Momentous occasions

This has been a big week. I had my first New York City audition. I auditioned to be a company member at The Flea Theatre. They are a small Off-Off Broadway theatre but they have name recognition in this city and they develop and produce a lot of new and contemporary work which I find very exciting. I felt good about my audition so I will wait to see if I get a callback sometime in the next couple of days. If I don't that's OK. I'm just glad I could finally do something more active than send out headshots, an activity that is beginning to feel rather futile.

I also attended my second audition after which I was given a part! I will be making my New York City stage debut in a showcase piece called "Happy Hour". From what I can tell, it's a series of vignettes of men and women talking about sex and relationships. Not terribly original but beggars can't be choosers. They do 4 shows a night, each lasting about an hour I guess and I am doing 2 performances on March 4 and 11. I think the deal is they have people moving in and out of this show so I am a replacement for someone in the 10:30 show. I only have four or five rehearsals total. It's a little weird but hopefully it will be fun.

On Saturday I started a five-week teacher training program at American Place Theatre, a theatre that used to be an Off-Broadway performance house but has since refocused and turned all its energies into its Literature to Life program in which they adapt novels to the stage and send teaching artists in to work with students to understand the performance and the significance of the that paricular novel and the power of literature in general. Going in, I thought this was a training program for the theatre and that at the end of it I would be added to their roster of teaching artists but in actuality I am just getting some free training that may or may not lead to work with the theatre. So, from that perspective it's a little disappointing but I have already learned some new classroom skills so it's hardly a waste of time.

The other big occasion is the big blizzard we had. In addition to having been here for the transit strike, we have now been here to tell the tale of the biggest blizzard in New York City history. It started so lightly you couldn't imagine it would turn into anything significant but when I woke up at 8am and looked out the window I could only just the buildings across the street and that was it. We went out to breakfast and walked through Washington Square Park which was beautiful and full of varying contingents: the families with sleds, the dog people, the teenagers throwing snowballs and the people taking photos. It was fun to watch until I became painfully aware of the tips of my fingers and toes starting to freeze and we headed to our nice warm apartment.

Now, the sun is out although it's supposed to stay cold for the next few days. Tonight I am volunteering at Target Margin Theatre's annual benefit. They are honoring the New Yorker writer Malcolm Gladwell and the playwright/theatre artist Rochard Foreman so I am excited to get to hear them speak and maybe get to meet them. Wednesday I am attending another forum/workshop with commercial agents and Thursday I head off to Austin for the weekend to see my Dad and stepmom, throw a bridal shower for Kat, watch her run across the finish line of her first marathon and hopefully defrost a little bit!