Wait Until Dark #6
12/23/09
We took our final bow a week and a half ago and I still have a hard time figuring out what to do with my new found freedom. I really miss the show....
Wait Until Dark #5
11/30/09
We are 3 weeks deep in our run now and I just have to say, I’m having a blast! Yes, it’s tiring and the most challenging role I’ve ever had the opportunity to play, but damn it’s a good time! I’m going to be fighting off some post-pardon blues when we close the curtain on this show, but for now, let me relish in the glory!Production Photos
Nov 12 - Dec 13 2009
Newport Theatre Arts Center
www.ntaconline.com
Starring Theresa Finamore as Susy Hendrix
Wait Until Dark #4
11/9
It's Monday, and our show opens on Thursday..wait for it...doing math now... damn I just took the GRE, you'd think I could do some speedy calculations!... 3 days till Opening!! Ta-Dah! Actually, my math score suffered terribly, while my Essay and English rocked.. so let me get down to what I'm better at - writing.....
Wait Until Dark #3
10/24/09
Wait until dark is a much more complicated play than I initially
thought...
Wait Until Dark #2
10/7/09
I’ve been doing some research on what it’s like being blind. I never thought too deeply on the subject till now and I’m starting to discover just how terrifying it can be to lose your sight....
Wait Until Dark #1
10/2/09
This here blog is a chronicle of my journey as I plunge into the darkness of portraying Susy Hendrix in the thriller play Wait Until Dark at Newport Theatre Arts Center.
Sacramento Music Circus Journal: 8/24/07
Life is Great!
We opened on Tuesday and we've done 4 shows so far. Four left to go and then it's all over. Boo Hoo!
This has been such a freeking GREAT experience! Since the theatre is in the round, I enter through the audience; it is THRILLING to walk through a crowd of 2,000 heads! It's such a rush. It's my drug of choice!
My costumes are amazing. Most of them are from the Broadway show. I wear a bustle cage, a corset, hats, gloves, beautiful ball gowns, a wig... the whole shebang. I have a dresser who helps me in and out of all my costumes and follows me around backstage with my water bottle.. she's very cool.
Here's how my night unfolds. I arrive to the theatre at around 6:30 and pin curl my hair. I get my corset on and my under clothes then head over to the Mic people who pin my microphone on me. I have a 7pm appointment with the wig guy who puts on my wig and builds my bangs into the front part so my hairline looks real. Then I go back to the dressing room to finish my makeup and get into my costume for the top of the show.
I'm usually done by the 10 minute call so I just hang out with whoever's around.
By 10:45 I'm done with the show and I just head back to the hotel for a beer and a snack with friends, then I hit the hay!
I am treated like a STAR here! The costume department gives me everything to wear. Not just the costume, but the shoes, the dance tights and even the underware! Can you believe that? Underware! They bought me a thong that I get to take home. Oh, and a water bottle with my name on it.
Opening night was awesome. I have a few solo lines in "murder murder". I took a breath to sing my first line and my spit hit the back of my throat and choaked me. Couldn't sing. I had a moment of panic and then it passed, but it stressed me out and I flubbed up my next line as well. It was a minor train wreck for me, but I laughed it off later. I tend to choak on my spit a lot, I dunno what's up with that!
Sacramento Music Circus Journal: 8/15/07
What Day IS it? I've lost count!
Oh boy. I lost count of how many days I've been here cuz life has been crazy!!!
Can you imagine putting up a huge musical in a week and a half? I have no idea what the date is today, or even what day it is.
I'm am thuroughly enjoying myself. I have had a few rough patches of overcoming some insecurities and such, but I have recovered and am ready to get my Jekyll on...
Sacramento Music Circus is "in the round" with 4 isles to enter and exit from. The entire structure of the building is circular, so even when I exit the stage and theatre, I am in the outer perimiters of the space where all the bathrooms and consession stands are... basically that would be the "lobby" but there is no lobby because it's all just one long circular hallway. So, when I exit the theatre, I am confronted with a whole other problem which is 'which way to do I go to get to the dressing room?'.I am so lost in that space that I had to make a cheat sheet and stuff it down my shirt. It tells me which scene is coming up next, what isle I enter, what isle I exit and where to go for my costume change.
The insecurities I mentioned had to do with how STUPID I felt once we got into the theatre and figuring out where my enterences and exits were. In the rehearsal space they had the blueprints of the stage and isles taped out on the floor, but once I got into the theatre, I had to re-learn all of my blocking because the rehearsal space was not exactly like the theatre space. I was paraniod that I'd mess up, and I DID, a lot.. and this is a theatre I'd like to work in again, so the pressure was on to be absolutely perfect. I gave myself no room to be human and make mistakes, and I found myself crying after the first rehearsal we had in that space.
Also, we have to do this watlz, and low and behold I've never waltzed before. I'm a bumbling idiot up there, trying to waltz and I'm so afraid the choreographer is gonna regret hiring me. I waltzed perfectly fine at the call back, but that was because I was not paired up with a partner. I had never ballroom danced with a partner before, and there I was tripping over his feet and falling behind. Now that I think of it, it's pretty funny, but at the time I was near tears.
It's interesting to think about all the auditions I've been to and how many roles I've desired to land, thinking "oh I could TOTALLY do this if they would just hire me", and now that I've been hired, and I'm here doing this, I realize that this is hard work. I'm not complaining at all, because I'm having a blast, but being in a production like this, at a theatre with so much clout, is not about being able to "totally do this".. it's about having the courage to make mistakes, the ability to admit when I'm lost, and the knowledge that I am worthy to be here.
Can you imagine putting up a huge musical in a week and a half? I have no idea what the date is today, or even what day it is.
I'm am thuroughly enjoying myself. I have had a few rough patches of overcoming some insecurities and such, but I have recovered and am ready to get my Jekyll on...
Sacramento Music Circus is "in the round" with 4 isles to enter and exit from. The entire structure of the building is circular, so even when I exit the stage and theatre, I am in the outer perimiters of the space where all the bathrooms and consession stands are... basically that would be the "lobby" but there is no lobby because it's all just one long circular hallway. So, when I exit the theatre, I am confronted with a whole other problem which is 'which way to do I go to get to the dressing room?'.I am so lost in that space that I had to make a cheat sheet and stuff it down my shirt. It tells me which scene is coming up next, what isle I enter, what isle I exit and where to go for my costume change.
The insecurities I mentioned had to do with how STUPID I felt once we got into the theatre and figuring out where my enterences and exits were. In the rehearsal space they had the blueprints of the stage and isles taped out on the floor, but once I got into the theatre, I had to re-learn all of my blocking because the rehearsal space was not exactly like the theatre space. I was paraniod that I'd mess up, and I DID, a lot.. and this is a theatre I'd like to work in again, so the pressure was on to be absolutely perfect. I gave myself no room to be human and make mistakes, and I found myself crying after the first rehearsal we had in that space.
Also, we have to do this watlz, and low and behold I've never waltzed before. I'm a bumbling idiot up there, trying to waltz and I'm so afraid the choreographer is gonna regret hiring me. I waltzed perfectly fine at the call back, but that was because I was not paired up with a partner. I had never ballroom danced with a partner before, and there I was tripping over his feet and falling behind. Now that I think of it, it's pretty funny, but at the time I was near tears.
It's interesting to think about all the auditions I've been to and how many roles I've desired to land, thinking "oh I could TOTALLY do this if they would just hire me", and now that I've been hired, and I'm here doing this, I realize that this is hard work. I'm not complaining at all, because I'm having a blast, but being in a production like this, at a theatre with so much clout, is not about being able to "totally do this".. it's about having the courage to make mistakes, the ability to admit when I'm lost, and the knowledge that I am worthy to be here.
Sacramento Music Circus Journal: 8/12/07
Day 7
List of accomplishments
1. Learned almost all of the music and blocking. There's really only 2 huge ensemble numbers, the rest of the staging is basically back round work and some pit singing. I have a solo from the pit!! I do some underscoring "oo's" during one of the scenes.
2. I spearheaded a cast hang out in the hotel lobby/bar last night. Met some peeps from Annie that aren't in Jekyll 'n Hyde.
3. Our choreographer, Bob Richard, is amazing! He's on my list of people I hope to work with again. He's organized, well spoken, hilarious, talented, warm, and just all around COOL! Our director, Marcia Milgrom Dodge, I have not worked too closely with yet, but she's killer as well.
4. I rode my bike down to the Art Walk tonight. Every 2nd Saturday of each month is Art Gallery night. I discovered an interesting artist, Arunas Zilys. Google him. Very cool Klimt'ish stuff combined with half man/half creature figures. Me likie.
5. I have been good at going to the gym every day and eating pretty healthy, but I did manage to polish off a bag of Trader Joe's Peanut Butter Pretzle bites dipped in chocolate. Will I ever lose those last 10 pounds and be skinney skinney? Probably not. I like sugar way too much... and beer...which reminds me.. I gotta log off so I can sip a cold one and work on my music!
2. I spearheaded a cast hang out in the hotel lobby/bar last night. Met some peeps from Annie that aren't in Jekyll 'n Hyde.
3. Our choreographer, Bob Richard, is amazing! He's on my list of people I hope to work with again. He's organized, well spoken, hilarious, talented, warm, and just all around COOL! Our director, Marcia Milgrom Dodge, I have not worked too closely with yet, but she's killer as well.
4. I rode my bike down to the Art Walk tonight. Every 2nd Saturday of each month is Art Gallery night. I discovered an interesting artist, Arunas Zilys. Google him. Very cool Klimt'ish stuff combined with half man/half creature figures. Me likie.
5. I have been good at going to the gym every day and eating pretty healthy, but I did manage to polish off a bag of Trader Joe's Peanut Butter Pretzle bites dipped in chocolate. Will I ever lose those last 10 pounds and be skinney skinney? Probably not. I like sugar way too much... and beer...which reminds me.. I gotta log off so I can sip a cold one and work on my music!
Sacramento Music Circus Journal: 8/5/07
Day 1 of my Sacramento Music Circus gig.
Jet Blue departed JFK a bit later than planned, but I didn't mind, I was running late anyways. I had a dinner party last night and had to clean up, pack, and get the apartment ready for my subletter.
It's 12:18am NYC time and I'm flying over Colorado, almost there!
It baffles me to think back to late January, when I was laid off from my day job (see blog entry entitled "A Thank You Letter to the Gods of Good Luck". ) I came home stunned by my new freedom. I was a bit worried about my financial future, yes, but I was also excited about being able to pursue my acting dreams full time. I was sitting on my couch, talking to my friend Elissa on the phone. We were agreeing how odd it was that we both had just lost our jobs and were about to start collecting unemployment, and oh-what-FUN we were gonna have going to all these EPAs with no "job-job" holding us back.
FYI: an EPA is an Equity Principal Audition. Equity is the union for theatre actors. All the big Regional Theatres from across the country come into NYC every Feburary/March and have EPAs to cast their next season.
So anyway, we were talking about EPAs and I got this overwhelming feeling that I was gonna book something really great, and it was gonna take me out of town for a while. I had decided that I wanted to book an ensemble role and not a leading role, because I just wanted to be part of the big picture and completly submerge myself into the entire group. I want to share a dressing room with tons of other people, put on my character shoes, and sing in the chorus. As I was talking to Elissa and telling her all this, and I could almost see my future. I had some sort of blurry vision, and a definite strong feeling that I would be packing my character shoes sometime this summer. Today, I proved myself RIGHT!
So here I am, heading off to a future I knew I would make happen. I have that same strong feeling that this is the beginning of something great, that this is not my one and only booking. This kind of life, going after a dream with no solid paycheck coming in every week, is the scariest thing I've ever done, but I'm going to do it. What else is life about if not for going after a life that makes you happy.
As Owen Meany says, with John Irving's words, "If you care about something, you have to protect it – if you’re lucky enough to find a way of life you love, you have to find the courage to live it.”
It's 12:18am NYC time and I'm flying over Colorado, almost there!
It baffles me to think back to late January, when I was laid off from my day job (see blog entry entitled "A Thank You Letter to the Gods of Good Luck". ) I came home stunned by my new freedom. I was a bit worried about my financial future, yes, but I was also excited about being able to pursue my acting dreams full time. I was sitting on my couch, talking to my friend Elissa on the phone. We were agreeing how odd it was that we both had just lost our jobs and were about to start collecting unemployment, and oh-what-FUN we were gonna have going to all these EPAs with no "job-job" holding us back.
FYI: an EPA is an Equity Principal Audition. Equity is the union for theatre actors. All the big Regional Theatres from across the country come into NYC every Feburary/March and have EPAs to cast their next season.
So anyway, we were talking about EPAs and I got this overwhelming feeling that I was gonna book something really great, and it was gonna take me out of town for a while. I had decided that I wanted to book an ensemble role and not a leading role, because I just wanted to be part of the big picture and completly submerge myself into the entire group. I want to share a dressing room with tons of other people, put on my character shoes, and sing in the chorus. As I was talking to Elissa and telling her all this, and I could almost see my future. I had some sort of blurry vision, and a definite strong feeling that I would be packing my character shoes sometime this summer. Today, I proved myself RIGHT!
So here I am, heading off to a future I knew I would make happen. I have that same strong feeling that this is the beginning of something great, that this is not my one and only booking. This kind of life, going after a dream with no solid paycheck coming in every week, is the scariest thing I've ever done, but I'm going to do it. What else is life about if not for going after a life that makes you happy.
As Owen Meany says, with John Irving's words, "If you care about something, you have to protect it – if you’re lucky enough to find a way of life you love, you have to find the courage to live it.”
A Thank You Letter to the Gods of Good Luck
Dear Gods of Good Luck,
I cannot even begin to express my undying thanks for all the good luck you have bestowed upon me. Thank you for hooking me up 3 years ago with a temp job that eventually lead me to where I am right now.
Back in mid 2003 I turned from "Temp" to "Perm" at Credit Suisse First Boston. I was an Administrative Assistant for the Research Group in Fixed Income (not like I know what any of that means!)...
I cannot even begin to express my undying thanks for all the good luck you have bestowed upon me. Thank you for hooking me up 3 years ago with a temp job that eventually lead me to where I am right now.
Back in mid 2003 I turned from "Temp" to "Perm" at Credit Suisse First Boston. I was an Administrative Assistant for the Research Group in Fixed Income (not like I know what any of that means!)...
My Retoucher for my Headshots!
My Brother Allan. Check out his site
www.epilogueimaging.com
www.epilogueimaging.com
Allan Finamore is at the top of his game in London as the #1 requested retoucher for high fashion photography. He has a signature trademark in all his photos - a starburst. Look for him in any Calvin Klein or Christian Dior ad. He's also retouched album covers for Bjork, Madonna, Rolling Stones and more.
He retouched my recent headshots. Thanks big bro!
www.epilogueimaging.com
Go Al!
He retouched my recent headshots. Thanks big bro!
www.epilogueimaging.com
Go Al!
My Blogsite Designer
www.finamoredesign.com
He's an amazing artist, a fabulous designer and he's my brother Troy. Spread the word and help this freelance graphic designer get some work! He also teaches web design classes at Drexel University!
Thank you Troy for helping me out with EVERYTHING!!
I LOVE YOU
Thank you Troy for helping me out with EVERYTHING!!
I LOVE YOU
How to go out on a Date in Queens
My thoughts and experiences as being a first-time Director.
In order from Left to Right: Elissa Goldstein, David MacNiven, Emily Mitchell, Courtney Wagner, John Porto
In order from Left to Right: Elissa Goldstein, David MacNiven, Emily Mitchell, Courtney Wagner, John Porto