York final and Random

Largest 6-pack in the world in La Crosse, WI

"The Dude's Smoke & Stuff" in York.

Around York and in our performance space

York, PA

Central Market House where the Farmer's Market was

Ceiling in our performance space

Row houses

Beautiful buildings in York

New York and York, PA

Gorgeous church in York

We're famous!

Look, my new hair!

Michael Hogwood and Nathan and I!

Last of Chicago and Newark/New York

View of Manhattan from the Verrazano bridge

NJPAC in Newark, NJ

Performance space in Brooklyn

Bookstore in Brooklyn

Theatre in Chicago

Chicago and Hays, KS

Kyle and I.

Steppenwolf in Chicago

Daddy and I in Hays, KS

The N's: Newark and New York

Hello everybody~

On this fine and sun-shiny Sunday afternoon I am writing to you from Johnstown, PA. What? You say you've never been there, never even heard of it. Well, you're not missing much. It's not that bad, really, just out in the middle of nowhere. And we're at another Super 8. This one, while not as bad at the previous one, still is far from 'super'. The stay at this hotel comes on the heels of a Ramada, or Slumada. So, I am ready for a nice Baymont STAT!

Today I ate at a very famous Eastern chain called Five Guys. They make delicious Angus burgers and freshly cut french fries from real potatoes. It was described to me as the In-N-Out burger of the east. I have to say that, while I did enjoy In-N-Out Burger, I thought Five Guys outdid it. You could get any number of toppings on your burger for free (fried onions, sauteed mushrooms, A-1 sauce, etc.) and the fries were perfectly cooked. Yummy, yummy!

After lunch we saw Alice In Wonderland in 3-D. I actually really enjoyed it. Thought it was a bit slow in parts, but very fun and lovely to look at. Definitely see it in 3-D. It's worth it.

Yesterday I was in a great town called York, PA. Kinda reminded me of Fayetteville. Really artsy, people bringing their dogs everywhere and really eco-conscious. We loaded in early and the theatre was right next to their central farmer's market. It was amazing. Amish cheeses and baked goods, fresh seafood and deli, pretzels, cupcakes, you name it. For lunch I had: freshly squeezed lemonade with strawberry, a delectable crab cake sammy, and cream of tomato soup with real tomatoes! I also sampled cupcakes for dessert and bought cheese to go.

After lunch, Anthony, Kirsten and I walked around the town and shops and took pics. I found an amazing organic soap and lotion store and bought a few goodies.

Then there was the show....WOW. Technical difficulties don't even BEGIN to cover it. One of our songs started early, so everyone ran into place and started dancing. Then it stopped. Silence. So Anthony decided that we should just go into the scene, so he set everyone for the scene and I grabbed my flag prop which starts the scene. As soon as I took my opening spot, the music restarted at the beginning. So I ran and replaced my prop and started dancing and singing. About halfway through the song it skipped. And kept skipping. So no one knew where we were, everyone was running around on the stage singing different parts and in different choreography. We were like demented, escaped zoo animals with mange. IT WAS THE LONGEST THREE MINUTES ONSTAGE THAT I HAVE EVER SPENT. I pride myself on being able to roll with the punches onstage, but we just kept getting punched. Finally I ran to down center and yelled (in the middle of the song) "Ok, that's enough singing and dancing. Thank you. No more music." At this point the audience looked like they were at a funeral, which they were, ours. Everyone staggered to their places and tried to win the audience back. But the technical hits just kept on coming. I know they were struggling in the booth and we were CERTAINLY struggling onstage. I am surprised that the audience didn't ask for their money back. It was AWFUL.

Needless to say, drinks were on tap for last night.

So, now I'll quickly backtrack and cover a little Newark talk. We performed at the amazing New Jersey Performing Arts Center. The crew was professional and amazing. They catered all our food and cared for us like stars. They even gave us free tickets to their mainstage show (we were in their 'small' 580 seat house) the Peking Acrobats, which was cool.

I tried Portugese good for the first time and I loved it. I ate lots of seafood. My co-star Kirsten had friends come to the show (one of them is a Broadway star, he played Jean Valjean in Les Mis!) and they genuinely seemed to like the show.

On our final night in Newark we took the train into the city. I went into Astoria, Queens where all my grad school buds live and I got my hair cut and colored (ABOUT DARN TIME). Then I went to Jenna's apartment for my friends' theatre company meeting. Nathan Riley, Michael Hogwood, Bryce Kemph, Jenna Kirk and Val Andrews were ALL THERE. They did some exercises that we learned in grad school and I closed my eyes and it was like I was back in Fayetteville. It warmed my heart and soul. Then they read their original play, which was wonderful and going somewhere great as far as I'm concerned. We ended our time with drinks at an irish pub.

Then I took the subway to the East Village and met my co-star Anthony at a karaoke bar. We did a terrible duet, ate bad pizza, drank wine and staggered back to our hotel rooms around 3 am! Next morning call: 8:45am. We were tired but it was SO worth it. I was proud of myself for getting around New York City by myself and not getting intimidated. It was actually super easy and fun.

I'm headed back into New York (we're staying in Tribeca) on Thursday evening. I get to see everyone again on Friday night. It's Bryce's 30th birthday, so everyone is getting together and I get to see ALL my friends-Betsy, Ruby, EVERYONE. Can't wait.

In between now and then, I'm heading to Maryland again. I'll try to update again before then. I'm getting ready to post a bunch of pics, so stay tuned!

Love and miss you ALL!

Into the East

Hello all!

I can't believe that it's been this long since I last blogged. So much has happened and then nothing has happened. Touring is a VERY strange experience. I never know what day of the week it is, let alone the date. I'm just riding along in the van, unloading or loading the set or performing. It's crazy/weird/interesting/wonderful. In summation I am having the experience of a lifetime, but I miss my folks back home.

A lot of things have been happening with people back home, some happy (my friend from high school Jenny White just had her baby girl Katherine), some scary turned into happy (Leah had some complications with her pregnancy and had to deliver early, but she and Natalie are both fine!) and some tragic (my friend Sheyenne delivered her little girl Whitney stillborn), so obviously I've had a lot of people in my thoughts and minds in the past few weeks.

I've also gotten to see some wonderful people while I've been out on tour. Dad and Linda came to Hays, Kansas and it was WONDERFUL! Just getting hugs from them and talking with them and seeing their faces (and having my own hotel room for two nights, not that roommate isn't wonderful, but we both appreciated our space) was soul-restoring.

A few days after that I was in Skokie, IL right on Kyle Dougan and Abbey Molyneux's doorstep. I stayed with Kyle and met his boyfriend Justin, who was terrific. Kyle's place is lovely. We went to a gay bar that played only showtunes in Boys Town, shopped in Wicker Park and saw a show for free that Kyle is both assistant directing and singing in. It was an original musical based on Pride and Prejudice. Let's just say it was interesting and leave it at that. Abbey met us out for dinner and went saw the show and we went for drinks after. I met the new person in her life and he also has my stamp of approval. My friends have good taste!

Seeing those two and spending time with them helped me to realize how blessed I am with the people I have in my life. I have friends that I have known since middle school, college, graduate school, etc. Just a hodgepodge of wonderful people that I am lucky to call friends. I get emails and calls from others and it always brightens my day.

I have more reports from our stop in Newark and my day trip into NYC (I saw my friends, I cut my hair!) but those will have to wait. I will also be posting some pics soon.

I miss everyone tons and I think about you all!

Have a great weekend.