Home sweet home

This has been a really weird couple of months for my family. For one thing, we're moving again. We just moved a year ago, but a mix-up with a bad-egg of a landlord has actually opened a great opportunity for us. We just purchased our very first house! Very exciting (I'm loving the fact that I get to paint my room for the first time in my life) but also very stressful. Moving is chaotic, especially when the move-ees are a family of packrats. I hate the idea of stuffing my treasures in boxes and moving them in disarray. It'll be great once we're at the new house and unpacked, but for now, it's just work and stress.
Another fun situation adding to our stress levels is my dad's job. Bad economy equals bad job security, and even large industries like my dad's are looking to cut some employees. My dad's in a good place--he's a great worker, and he has several other job possibilities lined up should he be downsized--but the not-knowing what will come next is still stressful, especially for him.
In the midst of all of this weirdness, there is my favorite activity in the whole widest of the world: theatre. At the moment I'm tap-dancing in/stage mananging a musical called "The Brain From Planet X." And not only that, but I'm fulfilling one of my lifelong dreams: being in a show with my theatre coach, a.k.a. my acting benefactor, a.k.a. my dad. He's in the show, too--playing the role of the ever-suffering and taciturn Private Partz. (Get it? Private Partz? Tee hee!)
The show is hilarious--it's a parody of all those oh-so-cheesy 1950's the-aliens-are-coming-to-take-over-the-world sci-fi movies. Plus it's a musical. Perfection much? The characters are all larger than life, from the hard-working inventor-for-the-government perfect-1950s-father Fred to the faithful-alien-lackey Zubrick to the world's oldest one-star general, General Mills. (Once again: tee hee!)
And besides the show, there's the theater itself. Buck Creek Players is my second home. Ever since I walked through the doors to audition for A Christmas Carol: Scrooge and Marley a year and a half ago, BCP has offered me nothing but opportunities and great friends. Even when I'm not directly involved with a show, I just love being there. I've acted, assistant directed, stage managed, run sound, and built sets. I love it all.
It's strangely grounding for me--amidst all the chaos and disorder of moving, painting, packing, etc., I know that every night, my dad and I will jump in the car, make the half-hour trip to Buck Creek, and sing through the score of the show or block out scenes. I love watching Dad perform on the stage I'm so familiar with, among the actors, directors, and crew members I know so well. I love sharing the experience with him. He's cheered on my acting endeavors for so long, I love knowing that this time, I'll not only be cheering him on, but I'll be right there with him backstage. It's a dream come true.
To a fearless father who wasn't afraid to audition with his daughter, no matter what the outcome: thank you, and all my love. You're the best in the world.

Theatre endeavors

As promised, here is a brief (but enthusiastic!) report on my dealings in theatre of late.
Just recently I was contacted by one of my friends at Buck Creek Players, who was wondering if I'd like to run sound for their upcoming show, Flaming Guns of the Purple Sage. I've run sound at Buck Creek once before, for their production of Mark Twain Tonight. I'm not sure what my rehearsal schedule is going to be for this--I'm supposed to be meeting the director tomorrow evening, and I assume I'll get a better idea of what's going on then.
Then, starting October, I'll be assistant directing Home For Christmas, also at Buck Creek Players. The lady who's directing is a good theatre friend of mine; she produced the first show I was ever in, was in Mark Twain Tonight, and got me set up with my first assistant director gig (which was last spring.) She's really talented and super nice, so I'm looking forward to working with her.
I'm also slated to stage manage at Buck Creek next spring, but I'll give you more details about that when it gets closer to time.
Buck Creek Players is one of my home bases for theatre; Indiana Repertory Theatre is another. I just got out of summer acting camp there last July; it's an amazing place, and if you ever get a chance to see one of their shows, I HUGELY recommend them. I have not met someone working at that theatre, be it artistic director to janitor, who hasn't been creative and kind and wonderful to work with. I don't have anything in particular coming up at this theatre, as far as I know (I'm much more likely to take classes there than to be in productions there, lol) but you can be sure that I'll be attending shows. If nothing else, I'll be seeing their annual production of A Christmas Carol, which always features an amazing cast and is fantastic to watch.
I'll do a more expanded feature on each of these shows as they come and go, but for the time being, there's where I am in the acting world. :)