Long Time, No Update
Well, not exactly. I think my last update was like a week or two ago, but most of my more recent entries are pop culture rantings. It's been quite a while since I wrote about what I'm actually doing when I'm not seated in front of a computer or television screen.
The biggest news is that I just closed a production of the children's show "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day." Which is based on a children's book from the 70s that I never read as a child, but is apparently still quite popular. While I don't care for the book and find the title character to be whiney and annoying, I absolutely loved my experience working on the show. Our cast of 6 clicked instantly. Everyone was very professional, but still laid back enough to keep things fun. Because let's face it, when you play pretend (re: act) for a living, it ought to be fun. The theatre we worked at, The Legacy Theatre, is a great little company, and if any of you get job offers to work there, I reccommend you take them. I would work there again in a heartbeat. In fact, the general consensus among the cast is that the only part of doing the show we didn't like were 8 am call times. (Why can't children sleep in like sensible adults?)
The second biggest news is the change of plans I've had for the summer. After UPTAs, I had originally accepted a contract to do "Evita" and "Annie" and run tech for "Little Shop of Horros" at ColeBeanBay Theatre in Missouri. Given the current state of the economy and the realities of acting as a profession in general, I was pretty happy to have any work for the summer. However, after about a month and a half and still no contract, I e-mailed the artistic director to ask what was going on. Only to be informed that the theatre had decided it didn't really have the money to do a summer season this year, and was postponing everthing until 2010 to allow for fundraising and restructuring. Which is too bad, because lord knows that as long as there are little girls there will be an audience for "Annie," and its not like "Evita" and "Little Shop" are obscure shows that nobody's heard of or likes.
So it being mid April, I was not at all optimistic about my chances of booking summer work, as most regional theatres were surely done casting soon after SETC in March. And then, lo and behold, two days later I get a call from Tibbits Summer Theatre offering me a five show, two month contract. Not only was it work, but they offered me some nice roles (Hud in "Hair," Arthur in "The Sword in the Stone," Rumplestilskin in "Rumplestilskin," and a couple of smaller roles) and more money. Not that money is the most important thing, but more money is always nice. AND perhaps most exciting of all, Tiffany Cox will be working there! I haven't seen her in over a year, and I'm super excited about getting the chance to work with her. And I'm really excited to be doing "Hair."
The moral of all this is that everything happens for a reason, and if you believe and have faith things will work out in the end. I know, surprisingly upbeat for me, right? But despite what you may think, I'm really not all that cynical.
Another interesting sidenote: I auditioned for and was called back for a production of "Hair" at 7 Stages in Atlanta. Should I get cast, it will mean that I will be doing two productions of the same show back to back, as Tibbits' "Hair" closed August 1st and 7 Stages starts rehearsals August 10th. Also, I don't know "Hair" all that well, but my understanding is that the character of Hud is about as good as it gets for an African American male in that show, so I will either be repeating the same track or be "demoted" to the ensemble. I put "demoted" in quotes because "Hair's" a pretty great ensemble show, and I imagine there's plenty of fun to be had doing an ensemble track in that show.
Second interesting sidenote: If things had gone a bit differently, "Hair" could have been my first show at Catawba, as apparently Missy was heavily considering doing it instead of "Pippin" my freshman year. I don't know what Catawba would have done about the nudity. And I haven't really made up my mind about what I'll do if they include nudity at Tibbits. (Well, actually, I'm 99% certain what I'll do, but that's a story for another day.)
Third (and last) interesting sidenote: The theatre world is even more inbred than I first thought. The number of people I've met in the past month who have connections with schools I've attended or people I've performed with is absolutely staggering. So it really does pay to treat everyone nicely, because you'll probably have a mutual friend/aquaintance at your next job.
Well, that's it for now. I have more to say, but I know internet attention spans are short, so this is probably already testing your patience.
Happy Mother's Day! Make sure you thank Mom for putting up with your BS all these years. ;-)
-Jared W. Wietbrock
The biggest news is that I just closed a production of the children's show "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day." Which is based on a children's book from the 70s that I never read as a child, but is apparently still quite popular. While I don't care for the book and find the title character to be whiney and annoying, I absolutely loved my experience working on the show. Our cast of 6 clicked instantly. Everyone was very professional, but still laid back enough to keep things fun. Because let's face it, when you play pretend (re: act) for a living, it ought to be fun. The theatre we worked at, The Legacy Theatre, is a great little company, and if any of you get job offers to work there, I reccommend you take them. I would work there again in a heartbeat. In fact, the general consensus among the cast is that the only part of doing the show we didn't like were 8 am call times. (Why can't children sleep in like sensible adults?)
The second biggest news is the change of plans I've had for the summer. After UPTAs, I had originally accepted a contract to do "Evita" and "Annie" and run tech for "Little Shop of Horros" at ColeBeanBay Theatre in Missouri. Given the current state of the economy and the realities of acting as a profession in general, I was pretty happy to have any work for the summer. However, after about a month and a half and still no contract, I e-mailed the artistic director to ask what was going on. Only to be informed that the theatre had decided it didn't really have the money to do a summer season this year, and was postponing everthing until 2010 to allow for fundraising and restructuring. Which is too bad, because lord knows that as long as there are little girls there will be an audience for "Annie," and its not like "Evita" and "Little Shop" are obscure shows that nobody's heard of or likes.
So it being mid April, I was not at all optimistic about my chances of booking summer work, as most regional theatres were surely done casting soon after SETC in March. And then, lo and behold, two days later I get a call from Tibbits Summer Theatre offering me a five show, two month contract. Not only was it work, but they offered me some nice roles (Hud in "Hair," Arthur in "The Sword in the Stone," Rumplestilskin in "Rumplestilskin," and a couple of smaller roles) and more money. Not that money is the most important thing, but more money is always nice. AND perhaps most exciting of all, Tiffany Cox will be working there! I haven't seen her in over a year, and I'm super excited about getting the chance to work with her. And I'm really excited to be doing "Hair."
The moral of all this is that everything happens for a reason, and if you believe and have faith things will work out in the end. I know, surprisingly upbeat for me, right? But despite what you may think, I'm really not all that cynical.
Another interesting sidenote: I auditioned for and was called back for a production of "Hair" at 7 Stages in Atlanta. Should I get cast, it will mean that I will be doing two productions of the same show back to back, as Tibbits' "Hair" closed August 1st and 7 Stages starts rehearsals August 10th. Also, I don't know "Hair" all that well, but my understanding is that the character of Hud is about as good as it gets for an African American male in that show, so I will either be repeating the same track or be "demoted" to the ensemble. I put "demoted" in quotes because "Hair's" a pretty great ensemble show, and I imagine there's plenty of fun to be had doing an ensemble track in that show.
Second interesting sidenote: If things had gone a bit differently, "Hair" could have been my first show at Catawba, as apparently Missy was heavily considering doing it instead of "Pippin" my freshman year. I don't know what Catawba would have done about the nudity. And I haven't really made up my mind about what I'll do if they include nudity at Tibbits. (Well, actually, I'm 99% certain what I'll do, but that's a story for another day.)
Third (and last) interesting sidenote: The theatre world is even more inbred than I first thought. The number of people I've met in the past month who have connections with schools I've attended or people I've performed with is absolutely staggering. So it really does pay to treat everyone nicely, because you'll probably have a mutual friend/aquaintance at your next job.
Well, that's it for now. I have more to say, but I know internet attention spans are short, so this is probably already testing your patience.
Happy Mother's Day! Make sure you thank Mom for putting up with your BS all these years. ;-)
-Jared W. Wietbrock