Lets Make a Resolution: Lets Always Stay Friends

Wow... I cant believe how fast March went by. It seems like only yesterday we were counting down the days till rehearsals started and how excited we all were to be in Rent!! It was all so surreal. This whole process from rehearsals to performance times has really taught me so much. I have prayed for a long time to get into something that I would love. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that it would be with New Line Theatre performing in a musical that I have dreamed of doing for years. This show has really made me go back to my roots of doing research and asking questions and learning about the space and time that you are in. It helped me rebuild my core. But having two awesome directors like Scott and Mike and such a beyond talented cast around me that's when I really began to see things in a new way. Being on that stage with this talented group who I now have the honor of calling my friends, I really got a chance to take in the emotion and laughter and tears so Rent became more than a show on a stage... it became life. It was so wonderful going through all of these different characters and different struggles and having those moments like in the Life Café where we all come together as friends and celebrate friendships and relationships and just enjoy life in that moment. It was even better seeing how the audience responded and how much they became apart of the show. It was such a great feeling seeing and hearing how moved our audience members were. How much they felt apart of everything. Some even came back again and again and every time they saw new things and felt new things and always came out with a big smile on their face and tears of joy from their heart. That to me is the true Power of Theatre. That is why I love to do this and why I will always do this. I'm truly grateful and forever thankful to Scott for this amazing opportunity. He has given us direction but also gave us the chance to find our way and create and turn Rent into this piece that i'm sure St Louis will still be talking about for a very long time. I want to thank this amazing cast for being a Life Support to me and giving me the chance to see how amazing and wonderful you all truly are. Big thanks to Kerrie, Gabe and Mike for your awesome work on the production end. You guys rock big time and are beyond amazing!!! To Justin and the entire New Line Band, you guys helped us sound awesome every show. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!! To Rob our Set and Lights Designer: You are truly a theatre wizard!! And a final Thank You to the wonderful people of St Louis and everyone who travelled to St Louis to come see the show. Thank you for sharing this amazing journey with us. It is very hard to say goodbye to this show but I couldn't be more proud and honored and happy to have been apart of this wonderful ride. Rent will always be in my heart and a piece of a dream fulfilled. Goodbye my beautiful Alphabet City and onto the next crazy awesome adventure. Viva La Vie Boheme!!  

Running of Act One and the Questions for My Characters

Monday was a very exciting day. Running all of Act One. Just the excitement of blending everything in that act together with such an amazing cast was unbelievable. Scott gave us a lot of great pointers based off of Uta Hagen's Methods which was to really focus on our characters... who they are, what their lives are like, etc. Playing different characters such as a homeless woman and a woman with AIDS really made me stop a think for a minute. Being a person having a home and a job and reasonable healthcare I have honestly no idea what its like to be without a home or with no way to see a doctor but playing these characters really made me take a step back and ask myself these questions:

1. Would I be able to survive in the winter with no roof over my head?
2. Would I be able to maintain my humility or would I succumb to anger and frustration?
Then I asked myself these questions as my characters:
1. What was my life like before I fell into hard times?
2. Where are my family and my friends?
3. Why do I have such anger towards artists?
4. What lead to my addiction of drugs?
5. How much has my life changed knowing I have AIDS?
6. How did I find the Life Support Group?
7. How do I feel about death?

Many questions ran through my mind about all of those things... moments and tragedies in life that as an actor I really had to think about that I had never really thought about before. It really helps me to look all of life's hard times and knowing to always appreciate each day and realize that life is a very precious thing. As this rehearsal process carries on I will continue to ask these questions to myself so I continue to understand that these situations off stage are an unfortunate reality that people are dealing with all over the world and I hope this production opens the eyes of the audience about fighting addiction, dealing with being homeless, taking every day for what its worth not knowing when it will be your last and most importantly Love.

Let the fun begin!!!

Finally!!! Rent Rehearsals have begun. On Sunday I could not contain my excitement but I was also very nervous. There were some cast members I had yet to meet and I felt at the time that my vocals weren't as up to par as I had wanted them to be. You know when you feel like your throat has a whole bunch of nasty gunk and stuff in it that you cant quite get rid of especially right at that moment you really need your singing voice and its just slightly being blocked... yeah wasn't a cool feeling but gotta work with what you got (thank God for vocal warm ups).

Once we started I will admit I was thinking the songs were gonna be exactly like what I heard on the Broadway soundtrack but going through La Vie Boheme and Support Group I realized that some of the notes were completely different and that definitely made me look at the musical in a new light and really open my mind to new ways of singing the songs without losing the message or taking away from its originality. I find it so amazing that we as a cast are given the freedom to sing these songs in our own way and put our personality in it but still manage to keep the trueness of Rent that everyone knows and loves.

I absolutely loved singing with this amazing group of people!! Every part of the rehearsal was amazing but one of my favorite parts was singing Support Group. The simplicity and the beauty of us coming together in that amazing harmony was unreal and gave me chills. I could feel the excitement just running in my veins. At that moment I knew I was honestly apart of something so special, something truly real and something out of this world amazing that I have prayed for years to be apart of and now its here. It might still take me a minute to truly realize that im in a show that ive been a fan of for years that ive dreamed of doing and that im surrounded by such talented and kind people. I think this show is gonna kick some butt!!

Get Ready World!! You haven't seen anything yet!!! No Day But Today!!!

An exciting new year!!

I remember when I first auditioned for New Line Theatre for Rent and Hands On A Hardbody. I was extremely nervous. I had no idea what was gonna happen all I could do e was pray and hope for the best. I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would get cast in the ensemble for Rent or even get a solo in Seasons Of Love which I consider a huge honor.
Getting a chance to meet my director Scott and all of the amazing cast members has been such a wonderful thing. It really helped me get even more excited about the amazing moments to come.  Its getting down to the wire for the first rehearsal to begin and at the moment I've caught a little bug and currently have no voice. But this to shall pass. I cannot wait for such an amazing beginning to the new year!!