playdate

Do YouTube? I certainly do.

I confess.  When YouTube started out, way back in 2005, I was not a fan.  But then, my first experiences with it were watching videos of teenaged girls trying to convince their boyfriends that they didn't sleep around, and the same boyfriends singing pathetic (and poorly sung) love songs while accompanying themselves on guitar.  I thought it was all just a bit...lame.  I had no interest in watching the videos, and there was no way on God's green earth that I would ever be caught dead uploading any personal video of mine.  I have since changed my tune.

Happy Endings

(We take a break from our regular scheduled programming to bring you the saga of Papa Drama and his audition woes....)

Hello all regular readers of Mama Drama!  Mama Drama is recovering/recouping after her successful run of Proof and has asked me to fill in this week.  So I thought I'd give you all a glimpse of the awful, anxiety-filled, depressing, demoralizing world of auditions.

Back(yardigans) OFF!

So okay, I don't want to be a traitor to my kids' generation and all, but I just don't get some of the shows on TV today.  I mean, come one, it looks like they they just fall out of some guy's head and put on some bright colours and take their cutesy songs - EW - and cover them up with some random "lesson" storylines and like, we're expected to swoon?  I don't think so.

The Play: Adjudication and Reviews

Overall, I have been really pleased with the production that I'm currently in.  The actors all get along really well, and for the first time (ever, I think), I am 100% confident in everybody's work onstage.  For those of you who have done local theatre, I'm sure you've experienced those cringe-worthy moments when you know something is bad, but it is just never going to be fixed and you have to deal with it.  I don't have that with this play.  Not for one single second.  The acting is strong, the set is wonderful, the direction is good.  It all works.  And I'm pretty harsh when it comes to shows I'm personally involved with, so saying that means alot.  This week brought us our reviews and adjudication, and for the first time, I felt a bit deflated.

The Play: Opening Week

OK, so I know how you all are just DYING to find out how opening week for my play went.  I'm sure it's hard to think of anything else.  Seriously though, how do you stand going about your daily life without knowing?  It must be hard.  I really feel for you.  So...kind person that I am, I decided to fill you in on all the details.  You are so very, very lucky!

We started off the week with rehearsals every day - Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.  By the time our last dress rehearsal rolled around, we were exhausted.  And dying for a real audience. 

Papa's Got a Brand New Brain

(As Mama Drama is getting ready for her big return to the stage Papa Drama steps in this week...)

As last Friday was Mama Drama's only night not rehearsing for her show PROOF (Go see PROOF!!), instead of having some quality family time, I thought my time would be best spent getting a new brain.  A New Brain is a contemporary musical with score and lyrics written by William Finn (25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Elegies: A Song Cycle, Falsettoland) and book by Finn and James Lapine currently being produced by Acting Up Stage in Toronto.

Welcome to the Dollhouse

Well, it's two days until Valentine's Day and I have to say...I don't really give a hoot.  Do people really still go all out for V-Day?  Chocolate aside, I'm not a fan of February 14th.  Maybe it's the fact that I'm old and married.  Maybe it's because I'm poor.  Or maybe I'm just bitter.  Who knows?  All I know is that it's going to be just another Saturday night around my house.  No matter.  The true, shining light in my week is not going to be Saturday the 14th, it's going to be Friday the 13th.  Why?  Well, it can be summed up in one word:  Dollhouse.

Curveball

One of the things that l like best about being an actor is all the...well, for lack of a better term...all the drama.  Anytime you're in a play you can pretty much guarantee there is going to be some kind of hullabaloo at some point.  Or, maybe it's just the plays that I'm in.  Who knows?  But despite how emotional it can be in the moment, I love it - mainly because my real life is not nearly so interesting.  The play that I'm in now is no exception.  Here's what went down...

The Proof is in the Button

My mom and I got to talking the other day about how very few people today can actually carry a tune.  We had just come back from Storytime at Chapters where the lady leading the program was rather...free with her interpretation of tune to Old MacDonald.  I was remarking how the circle time at my local Early Years Centre was much better, but that not nearly as many people went there.  I kept going on, wondering who picked this woman to lead storytime?  Did she volunteer?  Was that the best they had?  And my mom came back with an interesting tidbit.  Most kids aren't taught much of anything about music since cuts to the arts programs in schools.

Wanna hot date for Friday Night?

Sigh.  There was a time when Friday night used to be really  special.  The end of the work week.  Me and my overnight bag taking a trip up to my then-boyfriend now-husband's apartment to spend the weekend Living in Sin.  A movie!  Dinner at a fancy restaurant!  I love my children desperately, but I have to admit a downside to being married with small children - the vast majority of our nights are spent at home in front of the TV.  We still have excitement on Friday night, but it's somewhat tamer:  Hot dogs!  Chips!  Smirnoff Ice!  (Can you stand it?  Do you need a moment??)

That is, our Friday Nights WERE tamer until a certain little acronym came into our lives:  FNL.