Stumbling Back to the Farmhouse...

So rehearsals have begun on my next exciting theatre project. I will be playing Barbara in NightoftheLivingDead the Musical by Stephen Gregory Smith and Matt Conner.

Photo by Stephen Gregory Smith

I started the journey with this show over two years ago or well maybe even three years ago when Stephen and I first met. Stephen and  I met a few years ago when we played Rob and Laura in High Fidelity the Musical.

High Fidelity photo by Amanda Williams

During the rehearsal process we discovered we both share a love for horror films and backstage one night while probably quoting Billy the Kid vs Dracula...

Stephen let me know he has been trying to write a musical adaptation of Night of the Living Dead. 

From that point on we must have brought up this idea again and again almost every night. I had no clue at the time how very serious he was about completing the script. 

We would joke about him and I playing Kira and Sonny in Xanadu and him writing Rosemary's Baby the Musical for me to play Rosemary, so at first I thought it was just one of those fantasy shows you always talk about when you are backstage dreaming of other shows you want to do. The next thing I know Stephen, Matt, and I are sitting in Stephen's apartment and they are really writing this thing! It was amazing to be there and see it happen. It was incredible to hear Stephen's ideas, have him ask me what I thought about staging ideas and drafts of the script and to be sitting next to Matt at a piano while he worked out a melody or vocal line. The pair wrote the show in record time and then all of a sudden there is a mega kickstarter campaign and then we are work shopping it. Now, a lot more happened in between but it really came together so quickly because of everyone's passion for the piece. 

Jump to 2 years later and Stephen and Matt are celebrating the NYC and DC premieres of their show all in the same year and I am finally playing Barbara in a full stage production that will open Halloween Weekend in Kensington Md.
I just had my first child 5 months ago so getting back into the rehearsal and performance process is on one hand exciting but on the other stressful.

my sweet sleeping angel baby

I have a little girl at home who isn't sleeping through the night yet, a full time job, and I am adding a show into that mix. Its a lot but I have to do this show. It has too much of my heart so I have to make this work.
I haven't been on stage in a year and in theatre years, that is like 3. When you are out of the loop that long, it feels like an eternity.  I am out of shape and overweight. I am at a certain age where I might not be young enough to play the leading 20 something anymore and its a strange place to be because I don't look old enough to play the Mom roles yet either. I honestly am wondering sometimes where I fit in this world anymore.
We have just started the first rehearsals and everyone is in that slightly awkward stage of the process where you don't know each other but you are thrown together in this very intimate situation. You are playing husbands and wives and boyfriends and girlfriends with complete strangers and trying to learn your music and lines and not look like an idiot or hit wrong notes.
I personally hate the "getting to you know stage" when I meet any one new or the "getting to know you again" stage when see someone again after a long time away. I just don't know what to say and so I usually end up saying something stupid or cracking weird jokes. Hence last night at rehearsal......

I show up and run into several good friends of mine that I haven't seen in months. Another company happens to be rehearsing in the room next to ours. I was thrilled to see some of my favorite people but after being home with Lily for so many months and just working and being a Mom, I just don't know what's going on. When that happens its like verbal diarrhea for me. I am plucking topics out of thin air and saying things that I don't even mean sometimes, I also get too personal and tell things about my life sometimes that I probably shouldn't. Its all an ADD overload and it has me looking at the clock hoping its time to start my rehearsal so I can have something else to focus on and avoid anymore awkward moments....but don't worry readers, there will be more awkward moments...like this gem....

Mid rehearsal, deep into learning a pretty challenging song (especially for anyone who is new to the show) I decide to chime in. I wanted to maybe ease everyone's minds and let them know that once they learn this section, this theme comes back a couple more times.  So when you learn it once, you basically have learned 3 songs in one. Well instead of explaining that in a way that actually makes sense to everyone I say this.....

"Hey guess what, once you learn this one, it comes back again and again so you know it. Yup, you just learn it and forget it, its like the baby in the tire....."

silence.... no one knew I was pulling a quote from Waiting for Guffman- maybe the greatest movies about community theatre ever made.....

I look up from my score and everyone is starring at me.

"It was a quote............from Waiting for Guffman.....you don't know it?"

ugh! Awkward. If they knew the movie they didn't know that one. So we move on......

But I can't let it go so throughout the night I just say; "Yup like the baby in the tire" at random moments just for my own amusement and to add to my awkwardness. Good times. "Baby in the tire" is the new "awkward turtle" just FYI.

Trust me, that wasn't my only weird moment of the night (like when I just blurt out to someone that I probably have adult ADD because I can't remember people's names and that my husband has ADD and he thinks everyone has ADD. Mine isn't as bad as his but I probably do have it.......and it went on like that)
but I survived to write another blog and hey, at least I didn't toot in front of everyone because that has happened in my life......a few times....

Stay tuned here as I am sure I will have more stories like this to share with you. Awkward moments aside, rehearsal was tons of fun. Its going great and I can't wait to see how the show develops. Also check out Stephen Gregory Smith's article in DC Metro Theatre Arts. He will be chronicling this journey as he directs and molds this show for the DC Premiere.
Lastly, I will be making a NightoftheLivingDead inspired dinner tonight.....recipe and pictures will post later.