. Every once in a while I get to feeling as if there is nothing that I can't do on a stage if given the chance. Just as I feel that way...I am asked to sing. And suddenly my rock-solid view of myself as an actor comes crashing down around me. This is exactly what happened that week between Christmas and New Years while working with Heidi. But I got through the audition and have to deal with whatever that brings. But I'm forcing myself to do more singing auditions...just so that I don't somehow get a big head about me. Or...you know...something.

Anyway...so I returned home to Chicago. Went on some auditions and worked on a mock trial that I was cast in. Not much to report about the mock trial except that it was tougher than I ever would have expected. I had to become an expert two times over (I was cast in two "roles" as a witness) in civil engineering and answer questions about the case at hand. I had to be cross-examined and everything. It was tough...but kinda fun. It's also one of those opportunities that, if they liked the work I did, could turn into a yearly thing. This law firm tends to call people back on their own. Here's hoping...

Late Friday night during the weekend of the mock trial, as I was preparing for my Saturday testimony, I got an e-mail from the Artistic Director of the theater in Nappanee, Indiana (where Heidi has worked for years and years) and said that their production of "Art" was back on. This was a show that I had sort of been cast in and then been told that there wasn't any budget for the show so it was taken off of the season. Now it's back on. I had already turned down a show in December because I thought that this was going to happen. Then, when it didn't, I took a role with my Factory folks for the first show of our 2009 season. We're about to start rehearsals when I'm told "Art" is back on. Time is now of utmost importance here because if I have to quit the Factory show, I need to tell them sooner rather than later.

Well, I finally got to talk to the Artistic Director and he explained that there was no rehearsal pay and the rehearsals and performances were only on weekends and I decided that it was just going to be too difficult for me to figure out, logistically. I don't have a car so how would I get there and back every weekend? I could stay there because the Actors Houses weren't open yet...so where would I stay? And what's up with the rest of the season? Where do I stand with that? So I turned it down and will be doing the Factory show instead...which is turning out to be fun and a good time and netting me about $50 if everything goes really well.

Meanwhile, things get crazy with Heidi. She is great and we are still having a great time and I love her very much. She's been sort of depressed lately, though, because she's living at home and not able to figure out much to do to get money. And that, as we all know, can just wear on a person. She's been able to piece some things together and mostly play for vocal recitals in her area. Her friend, a high school music teacher, seems to be throwing her some playing days whenever he can...which is awesome. One of those days playing for high school kids was this past Friday. She played all day and then took the commuter train here. Saturday morning she got a call from her alma mater asking her to teach a class. A series of events took place (it's not my place to go into it in any real detail, sadly) and the teacher of the Acting for Musical Theatre class had to step down. The department decided to call Heidi. She went back last night (Sunday) and met with the head of the department and the dean this afternoon and, suddenly, she's a college acting professor!!! It's amazing how quickly life can change for a person in about 48 hours' time. Friday evening she was looking at a couple more random days of playing piano for high school students. Sunday night when she got back into her car at South Bend airport she was, a few formalities aside, set up with a class, textbook, office, keys to the building, and what I can only assume is a pretty decent paycheck!!!

I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't jealous. I mean...teaching acting? To college students? Without needing to go through all that awful "getting a master's degree" bullshit? I would take that in a second! The thing is...I need to let that jealousy go. She can hear it in my voice and I fear it might be coming across as hating her for her awesome opportunity. Being...I don't know...somehow negative about this. I'm not. Not at all. It's such a great thing for her and I don't know of anybody who would be better suited for this. I'm crazy proud of her and this cool new adventure she gets to go on. The first few months of 2009 are now set for her...even if nothing else comes up! And that's important to any performer. I wish I could tell her just how great I think this is for her. I'll keep trying to find ways...

Meanwhile, I wait. For anything. I'm doing this Factory show and that's awesome. In two weeks I'll be down in Memphis (with Heidi, I might add!!!!) to do one of those awful mass auditions where I get to stand up in front of about 100 theater companies from around the country and get 90 seconds to convince them to hire me. It's a cruel joke perpetrated on actors and singers by the industry...and one we have to go through sometimes. Anyway, I'll be doing that two weeks from today and also waiting on a call from the theater in Nappanee (I don't know if I've named it yet but let's call it "Round Barn") to see what their offer to me might be for the upcoming season. People I have talked to who have worked there this past year all seem to be convinced that I will be a part of the season but I am not believing anything until I hear for sure or see a contract. Until then, I'm auditioning and just trying to get things in order here.

Which is not always as easy as it might seem.