THE THREEPENNY OPERA

Date of Run: July 27-August 5, 2012
ROLE: Matthew


This show played only two weekends, the last one of July and the first one of August, but my experience truly began in January. I was on winter break from school and on break from Oklahoma rehearsals when I saw on Facebook that there was to be a concert featuring the music of Kurt Weill with a couple other songs from other writers. Students who had grown up together in the area and who had done shows at Cinnabar Theatre (Petaluma) together, including my friend David O’Connell, put on this concert at the Petaluma Museum. I felt it was worth checking out because I did not know the music of Kurt Weill that much and a good friend, who was not normally a singer, was involved. The program stated that the funds raised from this show would be directed toward a production of The Threepenny Opera in the summer. My thought on that was “Maybe I’ll go see it if I’m still in the area.” The concert was enjoyable. After it I didn’t give much more thought to the production until around May.

After Oklahoma ended, I auditioned for a couple shows here and there, searching for my next gig. Nothing. Then in May I learned that there would be auditions for Threepenny Opera and I remembered that it was happening. I auditioned. It was a few weeks before I learned that I was cast. I was on a cruise in Alaska when I found out I was cast as Matthew. Rehearsals began a couple weeks after I got back.

The director of this show was Eileen Morris and the music director was Jared Emerson-Johnson. The cast consisted of my friends Rachel Deatherage and Margaret Starr and other people I did not know including David Norman, Audrey Tatum, Molly Larsen, Erin Galloway, Gabe Sacher, and Adam Farmer. We were short one person to play the role of Peachum and at first, I felt we could’ve used more people for ensemble, even just a couple girls.

I reviewed a copy of the play beforehand only to find that we would be using a different version than the more commonly produced one. I would also be playing not only Matthew, but also a beggar and a whore (yes, a whore, more on that later). We also did not have a performance venue. Eileen had wanted to use the Petaluma Museum because of the acoustics, and I’d be inclined to agree with her because the concert in there was wonderful. In fact, the museum did hold concerts there on occasion. However, the museum had an exhibit up that they couldn’t easily be removed so we were forced to go elsewhere. After some searching, we found a venue in an art gallery in Downtown Petaluma. Rehearsals, however, were held mostly at a couple churches in Petaluma with a couple at Cinnabar Theatre and a few at Eileen’s house.

I could not be at rehearsal all the time due to my job. Most of my scenes, which were the big group scenes were staged first, then I had a long break before being called again. During music rehearsals I didn’t rely on others. Strangely it was as if I had suddenly gotten a good ear and I picked up the sound of the notes better, despite the bass clef. I can’t explain it, but I had greatly improved and felt relaxed learning the music.

As time went on, we were still short a person to play Peachum. Eileen and Jared had exhausted all possible contacts, all of whom said no. I tried to search for others via Facebook. Kevin Ockelmann responded. He said he’d come up if they were looking. With him he brought Christopher Gonzalez. Neither would go on to play the role, but they were cast anyway which helped to lessen the burden for the ensemble as some bit parts needed to be filled. Eventually a Junior College student, Francis Upton, was found to play Peachum. Now the show was fully cast.

In this cast happened one of the rarest of theatre circumstances. Fully cast, it was eight men, four women. More men than women in a show and in a musical no less. We had no ensemble women, so Rachel and Audrey doubled. Rachel’s character, Lucy, was not seen until the second act and Audrey, who played Jenny, was only in a couple scenes as that character. Some of the men had to play whores. I myself was originally slated to wear a white, tight, spaghetti strapped shirt that laced up in the front, but I turned it down because of my tattoos. If I had worn it though, it would’ve looked like I had boobs. Instead, I wore a long-sleeved black shirt, a turquoise flower headband and a blue scarf. Whenever we came to that scene, I never faced the audience. I turned my head down so the lower half of my face would be behind my shoulder. I had a full beard and thought a prostitute with a beard would not look right.

The full cast Bottom left to right: Gabe, Francis, Molly, Adam, David, Erin, Rachel, Kevin, Audrey, and Margaret. Back row l to r: Chris, Me

For only about a month, we rehearsed with the full cast, though days when we had everyone were extremely rare. I usually carpooled with Kevin and Chris to Petaluma. I got along with the cast very well. Some people I did not meet until later on due to the fact that they usually weren't around at the same time I was. I felt that the talents of the four female cast members were superior to the male cast members. The person playing Macheath, David Norman, however, had the best voice of the men. He was a tenor with a voice of sheer power and presence. I felt that he could get over a full orchestra without a microphone. In fact, he was one of the few that stood out and stayed in my mind from the concert back in January.

When we finally came to the actual performance venue, we discovered how small it was. Even moving all the art exhibits aside, the venue would only seat about fifty, maybe sixty. Some would have to sit on the floor. We’d change in the back room. Some scenes involved entering from the audience which meant running half a block around from the alley behind the building to the front. Unfortunately, we’d also have to share a bathroom with the audience.

One day during rehearsal, a few days before opening, we found out that Chris Colfer of Glee was going to be the next street over at a book signing. Many of us wanted to go over there, but we couldn’t. It’s always thrilling to be in close proximity to a celebrity.

This was a very low budget production. We’d only have someone on keyboard and Jared on a violin to accompany us. There was an arch in the studio from which curtains held up by clothes pins would hang from a rope. During one song it was my job to open the curtain while others in that scene rolled out a bed (one of those cheap hotel rollaway beds). But during one rehearsal I had to pull out several for it to open. By then the bed was rolling over me. I took it upon myself to hang up the curtains and I practiced opening them before every performance to make sure it worked.

The Stage

After “Mack the Knife” I was in the third scene, the barn wedding scene. My entrance went like this: First I’d open a small hole in the curtain and look out. Then I’d pop my head out, eyes wide. I would exaggerate looking right and left with only my eyes. Then I’d come fully out. I’d walk right and say “Hello?” Then left and say “Hello?” Then I’d look at the audience and say, “Anybody home?” And that’s when David (Macheath) and Molly (Polly) entered. I always got laughs during some part of it.

The next scene I was in was the same location, but a different time. In this scene my character protested having a woman being in charge of Mack the Knife’s gang, meaning Macheath’s wife, Polly. She then came at my yelling, grabbing my shirt and pulled me close. Then as the others applauded her, she acted cute and bubbly. I never noticed that much before, but one performance I really looked at her and she nearly made me laugh. It was a struggle not to.

The houses were always packed. We had at least forty every show. I measure that as a success, considering the size of the venue. Lynne Morrow and Yvonne Wormer came one night, though not together and they did not see each other until intermission. Yvonne literally got there at the last second and took the last seat.

The most awesome thing during the course of the show concerned Chris. I don’t remember if this happened during a performance or rehearsal, but one night, before the beggar scene, Chris, dressed in his beggar costume, took his sign (we brought in signs for the beggar scene) and sat at the corner. I suppose this was his method of helping him get into character, but he really looked like a homeless person. Then someone who passed by gave him a full loaf of bread! He was that convincing. We all thought it the greatest thing ever and he shared it with us. Needless to say, we enjoyed the snack.

During the course of the show, I became very close to Kevin and Chris. We always talked on and on in the car rides and even after the show ended, we'd hang out together, going to trivia nights at a pub in Downtown Petaluma. Kevin would say that this was the closest he ever was to any cast.

After every show we had to reset the gallery. I noticed that after every show as with Reefer Madness, my throat did not hurt. It was probably due to all the moving around I did. I think it distracted me. Though I only sang in the first song, a couple verses in the third scene and the end song, this show was still not as vocally demanding as others I’ve done.

I felt this show to be a very good one, in spite of the low budget. The directors knew their craft well and created a great success with the cast meshing beautifully.

THOMAS MADIGAN AND THE AUGUST CIRCUS

Date of Show: May 10, 2012
ROLE: Pepe

This was the last show I did of any sort as a student of SSU. This show was not a full stage production, but rather a staged reading of a new musical. The book and lyrics were by Ryan Neely and the music was written by Brent Bain. I first heard about it in Ives Hall when I passed by a flyer mentioning auditions. I felt it was worth checking out. On the night I auditioned, it was only me, Zach Hasbany and Jon Ostlund. After we sang our audition songs they had us read parts and sing different parts of the score. Brent was in the room, but Ryan, lived in Southern California (SoCal), listened via Skype. A few days later, I got a call from Brent offering me the role of Pepe, one of the clowns.


I'm not sure if the writers of this show would want me to reveal any details about the show until they have it firmly finalized.

Brent was a music major at SSU majoring in music composition. In addition to writing the music, he would also be writing all the parts for the different instruments. We'd be performing with a full orchestra, not just a piano. This show was more or less his senior project. Ryan Neely would be directing as well as playing one of the principal roles. Ryan and Brent worked and managed their own radio company called The High Street Broadcast which had radio shows like they did in the 1930s and 1940s. Together in many of these they wrote original songs. They had done this particular show some years before, but now they had lengthened the story and were going to add more songs. Brent had also given the book to Lynne Morrow to proof-read for any plot holes. This show was going to be done like an old radio show with sound effects and everything.

In the cast were several of my Oklahoma cast mates including Zach Hasbany, Jon Ostlund, Chris Colburn, Asella Medina-Smith, Kirsten Torkidson, and Talia Trozzo. Also in the cast were my friends Ashley Rollins, Margaret Starr, and Chris Trujillo. There were several others, many of whom were music majors. One of them, Rick Lejano, was a photographer who gave me updated headshots like the one in my first post "The Beginning."

My main role was a clown named Pepe partnered with another clown, Sir William, played by Jon Ostlund. I was also a roustabout, but briefly. But for my clown character I'd be in two scenes in the first act and then only in the first song of the second act. That song was a duet for Jon and me called "Clowning Around." I was thrilled that I'd get to do a song and with Jon Ostlund no less.

Before we began reading the script in rehearsals, we first learned the music. Some of the songs, like a couple large group numbers, were not quite finished yet, but my duet with Jon was. About once or twice a week we came in to practice with Brent. My part was in bass clef, but Brent had sent us links with the piano arrangement playing. Accompanying it were two voices singing the parts in a series of "Ahs." There was one with both and one for each part by itself. I must've listened to it a thousand times memorizing the notes.

It was about two months or so that we rehearsed, though usually two or at the very most, three days a week. Many of those involved with the show, whether playing a role or making the sound effects, lived in SoCal. When it came time to start reading the script we read and rehearsed with them via Skype. There were a couple instances where the connection failed and we were forced to wait, but it was nothing really.

For the most part I knew of everyone's vocal abilities having worked with them or having heard them at school before. But now I'd like to take a moment to talk about Margaret for a moment. Margaret was a transfer student from the Santa Rosa Junior College and she and I met in Lynne Morrow's senior seminar class on American Musical Theatre. She was taking the class and I was "auditing" it. I heard a brief snippet of her singing one day but didn't think much of it. Then during the rehearsals when she sang, I was really amazed. Margaret had one of the most unique singing voices I had heard in a long time. She was a mezzo-soprano. I can't really describe in words how it truly was or what she sounded like, but if you heard her you would agree.

The show would take place in Warren Auditorium in Ives Hall and would be performed on Thursday May 10, two days before I was scheduled to graduate. That same week I got a new job at the Doubletree hotel. They tried to schedule me to work that evening, but I had to tell them no. I got off work at four on the day of the show, but I missed some of the run through.

The day before the show we were joined by the SoCal people. For the first time we saw them out of the screen and kidded with them about it saying things like "Oh my god, the box people!" or "You're real!" or "You're out of the box!" At that rehearsal we ran through all the songs and music cues. Some people at a little more trouble than others in terms of finding their cues, but when it came to my duet with Jon, we sailed right through it without stopping once.

"Clowning Around"

The stage was set as such. The cast and musicians were arranged in a half circle. The cast was center stage and stage left. We were grouped by vocal groups. I was in the front with the baritones. The musicians were stage right. There were somewhere just under ten musicians including Yvonne, who was at the piano. The sound effects person was to the left of the cast. In this show we were going to use microphones. Those of us who had experiences in SSU musicals before couldn't believe our ears. We were ecstatic. The microphones would be in front of the music stands we'd use for our script folders at the foot of the stage. They had special screens in front. When I asked why, they said it was to protect against spit. The show was going to be recorded on video and sound only. So naturally they'd want it to be perfect.

This was the staging

As a surprise my favorite aunt had also come with my parents for graduation. I had no idea. Though I was not wearing contacts or glasses, I knew my parents were in the front, but I saw someone between them. The only other person I thought it could possibly be had sadly passed away a couple months earlier. But then I got to thinking "No. It couldn't be. Could it?" I was thrilled when I saw her after the show.

The show itself was well attended and a success. Brent's music was beautiful, and the lyrics and book were wonderful to read along to. It was weird listening to myself in the sound recording afterward, especially because for the first time I heard a professional level recording of myself, not a amateur tape. I finally got the chance to sing a full song with an orchestra, though I have as of this post, yet to have a full solo song. It was a great way to end my time at school.

OKLAHOMA!

Date of Run: February 9-19, 2012
ROLE: Ike Skidmore
Photos by myself, Alyce Hunter, and Linnea Mullins.


Oklahoma was my first Broadway musical at SSU. Lynne Morrow, the musical theater director of the school and my vocal coach, had been trying to do this show for years because her father had come from Oklahoma. Now she was finally going to get to do it. I was excited to finally have the chance to do a real Broadway musical at SSU. I even delayed graduating a year just to do it. Then I found out that the theatre department was also doing A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I wasn’t happy about this because if there was one Shakespeare show I wanted to do it was that one. But I knew I couldn’t do both shows. 

Since my audition was on a Friday, I paid a visit to the music theatre scenes class and ran over my songs with Yvonne. That class was where students gathered songs that they wanted to sing and crafted an original show with them. I couldn't take the class that semester, but I could drop in for one day. It was that day when I first met Kevin Ockelmann. My biggest memory of that meeting was when he and I sang "Hakuna Matata" together. Though it didn't seem like anything special at the time, I now look back on it with fondness. You'll see why as you continue reading this blog because Kevin is bound to come up later.

For the show, I auditioned with 16 bars from “I’ll Never Say No” from The Unsinkable Molly Brown, and “C’set Moi” from Camelot, a monologue from A Steady Rain and the Queen Mab monologue from Romeo and Juliet. Seems like a lot in only a few minutes. It was one of my better auditions. 

At the same time, I was also auditioning for My Fair Lady at the Santa Rosa Junior College. Henry Higgins is my dream role, and I would have given anything to play it. However, the director, though giving me a fair chance, told me my acting wasn’t good enough for that role and I was "too young" to play it. Then she cast someone barely older than me and who could pass for thirty at best, but not middle-aged. I was infuriated. The following Monday I was cast as Ike Skidmore in Oklahoma. I was upset at this also because I wanted the role of Jud, badly. Henry Higgins is my number one dream role, but Jud is a close second. It was a role I could’ve connected with because I had pain from my past I could’ve applied. However, at the same time I felt vindicated because the character of Ike Skidmore is in his 60s. HA!

The show was to be directed by Adrian Elfenbaum, a friend of Lynne’s, with Lynne doing music direction of course. The choreographer was Nancy Lyons, with fight choreography by John Sullins. The dialect coach was Stephanie Hunt. The stage manager was Heather Radovich. Yvonne of course, would be the rehearsal pianist and the piano player in the pit. A month into rehearsals she gave me one of her complimentary tickets she’d gotten for She Loves Me at Cinnabar Theatre in Petaluma. She knew I’d appreciate the musical.

In the cast were my friends Zach Hasbany, Jon Ostlund, Chris Colburn, Noah Zepponi, Vanessa Begley, Heather Steffen, and Kirsten Torkidson, my now friends Alex Cummins, Kevin Ockelmann, Christopher Gonzalez, Haley Woods, Haley Walker, Jessica Rose, Shaun McGinley, Talia Trozzo, Max Jennings, Tomio Endo and others including Kim Hoffman, Luis Rojas, Lawrence Ricardo, Aubrie Alexander, Kim Savage, Emili Lewis, Asella Medina-Smith and Nichele Van Portfleet. A month into rehearsals Heather left the cast, for reasons I don't know, and she was subsequently replaced by Laura Millar.

Our first two rehearsals were read throughs. We sat at tables forming a square facing each other. Shaun was to my right and Kevin to my left. Before beginning, after the directors explained their direction for the show, I brought out a playbill from the original 1943 Broadway production of Oklahoma. All were impressed. All rehearsals were the same as Die Fledermaus, Tuesdays and Thursdays with one Saturday a month in the fall semester and then five days a week in the spring semester.

Most of the time was spent on music and the rest on the staging. In the staging the men had to wear boots, vests and cowboy or straw hats while the women wore boots and skirts. It was to get a feel of the period. We also had to learn an Oklahoman accent and were taught by Stephanie Hunt. I had a leg up here because my mother’s family was from Indiana which had a lot of similarities to Oklahoma. We moved through staging rather quickly being ahead of schedule.

I disagreed with some aspects of the direction of the show, but then I'm sure everyone does in some show they done. I won't go into details, but my main issue was that the directors seemed to be trying to copy the London production of Oklahoma that starred Hugh Jackman, even going as far to request a script like that one (only to be turned down by the Rodgers and Hammerstein estates).

Weeks and weeks in, we began full choreography with Nancy. She had already started to choreograph the “Dream Ballet” weeks earlier, which I was not in. I was only in two dances, "Kansas City" and “The Farmer and the Cowman,” which was the biggest dance number after "Dream Ballet." At the same time, we learned the fight choreography with John Sullins. Adrian and Lynne wanted to begin this scene by raising the curtain revealing a huge fight. I was partnered with Kevin.

My fight with Kevin began with him pushing me down, coming down about to punch me when I grabbed his arm and threw him off. Then I got up and we grabbed each other pushing each other back and forth until he punched me. I went down and got up acting in pain then punching him in the gut. I originally was supposed to hit him in the face, but he felt it wasn’t working because he had his arms up ready to fight. In his mind he could easily stop the punch. I think we could’ve worked it with him lowering his guard, laughing, when he saw me in pain, allowing me to punch in the face. I never saw any of the other fights happening until I got a recording of a performance.

In “The Farmer and the Cowman” we didn’t have much dancing, but rather walking in patterns. Then at the end we had a grand right and left. I think Nancy could’ve done so much more, but the directors weren’t letting her do much because of the cut music.

John staged those fights and then the fight between Ado Annie (Audrie) and Gertie (Emili) and the fight between Jud (Jon) and Curly (Zach). There was also a small fight in the middle of “Farmer and Cowman” that began with a punch. I took it upon myself to make the punching sound always trying to hide behind someone to do it, but in the taped performance if you watch me, you can clearly see me doing it. Before the last fight the men had to carry Zach around before Jud entered then at the moment when Jud would attack Curly with a knife we had to grab him then be thrown off. I got softly kneed in the groin once. Enough to cause me to fall back to the ground, but I was not in pain.



Preventing a fight between Curly and Jud

In the music there are no choral groupings except for “Oklahoma.” In everything else everyone who sang in groups sang the same notes. Even those who wouldn’t be onstage for certain songs would learn them and sing from offstage. Lynne spent most of the time teaching that song. I was placed in the bass section, forced again to listen to those around me and memorized the notes that way. In the section were also Zach, Jon and Noah. We were the strongest section of all, both sexes. When we went through each section and sang the group part of the song, we only made one small mistake, but other than that it was perfect. Everyone applauded us. At first I didn't agree with so much time on that song, but when I watched the taped performance later, it sounded beautiful and I realized it was not time wasted.

My character was supposed to have a solo during that song, but for some reason they made it a duet between me and Zach. When I asked why Adrian said it was because Aunt Eller (Kim Hoffman) pointed a gun at everyone, uniting them. I didn't think it logical and I didn't see why I couldn't have a solo. Zach had enough singing already. Then one day in November Vanessa (Laurey), Zach and Jon came in later due to shooting publicity photos. So I sang the duet myself. I belted it and sang it with power. So they gave me two lines of it for myself, though I still would rather have had the whole thing to myself. Zach was playing the lead and had enough singing of his own, so I felt that he shouldn't have other people's things too.

My solo moment

In addition to that I also had two solo lines in “Oklahoma” The first was “It ain’t too early and it ain’t too late,” which was easier and the second was “Plenty of air and plenty of room.” The second line was tough and no matter how much I went over it, I’m not sure I ever got it right.

I was going to have a lot of backstage time in the first act. I would come on for the scene before “Kansas City,” do that song, say a few more lines and that was it. I’d be in the second act more, first for “Farmer and Cowman” then the auction scene, the wedding, then “Oklahoma” to the end. The shivaree was one of my favorite moments because I was leading it. I’d be going on, skillet and spoon in hand, getting the other men on, then we’d all make a lot of noise.

In this show Lynne wanted rope tricks and it was as though fate was on her side. In one of her music classes, she asked if anyone could do some rope tricks and someone raised his hand. His name was Tomio Endo. He worked on farms and with animals and was wonderful to watch as he did his tricks. He was only in “Dream Ballet,” just to do that. At one rehearsal he even hogtied me, though no one took a photo in spite of everyone seeing it. Before someone could we had to begin rehearsal. Some nights his rope tricks were good, but other nights, his tricks were not as good. Fortunately, the night I chose to record the "Dream Ballet" from the wings for myself was his best night. I didn't notice it at first because I was too focused on making sure I got the whole dance, but when I watched it, it really was his best of the whole run. He did not mess up and have to stop once. I gave him a copy of the recording because I felt he deserved to remember it.

Tomio the rope man

Also, only in for “Dream Ballet” was Alex Cummins, who was playing Dream Laurey, and Nichele Van Portfleet, who was one of the dream dancers. During one rehearsal when they added headpieces to the girls, Jon was running very late so Nancy asked me to step in for a moment where one went under his legs to see if she could do it with the headpiece. I stood with the four girl dream dancers around me all over me until Jon arrived. I wasn’t gonna complain about having to do this. Nancy had needed a pair of long legs and mine were sufficient.

Over the course of the six-month rehearsal period the cast bonded. We were all friendly and caring toward each other. It was as if we became our own community. We did this on our own without any acting exercises. I and a few other men in the cast were very tight. This little group consisted of Me, Noah, Zach, Jon, Chris Colburn and Kevin. We were always picking each other up, sometimes over the shoulder and carrying each other around. In the spring semester this group and most of the men in the cast plus a few other friends even had a guy's night at Noah's house after hearing of the girls having a girl's night.

Zach was a real goofball and that was his style. But what I found odd was how much he talked to me during the course of the show. He constantly stated that we were best friends (though in my opinion he and Noah were best friends). All the while all I could think was "Where the hell did this come from? We hardly said two words to each other during Die Fledermaus." But, whatever.

Me and Zach

Jon was probably the last person I ever would've expected to be cast as Jud. Jud is supposed to be a big, burly, scary and imposing type and Jon, while standing at 6'4'', was not burly. He was very skinny. Also Jon was the nicest person I had ever met. When you met him for the first time he would hug you, not shake your hand. Jon was an Asian and I felt that it didn't work with the show because there is no way an interracial coupling would've happened in 1907 America, especially in a time when Asians were not even citizens. I'm was a history major in college and I'm a bit anal about such things. Anyway, Jon did give the best hugs. I remember once when I had a bad day at work and I asked him if I could have a hug. It did make me feel better. A joke I pulled on him was during a rehearsal one day when I said that I supposed he got Jud because they needed somebody who could use shifty eyes. Then he said, in a joking manner, "What are you saying Michael? You got a problem with Asians? Huh? Huh?" At which point I responded with "Wait. You're Asian? I didn't even notice." He couldn't keep a straight face and hugged me, laughing.

Me and Jon

Noah was awesome and funny. I remember the first time Adrian staged Noah's first entrance in the show. Noah would enter after a few other men came onstage. Then as Noah walked on he slipped, literally on nothing and landed flat on his butt. We all burst out laughing. I had known Noah only sort of before this show, but we became really close after doing this show. However, we did and still do disagree over the use of microphones in musicals.

Me and Noah

This was the third show I did with Chris Colburn at SSU. I had only done three shows at SSU up to then, but Chris was involved in all of them in some way. I consider him like a little brother to me. It was a thrill to act alongside him after a couple years of him working as a techie in some shows I did and also taking a couple classes with him. My fondest memory of him during this show is during his birthday. A large group of us in the cast and a few others went to Applebee's for dinner and then continued at Noah's house. At one point I was sitting in a chair, and he comes over a bit tipsy. I pulled him onto my lap. Sadly no one got a photo of this.



Me and Chris

In the fall semester the cast and directors took a trip to Tara Firma Farms in Petaluma. I carpooled with Kevin and Jessica. We saw chickens and baby chicks, got to pet pigs, and learned about life on a farm. It was a fun experience. A pig that had mud all over it came up behind me and sniffed my pants getting them dirty.

After winter break, we resumed rehearsals. It took only half a rehearsal to remember everything. We had a slight problem once we moved into Person Theatre. The vocal quality in this show was a bit weak. Some people had no problem being heard, but most of the cast sang too softly and I could barely hear them even from a few feet away. I can't speak for myself because I never heard myself. Microphones were desperately needed; they had choir microphones hanging over the stage, but it didn't help because they were never turned on.

Lynne refused to use microphones and her solution was for the orchestra to play very quietly to where they could barely play at all. One member said to me after a rehearsal that he had never played so quietly. Needless to say, “Dream Ballet” was their favorite moment. The one time where they could really play full out. To this day every time I tell a musical actor that SSU doesn’t use microphones (not then anyway) in musicals they look at me as if I’ve lost my mind. I used one in Growing Up in Neverland while I was the centipede because I was underneath the stage, so they probably still exist.

A week after rehearsals resumed, I blew out my voice. I was taking the music theatre scenes class for the final time and was singing many different songs in class and I got a bit carried away. I felt my throat suddenly in pain and I could barely speak after class. I told no one though for fear of getting a lecture. For a little more than a week my voice was weak, but I could still sing, though not my high notes, and after about a week it returned. At one point I didn’t speak for two days.

Tech weekend was long as usual. During it, I had homework to do and, regrettfully, couldn’t hang out with the cast during lunch breaks no matter how much they asked me. During tech week I had to learn to age. I was shown how to apply age lines on my face and whiten my hair and beard, which was difficult. I tried baby powder which failed then a liquid whitener. They wanted me to use only a little, but since they live in an era where people can dye hair, I don’t think they understand that people’s hair can grey in their fifties. My father’s hair was grey by his early fifties, so I felt justified in doing it my way. Every performance I had to gel and style my hair, wait for it to dry then whiten it.

Me in full costume, hair and make-up

I developed my character over time. I decided that since Ike was a rancher and had been riding horses all his life he was bow-legged and didn't stand straight. I decided that Ike and Aunt Eller were young lovers and Ike still carried a torch for her. I never discussed it with Kim or the directors, but I portrayed it that way during the scenes before and after “Kansas City.” I also had to be careful not to be too agile or flexible in my dancing. I didn't think Ike danced often and when he did, he would not be as good at it due to his age. For example, during "Kansas City" there was a moment where everyone jumped in the air with arms and legs wide. I couldn't jump as high or have my limbs out so far because of the age.

Looking through the Little Wonder before Kansas City. Photo by Linnea Mullins.

Opening night, I had never seen the house that full for the musical show since West Side Story years earlier. I got a brief glimpse at the end of “Kansas City.” It was nearly full. In fact, except for our first Sunday show, we played to packed houses. I think if SSU did away with the operas brought in popular musicals and famous plays they might actually make some money to keep their program thriving. After the show many of us went to the restaurant Shari’s for dinner.

In this show we generally had no problems except for two nights. The first was a missed cue on the second night. Zach was ending “Surrey with the Fringe on Top” and I waited in the wings stage left for my cue. I was supposed to enter with Chris Colburn and Lawrence behind me. For some reason I looked behind me, I guess as a final check, and Lawrence wasn’t there. I panicked for moment and whispered to Chris, asking him frantically what we were gonna do. But before he could answer I heard my cue. We went on. The next few lines went like this.

Me: Hi Eller.
Kim: Hi Ike.
Me: Curly. You git the wagon hitched up?
Kim: What wagon?
Chris: There’s a crowd of folks comin’ down from Busheyhead for the box social.

Lawrence had the next line. I waited a moment, hoping maybe he came on when I wasn’t looking. Nothing. So I said his line. Kim responded with her next line and the scene went on. Then a group came on before Noah, though not everyone who was supposed to be on. The rest including Lawrence came on a few moments later. One person (I don't remember who) literally danced on as “Kansas City” began or so she said. We were told off for that and no one missed a cue afterward. I wasn't wearing glasses or contacts so I could not see Kim and Zach's faces clearly (in fact I'm not sure I was even looking), but I can only wonder what went through their minds when only two of us walked out on stage. Noah was not happy either about what happened in the least.

The other night we had a problem concerned Yvonne. One night she forgot her music at home because she thought she had left it at the theatre and had to go all the way back to Santa Rosa to get it. We started anyway, though it didn’t sound the same without the piano. She did not make it back until the fourth song “I Cain’t Say No.” Nobody gave her a hard time though because after all, she was Yvonne.

One night was a sing along night. The audience was given lyrics to sing along with, though not to every song. Some in the cast didn’t like it, but I did. It showed how much they were into it. Some even dressed in cowboy hats. Another performance was a student matinee for high school students. We couldn’t have the full orchestra due to their day jobs, just Yvonne at the piano. It wasn’t the same, though nobody had trouble getting over the music.

In this show we managed to obtain a real surrey that some of the men would roll out for the end of the show. It was an authentic piece. I don't remember where it came from, but it was rented and returned at the end of the run.

After every show the cast had a party, half of them at Noah’s house and the other half at Heather and Vanessa’s apartment with one also at Kim Hoffman's apartment. This probably wasn’t a very smart thing to do because being in a musical means being a monk as well as an athlete. I was at most of the parties, but I took it very easy drinking little and talking little. As a result, my voice stayed strong and healthy. I only had four solo singing lines and I wanted them to count. A couple others however, partied too hard and drank too much and as a result their voices weakened a bit.

At one party I brought a case of Coors with me that I needed to get rid of desperately. Tomio in particular was ecstatic. When one of Noah’s roommates (jokingly) called me a buzz kill, right that instant Tomio appeared right at my side and defended me saying "Whoa, you did not just call Michael Hunter a buzz kill! He brought a large case of beer!" The roommate took back what he said.

During the course of the run, I recorded the songs and other moments from the wings for myself. When I had to be onstage, I had a crew member record for me. Unfortunately, the one song I didn't record was "Farmer and Cowman" because the person I had record when I was onstage in my other moments was the one who fired a gun from offstage and then handed it to Kim who then came on with it. I also didn't get the finale, though I don't know why.

The strike for the show took only an hour, mostly because we couldn’t do much with the set yet. After it was done we took at least thirty minutes saying goodbye. Some people started crying. Then a moment later, I started crying. I was heartbroken to end this show, mostly because I was graduating and I had gotten so close to the cast. It was a bit strange not seeing everyone there on a regular basis after six months. Though I disagree with some members of the cast on how good the show was, I had fun and I wouldn’t have traded my time doing this show for anything. As people began to leave, I stood in the center of the stage looking out into the audience, remembering my time there and thinking "Until next time." Then I turned and walked out the door.

After the run, the cast, crew and directors met one last time as sort of a post-run discussion on what we learned and if we had anything to say. It seemed everyone spoke about something. I spoke too. I hope I didn't sound too corny when I said this, but I said that when I started doing theatre at SSU two and a half years earlier I never knew how good it would be. All the friends I'd make. I said that since I started, I was never happier in my life. And I meant every word of it.

THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR

Date of Run: August 5-21, 2011
ROLE: Abraham Slender
Photos by Al Christenson and Bobbi Wilkins.

Not long after Reefer Madness ended, Narrow Way Stage held auditions for the summer productions The Merry Wives of Windsor by Shakespeare and Antigone by Jean Anouilh. I auditioned with Puck's closing monologue from A Midsummer Night's Dream. I was called back and after reading a few scenes the director of Merry Wives, Diana Grogg, asked me if I'd consider playing the role of Slender. She described Slender as a young rich man who talks a big game and thinks he's all that, but when a girl comes around, he acts stupid and giddy. In other words, it was perfect for me! I said I would and when the cast list came, I was cast as Slender. Diana would later say to me that she cast me in that role because I was funny.

And then I went to Europe. I had been planning a week and a half long trip to Turkey and Greece that summer and it was scheduled to begin at the exactly the same time rehearsals were to begin. I received the script in an email and took it with me on the trip so that I could start learning my lines. I didn't want to be too far behind anyone else and felt that I at least owed them that much for being absent for two weeks. I had plenty of time to learn my lines because of the over twelve-hour flight both ways and because my trips to Europe involved a lot of bus riding. By the time I got back I was completely memorized. And as it turned out I was miles ahead of everyone else. My first rehearsal back we went over my scenes and staging, and I rarely looked at my script, except for when I need to write something down. During this, as I was told later, one cast member turned to another and said, "Is he off book already?" to be answered with "Looks like it."

The cast list consisted of my friends Nick Christenson, Ryan Neilan, Caitlin Brandon, Paul McKinnon, and Charles Fanucchi. The rest consisted of people I didn't know: Marc and Jana Molina, Saskia Baur, Cat Bish, JC Flores, LC Smith, Tim Earls, Eyan Dean, Izabella Mrozik and a couple others who I do not the name of, but we'll come to later.


Rehearsals were held in the backyard of Cat's house, which was conveniently down the street from my house so I could walk to rehearsal every day. The show itself, which is mostly outdoors would indeed be outdoors. It was held at Spreckels, but on the big lawn behind the theatre building. This would mean much projecting on the part of everyone because we'd be facing away from the building and there'd be nothing for the sound to bounce back from. Nick had the best voice of all of us and would have no trouble there. Everyone else including myself would practice speaking up during rehearsal, despite a couple protests from the neighbors.

Diana's vision for the show was for it to take place in the 1940s after the war. Some characters would be military characters and the costumes were picked up from thrift stores. Also, the show would take place in Sonoma County rather than England.

For a few weeks things ran smoothly enough though one cast member never showed up once and we were still short a person for a small role. Then something unfortunate happened. First, we lost the girl playing Anne Page, my onstage love pursuit, as well as that girl's sister. Then we lost Chuck. Chuck was facing some personal and health problems that he could not cope with while also doing a show, so he dropped out. His role was Bardolph, a follower of Falstaff, Nick's character, which was a large supporting role. Now instead of being short one person we were short four. Ryan and LC, who had been playing Falstaff's other followers Pistol and Nym, took the roles of Bardolph and Anne Page. It was difficult to fill the remaining roles, especially because we could not find any men. Even before rehearsals, Diana had changed three characters to women and eliminated two altogether. To fill the role of Pistol we searched for a man for some time and finally found one, Kyle Brandon. Diana found one of her contacts, an older woman whose name I can't remember, to play Nym. Now we were only short one person to play Robin, Falstaff's page. A couple weeks after filling the other roles, Hana Casita was cast. This in addition to Caitlin playing Simple, my page, caused a script revision. At the end of the play Slender and Doctor Caius, Paul's character, mistakenly marry Robin and Simple, respectively, as part of an elaborate scheme. So, Diana revised the script to give each a few lines, in Shakespearean language, to explain the details.

For two months we rehearsed the show, necessary because Shakespeare is difficult to memorize, though this play was easier to follow than some.

As time passed, I began to notice trouble from Izabella. She was playing Shallow, my characters uncle (aunt in this version). Weeks and weeks went by and yet she could not remember any of her lines nor the staging. The set was designed as a bench in front of a fountain which was a few feet from a two-foot-high stage. The backdrop of the stage was a wall and two doors. Off to the sides would be two platforms, one for an office and the other for a bar. Diana's staging for the first scene was for Izabella, Eyan and me to enter from the audience and go to the fountain. But every rehearsal Izabella headed for the stage. At first, I attributed it to her age because she was in her 60s or maybe 70s. We neared tech week, and she was no closer to being off book than when she started. I began to panic over what we were going to do. Eventually we found out that her medication was affecting her memory and when she stopped taking it, she got migraines. Diana stepped in and replaced her.

About a week before the show was to begin, Nick was scheduled to go on a local radio show to promote the show. As the artistic director for Narrow Way Stage, he always did this. He asked if I was doing anything that particular day and if not, would I like to do a scene from the show with LC. I said yes. The day of the broadcast, Nick drove us to the station. He did most of the talking, promoting the show. Then LC and I did the ending part of the first scene of the show where were alone together, making small talk and my character acts shy around her and says stupid things.

Since the show was outside, I had to utilize my voice to capacity. I took a leaf out of the book of my speaking voice teacher, Danielle Cain. I did a vocal warm up every rehearsal day during tech week before the rehearsal a week before the show began, before each rehearsal and even on the days off. It was for muscle memory purposes and the results were worth it.

Opening night was a near disaster. Though Diana had replaced Izabella in the role of Shallow, she would have to read from a script while onstage. But worse than that was that Marc had to go to southern California for a job interview and would not be back in time. Clint Campbell graciously stepped in and also read from a script, throwing old pages aside as he went along. Then as it turned out Diana would not be available on the Sunday matinees. The role was filled by Merlyn Sell. She had the lines memorized by the second Sunday. After each performance we had to do a mini strike where we had to lock up anything that could be stolen, meaning props and furniture, and we had to cover the bar part of the set with a tarp.

My favorite scene was the first scene because that's where most of my action and lines were. After that I had a forty-minute break before going on again. Then I was in almost every scene with few lines and that was the first act. In the second act I did not appear until halfway through and then at the end I had a few lines. My last entrance I tried to keep real every night for I had to be angry. I would stand, back turned, behind the audience, thinking of things that made me angry. Then when my cue came, I took Hana's hand and stormed up through the audience, ranting. I felt better on some nights than others. I then had to melt and be giddy when Hana's character offered to marry mine. All I had to do to accomplish this was look into her pretty brown eyes.

In the beginning I did not feel as though I was doing my best, but in the second half of the run, inexplicably, I felt my performance was improving. Speaking Shakespeare began to be easier, and I felt I was owning my lines in my scenes. I tried to milk every moment I could. Even so I was not immune to almost breaking character. During one performance in the first scene when Nick Christenson was coming right at me, I suddenly had the giggles. I tried hard to hide it, but Nick certainly noticed and later asked me why I was smiling. I don't know what came over me.

The most difficult scene was my third entrance. I was to be standing in one spot, staring at a photo of Anne Page, while the scene went on. It was incredibly boring having to stand there looking interested and doing something. I never really liked that scene.

Walking on the ground outside was not easy for anyone. It was not smooth and flat; it was very bumpy. The women had it worse due to their footwear. I believe Cat had to go to a chiropractor more than once during and after the run. Grass on the costume was not fun either, especially if you owned what you were wearing.

Being outside also meant that we were subject to the weather. Thankfully it never rained on us, but for the Thursday, Friday and Saturday shows, we'd start in lightness and good weather, and then at the end it was dark and freezing. This was actually my first summer residing in Sonoma County and what I didn't know before that was that summer in Sonoma County might be warm or hot in the day, but by night it gets freezing cold. And sometimes, it was cold even during the day. The Sunday matinees were hardly better for even though it was light, it was hot. The show began at five on Sundays, but that didn't matter. It was only slightly cooler at the end.

One of my favorite memories was in the last scene concerning a word Marc said. His line was "What cannot be eschew'd must be embraced." Every performance instead of saying it "es-shooed," he said it as "es-chewed." We all found it hilarious. Then out of nowhere on closing night he said it right! Nearly all in the cast reacted with surprise, audibly and visually. I didn't notice because I was too in character looking at Hana, but I did notice how others around me reacted. I thought it weird. Nick, who had the next line, was about to say it, but when Marc said the word right, he paused and looked at him amazed. After the play during the strike, when we removed two smaller platforms that were on the sides of the main platform, we saw that the grass was incredibly long, pale light green and in a perfect rectangle. We could only imagine how it would've looked under the larger one (we didn't remove that for reasons I do not know, probably no way to get rid of it).

In this show I finally got to do a Shakespeare play, not to mention a character role. No ensemble, no playing multiple characters, just one character the whole way through. Those reasons are why this role was one of my favorites to play. It was even a role I felt fit me perfectly.

On a side note, this was also the first play where I didn't have to do any singing at all.

REEFER MADNESS THE MUSICAL

Date of Run: April 15-May 1, 2011
ROLE: Ensemble

Production Photos by Caitlin Brandon

In the fall of 2010, I auditioned for and got into Reefer Madness the Musical, with book and lyrics by Kevin Murphy and music by Dan Studney. This musical was being staged by Narrow Way Stage Company, a fairly young theatre company formed by former Sonoma State and Santa Rosa Junior College theatre students. It was to be this company's first musical. I had seen some of their shows in the past and they were generally very well done. I was cast in the ensemble. The director was Nick Christenson, the music director was Liam Robertson, and the choreographer was Gloria Rubio. Our stage manager was the incredible Robin DeLuca. Rehearsals for this show began in late January while Die Fledermaus rehearsals were winding down and performances beginning. It seemed that whenever I was called to Reefer Madness rehearsals, I had Die Fledermaus rehearsals and on the few nights I was free I usually was not called at all.

It had taken some time for the cast list to appear, but when it did, I only recognized four people: Claire McCaffrey, who was also in Die Fledermaus, Elise Siegel, with whom I had done a music theatre scenes class some semesters back, Liam Robertson, who was the music director for Growing Up in Neverland, and Emily Somple, with whom I had done the music theatre scenes class one year earlier. The rest of the cast included Nora Summers, Braedyn Youngberg, Trevor Hoffmann, Lenny Improta, Hana Casita, Alexis Long, Samantha Lane, Clint Campbell, and Ryan Neilan. Emily, however, left the cast, probably at the beginning of rehearsals, and was replaced by Rebekah Patti.

The Cast and Crew

Some of the people in the cast were Sonoma State (SSU) students whom I had seen in SSU shows, even if I didn't realize I had. And others in the cast were people who lived throughout Sonoma County. I was beyond thrilled to work with Nick and Rebekah, two of my favorite actors from SSU. They were in the first show I saw at Sonoma State and in Sonoma County in the French farce A Flea in her Ear and they both made an everlasting impression on me. Over the next three years I saw them repeatedly in shows but did not meet them until that school year. I took a playwriting class with Rebekah the semester before Reefer Madness, and I met Nick at auditions. Rebekah is a wonderful person, and her outgoing personality made it very easy to get along with her and the same went for Alexis.

When Die Fledermaus finally ended, Claire and I went to Spreckles Performing Arts Center, where the show would run. We would be using the smaller black box theatre, but as another show was in progress, we had to rehearse in a number of places including the larger theatre at Spreckles, the gym at SSU and a few rooms in Ives Hall at SSU. By the time Claire and I arrived Gloria had staged the first song, "Reefer Madness." So, Claire and I stood back and watched as the others ran through it to show us and I thought "Crap, I am so behind." They had also done some staging for the song "Five and Dime," but not all of it. Gloria and the rest of the cast caught us up, though in my case it took a little while.

Gloria used the soundtrack from the film version of this musical to help her choreograph. At first there were no problems because there weren't any differences between the musical and the movie until we got to "Jimmy on the Lam," which was the last song to be fully staged. Gloria staged it so we'd be walking in angles alternating between slow, normal and fast steps and forwards and backwards. For the longest time when we came to the ending, something was wrong. It was the song going weird all of a sudden and Gloria couldn't figure out how to fix it. The staging frustrated us, and I would gladly have suggested she scrap this and think of something new. It was when we rehearsed with Nora, Rebekah, Elise and Lenny who did the singing in the song that we figured out what was happening. What was wrong was the music that was playing was not the same as what we'd be using. Gloria fixed it and after some time the ensemble remembered all the steps in the correct order. In fact, the first time we did the whole thing right without stopping once, we cheered, and I got us to do a group high five in celebration.


Easily, everyone's favorite song was "The Orgy." In this part of the show, Jimmy, Braedyn's character and the lead, has smoked marijuana for the first time and he lapses into this extreme orgy. We were told that we'd be dancing and rubbing against each other like people do in sex, so we would have to be comfortable. Nick gave an exercise to help with that (more on that later). No one was really uncomfortable though at one moment when the girls were bent over and the guys were behind and thrust their hips forward and back, Samantha asked me not to get too close. The dance consisted also of crawling, rolling and sprawling on the floor. The number ended with everyone collapsed in a heap in the floor. We were also allowed to play with the audience, not only in this song, but also in the first song (more later).

I was sure that the music would cause me real vocal cord injury. The women's parts were divided into soprano and alto, but the men had only one part. I don't know if that's how Studney wrote it or if that's how this edition came, but it seemed as though it was decided that all the men had to be tenors or bari-tenors. No low baritones, which is what I am. In the ensemble I was the only guy with any real vocal experience, but it was impossible. I had to employ falsetto and a more nasal sound to manage parts of it and completely drop out at other parts to make it work, but after every rehearsal my throat would hurt. Liam was hardly any help because if we sang the wrong notes, he'd sing the right note or more often would hit the right key on the piano repeatedly. All I could think was "Liam, that really isn't helping." For the rest of rehearsals, I really lived like a monk. No talking or singing during the day if I could avoid it. Nothing but quiet.

My least favorite song in the show was "Mary Jane/ Mary Lane." I basically repeated the line "Loved by Mary, loved by Mary, loved by Mary Lane" over and over, but no matter how hard I tried I never got the notes right. 

It was also in this show I first learned about fight choreography. Here we come to Richard Squeri, who taught and staged fights for a living. In our first meeting with him he had us play a called flowing dragon swords with him. This is a description from a Youtube video of it: "Flowing Dragon Swords is played when two people face each other and touch wooden swords, then as soon as possible, make and maintain consistent eye contact. The Sword contact is held with no aggressive movement or preplanned outcome. The object is for two people to connect deeply and if inspired, to co-create motion. When this is realized, a window to another world opens. Suddenly, there is no winning or losing, no blame, or expectation -- there is simply seeing yourself and others in a profound and simple way that heals, forms bonds, and invites deep dialogue." Richard staged people dying in several ways, falling, catching others, slapping and best of all, what everyone called "The hoe death."


The hoe death was Elise's big moment in the show. It was where her character, Mae, would kill Trevor's character, Jack, using a garden hoe. She would knock a gun out of Trevor's hand, jab the hoe into his stomach, drag him by the hair and throw him behind the couch. She then proceeded to beat him with the hoe (really beating a large stuffed bag) wile Trevor squirted her with stage blood. Then finally Elise would jab the hoe straight up like she was crushing his balls, reach down and pull up a plastic heart. I reveled in watching this every night while hidden.

Nick had some very interesting exercises for us in order to connect and feel comfortable with each other. They took place in a small dance studio in Ives Hall at Sonoma State University. He first had us walk around the room and when we felt like it we would yell "Fall." Then we would begin to fall and someone or multiple people would catch us. I loved that exercise. The next was to help with the orgy scene. Nick had us split in four groups and go to the four corners of the room. He then turned off the lights and we had to go diagonally to the opposite corner. This entailed us being caught and tangle in a pile to work out of. The last exercise was being in pairs wherein one person would be imagined to be in the worst place possible, naked, emotions bare, and eyes closed. The other would bring that person out of the fetal position, crawl next to them and comfort them. I was paired with Lenny. It was a grueling exercise and some people sobbed. We all had a group hug afterwards.

Generally, I got along well with the cast. They were hard working and dedicated to the show. I even admired some of them. However, Braedyn lost my good favor forever at one rehearsal. At this rehearsal the cast was on a short break, and I was doing a handstand leaning against a wall. Braedyn was goofing around and then he came up and tickled me. I am very ticklish and so I fell. That was the first and to date only time I lost my temper in a blind rage. I grabbed the nearest things I could get my hands on (which turned out to be Trevor's shoes) and hurdled them at him. I had enough sense not to physically attack him, however. When asked if I was all right, I said told everyone to leave me alone and I went outside to regain my composure. For the sake of the show, I tolerated and was professional with Braedyn, but once the show ended, I never spoke to him again.

Clint was a near perfect theatre person. He graduated with a technical theatre degree, but he also acted and danced. He did not sing as much, but I said to the others in the cast, even him, that if he took some singing lessons, he'd be complete.

Ryan was funny at times. I remember the first time I saw his dance for "The Brownie Song." It was cool. Then it was funny watching Braedyn having sex (yes, having sex) with him at the end of the song. If you watch the movie, that scene becomes an animated cartoon moment and Jimmy starts having sex with a brownie head attached to a woman's body.

The layout of the black box theatre of Spreckels was that the stage would be a diamond with seats to the sides and an opening in the center that led out. Exits were also on stage right and left and behind us. Hallways connected the area. For my part I sixteen scenes (the majority) and had eight costume changes, many of which involved just adding to or taking off what I already had on, and six makeup changes. My face always ended up being clean at the end of every show. I had to be a zombie, reefer den person, teenager, orgy person, choir person and angel, ordinary person and executioner so I had to master quick changes and I did very well, though some were difficult. We in the ensemble also did set changes. Mine was easy because Ryan and I were in charge of moving the couch. Once or twice when he didn't show or took some time to get there, I'd be like "I'm not waiting," and moved it myself.

We moved to tech week. We did not have a sitzprobe, which would've been helpful. We had maybe two or three rehearsals with the full orchestra, which consisted of five or six people. We spent much time hammering out our entrances and cues in the songs. Samantha in particular was very good at figuring it out. Everything came together on the last night, though it was difficult. I honestly thought that the show would crash and burn with everything still shaky and certain people were always messing up, though I won't say who.

A character that was cut was The Placard Girl. She would bring in the signs saying all the negative aspects of reefer and other things like the repeated "Loved by Mary Lane" line for the audience to sing along to. For some reason, Nick divided the signs among the ensemble cast members. I was given two placards. Mine were after "The Lullaby" where Rebekah's character, Sally, sells her baby for money and then the baby (Lenny) comes out and sings. I came on in my angel costume with my placard saying aloud "Reefer makes you sell your babies (flip it around) for drug money." My other was after "Little Mary Sunshine." The cue was where Lenny said, "Come on let me up!" to which Nora said, "Shut up bitch!" and I'd come on as a zombie saying, "Reefer gives you a potty mouth."

In this show I had eight costume changes. I'd start as a zombie then go to a reefer den person then to a teenager to an orgy person to Jimmy's dad to a choir person/angel to a teen again. And that was just the first act. The second act had only two and it was more leisurely. I started as a teen then to a zombie and ending as the executioner. I not only had that but about four or five make-up changes, wiping off zombie make-up and then reapplying it later and adding little bits here and there for various scenes.

Opening night was not a complete disaster, but all the male principal characters messed up at some point. Liam switched and repeated a verse in "Reefer Madness," Braedyn forgot lyrics in "Mary Jane/Mary Lane," Lenny's timing was off in "Jimmy on the Lam," and Trevor's Jesus wig during his song "Listen to Jesus Jimmy" fell off. Trevor also made a very grave mistake that nearly stopped the show.

In the second act the second song was "The Brownie Song," in which Jack gives Jimmy a pot brownie. We would carry our brownies in our pocket during "Jimmy on the Lam," but Trevor placed him between him pants and shirt. I told him not to put it there because I knew it would fall out, but he didn't listen. We came to his scene, and he had no brownie. Claire, Hana and I were waiting offstage left, waiting to enter and watching and we saw something was wrong. A moment later Clint came on whistling and slipped Trevor his brownie and had to run back around stage right. An audience member found the brownie and I retrieved it later. I personally baked the brownies, and we did lose a few in the course of the run forcing me to cut some in half. I made new ones every week and we ate the old ones.

Clint was the hero of the hour and Trevor put it in his pocket from thereon. Through it all the ensemble took it in their stride. The second night went for the most part flawlessly. It lifted my spirits and I prepared for the rest of the three weekend, 12 performance run. I also began to notice that after every show my throat did not hurt. I don't know if it was muscle memory or adrenaline or all the moving around that I did, but after the shows I felt okay. I drank water as much as I could while not onstage.

During opening night, we used confetti cannons for the first time which happened at the end of the finale and the loud bang nearly made me jump out of my skin. They were behind me, and I had no idea that was about to happen. Not to mention I'm not sure when the last time I had heard confetti canons or even if I ever had.

There was only one day (Easter) when the audience wasn't full. I remember because I climbed over seats at people and then did a jump from the second row onto the stage. On the April 20 (4/20) performance the house smelled like weed. I usually peeked at the audience. During the first song Alexis and I would enter stage left as zombies and I'd have a look. I did this when I went into the audience because if I had a friend in the front or in an aisle seat on that side, I would give him/her a lap dance during the orgy scene. Sometimes I could do two friends, but I didn't get to every night though and one night when I headed for a friend, Claire got in my way and her arm accidentally hit my neck. Then I thought "Aw fuck it" and didn't bother to do it. One night in my near-sighted eyes I thought I saw a friend of mine. It turned out to be a friend of Ryan's. When I found out afterwards, I was so embarrassed. Luckily, he and his girlfriend (who was also an actress) were the most into the show that night so I got away with it.

My voice and music theatre teacher at the time, a classical musical type, came to a performance and said it was one of the funniest things she'd ever seen.

Backstage before one performance for some reason I began to sing "Colors of the Wind." Practically everyone approved. As time went on, I sang other songs that people brought up from films and musicals. I surprised many by how many I knew, even obscure songs from films like The Swan Princess. I do not remember if this was during a performance or a rehearsal, but before we did the show, one day backstage Samantha and I sang the entire song "A Little Priest" from Sweeney Todd. I knew it a bit better than she did, but we did the entire thing. She would later call me one of her favorite backstage singing buddies.

As the show went on, I began to learn it by heart. For example, in the climactic scene I'd be backstage saying "Nora's been shot," then came Rebekah's line "She fell down!" A moment later we'd hear "Romeo and Juliet (reprise)" and when the dramatic chord was heard I'd say, "And she's dead." I even had some fun with the lines. After "Reefer Madness" there would be a scene between Braedyn and Nora before their duet "Romeo and Juliet." One of the lines was "Forsooth fair Juliet. Wouldst thou likest yon hot chocolate?" but to me it was "Forsooth fair Juliet. Wouldst thou sing a cheesy song with me?" 

Mistakes and various other incidents popped up here and there. We in the ensemble were very good about taking something in our stride. Twice it happened during "Listen to Jesus Jimmy." First one night Trevor switched verses. The first line began with "Satan went and conned ya" while the ensemble would repeat it. Then later it was "Jimmy, let me see ya." Trevor said "Jimmy" while some in the ensemble said "Sat-" and stopped, thinking "Huh?" Then we finished the Jimmy line and as if we all had the same brain, we did our choreography for that moment and did the Satan line later. Another time concerned Ryan where he had to improvise. 

After "The Orgy" were three scenes showing Jimmy's transition from good to bad. Alexis and I entered in the last of these as Jimmy's parents. One time as we were frantically changing, I reached down for something while her back was turned, and her foot went up and kicked me in the face just below the eye. Another half an inch and she would've taken that eye out. From then on, I did my change away from everyone else. 

My most stressful costume change was the one before "Listen to Jesus Jimmy." After the scene I was in before that, I had to take my dress shoes off, switch out of pants, shirt and tie, put on my angel then choir robe and put my shoes back on then run to the upstage center entrance to enter during Nora's song "Lonely Pew." I had very little time to do this. What made the change more difficult was that I exited downstage center and run all the way to upstage center. I thought "Why didn't Nick have me exit that way?" It wasn't until after the show when I was erasing the notes out of my libretto that I saw he did tell me that and I clearly wrote it down.

I wish I had paid more attention to that or that someone had corrected me earlier. There were quite a few nights where I was sweating bullets about making my cue in time. One night I barely made it. I literally joined them as they were going on stage, but I noticed that Ryan wasn't there. He zoned out backstage and missed the cue. We went through "Lonely Pew" and then at Trevor's entrance for "Listen to Jesus Jimmy," Ryan came on holding Trevor's Jesus cape and took his place. Nick was not pleased.

One night, I remember there being a mistake being made, though I did not notice until someone said what happened later. What happened was Braedyn was coming backstage from one of his scenes and said something with "fuck" in it and apparently his mic was still turned on. I'm sure the audience found it hilarious, but I didn't notice because I was too busy getting ready for my next scene.

One time when I almost cracked up laughing was during "Listen to Jesus Jimmy (reprise)." I was the executioner and about to pull the switch when Trevor entered. He says his lines and then start saying "Body of me" while throwing Ritz crackers to the audience. Once he threw it like a Frisbee and it hit an old woman right in the face. From then on, he handed them to the audience.

My favorite moment was when I was the executioner. I had so much fun. I was told by many that I creeped them out during that scene. Sadly the only thing that displeased me was the fact that the executioner had his own music motif, but they cut it. A couple people tell me that when they think of a role to associate me with they think of that. I played it very convincingly. I was cast as this role the day Braedyn tickled me so I guess my anger at him made me very convincing.

"The Orgy" was always fun. After a lap dance I'd join the cast dancing with usually Elise and I in each others arms rubbing against each other with Claire behind me and Trevor going underneath our legs.


Often there were "safety meetings" (really weed smoking get togethers), usually headed by Robin and Ryan and cast parties to which I was usually never informed about, probably because I didn't smoke or do drugs like the others in the cast did. In a show about weed I was the only person, cast or crew who did not smoke it even once.


At the closing night cast party Ryan gave me what he called a compliment by telling me what he honestly thought of me, as he claimed to do with everyone. He told me that I was a machine specifically programmed for musicals. The oddest compliment I've ever heard, but as time went on and as I did more musicals, I think he may have been right.

The end of the run was sad. I wish it would've gone on longer. It remains one of the best, most successful shows I ever did, one of my favorites that I ever did, and it had my favorite cast that I ever worked with. Alexis and I continued for years afterward to beg Nick to do a revival of the show.