October 31, 2008

Happy Halloween!  With the opening of The War Party, the Phillies winning the world series and today being a fun holiday, I am having a great time!  Read a few new plays this week, which is always a treat: Intimate Apparel, Honour, Chicken and The Balcony Scene.  Looking forward to a fun run of the show during this election season.

October 9, 2008

In the midst of rehearsals for The War Party, teaching at the Walnut and auditioning.  The week I spent directing The Boy Who Cried Bully for the Walnut's outreach program was extremely enjoyable and doing a workshop on bullying with a kindergarten class this week was both eye-opening and rewarding. 

August 19, 2008

I am really enjoying small town life in Abilene, KS.  The audiences are wonderful, the community is friendly,  the cast is fun on and off stage and there are so many old Victorian houses to tour here during our time off !   I haven't done a comedy in a long time so this is a wonderfully refreshing time for me.  I must say that I am thoroughly enjoying exploring the 16 different characters that I play in the show!

August 9, 2008

Quilters is such a fun show to work on!  We finished our fifth day of rehearsal today and we open in less than a week.  The music is hard to learn (mostly 5 and 7 part harmonies throughout  & the cast is only 7 women) but the music is also very beautiful. Everyone at the Great Plains Theatre and the cast is wonderful to work with and we are having such a great time putting this show up on it's feet.  Our director, Doug, is such a dear and is putting his whole heart into this production.  I can't wait to share this with an audience next week!

May 12, 2008

Picnic closed two days ago and already I miss the show!  The show really grew during the run, the audiences loved the story and the cast and crew were exceptional to work with.  Thanks to the Montgomery Theater for another great experience!

April 19, 2008

Picnic opened last night and was well received by our audience.  The entire ensemble is fantastic to work with - they are great artists and great people.  I am very excited to explore this play further during the run. Inge has so many layers built in to this play that there are oodles of discoveries to still make!

March 9, 2008

I adore working with Malcolm Black at the Walnut Street Theatre.  As his assistant on this show, we have staged Quartet in the first week of rehearsal with the exquisite cast.  It has been such a treat seeing the four actors come in almost completely off book and ready to give life to the plethora of ideas that they have.  The show is funny, sentimental and poignant - not to be missed! 

February 26, 2008

During the last few weeks, I have been choreographing a number for the middle school at The Baldwin School for girls.  They are doing a show titled "Dust" and I have been brought in to choreograph a number to Pat Benetar's hit song "Hit me with your best shot."  I have to say, these four girls that are in the number are so great to work with and rehearse on their own between our sessions together.  I just had to share how duly impressed I am with these girls - their hard work and commitment to the show, as well as the director of the show, Cynthia Angst, for putting all of this together.

February 1, 2008 

Only one week until UPTA's in Memphis!  I have never participated in something like this before - where so many theatre companies from around the country are present for one 90 second audition.  I'm very excited to audition and I've never been to Memphis before.  To the right is a photo of the stage where the audition will be held.  I am really looking forward to next weekend! 

January 9, 2008 

Happy New Year!  2008 started off with a bang as I began rehearsals by directing The Boy Who Cried Bully at the Walnut Street Theatre.  We have a super talented cast who put the show together in 5 days! I am very excited to share this fun creation with the thousands of children that will benefit from the tour this spring.

November 30, 2007

Working as the Outreach Coordinator at the Walnut has been such a great learning experience!  I love being a part of getting live theatre into our schools.  When parents/teachers are enthusiastic about the show and the kids experience  it makes what  we do as artists feel much appreciated.  The Dickens Village at Macy's is quite fun too.  The kids who are all dressed up to see Santa are unbelievably cute and I love seeing their excitement, shyness and overall belief during their experience.  Even the older senior citizen kids are great to talk with and watch re-live the spirit of the holiday through a tradition they've participated in for decades now!

October 2, 2007

The Barrymore Awards were held last night at the Crystal Tea Room.  Everyone from the Philadelphia theatre scene was there - such a wonderful event to bring all of us together.  It was a lovely evening - dinner was great and it is always such fun to get dressed up!  Congratulations to all of the award recipients!

September 16, 2007

The Fringe Festival is officially over - what a great collection of theatre premiered throughout the city!  I had the opportunity to see a few shows on the nights when Six of One was dark.  We closed last night to a great house and I am so thrilled that I had the opportunity to perform in such an exciting new musical with a terrific cast.

September 1, 2007

Six of One opened last night as part of the Fringe Festival.  We had a very friendly, supportive audience and got alot of positive feedback. The show was so much fun to perform and the whole cast is excited/curious to see how it grows throughout the run. Hope to see you there!

August 6, 2007

First rehearsal for Six of One was today.  The show has great music and a cast that I'm truly looking forward to working with. 

July 21, 2007

The cast of Charlotte's Web has truly blown me away.  We staged the show over the last five days and they have been very prepared for every rehearsal, working at a break-neck pace.  Working with these teenagers is always a great learning experience.  Watching young actors begin to understand the process of acting, what it means to act on the line, etc... is truly exciting! I cannot wait to see how this show turns out once we get onto our set with all of the technical elements!

Image credit: Justin Perri