Congrats to Julie and Gabe!

Pretty much all of my friends are in pairs now.

One of my favorite couples is Julie and Gabe.  I met Julie and Gabe sometime back in 2009 when I joined the Surf City Kickball league.  Julie was one of the co-captains and a feisty, competitive gal who said it like it is.  Her boyfriend Gabe was also a bit competitive but much more soft spoken.  We instantly connected.

Now all these years later, none of us play kickball anymore but Julie has grown into quite the OCR/race champion.  We do a lot of these races together but I meet her at the finish line days later than when she bounds across - usually one of the top in her age group.

We've been with each other through medical mishaps, races, the birth of her two darling children, and all kinds of wacky parties and adventures.

Now this past weekend we celebrated they're 10 year anniversary - and Oh...a wedding.  The invites were in typical Julie/Gabe style.  A postcard like invite that basically said "Whatcha doin on Saturday April 25th?  Come have a BBQ with us and celebrate 10 years of being together.  Oh and also a wedding".

Rad.

My sister in law threw a shower brunch for her that was adorable.  She had breakfasty foods, champagne drinks and a funny little underwear thing that had little notes for what type of undies for stages in the marriage.  Hilarious.

She's so cute!

The big day came and unfortunately the weather was a bit undesirable.  It had rained earlier and although it had stopped, the winds and the chill in the air were a bit chilly.  But it was still beautiful!  The location was at their house in Huntington Beach.  We all arrived a 5 and mingled a bit and helped ourselves to drinks at the self serve bar.  Our little favor was a coozie we wrote our names on.

We all then gathered around, most sat, some stand to watch Julie's dad marry them!  A quick, very sweet ceremony with airs of humor captured them perfectly.  Chase and Presley were a part of it as well!  Julie looked absolutely darling!  Presley was adorable and the boys looked so hansome!

Afterwords it was announced that their favorite food truck was out front and to help ourselves!  It was The Burnt Truck.  It's known for their gourmet sliders and tator tots!  So yummy!  I over did it and probably had one too many!

I didn't take this, but I love it!

There was a great little dessert table that was of course precious!

A few shots of the fam.

I like this shot I took of my bro!

A few shots of the bride:

See I can be artsy

There was a photo booth of course:

This was before Shane and I realized there was an actual photo booth.  Doh!

Then an iPod blasted out music that got the girls dancing:

My fave picture...

Wonderful time visiting with friends and family, eating good sliders and cupcakes, drinking good wine.

All in all a great little party!  I'm so happy for Julie and Gabe!  They are truly so great together.  I'm so happy they we are all a part of each others lives!

Congrats to the happy couple!

Slings and Arrows comes to a close...

I can't believe it.

It's done.

We started talking about this project last fall.  Had our 1st walk through of the grounds in October and began rehearsals in January.  4 performances.  Done.

This has been an amazing experience.  The way I approach artistic projects has completely changed and I love it.  I got immersed into the role of Ophelia, reading about her, looking at artwork and interpretations of her, I made her my own.  I was able to take this character and feel her frustration with her father, her playfulness with her brother, her absolute love for Hamlet, her heart being broken when Hamlet shuns her for no reason in her mind, the grief of her father being murdered and the eventual depression/madness it drove her to that finally made the decision to end her life.

This was the 1st time I was able to get to a level of emotion I've never been at before.  Every since the brain incident of 2012, my emotions are on my sleeve.  When it came time for the mad scene and especially the suicide scene where I had to cry, sing and slowly bleed out over and over again for half an hour I went to a place I didn't know I could get too.  Golden Slumbers is a song that tears at my heart.  I chose this song knowing the lyrics would be heartbreaking in this scene, knowing how much it tears at me and knowing in the not so great movie - this is where they carried out a body.  It was too perfect.  After being shunned and physically assaulted by Shadow Hamlet #1 played by the ridiculously talented Brenda Kenworthy over and over again for 35 minutes I was on my way there.  I then run into the bathroom to "mad" out.  Then run into the room completely crazy and distraught.  I worked on this scene multiple times at home (My cats watching in complete confusion) and found different levels that I felt were all real.  I then do a marathon sprint around the estate to get changed and bloodied up for my suicide scene.  I was always placed a few moments before everyone else.  This gave me the perfect amount of time as I turned on all my candles, shook myself out, and put myself into an emotional turmoil.  People came in and out of the bathroom for that half hour.  Some murmuring, some gasping in horror, some obviously not into it and would walk out in disgust, some sounds of pity but mostly just silence.  I never looked up.  Never connected with anyone.  I couldn't.  I was afraid I would snap out of it.  Sometimes it was difficult if people were talking or rustling around but somehow I stayed in it.  When it came time for the cut off and I could shut the door and pick up - I would almost collapse from exhaustion.  It was fucking incredible.

I got the most amazing feedback.  My dear friend Scottie Barber whom I tease hates everything - loved my performance.  He watched my suicide scene twice, the 2nd time he was all alone.  I didn't realize it was him at the time, but he said that was the most amazing theatrical experience he's ever had in his life.  Mark Coyan, another dear friend who I think is super talented and really respect his opinion, said it was the best thing he's ever seen me do.  He was so proud that I nailed the verse (He always helped me in the past).  He said "You got it!".  He and Scott raved about my performance and the entire show in general.  My dad was brought to tears.  This was huge.  My father NEVER cries.  When he hugged me after the show he started crying again, which of course made me start in and I'm crying typing this right now.  I'll never forget that.  I made him so proud.  My friend Lisa loved the looping scenes and said she had no problem with walking in and out of them.  She loved it and loved the atmosphere.   My brother was super proud of me and loved Jeffrey as Hamlet.  So many of our theatre friends came and raved about the show.  People thought everyone did such an amazing job, and the venue was gorgeous and oh my god I just can't stop glowing!

My friends Aimee and Kati came and saw me act for the 1st time ever.  They loved it and Aimee took some fun stalker pics:

"...and words of such sweet breath composed..."

"...I have remembrances of yours I have long longed to redeliver..."

"...I was the more deceived!"

I had another friend record a couple of my scenes!  I feel like such a nerd watching myself, but check them out!

Part of Nunnery Scene

Part of Mad Scene


I just can't get over how fucking awesome this performance process was.  I'd like to single everyone out now so here goes:

• Jeremy and Alex as Rosencrans and Guildenstern.  They were such joys!  A couple of absolutely charming boys.  I heard nothing but great things about the little pre-show bit they do before the crowd is let in.  My boss Carol adored messing with Jeremy and my mom totally messed with him, hell bent on getting the Ace Cards so she could see my scenes first.  I got to dance with them in the beginning but that was all we got to do together.  I loved working with them though and they brought a lot of laughter and creativity.
• Brenda and Jill as Shadow Hamlet 1 and Gertrude.  These two woman know how to do Shakespeare.  The words flow off their tongues like pure magic.  Working opposite of Jill in my mad scene was incredible.  She was completely broken hearted and it only fueled my angst.  The scene with her and Jeffrey (Hamlet) was one of my all time favorites.  Brenda is a fucking amazing actress and I was so thrilled to have a scene opposite her.  She was perfection.  I had friends say they want to see her play Hamlet.  Yes.  She's that good.

Hamlet x3

• Adam as Shadow Hamlet 2 and Bryan as Claudius were wonderful.  Adam did a great job bringing the dark side of Hamlet in the scene he had with Alex.  Bryan was an absolute joy to work with.  He's seriously the worst dancer ever and knows it and embraces it.  He cracked me up everytime we rehearsed the dance number never remembering to "Go Left!".  He also has a wacky side that is hilarious to work along side of.
• Rick and Craig as Polonius and Laeretes.  What a family we are!  Craig was always so energetic and passionate in our scene together.  Rick was the appropriate condescending father and his monologue from the after life was another of my favorites.  The boys were also always so sweet as we waited to begin when we had to mill about while patrons entered and I was freezing.  They would put their arms around me and distract me.  I loved them to pieces. Rick and I also had a couple of wine/lines nights which I know are going to continue...of course with just the wine!

Family portrait

• Jeffrey as Hamlet.  Oh my sweet Jeffrey.  I fell head over heels for that one.  He brought such an incredible dark physicality to Hamlet.  He was fantastic.  And the bitch came in late and still pulled it off!!  Such an amazing actor.  I was so impressed watching the levels he brought to the character.  Of course our makeout scene was a lot of fun and quite embarrassing but it seemed to work! Ha ha!  It's been a while since I had chemistry like that onstage with someone.  I really hope to work with him again and actually have lines.
• Petey and Amanda our behind the scenes crew.  Petey was our choreographer and kept us on our toes.  Literally.  Amanda was our fabulous costumer and so very patient and on top of it all.  They were both there everynight and traded off getting me all nice and bloody for my suicide scene.  Pete would then escort me to the bathroom making sure I was all set.  Thank GAWD for that.
• And last but of course not least - Dave.  Our fearless director.  Wow have we come such a long way from "Jami!  I want you to be my Ophelia and kill yourself in the bathtub!"  We all worked together and contributed to this project but Dave was at the helm.  He helped direct us to some pretty fucking awesome places.  He's so proud of me and that means the world to me.

 We got some write ups.  Some good.  Some bad.  I did find another picture of my suicide scene.

I'm actually considering coloring my hair...

On our closing Saturday I wandered around the place and took photos of our locations.  So beautiful.  So happy and so sad.

Last bathroom set up

Ready for my last mad scene

Last fight call

Ready for the last shadow play

Some backstage antics:

Jeffrey is so goth

Jill and I were always finding ourselves out in the back gazing over the gorgeous ness that was the Casa.

Gertrude and Ophelia selfie

After the show Saturday after visiting with the friends and family who attended we were given pizza and booze then told to head over to the Laguna Marriott for a donor party.  They didn't seem to mind that none of us were dressed or prepared for that so off we went.  It was fine, slightly awkward and I took my final photo which I love.

Love these boys

I just can't say enough how rad this was.  From start to finish.  Frustrations and all.  This was a highlight in my theatrical career.  It was such a different and unique experience.  It was so well received.  So well in fact that I can't stop glowing!  I'm just so happy!  I was able to hit a whole new level in my acting.  I worked with such an incredibly talented group.  We were in one of the most beautiful locations in SoCal!

I'm also super thrilled I documented so much of this process.  I sure hope you have all enjoyed following along!  

I won't miss the long late nights and long late drives.  I won't miss the nervous tummy battles.  But dammit am I sad it's over!  I already miss the crew knowing I won't see them next weekend.  But of course it's a bitter/sweet.  It's an adventure that I will always keep in my heart.

I can't wait to see what's next!

Slings and Arrows Opened!!!

Holy Hell the day finally arrived!!!  I still can't believe it!

My last blog about summed up my whirling mind, and it didn't slow down or ease up after that.  We had some last minute things thrown at us.  Such as - the repeated "room scenes" - we now just do on a loop for 35 minutes in Act 1 and 25 minutes in Act 2.  Non stop.  Friday night we had to watch clocks which was such a clusterfuck, then Sat night they changed to someone would give us the cut off sign.  This has been the biggest complaint so far.  I'll get to that in the feedback later on in the blog.  Casa also added a shit ton of chairs.  Now - this is fine and all, but in the opening Courtyard scenes they set it up like a wedding.  We didn't block the show that way, so now a bunch of stuff happens off to the side that a lot of people miss.  They also added way more in my Mad Scene and I've had to adjust dramatically. (Pun intended).  But other than that - We fucking did it!

Here was a "Final Dress" shot;

I also was all "done up" for the 1st time.  Here's me after I kill myself:

Thursday night we had about 15 or so volunteers be our 1st audience.  This was the 1st time we ran the show like we were supposed to.  They would walk in and out of scenes, it not mattering where we were in the scene (for the room scenes).  This is also where I realized how physically demanding it was going to be.  Doing the very physical Nunnery scene 6 times in a row, then running up the stairs into the bathroom to change, muss up hair, etc for the mad scene, run straight into the mad scene which is also physical then doing a marathon around the estate back to the green room so Pete or Amanda can bloody me up for my suicide scene.  Oh. My. God!  We got good feed back from the volunteers, they really seemed to dig it!  We also got our rad press shots that Benjamin Tyrell took.  Check them out!

Rick Kopps and Jeffrey Kieviet in the Gravedigger Scene

My suicide scene

Adam Poytner as Shadow Hamlet #2 in the 1st set of room scenes

The most uncomfortable part of the Gertrude/Hamlet scene!

Me in the Nunnery Scene

Bryan Jennings as Claudius

Jeffrey Kieviet and Jill Cary Martin in the closet scene

Craig Johnson as Laeretes lip syncing a punk song

Jeremy Holm in the Shadow Play

Alexander Marc Makardish as Rosencrantz

Rad death scene!

So Friday comes.  I'm a wreck.  Jill and I leave around 2 and head down to San Clemente to check into the condo.  Easy Peasy. Here's our view:

We unpacked, got settled and chilled a bit before walking up to Casa Romantica.  It was like a 5 min walk.  Rad.  Everyone had the opening night jitters and the Casa Crew was running around getting everything set up.  Well - here we go!!!

It was fantastic!  People raved.  A few take aways I heard were about the looped room scenes - this was really the only main and most common complaint.  People were bummed to miss scenes.  A lot of people weren't able to get to all 6 scenes in Act 1 and/or all 5 scenes in Act 2.  During the last loop of my suicide scene on Friday night, Dave had to actually come in and cut it off.  The people were vocally upset.  I got a lot of complaints afterwards about this.  Especially because what a bunch of people would do is come part way, then stay to watch the part they missed.  Well this puts them sort of behind.  In fact, one set of my friends that came Friday night were super upset because they actually missed my suicide scene.  My only hope is that people will give that feedback to the Casa because that was their decision, not ours.  We rehearsed thinking people were going to be led in groups to each scene.  Oh well.

Other than that, I think it rocked!  People had a blast out front with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.  It sounds like they have quite the little floor show they do out there.  The crowd seemed to enjoy the courtyard stuff and laughed at appropriate times and seemed to enjoy themselves.  I heard lots of reactions during my mad scene (especially when I fall...cracks me up every time) and people really seemed moved by my suicide scene.  Our nunnery scene is probably the most beautiful since Brenda and I are out on the cliff and the view is just breathtaking.  I think that's where most the stalker pics are taken.  (below are those).

I got lots of sweet compliments!  My performance was so powerful, Good choice on Golden Slumbers, I was so moved, Your mad scene was incredible, Poor Ophelia, ...these were just a few.  One volunteer came up to me and squeezed my hands saying I was so wonderful but she wanted to hug me the whole time!  Ber said she was so proud of me.  Becks said it's the best thing she's ever seen me do.  I almost cried. My co-workers raved about my performance.  I'm so happy!!!  Yay!!!

Other favorites were the Hamlet/Gertrude closet scene (This is one of my favorites too!).  Everyone seems to love Jeffrey.  Lots of love for Brenda (In fact, some say she should just be Hamlet in another production someday),  I've heard great compliments for Jill as well.  Yay for the ladies!  The final death scene is a favorite as well.  People love the rose petals and the epic death scenes!  My boss said she is not a fan of The Bard, but we got her to love Hamlet.  The setting is also a star in of itself.  People just can't get over it and how can you.  It's gorgeous!

Lots of people took pictures.  I of course nabbed them when I saw the.  Check them out:

Someone named Vicki took these:

My coworker Max took this one:

Another coworker Tami took this one:

Then Saturday night when they decided to have someone assigned to areas to help with the cut off times, Dave was assigned to us and took this lovely shot

Another shot Dave took of our packed mad scene!

Then my friend Robin took a bunch during the mad scene and the nunnery scene:

I have to admit, it's been pretty funny seeing all these pictures pop up all over the place! Ha ha ha!!

Also a great article came out in the OC Weekly.  Thanks Joel!!
OC Weekly Article

Then found another link with a bunch of pictures!
Article

But all in all it's been fucking awesome!  This is the most challenging role I've ever played.  Between the mad scene and then my suicide scene that I have to loop for 25 minutes, I am emotionally destroyed.  I've found I can bring myself to quite a level of emotion I never thought I could do.  It's rough, but hopefully makes for some good theatre!  It's a trip trying to work around the people coming in and out of the bathroom in a constant stream but it's super cool and so intimate. 

Our costumer is there every night fixing tears and rips and she's rad.  Her and Pete are a huge help playing the roles of stage manager, prop person, makeup peeps, etc.  The Program Director Bethany who works for the Casa is fucking awesome.  She is so on top of everything and has made the last few days and our performances run as smoothly as can be. Jill does my hair every night, sticking those damn blue hair extensions in.  I adore the cast and Dave and we've come such a long way!

This whole experience has been so damn awesome.  I'm so glad I documented this as much as I did.  I may or may not do a final post.  We do have 2 more shows next weekend.  It seems unreal!  I really hope I get the opportunity to do something like this again.  It's been so beautiful, so adventurous, so unique, so new!  I feel I've found new levels in my acting and performance and  - wow! What a great way to return to the stage!!!!

I'm also stoked I booked the condo for the weekend.  Jill, Brenda and I had a lovely time bonding, relaxing, and having some seriously deep rad conversations.  We lovingly refer to ourselves as the condo comrades.  I got some beach time:

It was like an adult slumber party.  I bought little turtles for the girls as silly gifts to remember.  I hope they do.  The ladies of Slings and Arrows lived it up opening weekend!  Brenda headed out earlier on Sunday but Jill and I had a yummy breakfast with seriously I think the best lox bagel I have ever had!

And that was it!

It comes to an end.  A 10 day stretch of tech week then performances full of stress, terror, excitement, anger tummies and pure craziness, followed by condo time at the beach.  Now back to reality.

I've missed this.  I really have.  I won't be jumping into a zillion shows back to back but damn will I be back onstage soon.  Like I said - I think 2 shows a year would be ideal.  It has felt so amazing to be doing this again.  Meeting some fantastic new actors and growing closer to others.  I'd say I have no words, but here I am rambling on and on and on.  I can't help it.  I'm glowing. 

Damn this felt good!  I can't wait to do 2 more performances this weekend!