First page of the theater archive.

boxes!

Posted by jessica on Nov 13, 2009 with 6 Comments
in Performance, Thoughts and Feelings, photography
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Boxes. Parcels. Packages.

Do those words incite the same kind of excitement in you as they do me?
And no, I am not talking Christmas here. Not yet, anyway.
But it’s on parr with that, I’d say–the greatest of holidays.
It’s time to go home.
To box up my stuff, tape it up tight, and mark it with my name and address.
To send it back to where it belongs and more importantly, where I belong.
And just looking at all this stuff makes me so happy.
Actually, I was rushing to finish boxing up my trunk during the Paul and Cassie scenes tonight. So there I was in my leotard and fishnets, knee deep in packaging supplies. And after getting all my stuff into five boxes, I was faced with the monumental task of carrying them to the company manager office, all the way on the other side of the theater. And then there was the added hassle of my rib and how I am not really supposed to be lifting much.
But that’s when I got creative.
And found a dolly.
Perfect.
And so I rolled my boxes from one side of the theater to the next, making more than a few people laugh at me along the way.
I just love it when a plan comes together.
And if you know who said that, you get 5 points to be used at your discretion.
5 whole probably useless points, people. Now THINK.

jazz hands

Posted by jessica on Oct 22, 2009 with No Comments
in Funny Stuff, Loved Ones, Thoughts and Feelings
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If in fact everything we do on this earth acts like some kind of metaphysical boomerang and eventually returns to us, then somewhere along the way I did something right.

Because nobody sat next to me on today’s flight.
That’s right. No grumpy man to ask, do you mind? No commentary from the peanut gallery, remarking, “Boy, you sure do get comfortable!” after I have finally extricated myself from the pretzel-like position into which I had twisted my legs; and better yet, no fake smile in response. No inquisitive well-meaning person who, upon finding out why exactly I am going to Saskatoon in the first place, wants to know everything about this business, even the most insulting question: Do you get paid?
This isn’t the peace corp, people.
Believe it or not, when we sign up to leave our homes and loved ones, we sort of expect a paycheck in return. And though we sing What I Did For Love every night, and sing it well, that doesn’t preclude the fact that love isn’t going to pay your mortgage. You can’t send your credit card bills back with a kiss mark and a check for zero dollars. And though yes, we love this, we love it a lot more when it pays.
So here I am, allowing myself a good honest sprawl between two (count them: one, two!) chairs on this fine aircraft from Air Canada Jazz.
And no, that’s not me being cute because I happen to like that style of dancing and don’t even get me started on the music. That’s really what it’s called. Air Canada JAZZ. I was half hoping they’d bedazzle me with some jazz hands when I boarded the plane, but I suppose they have to save their fingers for beverage preparation and closing overhead compartments and um, the actual act of flying this plane. And I don’t blame them.
But something else about jazz hands.
I dated a guy named John who was a fabulous musician. Actually, every guy I have ever dated has been a fabulous musician. All two of them. Well, three if you count the time I wasn’t allowed to really date unless it was this one sweet guy who my parents’ more than approved of, and so let me date him. But he was a fabulous musician too. Which wasn’t my point–so let’s get back on track here.
While I was dating John, my brother had written a musical. He cast it and rented a theater and directed it and everything. We were all gung-ho about it because honestly, it was great. Much better than a lot of crap poor actors are forced to learn and sell to audiences world wide. Now, I had always wanted to be in a musical, and though my brother knew this, what he needed more than one more person moonlighting on the stage was a pianist to accompany the show.
So I swallowed my disappointment, watched all my friends and siblings perform, and accompanied them with (mostly) a good attitude. I do have to say, though, that one total perk to being the maestro was the clothes. I didn’t get it in my contract or anything like that, but upon finding out that I needed something respectable to wear for the performances, my mom sure did run to urban outfitters and buy me at least three black, adorable outfits.
Cha-ching.
Now who wishes they weren’t in the spotlight, enjoying the accolades of the audience, but were instead seated at the piano, wearing an adorable new outfit? That’s what I thought.
Anyway, there was this one song in the score that was all crazy and jazzy and have I mentioned before how I don’t really read music so well? I play by ear mostly, can totally navigate through written chords, but will be reduced to plucking painfully slow if you put sheet music in front of me. So yeah, don’t ask me to accompany you for an audition anytime soon. But, in order for me to help remember the feel for this one song, and because of the fact that the chords weren’t as straight forward as they appeared, I wrote in big lettering on the top of the page,
JAZZ HANDS
and then proceeded to draw two sets of hands, fingers outstretched in a way that would make Corky Sinclair proud, in that classic jazz hand way.
This was my own score, so I never thought anyone would see my little reminder and didn’t give it another thought other than to well, be reminded of the song’s jazziness when I flipped to that particular page and saw the hands.
Until my boyfriend John came to the dress rehearsal.
John, piano genius, who sat right next to me and offered to turn pages.
And then when he saw those jazz hands…well, he laughed. And laughed some more. And wouldn’t stop making jazz hands of his own. I guess he figured I could use some more reminders or something. Maybe my C’s weren’t sounding diminished enough or my blue notes weren’t the exact right shade of blue.
He sort of made it up to me, though, when he sent me a card and compared me to a jazz chord. Nobody had ever done that before and I thought that if I were going to be anything other than me, a jazz chord would maybe be perfect. It was a sweet compliment and he didn’t even mention those jazz hands in that card once.
Though we both knew he could have.

why this sunday was pretty good

Posted by jessica on Sep 28, 2009 with No Comments
in Performance, Thoughts and Feelings, photography
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Today was a pretty good day. I woke up kind of late. Something to do with late conversations about cereal, I am sure. But then I got myself to the theater. I had planned on taking the warm-up class that our veneered choreographer gives when she is in town, but I didn’t quite leave my [...]

a day in the life of

Posted by jessica on Sep 3, 2009 with No Comments
in Performance, Thoughts and Feelings
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Since I moved to this new city that is somewhere in the prefecture that is called Hyogo (and I would totally be more specific if I remembered the actual name of the city), I now have an hour commute to the theater. And this commute is riddled with tickets–a pink one and a blue one, [...]

finally, I did it.

Posted by jessica on Jul 29, 2009 with No Comments
in Thoughts and Feelings
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I completely surprised myself today. I mean, really, I did something that I’ve never ever done. Sure, I’ve thought about it before. I’ve even felt guilty because I’ve felt like I should do it. But still, it just hadn’t happened. So I stopped expecting it. Which is why I was so surprised to sweat profusely [...]

only in texas

Posted by jessica on Jul 10, 2009 with No Comments
in Funny Stuff, photography
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Okay, so every day on my way to the theater I pass by a sign sporting this word…And it makes me smile. Every time. What kind of word is Texarkana anyway? A great one, I can tell you that. *I apologize for the google image I have to display; I went to take a picture [...]

Godspell

Posted by jessica on Jun 29, 2009 with No Comments
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It’s crazy to think that this morning I was in Milwaukee. Since then I have flown to Baltimore, got a ride with my cool sis Jenna, kissed my cats, kissed my husband, had lunch with a dear friend, and was able to be in the audience of a downright thrilling, hilarious, and moving production of [...]

legless lizards and lokie

Posted by jessica on May 21, 2009 with No Comments
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This little dude, Lokie, has been sharing my dressing room this week.And I’d way prefer Lokie over this little dude sharing my dressing room, I must say.Lokie belongs to one of the cast members and has been busy all week eating my socks, kissing me as much as humanly dogly possible, and altogether being really [...]

best gateway. ever.

Posted by jessica on May 15, 2009 with No Comments
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So yeah, we’ve all heard about it. You know the Gateway to the West and all that. But honestly, in person, it’s really pretty amazing.Rising 630 feet above the ground, the Arch overlooks the Mississippi river. And from the top of it, I was very sure that I saw a snake in the water. David [...]

my bad

Posted by jessica on Apr 25, 2009 with No Comments
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Recently, I had to fill out a vast amount of papers involving all manner of numbers and letters pertaining to me just so that I can play Kristine in Japan. I am pretty sure it has to do with procuring a working visa. Anyway. I suppose since we are a company of talented artists, some [...]