2015 Shows

It's been a while since I posted, oh my goodness! What a year it's been for theatre for me!

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM by William Shakespeare

This summer I was in an outdoor production of A Midsummer Night's Dream with Steamer No. 10 in Albany, NY. I got to play one of my dream roles as Titania, Queen of the Fairies.

It's hard to tell but when this shot was taken it was POURING that night. There were no complaints from our actors. We pushed on and the audience stayed! It was a wonderful bonding moment for us as a cast, as we huddled in our producer's car with the heat on full blast. Ah, the joys of outdoor theatre!

It was a very rewarding experience. I was able to work with both adult actors as well as child/teen actors. Most adult actors frown upon working with kids because they are unpredictable and "annoying"; however, I enjoyed the experience! These kids and teens were professional and worked hard at their parts. They enveloped themselves in the language of Shakespeare and became invested in their characters. It was joy to see how much they grew over the rehearsal process and how they shined during the performances! Some of the teens that were a part of the production I knew already from Drama Kids which made me even more proud of their performances!

Cast photo. Daww! (Me, center second row)

One of the most rewarding things for me that happened with this production actually happened long after it was over. I was in the grocery store and I had a gentleman approach me, asking if I was in Midsummer over the summer. I smiled and said yes, and he told me it was a beautiful production and everyone did an amazing job. I walked a little taller and with a skip in my step afterward. I was elated!

DRACULA by Steven Dietz

Oh hey Harker. (Me pictured top right corner)

And now for something completely different! Ah Dracula...Where do I even start? Dracula was a roller-coaster ride to say the least. In this production, we bonded as a cast solely because of all the the troubles we had with this production. From casting to recasting to double rehearsals to recasting again. Technical problems. Flying broomsticks and broken props (long story). The end product, however, is something that we were all very proud of! And our audiences loved it! After the show we had a lot of rave reviews from our audiences, as well local newspapers! Our director told us that it was easily in the top five of highest grossing productions in ticket sales for the past nine seasons at Schenectady Civic Playhouse! What a milestone to be a part of!

(Me sitting right side in my Vixen garb giving the sultry, blood-lust eyes) 

"I am a prisoner!" - Harker

It's not every show where you get to eat a foam heart covered in stage blood! (Me first from the left).

This scene is a perfect example of some of the hardships we faced when presenting this show. In the original script, Dietz calls for the Vixens (brides of Dracula) to pull a baby from the bag and begin eating it. The Board Members of the theater said this was a no-go and actually wanted us to use a toy cat. Our director shot it down instantly for fear of PETA and other animal rights activists protesting the show and theater. (This was shortly after the Cecil the Lion incident so it was DEFINITELY not going to fly with audiences!) Originally our director was just going to leave the baby in and not tell anybody but for fear of shutting the show down, he decided to try something else instead. Our stage /props manager suggested BBQ chicken wings but it didn't cut it. Then she found stress balls online that were shaped like hearts! It's readable enough on stage and makes sense to the audience. Perfect! Problem solved! One night I got too into the scene and accidentally bit into the heart and had foam get into my mouth. I spat that out so fast after I got offstage haha.

Dinnertime!

Our creepy intro. During the photo session we didn't take a lot of pictures of the attendants. (Me downstage left).