Goodbye Elves and the Shoemaker

 “Elves and the Shoemaker” made it to Fresno again. I had been told Fresno audiences are some of the best. I completely agree because, let's be honest, Fresno isn't exactly Disneyland. The laughter and applaud in the Tower Theater was some of the best we ever received. Last time I was there I didn't get a chance to take a picture of the house; I only got a picture of the tower outside. This is what the interior looks like. I think it has a similar tacky 70's charm Bimbo's in San Francisco has. If anyone has been there before, you'd see what I mean.

And oh yeah, here is a picture of the Crest in Sacramento. As beautiful of a space it is, performing there is rather challenging. There are no wings, there's an underground crossover, and you have to climb up stairs to walk on stage. This made entrances with props difficult. But, once again, the kids made it worth it. This was a 1000-seater house and both our shows were sold out! It warms my heart so much to know budget cuts haven't completely wiped out school field trips! I think its such a special event for young students to experience live theatre!  

 The week ended with a day at San Mateo's city college. Their space is fantastically unique to the other spaces we've been to so far this season! The dressing rooms and greenroom are all above the stage on the second floor. To get to them, actors have to climb a narrow, spiral staircase! Walking up it wasn't too bad … going down on the other hand was a tad bit, um, terrifying!

Below is a view of the house.

 

Our final destination was the theater at Santa Clara University. I liked the color scheme of this space a lot. It looked like my hair in a way—there were brown chairs, a fraction of the seats were this faded blondish color, and a good portion of them were purple. I thought it was oddly beautiful. Saucy Stefan was telling me someone shared with him the reason why they colored the chairs that way was so if the actors looked out into the audience during the performance, they'd be thrown off on which seats were full versus empty. No actor likes seeing empty seats during a performance! How clever of them....

Anyway, on the last day, 12/18/12, I gave the cast and our lovely stage manager Christmas goodies! I baked a pie for Sleeping Beauty's closing day, so I wanted to something equally sentimental, but with holiday flare for the Elves crew! I gave them decorated goodie bags with cranberry-coconut bars, apple cake pops, and a slice of cranberry-orange pound cake. YUM! :) I hope everyone enjoyed them!

My next show is going to open the second week of January. Its called “Just So Stories” based on the short stories of Kipling. He wrote the Jungle Book, and won the 1907 Nobel Literature Prize. The language is unique, odd, but beautiful in our play. This show won't tour nearly as much. In fact, I think we only do home performances in Sunnyvale and day tours around the bay. I'm actually thankful for that because, as much as I love being on the road, I miss seeing my dog every day! I also miss hanging out with my friends, of course! And best of all.... I am going to be the Director of CTC's Great Spring Musical, “Guys and Dolls JR!” I am so excited and ready to sit in the director's chair again! I will make sure to keep everyone posted on how that is going! I LOVE Guys and Dolls, so this is going to be fun to be apart of. I'm honored CTC is entrusting me with this responsibility so early into my first season with them. I hope I make them proud!

Merry Christmas, everyone! And have a blessed and prosperous New Year! Congratulations to the world for surviving the Apocalypse on Friday! Take that, Mayans!!!!  

Elves on the Road

I truly believe this tour is much more exhausting than my last tour was. We have worked longer hours, performed more, and have had our spirits and patience tested daily.... However, I do have to say this show, "Elves and the Shoemaker" has to be the cutest, most darling show I've ever been apart of. On bad days, when I'm questioning my life, all I have to do is listen to those giggles, gasps, and chuckles from the audience...and that reminds me what a wonderful thing we're bringing to children.

ANYWAY, let's get to business! The show opened last month in Sunnyvale, but we started touring a little over a week ago.Our first stop was in Pacific Grove, CA. Since this is a mere 2 hours away from Sunnyvale (grumble) it was deemed a day tour. We had to get up at the crack of dawn to get there in time for our 9:30am show. Above is a picture of Saucy Stefan and Killer Kelly as we  take the van to our Venue. The venue was at another school and seats about 400. There were no dressing rooms and crossing over backstage involved running into a lot of chairs in a dark room... but other than that, it was a fine experience. 

As you can see, this time around I am not the evil character. I play Claudia! She is the Shoemaker's wife. And as you can see, I didn't let my purple hair show at all! Thanks to my lovely friend Melissa, who has been my makeup/hair designer in past shows, suggested a brand of hair temporary hair dye. My purple hair remains hidden from the children in the audience. I did have the option to wear a wig....but I have to admit: I am a bit of a control freak. I would rather stay in control of my own hair and its good for me to know how to style my own hair for different time periods. I think I came up with a cute and appropriate look....


I have to announce everyone's Road Name too!!! OK, here is the Time Elves Company, from left to right. Killer Kelly kept her Road name because, let's face it, her name kind of rocks! Mama Bupp has turned into Baby Bupp! To the right of her is Lizzy Babe and following her is Saucy Stefan. I brought champagne for our first night away on tour. We were in Whittier, CA. We had a champagne toast and ended the night with some juggling lessons from Saucy Stefan.... he used to work in the circus! :)
Also, below there's a picture of all 6 of us in our Elf ears, courtesy of Baby Bupp! :)

 The Whittier Center for the Performing Arts is one of the most beautiful spaces I've ever seen! Again, I feel so honored to perform on stages like this in houses like this! I mean, look at that picture above!!! It was beautiful! And to the right, Lizzy Baby is pointing out our name on the marquis! The theater seats 800 and we had 2 days worth of shows there. The first day was a family series show and we even had a book signing in the lobby after the show! What book? Oh, just "Elves and the Shoemaker" :)

 Santa Ana. Santa Ana, Santa Ana. Well... There's not much I can say about Santa Ana, so I'll stick to facts: We stayed at the Red Roof Inn. I did laundry that night. We performed at the Ebell Theater of Santa Ana. It seats 450 and I believe both shows were sold out.







OMG! The California Center for the Arts in Escondido, CA is probably my favorite of all the spaces I've ever performed in or even been in yet!! It seats 1500, has beautiful red velvet seats and accents of gold around the house! The acoustics were amazing, and the tech team working there were a dream-team! Rob, if you ever read this, man you rock! :) I wish we could have had more time there!!!! And since we always arrive to a city the night before a performance, I was able once again to hang out with family and have dinner with familiar, loving faces! My Tia and Tio took me shopping and to Red Robin! I hope I go back to Escondido again, and soon!!!!!!!!!!

The following morning we had to wake up, again, at the crack of dawn to get to San Bruno's Skyline College Theatre. Yes, another day tour. Compared to Escondido's 1500 seater the day before, 500 seats seemed to be almost a let-down, but at least we sold out this venue. I don't know if I already mentioned I'm in charge of sound for this tour, but I had been told ahead of time we may have feedback issues here. This meant I had to carefully choose where I put the floor mics and even though they were further upstage then they've ever been, the show sounded fine! Phew! :)

On Friday, we went to the Dougherty Valley Performing Arts Center in San Ramon, which is located in yet another high school. Yes, again, that means another day tour. I couldn't get a good photo of the space (look at all those orbs!!!!!), but the space was nice enough. It sat about 600 people, and would you believe I went to school with some of the techies there? San Francisco State, baby, yeah! It was a pleasant surprise and a joy to lovingly mock faculty members of the University, just like the old days! That night, we had a third show, but in our own theater in Sunnyvale. Three-show days are brutal, but at least we had a few hours in between....

On Saturday, 12/8/12, I had my first day off in 13 days. Yep, you read that right. We had been driving and performing for 13 days straight. So, how did I spend my day off? I went back to the school I used to teach at to see my students' school play. I had thought I would sneak in and sneak out... Boy was I wrong! I was given VIP treatment with a front row seat, received recognition for starting the Drama Program "from scratch," and was awed like a celebrity after the show when I was bombarded with hugs from my babies! They even gave me flowers, when I had nothing to do with this show at all! Those are my darlings to the right. I'm so unbelievably proud of them and was touched and moved to tears by their gesture. I miss all of them so much, but it was wonderful to receive the reassurance from them there's no hard feelings. They are proud of me too and are so happy for me to by fulfilling my own dreams. Also, I don't know if you can see, but the fella on the far left side of the picture has a purple streak in his hair.... hm.... wonder where he got that idea from.... :')

For the last few days, we've been in Folsom. I have no pictures because we have already been to Three Stages before. The only new theater for the rest of the tour was the one today: The Crest Theater in Sacramento. The Crest seats 1000 and has an old school charm to it, similar to that of Fresno's Tower Theater. The Crest, which I will have to download pictures for on another day, was beautiful...but a bit impractical too. There were no wings at all... any actor can understand the amount of frustration we felt during that show! Especially since I found out the hard way that all of my cues in the show are visual cues and we had to hide behind a curtain backstage and listen for our cues.... :/

 Now, its back to Fresno and then Arroyo Grande, and then back to Sunnyvale. We end our tour at Santa Clara University for two days.... I have a feeling those will be day tour days... just a hunch....

 Oh yeah, finally, I have been juggling for about a month now. Saucy Stefan is an excellent teacher and is certain that with enough practice I will be able to juggle for longer than 10 seconds in no time...! I'm not going to lie, I'm really excited to learn how to juggle!!! Something else to add to my list of skills, lol.

Final random Performance

This last Friday was the final performance of Sleeping Beauty. We performed in Haywards Chabot Comunity College. It was a cool space, but I feel the stage was meant more for dance shows. There were light stands in the wings, shining light into our peripheral vision. Had it been that way all along, there'd be no problem. However, this was our last show, yet first show in two weeks! 

I have to admit, the show felt weird. We hadn't done Sleeping Beauty in two weeks and have all been rehearsing for and/or performing in our next shows. Having that much time off can really mess with  performer's head. Papa Char described our performance as a combination of "OMG I just want this to be over," and "Wait, what happens next?" There was even a moment during mine and Cray Cray Ray J's scene when I looked at her and almost forgot what happened next. 

After the show, I wanted to do something nice for everyone. I wrote personal thank you cards for the cast and our stage manager. I also baked a pumpkin pie! :) 

The following day was Sebren Snooch's last day with CTC. Afterward, Killer Kelly and I took him out on the town one last time. He flew back to North Carolina yesterday. In this line of business, people are always coming and going. You meet people, get close with them quickly, and as soon as the show is over, you go separate ways. Its kind of heart breaking, but with art and creation also comes hurt and sorrow. If its meant to be, paths always have the opportunity to cross again, especially in this business. 

Anyway, Sleeping Beauty is over and I can put it on my resume and walk away from it. Next up? Holiday shows! New blogs about being on tour coming soon.....

Last Week of Sleeping Beauty

Time to wrap up the remaining details of the Sleeping Beauty tour. Its hard to imagine the show isn't even over (we still have one final performance Nov 16^th in Hayward), because we have all moved on to rehearsing or performing in our next shows!

Anyway, last Sunday we drove to Modesto, CA. The Gallo Performing Arts Center is this amazing space that gets great acts through it. I mean, we couldn't even use the green room because Bill Engvall was using it to watch a football game! Can you believe we even were on the marquis outside?! I tried to get a picture of it... but I had no luck. :( Oh well.

We stayed in Modesto that night, watched the Giants win the world series (GO GIANTS!) and then performed two more shows on Monday before packing up and moving on to Vacaville, CA. Cray Cray Ray Jay really really wanted to go to the Outlets; she had been bugging the tour for days saying how she wanted to go shopping. She needed a shopping fix, being the shopaholic she is, lol. The girls went to the outlets without me. I didn't see a point in going because it was the end of the month, meaning I was broke! That, and I was more interested in following Hurricane Sandy on the weather channel, and witness them re-classifying her as a Superstorm! Two of our actors, Sebren Snooch and Mama Bupp, are from the northern east coast, so they were really invested in Sandy. I have a great friend in New York that I was concerned about, but he's fine. Its hard to image such a crazy storm the size of Sandy happened in my life time—there hasn't been any record of a storm that great in 200 years! We were joking around and saying the movie is being made as we speak for 2013...!

The Vacaville space was good, and the performance seemed to go by very quickly. I think we were all ready to go back home. We spent the whole morning anticipating our return....

We got back to Sunnyvale by 2:00pm that Tuesday. Just in time for me to get my Free Taco from Taco Bell, courtesy of Angel Pagan—thank you for stealing second base!! After the third Taco Bell, I finally found a line that wasn't outside and around the corner! And you know? Their Dorritos Taco is actually really good. It tasted even better because it was free, baby, yeah!

I got my taco and went to Livermore to get my baby boy back! My parents watched my dog while I was on tour! I missed my puppy and was so happy to see him!

We had one last performance on Thursday, Nov 1^st. Since it was in Fremont, it was what we call a day tour—we met early in the morning, performed in Fremont, and still made it back in time to work the afternoon shift. We were at the community college of Fremont for two shows. The space was more intimate and smaller than a lot of the venues we performed in on tour, but the audience was great and we ended with two wonderful performances.

 

I feel proud of Sleeping Beauty. The show itself has magic, dancing, and a brief sword fight! Its a great kids' show and I think CTC new what they were doing when they decided to open the season with Sleeping Beauty. I think we had an incredibly talented and fun cast with whom I loved playing and working; I'm happy to have started my new career with this group of artists... Yes, I am a very sentimental individual...!  

Second Week on Tour...

So! I understand its been a while since I've last blogged anything. This is because my computer decided to go on strike on me in the middle of tour! I went a full week of tour without my darling laptop! Argh! However, my darling laptop is all better. This means I will have to write twice as much to update everyone on the Sleeping Beauty Tour. What I'll do is post about last week now, and then either tonight or tomorrow I will finish the tour information.

Anyway, to the left you will see our van! See? I told you she was big :) In this van we have three seats, including the driver! The rest of the space is completely packed with our sets, props, and costumes.

So, our first stop was in Folsom, CA. We went to the Folsom Lake Community College in their 3 Stages Theater. We spent Sunday in their studio for our two matinee performances. Now, I love our costumes and makeup designs, but they were meant to be seen from a distance. I felt the studio was a bit too intimate for our show ... however, we still received great feedback at our Q&A afterwards! The best part is ... I know people in Folsom!!! In fact, my sister and my step mother took me out to dinner that night! That is my twin to the right. Well, she's not really my twin, but everyone says we could be since we really do look a lot alike. We are two years exactly apart. To the day. So, we're twins, only two years apart! :) So I got to hang out with my sister and step-mother while watching the Giants kick the Cardinals' butts! (Pre-World Series)

We stayed at the Hampton Inn in Folsom. Monday morning is when the rain started to make an appearance. Having morning performances is already exhausting enough, but add rain to the experience and you get some not-so-excited actors! That morning, we moved into the larger of the 3 Stages. I forgot to take a photo of the studio from Sunday (sorry about that), but below is a photo of the larger house. The studio sat about 80+, whereas this second theater sat approximately 800. The space was fantastic and the stage dimensions were vastly bigger than the day before's. Unfortunately, 

the sight lines weren't exactly ideal. Sight lines are the spaces in between the black tabs and legs that create the wings on either side of the stage. It is usually where the actors or props wait in between scenes they are needed in. Its so difficult being in the wings of a stage that has bad sight lines because if you're not careful, the audience can see you. The classic line is "if you can see the audience, the audience can see you." This makes movement backstage limited and very frustrating. Nonetheless, we had our performances, they were a smash hit, and then we hit the road for our next location and venue in....

 Fresno, CA!!! Oh Boy! I asked Cray Cray to give me her best “excited to be in Fresno face,” and up above there in the car is the best she could come up with. Fresno wasn't too bad of an experience, but due to the weather and a lack of geographical knowledge of the town, we all stayed in our rooms that night. We stayed at a Best Western and I don't know about the rest of my road family, but I just opted to having a pb&j that night. I was too distracted with Game 7 of Giants vs. Cardinals. Can I just say that was one of the most intense and cinematic/dramatic games I've ever seen?! Playing in the rain, the third inning that just wouldn't end, Sergio Romo closing the night.... It was an epic game with an equally epic result—Giants to the World Series, baby! :) I watched the game with Papa Char, Sar Benj, and Sebren Snooch, ending with lots of hugs and high fives!

 Sorry, back to the tour! The Fresno Tower Theater is actually a fun space. Again, the sight lines aren't ideal, plus the crossover duels as our dressing room, but the house! The house had this 70's tacky charm to it. I kept comparing it to Bimbo's in San Francisco, but no one in my road family could back me up on that claim since I suppose I'm the only one who's ever been there. The theater sat 700+ and, man, the kids loved us! I'd have to say those kids were the most engaged, responsive, and the loudest of any of our crowds! I couldn't get a picture of the house, so unfortunately, a picture of the tower outside will have to do.

 

Once we were done with Fresno, we packed the car up again and headed south for Arroyo Grande. I LOVED our hotel! Once again, we were at a Best Western branch, but it was an Inn & Suites branch. The hotel had a Spanish elegance to it, with a charming garden and stone statues and walls. The pool area was again very Spanish; I couldn't get over the beautiful architecture of the place. I roomed with Killer Kelly that night. I think this hotel is probably my favorite of the bunch. That's only a couple of pictures above there....

 Wednesday morning is when we got to the Arroyo Grande venue. We were at another high school. I still can't get over how many high schools have such amazing theaters! The theater sat 800+ and had a modern feel to it.

 The little town of Arroyo Grande also had its charm. We all went to lunch together and then did our own thing, walking around and exploring. I found a store with the funniest sign in the window. It was amusing enough to take a picture and share; I thought so, anyway....












 Later that day we drove down to Thousand Oaks, CA. The best part about this place? I have family near by! I have some cousins and an aunt and uncle that live in Moorpark, CA. It turns out that's only fifteen minutes away from Thousand Oaks. I spontaneously texted my aunt, not having any real expectations. She actual texted me back. Within a few hours, I was at the Cheesecake Factory, having dinner and eating cheesecake with my cousins and Aunt. I had the pumpkin spice cheesecake, only served around this time of year.... Yes. It was delicious. And yes, I know—my cousin in beautiful :) Oh, and yes, I know—that night the Giants won their first world series game against the Tigers! I was back at the hotel bar with other road family to witness that!

Thursday morning is when we performed at the Thousand Oaks venue. It was some sort of Center for Performing Arts. I'd say it sat about 400+ seats. Some may say the bright orange seats were a bit too much, but I'd beg to differ. I actually thought it made the theater house seem more fun and unexpected.

 Our last stop was in Santa Barbara, CA. The Inn we stayed at, the Sandman Inn, was totally old-school! Palm trees, retro diner of a breakfast room, bright colored lights next to the pool—you name it! We arrived to the hotel earlier than usual: 3:30pm. Because we were all so beat, I think its safe to say we pretty much all crashed immediately in our own rooms. That night I was paired with Cray Cray, but since she has a friend in Santa Barbara, I practically had the room to myself most of the night. (Though I watched the Giant's game in the boys' room!)

Friday morning we had just one performance at the Arlington Theater in Santa Barbara. This has to be the most beautiful venue we've been to. It seats 2000! The seats are vintage red velvet, and the inside of the house has this out-door feel to it, with stone windows, columns, and flowers cascading from the windows. It almost looks like the Blue Bayou restaurant inside Pirates of the Caribbean. There were even stars on the ceiling! I wish I could have taken a better picture, but I couldn't get the lighting right at all! Once I found out how legit the theater was, I freaked out! Did you know “Phantom of the Opera” played on that stage?! I acted on a stage a touring Phantom cast performed on! AHHHHHHHH!!!

Oh, and they also had autographed photos from Gone With The Wind... just my favorite classic Hollywood film! Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable are idols of mine! So graceful, so elegant, so sexy! I loved it here!

After lunch, we hit the road and went straight back to Sunnyvale. I think we were all anxious to get back. We really do all get along, for the most part, but we really needed a break—a break from the show and from each other. So I drove from Santa Barbara to Sunnyvale in the van, then from Sunnyvale to Livermore in my car; I wanted to spend my day off with my parents and my dog! :)

And that wraps up my second week on tour with CTC's Sleeping Beauty! Tune in next week for information about the remaining week on tour.

First Week on the Road!

On the road again! Just can't wait to get on the road again....!
CTC's first 2012-2013 tour started this week! I am proud to say I am apart of the talented cast of "The Sleeping Beauty," and we have had quite a week! Our tour is 3 weeks long and it goes all over the west coast! As you can see to your right, we started in Oregon! YES! We crossed the border of my lovely state of California to cross over to our mountainous sister, Oregon. We unfortunately passed through Ashland :( It was for a good cause, though, because we were in a hurry to make it to our motel in Grants Pass: the Redwood Motel! This motel was actually a lot classier than we all expected! It had a pool, a steaming hot tub, and huge flat-screen TVs!

 We went out to dinner that first night to a place our Motel suggested. Even on our room keys, there was an offer for 3 samplers of their beers the restaurant had brewed themselves. Anyone who knows me knows I don't drink beer, but I went with everyone else. It felt important to us all to start the tour with a heart-felt toast, especially while we're all still getting along! Below are my cast-mates and our Stage Manager. We have such a versatile group of performers with different backgrounds, experiences, and personalities. I won't give any names, but from here on out, I'll refer to them with their Road Names, pin-pointed by yours truly :)

Starting from the left to the right, we have Sebren Snooch, then Papa Char, Sar Benj, Cray Cray Ray Jay, Killer Kelly, and Mama Bupp. This is my road family :)

We performed twice in Grants Pass at this amazing high school. No really! These kids have no idea how spoiled they are in Oregon! Their theater had amazing acoustics, seated about 800, and was architecturally modern and beautiful. Did I mention the dimensions of their stage?! Probably not because I have no idea how much more exact I can get other than "IT WAS BIIIG!" Again I say... SPOILED! It was a fun experience, and actually really hard. I have such a respect for bands and performing troupes who do nothing but perform in different venues all the time. Its really difficult to be in a new space and adjust to the surroundings and make it work. We usually only have 2 hours before every show to get all the sets, props, microphones, and costumes set in the new space, THEN put your makeup on, THEN have sound/mic check, THEN have fight and dance calls... and then do the show!

After a classic burger lunch, we said goodbye to Grants Pass and Oregon. Grants Pass is about an 8 hour drive from Sunnyvale, so NO! We did not drive all the way back after that. We hit the road for about 3 hours south of our first destination. Hello Redding, CA! My roomie that night, Cray Cray Ray Jay, made an observation: we all kind of stayed in our room and had "me time" that second night. Oh no, are we all ready getting tired of each other?! Nah, being on the road and performing twice in front of children is really exhausting. As you can see to the right, Killer Kelly looks up to Papa Char a lot and there's nothing but love to and from we performing artists.

Oh, and FYI, I may not like beer, but I'm a much happier camper when I have a Margarita in my hand!

 I'm a sad panda when the Margarita goes away! Boo :(

 Our second day of performances was at another high school, but this one had a much more charming and vintage feel to it. Anyone from the South Bay or Peninsula of the Bay Area knows about the Fox theater in Redwood City... it was kind of like that! Another group of spoiled teenagers who have no idea how lucky they are! ... No, I'm sure they realize how lucky they are, at least I would hope so! Another theater that seats about 800, but this time with classic red velvet seats, white red and gold accents around the classic architecture, and the dramatic and comedic masks painted in gold all around the chandeliers. Classy and sassy! Just like me! :)

 That's all I have to report this week. All I'd like to add in this parting moment is be kind to yourselves and each other on the road. When you spend a lot of time with a group of people who are not your family, the dynamics and emotions are always changing. Be professional and be an adult, but always remember to loosen up and have some fun too. This way, your experience will remain meaningful and fun!That's my tip as a first-time, touring actor!