A Colorado Christmas

After A Christmas Carol closed on Saturday I flew home Sunday morning to get to spend some time with my family and have a belated Christmas and gift exchange.

Sunday night when I arrived we had a gift exchange with my immediate family!

It was a Second City/Wyoming University sort of Christmas! 

I thankfully received the luggage that I asked for, because otherwise I would not have had enough space to take everything back to Chicago with me. I was also lucky enough to receive so many things to keep me warm this winter in Chicago (gloves, scarves, sweatshirts, and blankets). 

It was so great to be home with family, it finally really felt like Christmas. My parents made my favorite meal for dinner (spaghetti, greek salad, and of course wine!). It was the first time in weeks that I felt like I could really relax and unwind. I had nothing to worry about doing, cleaning, or being late to. 

After dinner I met up with a couple of old friends from childhood. Maria and Christine are some of my oldest friends and no matter how long it has been since we have talked we always pick right back up from where we left off. We headed to Starbucks after dinner but were kicked out at 10:00 when they closed and in an attempt to continue talking to each other and catching up we ended up just sitting in the car for 2 hours in front of their houses. 

As far as the rest of the week I look forward to sleeping in, relaxing, and eating a lot of home cooked meals. 

A Different Kind of Stage Manager

Working at the Goodman Theatre as the Young Performer Supervisor was an incredible experience. It was definitely one of the more exhausting jobs I have ever had but I had so much fun!

A different kind of stage manager's kit.
Coloring books, colored pencils, activity books, games, cards, books, the whole nine yards. 

I felt so official when I had to flash my ID to the Security Guards so I could walk back stage. It's the small things in life that make you feel like a total bad ass. 

"Oh Hey... Yeah I work here!"

A lot of days we had two shows, which was exhausting for everyone but doubly exhausting for the children who were confined to their tiny dressing rooms for endless hours. The kids would get very snippy and easily get on each other's nerves. Many days they would get picked up by their parents for dinner but sometimes I would have to take them to get dinner. So one day I started an Emily mandated quiet time between shows when they had to hang around the theatre. They were opposed to the idea from the beginning and fought me on it for a while, but eventually they conceded anyway (they didn't have much of a choice). We went up to the actor's lounge and they all sat quietly doing their own thing for about 45 minutes and whether or not it helped them all calm down and relax doesn't even matter because it was so glorious for me!

Ahhh peace and quiet! 

Throughout the process of this show the kids had brought to the theatre and also received as gifts a plethora of stuff. Between the dressing decorating contest, Secret Santa, and wanting to show off their new Christmas gifts their dressing rooms were full to the brim with unnecessary stuff. We needed to get all that stuff out by closing night and if it wasn't already hard enough to get them to focus on getting dressed it was even harder to get them to focus on cleaning up all their stuff and throwing everything away. So I wrote up a To Do list for both the boys dressing room and girls. 

Despite how rowdy, loud, and crazy these kids were I had so much fun hanging out with them and being a part of their experience in the theatre. I love to see kids who have been introduced to and appreciate the arts. If given the opportunity to do this again I would love to give it a try from the beginning and be a part of the whole process and not just thrown into the last two weeks of a production. 

I learned so much! Made connections with professionals in the "biz" and I think I did a pretty good job. Hopefully people even noticed that I did a good job and will keep me in mind in the future for this position or similar ones. 

"Say Scrooge!"

Chicago Christmas Part III

Christmas Day

Merry Christmas! I hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas celebration!

As for me I had a great, relaxing non-Christmasy Christmas day and it was glorious!
I started out by sleeping in. After weeks of working two jobs and not having a day off in 3 or so weeks knowing that my alarm clock was not going to go off this morning was the best christmas gift to myself.

After I woke up I made myself a lovely breakfast of eggs, bacon, toast, and a bowl of chopped mango and orange. While eating, I opened up the package from my parents that had the contents of my stocking.

The stocking stuffers that Santa puts into my stocking as of late are all the things I need but never want to spend the money on (bobby pins, mascara, hair bands, chocolate, chapstick) and I love it. This year Santa also scored a sweet glasses repair kit at the Container Store that consists of extra screws, hinges, nose pads, and a teeny tiny screwdriver in case I ever need to fix my glasses. 

After I finished breakfast I opened the rest of the packages that have been waiting so patiently to be opened. Two packages my mom ordered from Athleta had thick Smartwool socks and my aunt sent a package full of candy, treats, and some extra cold weather accessories! 

My mother was concerned that I wouldn't have enough to open on Christmas... But thanks to my amazing Aunt I had more than enough to open! 

Ahh... post Christmas wrapping paper messes! 

In a true "orphaned" Christmas style I met up with some friends from college, Lucy and AJ, and went to see Saving Mr. Banks. When I arrived at the movie theatre I got an extra Christmas surprise, I have had a Regal Cinema free movie ticket in my wallet for 4 years and I finally used it today! So Merry Christmas Emily (and Happy 19th Birthday!) The movie was wonderful! It made me laugh, it made me cry, and it made me really want to read the original book by P.L. Travers. I would recommend seeing the movie, I mean it has Emma Thompson and Tom Hanks in it! 

While I was traveling home from the movie my family in Colorado was convening and beginning celebrations at my parent's house so it was about time for me to utilize modern technology and say a quick Merry Christmas to extended family. 

My Sister

Cousins, Aunt, and Grandma's forehead (My family struggled with getting into the view of the camera.)

Oh... What was that? My Christmas dinner you ask... well of course I had to have Italian. It just would not be Christmas if I had anything else! So of course I made spaghetti. Not quite my Father's spaghetti but I have to work with what I've got. 

I even prepared myself some appetizers to tide me over while I waited for the pot to boil. A whole plate of raw vegetables with ranch dip and cheese and crackers for sporadic munching throughout dinner. All in all a rather delicious and filling meal. 

After dinner I snuggled up with some blankets and hulu.com to catch up on some TV shows. Specifically the Holiday episode of SNL, which I have been saving for today. I also watched the holiday episodes of Modern Family and Glee. It was a thoroughly perfect was to spend my first Christmas away from my family. 

While I was all cozied up on the couch it snowed just enough to blanket the dirty old snow with a soft, pure, white coat making the view of the street emanate with Holiday spirit. 

5 more shows of A Christmas Carol before I get to hop a plane to Denver and spend some quality time with my family... and hopefully we can relive some Christmas traditions for my benefit. 

But for now all I have to say is Merry Christmas from Beauty the Turkey and Me: 

Chicago Christmas Part II

Christmas Eve

I would like to start by putting you in my frame of mind for the day. Right now life seems so far removed from Christmas because I went about my day as I have the past few weeks. While I was riding the train this morning to work I sat there thoroughly confused as to why there was almost no one on the train... then it occurred to me that it was Christmas Eve and therefore probably very few people had any need to travel via public transportation.

I tried very hard to remind myself all day that it was Christmas Eve, but not being in Colorado with my family makes it feel like it isn't even close to Christmas.

I started my day off with lunch at Costello's with my good friend Adrienne. We haven't seen each other in a little while so we got to sit and chat and catch up on life, which was so much fun.

After that I went down to the show. What a great day to be a part of a show like A Christmas Carol, most of the show is set on Christmas Eve so it felt relevant and extra festive. The cast sang O Holy Night for vocal warm ups, which made me feel so incredibly blessed while also made me miss home quite a bit. But nonetheless it was a very special moment that I am glad I got to be a part of.

Vocal warmups with the cast of A Christmas Carol

The kids excitement for the day was contagious and put a smile on my face for the rest of the evening! The actors who play Mr. and Mrs. Crachitt got little gifts for all the kids, so the kids were atwitter all evening with excitement about their new toys and the prospects of what the rest of the evening and tomorrow had to offer! A particularly charming moment was when the 13 year old was so excited to be performing in this show on Christmas Eve. She said that she truly understands the joy of Christmas is not in getting gifts but in giving gifts, being with the people you love, and spreading joy to people around the holidays. Tiny Tim, secretly our own little Scrooge, was really only excited to leave the show so he could open his presents... nothing else seemed to please him! 

I left the show with a giant smile on my face and warm feelings in my stomach! It really was a great way to spend Christmas eve (maybe not as great as spending it with my family... but still provided a plethora of warm and fuzzy feelings). 

After the show I went over to my friend Taylor's house ordered chinese food for dinner and settled in to watch a couple of Christmas movies (The Polar Express and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer). 

I forgot to take a picture of the two of us... So we will have to settle on this picture of The Polar Express

Taylor and I sat and chatted for a while but my body kept telling me it was time to go to bed, forgetting of course that we got out of the show at 5:00 not 10:45. 

I finally got my second wind and came home and put the finishing touches on Christmas decorations in the house. The Christmas tree, wreath, and ornaments courtesy of Megan. 

Please note that Santa delivered all my packages via USPS this year :)

I mostly really just cleaned up the table to make it look cute!

I did however hang up Christmas cards over the fireplace:

Oh yeah! And I put Santa hats on out Thanksgiving turkeys!

Which brings me up to right now: drinking Christmas tea, listening to Christmas music, and of course blogging! 

Happy Christmas Eve everyone!

Chicago Christmas Part I

Unlike most of the population I will not be catching up with family and helping prepare food for the masses, so I thought I would keep a little Christmas journal for my first Christmas away from home!

Today (The eve of Christmas Eve)

To start I would like to apologize to Chicago for ever doubting how cold it could really be. I scoffed at you earlier this month when temperatures were a balmy 20º. So... that's enough Chicago... you proved your point... now please stop showing off with negative and single digit temperatures!

We had two shows for A Christmas Carol so I was pretty busy. The children got picked up by their parents for the break between shows today so I had time to go to the bank AND, most importantly, sit and have a quiet dinner reading alone at Panera Bread. Despite how much they wear me out, these kids are a constant reminder of why the Christmas season is so great. It seems that when you grow up you forget the pure joy that comes with this season. The kids can't stop talking about how excited they are for tomorrow and Wednesday. In this unorthodox Christmas for me it is a nice reminder that even though I am not at home it is still Christmas and there is still an incredible amount of joy to be found all around me during this time of year.

Both of the shows today went well. Much better than I expected considering the fact that is was the third day of our six-shows-in-three-days chaos. The kids were tired and therefore crabby and squirrelly but still enthusiastic and generally positive.

After the show I hustled the children out of the theatre so I could make it down to the iO to meet up with Scott and Taylor to see A&R Mix Tape which is an improvised freestyle rap "album" featuring Ross Bryant and Andy Carey. It was coincidentally also Ross Bryant's last improv show in Chicago before moving to LA. The show was hilarious and incredible! There is nothing quite like watching two white guys improvise and entire rap album. The best part of the night might have been when they did a rap battle but had to be each other. So essentially it was a whole rap battle where they were making fun of themselves and using their own insecurities. It was great! And a wonderful way for me to kick off my holiday festivities.

What will Christmas Eve bring? Tune in tomorrow to find out ;)

Warriors Take Care of One Another

For those of you who haven't heard on Friday a young man entered Arapahoe High School with a shotgun and some other weapons intent on doing harm. He fired several shots and set off a molotov cocktail before taking his own life. Arapahoe High School is were my sister and cousin both currently attend school, but also where I went to high school.
I have tried now for a couple of days to put down in words what happened at Arapahoe on Friday but nothing that I write seems to do justice to the event or really express the sentiments that were on my mind. This afternoon I realized it was because I was focusing on all the wrong things. I was focusing on what happened, how it happened, why it happened, and how it affected me. Then I read this article here and I realized that all that stuff didn't matter, what mattered is the Arapahoe High School motto "Warriors take care of one another" is more than just a motto. The warrior that is in every student, teacher, police officer, swat team member, parent, sibling, neighbor, friend, and stranger that sacrificed, prayed, hoped, helped, acted, supported and loved is what made it possible that over 2,000 students went home to hug their families Friday night.
The article explains that a group of students who had recently experienced a couple of the most horrifying hours of their lives thought not of themselves but of their fellow fallen Warriors. They organized a time and place for friends, family, neighbors, and teachers to gather and pray for the young woman who was shot. I am so impressed with the response of the whole community which has been nothing but supportive and positive. My Facebook page exploded with pictures of the Warrior, prayers for those affected, and thanks for those brave people who did anything and everything to keep the students safe.

My sister, cousin, neighbors, friends, kids that I babysat, and kids I grew up with were all in that building that day. And thanks to the brave teachers, many of whom had family and children of their own in the building, knew exactly what to do and were willing to do whatever it took, the injuries on Friday were minimal.
One young woman was shot in the first few seconds of the attack and she is still fighting for her life in the hospital. So please if you are reading this take a moment out of your day to pray for and send positive thoughts to Claire Davis as she is still in critical condition.

Designed by Dylan Pierpont Arapahoe High School Alum

I have never been more proud to be an Arapahoe Warrior!

God Bless Us, Every One!

If life is indeed cyclical and history does repeat itself then it seems fitting that the first show I worked on in college should also be the first show that I work on professionally!
For those of you who have no idea which show I am talking about here is a hint:

Do you get it?

And for those of you who are still struggling I will lay it out in black and white print for you: I got hired by The Goodman Theatre to replace the Young Performer Supervisor (YPS) for A Christmas Carol! 

I applied for this job back in October but by the time I had my application in they had already hired someone else. However, the YPS they hired wasn't working out and they were out to find someone to jump into the production and finish up the last couple weeks of the run. Sharon, my theatre angel, had heard they were thinking about replacing the YPS and asked me if she could pass along my name and contact info to them (to which my response was "Of course! You can pass along my name and contact info to almost anybody!"). A couple days after that I got a call from the Assistant Producer at The Goodman and he asked me if I would be available to step in to finish up the run of the show (to which my response was "Of course!"). 4 days later I was running around backstage of The Goodman for my first ever professional show! 

My day has been crazy! There is nothing like coming into a production after it has been open for 3 weeks and trying to pick up the rhythm of the show... but there is especially nothing like being thrown into a production that has been open for 3 weeks in which you are responsible for 6 rowdy 8-14 year olds. Needless to say I was glad that I am familiar with A Christmas Carol! My orientation and introduction into the job duties was less that 30 minutes at which point all 6 of the children were under my care and acting as crazy as ever! 

SIDE NOTE: apparently these kids are so rowdy one of the Stage Managers had to have a "coming to Jesus moment" with them today when I arrived. 

During the first show of the day one of the Stage Managers walked me through everything as it was happening backstage and showed/explained everything to me. Then for the night performance she hung back but was available if I had any questions or needed help. Tomorrow I will be more or less all on my own and I honestly couldn't be more excited!! 

Here are some of the amazing, wonderful things about this job: 

• I am actually getting paid to do theatre! 
• I am working at an award winning regional theatre! 
• I have my foot in the door here in Chicago! 
• I am making connections and witnessing the inner workings of a professional theatre! 

I am dying from excitement! 

I am now done being a braggart.

The downside of this job:

• I don't get to go home for Christmas :(

God bless us, every one! 

The Jessicas!

Last week I stepped foot on a Second City stage for an official performance for the first time! If you remember, a while back, I got cast in a coached ensemble and my group has been rehearsing for about 8-10 weeks now for these shows! Our group has been fondly termed The Jessicas after our wonderful coach and cheerleader, Jessica Mitolo, who was so encouraging, thoughtful, and tolerant of our craziness.

Jessica thought up a new form (yet to be named) in which the show starts off with each member of the ensemble doing a short character monologue based on the suggestion given. These characters don't have to be kept throughout the show but can be brought up throughout when appropriate or just for kicks and giggles. Then two people start a scene and at some point one of the characters will step out and do a monologue that reveals something about their character. When another ensemble member is inspired they will go on stage and bring that character into a new situation (related or unrelated to the things said in the monologue). Then theoretically the other character at some point would step out and do a monologue and you would continue on. However, it's not even that simple. Because you can also do tag edits, sweep edits, a character from the sidelines can start a character monologue that relates to the scene or even brings the audience to a whole new location! Eventually if your lucky you can make connections between seemingly unrelated characters and events, and isn't that often the goal of improv!

It was a blast! We got the unfortunate and slightly touchy suggestion of Nelson Mandela, but we did a great job of using those monologues to steer away from that and open up a whole vault of interesting characters and situations!

We have two more shows in the Skybox at Second City so if you are in Chicago and want to come see them I would highly recommend it! Tickets are $10 and if you have a Second City ID it is only $5! You can and should buy your tickets online or at the box office ahead of time because most of the shows have been selling out or very close to selling out!

I mean look at us! Aren't we an attractive, dapper group of improvisers?

Looking forward to the next couple of weeks playing with these incredibly talented people! 

Wicked!

I had the unique opportunity to meet and hang out with the stage managers of the Wicked touring company. My former employer, Sharon, stage managed for Wicked a few years back when it was produced in Chicago and she got to help out with some of the shows while the touring company is in Chicago. So, being the great person that she is, she set up an opportunity for me to meet the stage managers and watch the show from back stage! It was a really incredible experience!

Molly, the SM who called the show tonight, was a lot of fun! She only graduated from college 4 years ago and she worked with Wicked in New York and has been touring with Wicked now for almost 2 years! Getting to watch her call the show was super impressive, not only was she totally on top of all the calls and cue lights but found time to answer my questions, talk to me about my life, and still goof around with actors and crew backstage.

With the touring companies the stage manager is usually not located in a booth at the back of the house but is set up with monitors and everything right in the wings backstage. This made my experience even better because I could hear everything going on over the headsets as well as get to see the chaos and precise "choreography" of the crew, set pieces, costumes, actors, props, and everything else backstage. From where I was located, right next to the stage manager right off stage left, I had the perfect view of Elphaba hooking herself up to the rig to fly at the end of act 1, the monkeys being hooked up to the rigs, and the riggers controlling the flight of the moneys.

I had so much fun getting to be backstage for such a big crazy performance! It made me realize how much I miss working on productions!