Shove...With Love

There was an article that was floating around online recently about understudies, as well as my own current situation, that brought an event to the front of my mind.

A few years ago, I was riding the CTA when I overheard a phone conversation a woman was having with someone.

"Well, I'm not going to that rehearsal; I'm JUST the understudy, its not like they need me or anything."

I couldn't decide if I wanted to fall out of my chair or smack her. I settled on getting a good look at her face when I exited the bus so I could remember her if she ever showed up at an audition I was running.

JUST an understudy? Not going to the rehearsal? Oh sweetie, you can be very sure that if you ever show up at any audition I am running your name will get a big ol' black mark next to it.

As I have already stated in a previous blog, I believe in the importance of showing up. As an understudy, you are in the unique situation of being able to show up and be helpful...

When I understudied "Watership Down" I missed a total of 2 rehearsals: one was my birthday, and the second was when I was so sick I could barely stand (I figured it was my job to cover the actors when they were sick, not to MAKE them sick). Otherwise, I was there, two copies of the script (one for each actress I was covering) in a giant binder, jotting blocking, marking costume changes, and PRAYING with every bone in my terrified body that I would never have to go on.

I never did. To this day, those two actresses still get hugs from me.

But what DID end up happening was that I was there, so if another actor was missing, I would pop the lines from my seat in the corner; if they needed a warm body I was there. I actually ended up standing in for every character except Bigwig, the General, Hazel...and the two actresses I was covering.  I got to sit and watch the amazing process that Lifeline goes through before they present an adaptation to the public. I got hang out with some pretty cool people, most of who are still very close friends.

I know that understudies get put-in rehearsals if there is a confirmed show where they are going on. I have been BLESSED with two, and will have a third before I ever hit the stage at Chi-Fi, but what if that call comes and there is no time?

When I was understudying the female tracts for "Frodo-A-Go-Go", I got the call that our "Legoland" wouldn't be able to go on for the shows that weekend...with less than 24 hours notice. HOWEVER, I had been to the rehearsals, I knew the shape of the show, I knew the fights.

I know for a fact that there are actors who have been sitting in the audience when they have been gently tapped on the shoulder by an ASM and told to get their butt backstage... 10 minutes after the show has STARTED. I also know times when it has happened halfway through the first act.

Now imagine if you have JUST watched the show once. You have learned your lines, great, you copied the blocking, fantastic...but what if something has changed? What if there is a costume change that you have to do, or one you have to help another actor with?

Being at rehearsal is more than just learning your lines and blocking: it is becoming a part of the team that is putting this show together, becoming a part of the family that a show can become. There is a chemistry that can be missing if you haven't been participating.

The article that was posted recently was about understudies on Broadway and their experiences. It talked about last minute calls, the "shove with love", and how many actors can make a pretty decent living being understudies, if not getting that one chance for a "big break".

Being an understudy does not mean that I am hoping you get sick or that something horrible happens to you; I am not going to push you down the stairs or poison your food (see above re: Watership Down).

It means that IF something happens, I am here, not only for you but for the rest of the cast and for the audience that is coming that night.

SO WHAT if you never get to go on?
You still get to add the credit to your resume, and the more tracks you were tasked with covering, then maybe another director will see that and be impressed.
You still got to work with the theatre, and you got your foot in the door.
You still got to work with a group of actors who will hopefully remember you, and maybe you made some friends along the way.

So, to the amazing people I get to play with at Chi-Fi this weekend: thank you. Thank you for this chance and thank you for your patience.

And especially to my fellow witches and my shades: SHOVE WITH LOVE!!!

If music be the food of love...

OK, wrong Shakespeare, I know...still, those of you who have read this blog before know that I usually try to do playlists for shows that I am in. Sometimes, they are as short as three songs. Other times, I will work out the full arc (check out the blog on Irene and "Sherlock").

As we approach the first major break-out rehearsal for the Witches and their Shades, now is probably the best time to talk about this show's playlist.

This character a very movement based character, and it is much more about setting a mood than tracing an arc. I also got to delve into some of the darker themes in my music collection.

And every other song is off a "Battlestar Galactica" soundtrack. Because Bear McCreary is a GENIUS!

1-Heeding The Call (BSG-Season 3): A good opening. Starts light and little exotic, and then builds to something a little more than ominous...

2-Immortals (Big Hero 6, Fall Out Boy): Something upbeat after a slow start...

3-Kara Remembers (BSG-Season 4): This is one of my favorite songs from the entire series. Much like "Heed The Call", it has that slow, slinking build punctuated by some truly amazing beats once it gets going (nerd moment, if I may: I see this as the song that plays during a Mara flashback to the night Vader came back from Cloud City).

4-Animals (V, Maroon 5): There is something animalistic in the Weird Sisters, especially in this production. They are more and less than human, and fully willing to hunt their prey...

5-Apocalypse (BSG-The Plan): SO, this song was actually on a previous playlist, when I was auditioning to be one of the Erinyes in "The Last Daughter of Oedipus".  This song says unseen forces pulling and pushing twisting fate.

6-Bad Things (Jace Everett, True Blood): We are seducing people to the Dark Side; why do YOU think this song is on here?

7-Gaeta's Lament-Instr. (BSG-Season 4): At this point, it is good to assume that I just worship at the feat of Bear McCreary...

8-Going Under (Fallen-Evanesance): The sweet surrender the Dark Side offers...don't fight it...

9-Lords of Kobol (BSG-Season 2): See #7 above.

10-Seven Devils(Ceremonials-Florence and the Machine): OK, so there are way more than seven witches/shades, but we will still pull your kingdom down...

11-All Along The Watchtower (BSG-Season 3): "...Princes kept the view, while all the women came and went, barefoot servants, too...outside in the distance, a wild cat did growl...two riders were approaching...the wind began to howl..." HOW is that not a perfect song for this show?


Bonus Tracks
My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Fall Out Boy). Someone, ANYONE, choreograph a lightsaber fight to this song. I will sacrifice my sanity and well being if you do!!

Storming New Caprica (BSG-Season 3)-Another good fight song.

On Hard Work and Showing Up...

I believe is hard work. I do. I believe that hard work should be rewarded.

When we are younger, when we are in school, we are told that we should work hard. It was a lesson that was ingrained in me especially hard because, as a very young age, I was informed by my mother that I could do theatre so long as my grades stayed at a certain level. Something about my Scottish blood took that as a challenge, which led to one memorable day where I was up at 6:00 to be a school by 7:15 to take that quarter's AP English writing test (this after staying up to proofread the paper we had to turn in as well), followed by a full day of classes (including a meeting of the yearbook team), followed by rehearsal until 6:00 for the high school show followed by rehearsal at 7:00 for the local community theatre show.

Yeah, I was nuts.

But I believed in working hard. I believed that if you worked hard, then you would be rewarded. If you got good grades, then colleges would like you, and, maybe, even give you a little money.

In high school, it paid off. I graduated 36 in a class of 536, and got into Loyola with a Scholarship.

Yay hard work!

At Loyola at the first meeting of the Theatre School, we were basically told that 55% of our time would be spent on Theatre, and 55% of our time would be spent on Academics. It took us all a second to do the math, and to make sure they weren't joking, and they weren't. The Theatre Department expected you to show up. They expected that, even if you were on the performance track, you would serve as House Crew, Costume Crew, Set Crew, Light Crew...you get the idea.

So I worked hard. I ended up increasing my Academic Scholarship amount, and scoring a Theatre Scholarship by the end of my first year.

Long story short, I ended up going into the "real" world with the expectation that my work ethic would yield rewards...

It took nigh on 9 years for that illusion to be shattered. Yeah, I am a slow learner...

In the real world, hard work SHOULD get you further, and I am sure it does... in most places.

I am not afraid to say that 5 years with a company that I gave just about every summer to did not end well. Blood, sweat, tears, gas money, and when there started to be talk about taking the company Equity and using union actors, no consideration was made to those who had spent even longer than I had with the company when it came to making sure we would still be included in the shows. Even if they had had the courtesy to say that they would have ensured us getting our points, I would have stuck around.

Instead, we were basically told that all our hard work meant nothing.

It took me much longer to learn this lesson professionally than it did artistically. Nine years, in fact. Nine years of showing up and taking on not only my own duties, but others as well. Staying late, coming in early, and working like a dog lead to no vacation days, no sick days, no benefits, and mu hours being cut to three days a week. Not that I blame them: the economy was in the junk heap at the that point, and I was just grateful to have any job.

However, when the opportunity came to leave both of these situations behind, both artistically and professionally, I am not afraid to say I ran.

A theatre company that offers me membership after all I do is work box office and then show up at strike (because that's what I was taught you did at Loyola)? Where do I sign?

An up-and-coming Chicago start-up that wants to offer me benefits, stock options, a 401K, and HOW many vacation days? Done!

Since then, I won't say things have been perfect, but when is life ever? There have been heartbreaks and tears, late nights and lots of wine...and beer...and cider...but there have been lessons learned and triumphs.

It is a hard lesson to learn, when you enter real life: sometimes, hard work DOES NOT get you ahead. You have to know the difference between being patient, and being complacent and comfortable. You have to know when you have given enough, and there has been no reward, no matter how small, that is time to move on.

But I still believe that for every new venture, you SHOW UP. You work your butt off. When I was cast as an understudy for a production, the only time I didn't show up was when I was so sick I couldn't see straight.

I figured, as an understudy, if was my job to cover for other actors when they got sick, not make other actors suffer from the plague I was carrying...

But you work. Every new show, every new job, every new opportunity is a chance for you to make your mark. It is a chance to find a new home.

Long story short (TOO LATE!) we come to the moral of my story, and the good news, and the connection to the show I am working on now...

Fight rehearsals for MacSith are, for the most part, optional. But, as I have become something of the social media maven, and fight rehearsals are usually when you get the best shots of lightsaber fights, I have been showing up.

This past Thursday, it was apparently discussed that the actress playing Lady M would not be able to make it to ChiFi, a convention occurring at the Palmer House Hilton in March where we will be doing two performances of MacSith. The current Witch 1 played the Lady last year, so she will be stepping into those shoes. That means they needed someone to play Witch Primus...

Ladies and Gents, I will see you all on March 19th-20th.

When Nerd and Stage meet...

As I mentioned in the last blog, I will be taking a journey "a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..."

This made me think about how my theatre career has often intersected with my nerd world...and I am not just talking about theatre people in Chicago being total nerds...because they are. Seriously, my broadsword certification class had two "Buffy" scenes, one "Dragonheart", and two "Game of Thrones"...the last being the exact same scene.

With "MacSith", I discovered, I continue my nerd/theatre melding. I have sampled from many of the geek food groups...I realize that I have MANY more to go: Battlestar...Marvel...maybe even (gulp) D.C., but I think I am off to a good start!

"Lord of the Rings"/Frodo-A-Go-Go
 There is photographic evidence SOMEWHERE that I make a lovely blonde, but it has been lost...

This fully improvised parody of "Lord of the Rings" was the second professional show I did in Chicago. I was the understudy for all the females, but this included the "Sam" and "Frodo" characters. My proudest moment was when I actually got to go on for two weekends as "Legoland", blond wig and all. The fact that one of those two weekends coincided with the weekend they won ALL the Academy Awards was just icing.

Steampunk/Sherlock/Sherlock Holmes: The Last Adventure
It was a long break between nerd shows, but when it came again, it came big. For me, "Sherlock" is the show that all others are measured against, and that is a hard bar to reach. We performed just as the new series premiered in England and the movies were starting, so it could be said we came in on the ground floor, and we did a pretty darn good job. Not to sound too hipster, but we were doing Sherlock and Steampunk before it was cool!

The Cast.

Corsets are FUN!

Irene and the King of Bohemia

My Little Pony/L'Imbecile
I'm sorry, I was Pinky Pie. The photographic evidence proves it:

Aww, the Three Courtiers...

Star Trek/Klingon Christmas Carol
You have not know challenge until you have to memorize Dickens...in Klingon. For months, I spit and twisted my tongue and slathered my face in adhesive and it was awesome. This was nerd heaven, and it brought up all sorts of lovely memories from when I was a kid.

Klingon's Angels

Me and the targh...

Buffy-verse/Broadsword Class & SPT
When choosing a scene for our Broadsword SPT, my partner and I looked at a few scenes, but settled on the big Buffy/Faith fight from the end of Season 3. Not a full play, but close enough. And we passed our certification test, so YAY!

Star Wars/Mac Sith
So here we arrive at the present day. Star Wars and Shakespeare, in one glorious mash-up. We'll see how much saber-swinging I get to do, but, in the meanwhile, it is Force-pushing and witch-ing it up. And some pretty awesome Jedi Warriors...

And with that, I shall wish you all a very good night!

If 13-Year-Old Me could see me now...

...Man, I wish I could go back in time and tell an anxious, picked-on, teenage me that, one day, you WILL get to combine your two loves and people will come and pay to see it...

Middle school was not easy. Not that it is for anyone, but kids can be extra mean when you pick an extra-curricular activity like acting, and it isn't made much easier when you like things that are considered "nerdy". Like Star Wars. And Star Trek. And Fantasy.

Nope. The first half of Middle School was NOT fun.

Then, your mom goes into the office to file the paper work because you will be out of class for the first part of one certain day, and the office lady looks at the calendar.

"Oh, but she'll miss the field trip they have scheduled that day!"

And your mom gets to respond: "No, she IS the field trip."

Because the field trip is a viewing if "To Kill A Mockingbird" at the local community theatre, and yours truly is playing Scout.

And I don't think I am blowing my horn TOO much when I say I knocked it out of the park.

Yeah, middle school got ALOT easier after that day.

But, let's take small side trip: Westgate Mall...Waldenbooks...a 10 year old Star Wars fan uses some of her PRECIOUS allowance to buy "Heir To The Empire."

My love affair with the Star Wars EU exploded and I never really looked back. I stuck through the good times and the bad times, (Callista that blonde, whiny, wimpy, B...(looks at young co-stars possibly reading this) um...yeah, never mind).

I'll be honest: I had lost track of the EU (this was before the internet was as prevalent as it is) and so didn't even know the "Hand of Thrawn" books were out until I saw a friend reading them during a rehearsal. I made a comment about how much a certain farm boy and a certain red head just needed to get over themselves and get together. He snorted in derision and the subject was dropped until Tech week when he called me over and whispered "I hate you for being right," and showed me the end of a certain paragraph at the end of a certain chapter (page 481-82...not that I have it bookmarked or anything...shut up).

Stupid thin walls between greenroom and theatre; I wanted to scream in joy and I couldn't.

To make a long story short (TOO LATE)...Fast forward 16 years.

A local company is remounting a production, and are holding auditions:  "MacBeth" set in the "Star Wars" universe.

Um, YES PLEASE!

If nothing else, I figure I can pick up the Lightsaber the director owes me from backing the Kickstarter from the original run. So I sign up for a slot, show up, do my Rosalind, speak the speech, swing a lightsaber in a fight, and head on my way home.

Then the e-mail comes in, and 13-year-old me screams in joy...

More to come as we go into rehearsals, but I cannot begin to say how excited I am to be a part of this production and working with this company. These are good folks, and this is a great cast, and I am looking forward to helping transport the Bard to a galaxy far, far away...

Gen Con Day 2!

So, long story long: I normally save the Copper Dragon for Saturday, but Wizards of the Coast forced me to change my plans (more on that later), so CD got all gussied up for Friday, including new experiment on scales (fishnet stockings, lip gloss, and iridescent eye shadow). Unfortunately, in the rush to get out of  the hotel, I forgot my bag, which means, I forgot my camera. 

Head. Desk. 

Anyway, MOST of the day was spent walking the rest of the hall, but we did stop to play the winner of this year's Spiel des Jahres, or Game of the Year. 

Camel Up is pretty adorable, though I can actually say I played all three nominees this year...

Camels. Racing.

There was the rest of the hall: a few more art prints, some pretty, shiny, pokey things, checking my phone to make sure the GPS wasn't on sucking power, but most of the focus was on the events that night...

Wizards of the Coast has been gearing up for the release of the new edition, Fifth, and the release of the first big adventure, Tyranny of Dragons. There were plans for a huge release party on Georgia Street, normally a hub of food trucks and the home to a very nice beer garden. Having wandered through earlier and seeing that our friend Liz Smith was working with the set-up company for the release party, I was truly excited. 

And I was dressed as a polymorphed copper dragon. For the party. Yes, I am a nerd. 

Steve had a company dinner with some of the higher-ups, so I wandered over to the tent to try and get a good position. It got crowded fast, and after hovering off to the side and watching them try to work a traffic flow, someone wrote out an exit only sign that I just grabbed and help and then used to help direct people. This put me into direct contact with Shelly Mazzanoble, author of the wonderful Confessions of a Part-time Sorceress and the even better Everything I Need To Know I Learned From Dungeons &Dragons. Not to brag, but she and I kind of bonded. Very quickly.

NERD GIRLS UNITE!

So, other than the (and PLEASE forgive me for this) TOTALLY TYPICAL, ARCHETYPAL nerd "reviewer" who demanded to know if this was "seriously...really" the release party for Tyranny...no really, that was all he said...even after I said I was just helping the set-up company and had no official connection to WotC and hey dude my eyes are up here and are you really just going to keep rubbing the bridge of your nose and sighing without even saying what you have an issue with and hey how about you cut back on the chili-cheese fires and try a salad oh and maybe change your shirt...

Sorry, where was I...OH, right the release party that was turing into a huge success. They had a great improviser playing a legendary dragon relic "collector" who also happened to be an accomplished DJ,  fun puzzles to help get people in the mood of the adventure, and some amazing props of from "Davian's" private collection. 

Basically, Tiamat, the evil dragon goddess is trying to take over the world, and it is your job to stop her...One of the pieces she needed to make the "Mask of Tiamat" was the Blue Dragon mask that was guarded by the "very trust-worthy" guards hired by Davian. Yeah, not so much...

Yeah, you know, I just realized I left the stove on...

So, Steve and the others got back from diner and I got to hang out with all of the cool people. Chris Perkins. Rodney Thompson. Greg Bilsland. Keith Baker (who still remembers me and still loves that I am one of only two Eberon cos-players he has ever met...and that my husband I tried to run him over a few years ago). Oh, and the lecherous gentleman himself, Ed Greenwood. This guy is awesome. Like, "I ate my lunch off a lady" awesome. And he hit on me. In front of my husband. And I went with it and matched him innuendo for innuendo. And it was fantastic.

Now, the COOLEST part of the night was when they started giving out the prizes, because now I can talk about what Steve was called down to Indy early to sign. 

SCRIBBLE FASTER, MONKEYS! 

(yeah, I took this picture Wednesday but could not release it until after the party)

Yeah, he was signing almost 300 copies of the 5E Monster Manual. That he helped write. Like, half of it. And people were winning a prize pack that included copies of this book that aren't even available until September. Of course, the fact that we had a copy back in our hotel room already was just icing.

Now, the loud music and lack of drinking water had caused both of us to have rather magnificent headaches, so once the prizes were handed out we said good night and headed back to the hotel.

Gen Con! (Days 1...and 2, 3, and 4)

They call Gen Con the Best Four Days in Gaming...this is true. But, as a friend pointed out to me, it is also the best Four Days in Sleep Deprivation.

You go with the best of intentions: you won't stay out late, you will get sleep, you won't watch the sun rise...and it all goes out the window that first day.

Sleeping is iffy.

Blogging is right out.

So, here I sit, ready to do a massive wrap up of an amazing time...

Let us begin...

THURSDAY
Day One. The Kick Off. The Beginning. The Insanity. We managed to find decent parking not that far from the Con back behind Lucas Oil Field (pro-insiders tip: as long as there isn't a game it is less than 10 minutes from the hall and usually $10 all day).

I was trying to got to the class I had scheduled that morning at 11 AM, Introduction to Medieval Italian Longsword. Now, the SMART person would have taken advantage of the fact that the will call line was open 24-hours starting Wednesday and gone sometime before dinner the previous night, but I was not that smart, and the will call line was huge!

The costumes just get cuter every year...

I had my e-mail confirmation, and, as the class was being taught by folks from the Chicago Swordplay Guild out of Forteza Fitness, I figured I would be OK. The problem became that no one knew where the damn class was. Now, while wasting $2 is not the worst thing that could happen if I didn't go, I REALLY wanted to see how much I remembered from the Italian Longsword Class I took a few years ago with R & D Choreography. So, thank goodness for knowledgeable Gen Con info booths with smart phones. Yes, the class was all the way over at Union Station, but "all the way over" in Indy is less than 5 minutes at a brisk walk.

So, yes, I was a little late and, yes, there was an issue because I didn't have my actual ticket, but someone had a generic and I had cash, and it was a TON of fun re-learning how to kill people...

So pretty...

So pretty...

After that rousing good time, it was back to the hall, but then almost instantly out to lunch at that modern medieval tavern, Hooters. There is nothing classier than eating chicken wings in aelvin warrior outfit. 

So, Gen Con has been hitting bigger every year, and the exhibitors' hall keeps growing to accomadate that. What used to take one day now takes about one and half. Steve and I started our journey through the hall, window shopping and enjoying the amazing sights to be seen. 

This also means stopping by the always amazing Sasquatch Games and picking up copy of Primeval Thule, which you of course get signed by the authors, most of whom you are already friends with...

In preparation for Saturday, I stopped by the Timeless Trends booth, as the old corset for the Irene outfit was just getting painful to look at. As these are the people who provided me with the wonderful contraption that got me through "Sherlock", I just should have gone to then in the first place. Of course, not being able to work out for two months because you broke your wrist during one of the coldest winters in Chicago history isn't going to help much, either. 

Nothing bought yet, I promised to stop back, and went to grab my phone to find out where Steve had gotten off to, only discover that the phone would...not...turn...on. Thank goodness the lovely folks at Sasquatch Games are SO cool, and then you keep you claws in your hubby for the rest of the day. 

Realizing that doing the whole floor in one day was probably out, we made bee-line for the Artist Alley, as there was someone wanted to meet.

A few years ago, Steve worked on a very well received adventure, "Madness at Gardmore Abbey", which was preceded by another he worked on call "Siege at Gardmore Abbey." Here's the cover:

Well, meeting the artist and introducing yourself and having the guy get excited to meet you back pretty much makes your Con...

Ladies and Gentlemen, Ralph Horsley!

Yeah, he's pretty awesome.

So, we weren't done the the artwork yet. For years, Steve and I have been looking at the amazing artwork of Ms. Echo Chernik. This woman does nouvea-Mucha that makes me DROOL. We have been specifically looking at her Goddesses of Cuisine set. This year, we just bit the bullet and did it. 12 prints. 1 bonus.  Done.

Heading back to the car so we could change, we then wandered over and met up with Rob Schwalb, my husband's cohort on The Monster Manuel for 5E. We also got to hang out with Monte Cook and our friend, Shad. 

We did dinner at The Ram, where we met up with Chicago Game designer Eric Simon, author of Steamscapes, for which Steve did a shorty story for flavor. Then, back to the hotel, and sleep.