Big Apple Summer || The Audition

So here is the post to begin what this blog is REALLY about - an amateur jumping into the crazy auditioning world and true tales of what that's actually like - not just what I might want y'all to think it's like. ;)

The picture shown above is a snap of the non-equity line outside of Telsey Studios at my first Newsies audition (snapping a photo - rookie move, i know. But I was excited!! :) Here we go...

Day One - Woke up at the crack of dawn (err... 5am), hummed silently in our hotel bathroom, and headed with mom on a 6 block walk from our hotel to the Starbucks across the street from the audition - to my pleasant surprise, the audition was being held at the same building as the Manhattan Theatre Club where we had Springboard classes only a few weeks prior - so I led my mom to Starbucks with great confidence & pride;)

After a quick oatmeal & hot tea (...& photo opp for mom) I walked over to Telsey around 6:45am and jumped in line - only about 20 people strong at that point! Another pleasant surprise. Made some nice audition friends (many of which were barely out of high school - what? whatever;) So around 8am they let us into the building up to the Telsey & Co. floor. And there I sat for the next 2 hours. My little, unexperienced self showed up ready to go at 6:45am - hair done, make up on & heels securely fastened to my feet. I would soon find out that this was, yet another, rookie move. More and more, the people arriving (especially women) were dressed in, well, workout clothes! Spandex, nike shorts, tank tops, ponytails, you name it - they were casual to the max. They sat in this casual attire munching on apples and granola bars and chatting with all their auditioning pals - seemed as though 80% of everyone knew each other or recognized each other from their undergrad! But I gotta say...I didn't mind this interaction a bit. The environment was so much more relaxed & friendly than I had anticipated, and to learn from these seasoned auditioners merely meant I got to show up in sweats next time. Score!

So anyway, around 9am the man running the audition called for the AEA members (equity actors), and each of them got the extreme privilege of having an actual audition slot. A real slot...man, what a concept... Once their slot was assigned, the actors dispersed - the time to put on their new self was NIGH. Girls began unwinding curling irons, primping eyelashes & gargling water in a way that almost sounded like a warm-up. All the while, the rest of us non-eqs (rookies) waited for our turn. Finally, he called up non-equity, and to my third pleasant surprise of the morning, people [almost] fully respected the order of the line we had begun nearly 3 hours earlier. How very integrity-filled (integritous? integratious?) -- how very honest of them! Finally, 11am rolled around and my group of about 10 was called up on-deck. It was finally time! With my headshot turned in and sheet music binder in place, I did one last quick-fix of the hair and got in line.

I'd just flown in that weekend from Dallas where I had sung at my best friend Molly's wedding - & that (along with some minor squealing & belting on the dance floor ;) left my voice feeling a little tired.

^^ Look at my dance partners...how could I possibly resist a little Stevie Wonder? ^^

Thus, I sang John Bucchino's "It Feels Like Home" from the musical It's Only Life - this song uses a little bit of a lower range, but is still one of the most beautiful songs in my book (clarification: I don't say "beautiful song" because of how I sing it; I mean it's a flat out "beautiful song" on its own...glad we're clear). So I walked in, said hello, presented my piece to the pianist and the 5 or so young men behind the table, left it all on the floor, & just like that -- audition over! Wild. I knew my voice was not as strong as it normally was, but the panel of men glowed of so much enthusiasm and sunshine that they could've left a tone-deaf 97 year old feeling young, talented & alive. Which -- you know what? I really appreciated that. I was one of hundreds they'd be seeing that day, but they took the effort to make me feel like my time mattered. And THAT mattered!

[a male version of "It Feels Like Home" ... gosh this song's so beautiful.]

So that was that. First Broadway ECC down, and I was out by 11:15am! (Not 6pm as I had been led to believe...although, I do know that summer is a "slower season" for auditions, so fall and spring might not be so kind!) I planned to attend Mamma Mia auditions later that day but figured it'd be better to give my voice a rest before the next day's audition... so instead, we ate! (Who's surprised? Not a one of you.)

So I'll give your eyes a rest and save the 2nd & final audition story for another day, another blog post. :)

Cheers!
Kelsey

Big Apple Summer || Part Two

This summer I had the opportunity to take a second visit to NYC - this time with my mom and one of my two sisters - Kristen [Candidly Red Blog]. I know I already shared a few photos from this trip in my last post, but I realized that there were events in this trip that were pretty key in my current post-grad developments, so I'll share a few in these next couple of posts. There were a few reasons for this trip, but here's a nice graphic laying out the highlights:

After making over a dozen trips to the concrete jungle, here are five foodie joints that make the Martin's top list:

• Friend of a Farmer - Holy cow. If heaven serves breakfast in little iron skillets, I imagine the food inside will look a lot like the breakfasts here. From the Irving Place Omelette to the french press coffee to the Old Fashion Pumpkin Pancakes (& not to mention the precious, quaint atmosphere and waiters in ties), this place has us coming back trip after trip - thanks, Tiffany Martin, for the discovery!
• Serendipity - I know, I know...we can't pretend like we discovered this restaurant, but boy do we claim it. It's almost always worth the wait, and even though we've been on countless occasions, we are ashamed to say we've hardly tried half of the desserts...because the frozen hot chocolate wins every time. And if you click your heels just right, you can pretend you're John Cusack...(I call Kate Beckinsale.)
• Cara Mia - My sister, Tiffany, discovered this little italian restaurant, too. It's in the heart of Hell's Kitchen, and we've taken several of my mom's large high school choir groups to this little hole-in-the-wall restaurant, and they are always SO accommodating. Oh yeah, and the food is the bomb.

  

  Patty says, "Mmmm, Cara Mia..."

• Dixby's - We love this little sandwich shop! My mom grew up in Summit, NJ, and one of her fondest memories was a local sandwich shop's "sloppy joe's." And lo and behold, we found a shop with an identical sandwich right next to Rockefeller Plaza! Sandwiches, salads, soups & a fun location, it's one of our favorite family stops.
• And finally, a new favorite ... Shake Shack - Holy. Vanilla. Milkshake. When Rachel & I went to SpringboardNYC earlier this summer, we marveled at the CONSTANT heavy lines flowing out of the Shake Shack next to the Manhattan Theatre Club where we had class. We figured there must be a reason but assumed it was "too overrated" to be worth the line. Welp, color me ignorant. My mom, Kris & I finally went to the Shake Shack in Madison Square Park - and it might've been raining, but that outdoor eating experience was one of our fondest memories from the trip! (Not to mention getting kicked out of an outdoor covered area because we either looked like solicitors or vagabonds with our wet hair and milkshakes.) Needless to say ... that wasn't our last milkshake of the trip. #vacationcaloriesdontcount

The rest of our week was spent walking the High Line, Chelsea Markets, Soho, Central Park, Washington Square Park...name a location on the island of Manhattan with concrete & we walked it. We are used to 4 or 5 day trips but this week-long trip was just too exciting! We wanted to see everything and then see it again! We also ate. We ate a lot. Magnolia Bakery, the Meatball Shop, Buvette, Schmakery's, Don Giovanni & about a million coffee shops. [We especially loved Cafe Grumpy in Chelsea.]

Finally, we were a little nervous about spending the 4th of July in NYC, but we had a wonderful day trekking through Soho, grabbing dinner in Greenwich Village & we even managed to snag a few items in Chinatown! (What are we, tourists?!) We ended the night by watching the fireworks from afar at the edge of the Hudson, and it was a pretty awesome time. Despite our genuine and valiant intentions of going apartment searching while there, those plans didn't come to fruition. BUT did I mention I attended my first Broadway EPA & ECC? [EPA stands for Equity Principal Audition - for the lead roles - and ECC stands for Equity Chorus Call - for the, well, chorus.]

More on that in the next blog!

Until then, here are some pics to wake your taste buds (now I've caught your attention) - 

Yes, my blogging peeps, those are Friend of the Farmer pumpkin pancakes.

This is from a trip a couple summers ago - my hair has long-since grown;)  
Photo of Max Brenner's Dessert Pizza

This was us & our Shake Shack ... right before we got shooed away by a doorman.

Your NYC foodie rookie,
Kelsey

P.s. Feel free to add my blog to your feed on Blog Lovin'! Just got the app, and it's s-o-o convenient. My blog on Bloglovin (totally up to you;)

Springboarding in head first!

So at the beginning of June, I had the incredible beyond incredible opportunity to attend a program put on by the American Theatre Wing (creator of the Tony Awards) called "SpringboardNYC." I mentioned my audition for this program in an earlier blog post, and I am pleased to say that I got in aaaaaand it changed my life (it feels like it, anyway). While I cannot take the time to explain to you all that we experienced during those two weeks, I CAN explain a little bit. :)

This scripture verse has never rung truer than in these past couple months of post-grad life. I have no idea what I'm looking for or what's in store for me, but my summer experiences have been made so much sweeter in knowing that I have someone pretty powerful laying out my path. My biggest prayer & greatest security for this trip was this statement I wrote in my journal (I know, I've become a journaler AND a blogger - what is my life?!) - "I can feel free to dream a little trusting that my God is big enough to do it, but thankful that He's kind enough to mold it into what's best for me - and for the person He's shaping me into." {see Proverbs 19:21}

So let's do a "who did I get to meet" session:

• We had the UNBELIEVABLE opportunity to do meet & greets with some of the most amazing people in our industry - among the actors were Alan Cummings (holy precious accent), Oliver Platt, Laura Osnes & Jenna Fischer ("The Office").
• Among the incredible creative peeps were William Ivey Long (chairman of ATW), Jack O'Brien, Thomas Schumacher (prez of Disney Theatrical), and Diane flipping Paulus - the now award-winning director of "Pippin" (thank you, Diane). 
• So I'll stop there before you all want to kill me - out of jealousy or disbelief that I actually just listed that many names.
• Oh wait. and TOM FLIPPING HANKS. 
• So that was neat.

The other neatest of all neat things was the fact that we had the privilege of attending both the Tony Awards Dress Rehearsal AND (drum roll...) THE REAL THING! The 67th Annual Tony Awards!

So, there was our night! And the funny thing was that I couldn't have even anticipated how magical the Tony Awards dress rehearsal was going to be. Don't get me wrong - I LOVED the real deal (I mean, I'm a thespian, right? That word... ;) but it is a SHOW! A performance! And to watch the behind-the-scenes and see all of these beautiful [incredibly famous] people practice and let down their hair a little bit was just, ah, magical. Who did we see at the dress rehearsal, you ask? Among them were Neil Patrick Harris (duh), Sally Fields, Patti LuPone, Bernadette, Anna Kendrick, the casts of Newsies, Matilda, Lion King, and so many more... it was heaven! And at the show, many of our own Springboarders saw - and even SAT by - David Hyde Pierce, Jake Gyllenhaal, Nathan Lane, Billy Porter & Cyndi Lauper! And they were all just part of one big, supportive community! 

And did I mention we were seat-fillers? Our job was to fill any seat that was left open by an award-receiver, a bathroom-goer or a no-shower (that's a no "show"-er, not a no "shower" as in they forgot to bathe). What a night! So several of us were running around and filling seats like crazy during every commercial break, whereas some of the fortunate few (ahem, me) ended up sitting towards the front & center, and never got replaced! I had a free ticket to the show! Next to gray-haired men with many hilarious opinions - so we naturally assumed they could only be one thing - producers. ;) 

We couldn't believe that after this unforgettable night, we still had another week of class awaiting us! And we were thrilled! The next morning, all we could do was verbally (what's another word for "upchuck"?) everything we had seen, heard & experienced, and how a part of that community we felt. And let me tell you, that's a great feeling. Later that week we got to meet Diane Paulus and see her Tony-award winning show "Pippin" - along with Matilda and A Trip to Bountiful. We were spoiled. And we didn't mind.

playbillz

Getting to experience all of these shows with people who are equally as passionate about theatre (but not obsessive about their "craft") as you are was actually pretty unreal. I grew to appreciate theatre and understand its power more than ever before. I cried several times! ... I never cry! I recommend this program to everyone with a passion to pursue a life in this industry & the ability to do it. There is so much more to theatre than just promoting your own talents or getting caught up in yourself. It's about other people! It's about having meaningful conversations with your audience AND your cast mates. It's a unique opportunity & a special privilege that not everyone gets. And I feel blessed that God chose to let me find my passion in this crazy, theatre-ey world. 

Well, anyway, that's my soapbox. (Who gave this girl a blog?) I'll probably end up talking more on this trip later ... WHEN I ACTUALLY MOVE TO NEW YORK IN 23 DAYS. (What? Yes.) Til then, here are some more pictures from my two summer trips to the big apple...

My adorable mom & my lovely sis [err, one of the two] came with me!
And this adorable couple we saw on the subway.
I can only assume they were on their way home from a perfectly fabulous night at the jazz club. ;)

love her;) 

cheers for making it this far,

k-mart

Summer without sweets? That's a myth.

Mom & I are trying to get healthy & slim ourselves up. Lean is what we're calling our goal. But when I think of summer, I literally almost only think of one thing: food. (I wish I could call that an exaggeration...but I am learning that my obsession goes a little too far outside the norm.) I think of hot dogs, cakes with American flags on them, fruity drinks, oreo desserts, homemade ice cream...I even think of CHEESE FRIES. Heaven help me if I can ever allow myself to eat those again.

I owe the top right recipe to "Pick Your Plum" and the middle two to the precious Christie McCabe over at Daily Dose of Sweet - follow this blog! Cutest cakes/cookies/cupcakes you'll ever see. (And she's a Baylor Bear, sic 'em! :) And for the cheese fries...Outback deserves all the credit. Tell me those don't make you just DIE...in the best way.

And then there's that. Okay, okay...so salads don't all look that bad (sorry, Cici's), and maybe I actually kind of love salads. But they're no competition to cheese fries! So my mom & I took it upon ourselves to start attacking our diet head-on thanks to Chocolate Covered Katie - a "healthy" dessert blog. You ain't seen nothing yet.

Exhibit A - The Coconut Breakfast Cake:

                                      

Holy smokes. Recipe Here. Don't punish yourself...by avoiding this coconut bread of dreamy goodness. And less than 70 calories per serving! This is not a drill - girl's a genius! Or as Franck would say:

(I'm a Father of the Bride fiend...in the best way...meaning, I love it.) FINALLY, drum roll please, Exhibit B - the deep dish chocolate chip cake that's HEALTHY?! 

Recipe Here. She even tops it with her own healthy "ice cream"! Guys, don't tell your party guests, but this cake has no flour, less than 1.5 cups of sugar, no butter & no eggs...but it does have chickpeas. Yes, I KNOW. I hate chickpeas, & I'm not a huge hummus gal, but I'm telling you - this stuff is indulgent. Even without a food processor! (The blender was tricky & took some time...but it eventually did the trick.)

So here's to staying healthy this summer while only occasionally spoiling yourself with one of these ^ ... and no one has to know you're actually slimming down all the while. ;)

                                             

But hey, nobody's perfect. ;) C'est la vie!

Cheers! Your wannabe health counselor,

Kelsey

Everyone's married. What's my adventure?

Hey bloggin' peeps.

So I'm going to start out the first day of August 2013 with a little honesty...truth be told, I started this blog for a class - a Baylor Journalism "Social Media" class, to be specific. My last couple of blog posts had criteria to follow, so I followed said criteria - very thoroughly! (Hence the thorough amounts of information - not a bad thing, just a thing to be clarified.)

Thus, my blog had been temporarily suspended...UNTIL I discovered the precious instagram of Naomi Davis - aka Taza. Her instagram is full of lively and crazy adorable photos of her two babykins & her husband, fully living my dream life in the big apple! Complete with a website including baby rainboots and the dreamiest apartment. I can only hope she's lacking in babysitters for her sweet lil' kiddies. Needless to say, she started her blog right before her college graduation, and it was crazy to see how far she's come. Hence, the revival of my blog begins...

So it's time to start fresh. I like where the last posts put us, because now I can casually & confidently say my life has changed A TON since March 22 (date of last blog post).

New schtuff:

• We are all graduated & stuff - as in Baylor University Alumni. WHAT? Yes.
• Two of the friends - Sarah Brooks & Ashton Neubert - in my earlier "spring break" pic are now married. M-a-r-r-i-e-d. Wives! (And fabulous, gentle, beautiful ones at that:)
• The other 5 friends, you ask? Ann is Baylor President Ken Starr's new "special assistant," Sarah is headed back to BU for grad school, Bethany is headed to grad school in Dallas, Amber is headed to a Spanish discipleship school at a church in Waco & Simmons is headed to Argentina (what? yes). 

• Oh yeah, & my other best friend from high school - Molly Bolton - got hitched, too. Here are my 3 best friends (left to right: Molly, Sarah & Kristen) at Molly's rehearsal dinner! And she & her hubs, Jeremy, at their reception:

• And me? Well, not many developments...
• Oh yeah. I'm moving to NYC in 27 days. Okay...WHAT? YES. (In fact, I actually got accepted into American Theatre Wing's post-grad program "SpringboardNYC" & spent 2 weeks learning NYC theatre front & back in early June...I'll post on that later - I promise!)

Needless to say, almost none of those earlier auditions led anywhere. But my BU theatre gal pal Rachel & I are about to jump into theatre's most ginormous pond, and I could not be more thrilled if I tried!

This summer has been a lot of learning, listening, praying & leaping (leaping out on faith, that is), and now that all of my friends' lives are radically changing, I'm ready for a change too. A change in location, culture, surroundings, profession...and who knows? Maybe I'll find a change that'll stick for awhile.

Here's hoping, & cheers to blogging once again!
Your adventurous - and slightly petrified - adventurer,

Kelsey

(A couple pictures for the time we lost! Pic 1: best friends in grad attire; 

Pic 2: Graduation day with Rachel - NYC froomie!)

A Day in the Life of a (Semi) Normal Auditioner

As a human being - aside from being a theatrical one - I consider myself to be decently normal. Now, I am talking about upon first meeting me - what happens after that point is a completely different story! Because of this, each time I enter an audition scenario I automatically feel one of two things:

1. A sense of pride in knowing that I am far more sane than the individuals surrounding me.
2. OR I feel like someone who was once normal - but is slowly conforming into the people around me...which is a scary thing.

Don't get me wrong, I love my "fellow theatre artists," but it seems to me that those people that I come into contact with at auditions are of a completely different breed than the theatrical colleagues I interact with day-to-day. Am i missing something? Is this the type of person I need to be to succeed in this industry? ... No need to respond, I have already made up my mind. Here are some tweets by my friend Skyy Pamilton and I from our last auditioning experience at the Dallas Theater Center in Dallas, TX (one of the coolest theaters Texas has to offer):

I am not going to pretend like I actually think these people are crazy, but they truly are much more comfortable with vocalizing how they feel (AT EVERY MOMENT) without the benefit of an inner filter that says, "Hmm...perhaps no one really wants to know...or perhaps when I brag about myself or 'the love of my craft,' I am not so much causing myself to appear more appealing as much as I am just making everyone else feel uncomfortable..." 

Recently, I stumbled upon a study that Professor Arnold Ludwig of University of Kentucky performed. He analyzed over 1,000 artistically-minded individuals in art, science, business, sports, etc. and tried to form possible connections between their mental health and their professions. The result of his study, as one blogger put it, was that "Crazy people have jobs that rely on creativity." Here were the results:

• 9 out of 10 poets had diagnosable mental disorders
• 68% of musicians had mental disorders (and yet we still look at the social lifestyles of famous music artists like they're normal, intelligent ways of living)
• 73% of painters & other visual artists
• 77% of fiction writers
• AND 74% of theatre people (that's us!)

Now, that isn't to say that being in theatre will make us crazy... No, it's far better than that - we're already crazy! Although I previously stated that I am relatively normal, it's not true. I am a little crazy. We're all a little crazy. But I think Waylon Jennings put it best: "I may be crazy, but it keeps me from going insane." My eyes have been opened! The craziness that you find in the fine arts is not something to be afraid of - but rather, I admire my fellow theatre practitioners for being brave enough to enter a world where we wear hundreds of faces each day and attempt to maintain sanity. If we didn't allow ourselves to be a little crazy and seem a little "off" to the rest of the world, well, we wouldn't be able to continue to put on such captivating performances and rock the world with our creativity day after day.

(I used photos from Baylor University's 2012 fall musical, "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels," as proof - it takes a little craziness to produce a little brilliance! Am I right? -- That's me in the green ;) Shameless Baylor Theatre plug, I know! But then again... it is my blog.)

Knowing this helps me to better interact with those around me...I can survive a little craziness here and there when I know that the result is being surrounded by brilliant actors. If I had to choose being surrounded by dull, sane people or THESE crazy nuts each day, I know which I would choose!

Until my next audition, keep calm - and a little crazy,

Kelsey

"Real World"...Sounds like a myth to me.

It is officially the Spring Break of my last semester of senior year! Sounds like a blast and a half, right? Well, you'd think so... But that also means that I am one week closer to graduation - the scariest, most exciting thing to loom over my head since, well, high school graduation.

But who wants to read a blog where all the writer does is hyperventilate about college graduation? Not this girl! I've got enough problems of my own. ;) Instead I'm going to banter a little about the thrills to come...

First of all, in three days I am headed to Beaver Creek, Colo., with seven of my best friends!

(The coolest friends...Don't they look like the coolest friends?)

After the craziness of being a sing chair for my sorority, Chi Omega, in Baylor's All-University Sing while juggling a Theatre major, a Journalism minor and a smidgen of a social life, I guess you could say I'm excited to sleep a full nine-hour night. More than that, though, I am pumped to ski some slopes, read some books, watch some movies (and the finale of the Bachelor!) and spend some time with my friends and my Jesus.

Yet, after Spring Break, guess what I have to look forward to? You guessed it - more auditions! This is what's coming up on the agenda for a few of us Baylor Theatre seniors:

• WaterTower Theatre in Addison, TX - auditions for Xanadu the musical!
• A potential career with Seattle Children's Theatre
• Cap21 Musical Theatre Conservatory & Theatre Company - auditions for Cap21's Musical Theatre Industry Practicum & Showcase
• Auditions for American Theatre Wing's Springboard NYC Summer Program
• And, most recently, Dallas Theater Center's 2013-2014 Season!
• P.s. This includes Les Mis, which is a dream, so...cross your fingers!

You might notice that there are several Texas options in that list...being a Houston and Dallas native, I had previously committed to move out of Texas ASAP. Yet, the more graduation creeps in, the more I second guess moving away from this great state so soon. My friend and fellow-theatre-pursuer, Rachel Peterson, made the persuasive argument that it might be a good option to build my resume in Dallas for a year and THEN move to New York. That way, I'd have more money (a definite plus) and feel more confident in my resume - I'd also only be 22 - still young and marketable! My oh my...what a decision to have to make in such a small amount of time. As you can see, I am keeping my options wide open and trusting steadfastly while waiting to see where God's wind blows me!

I'm still confident that I'll end up right where I need to be...until then, I need only to be making intentional and sensical strides in some direction - God needs something to work with! I can't wait to see where I end up. The possibilities are quite literally endless!

I'll be sure to keep you updated. Until then, I hope your Spring Break is as fun, relaxing and as full of romantic comedies as mine will be! ;) Also, enjoy this video of the Baylor University Theatre program doing our very own "Harlem 'BUT' Shake." I know we did!

Your uninformed counselor,

Kelsey