This year has been non-stop, busy Katie. Which I like. Though it can sure get overwhelming sometimes... Starting at the end of January and through mid-April (read: now) is essentially “Audition Season” in NYC, which means many of the regional theaters have their general auditions here. In January, February, and March, I went to a total of 46 physical auditions. Forty-six in three months! And I’ve gone to nine more thus far in April. But they are slowing down. They are. Kinda...
I compared this year’s numbers to my numbers from last year (because, yes, I do keep a list), and it actually was about the same amount. So why do I feel so much more tired and weighed-down? Well, around this time last year, I had just recently moved to New York so I was fresh and green, and also mostly unemployed. So all I had to do was audition. No wonder.
Now? I’m actually working three jobs: my part-time office job during the day, a restaurant job three nights a week, and acting, which is ongoing. And though it doesn’t necessarily pay, I do indeed consider acting my full-time job!
So like I said...I’ve been busy!
I’m pleased to say that I have an acting gig coming up this month. I will be participating in First Draughts, Amios’ full-length play series. They take four short Shotz plays from the previous year and develop them into full-length plays, and then do a public reading of the draft. (Shotz, as you may recall, is a monthly short play series of six new 7-minute plays based on a given theme, run by Amios). So on Monday, April 24, I will read a part in Liz Morgan’s new play Deliver: Letters to the Motherland from a Foreign Body. Yay!
Thankfully I have been acting regularly with Shotz this year. I performed in two of them last year (May and October), and thus far in 2017 I have been in all four! In January I played a border patrol agent (Inauguration Shotz); in February, a bingo-playing senior who sings! (Musical Shotz); in March, a pregnant teen in the dystopian future (All-Female Shotz); and this month I was a hipster-barista-lesbian on a first date (Poetry Shotz). See my Photos page for images. It’s been awesome to play such different roles. All in a two-week rehearsal process, culminating in a one-night, two-show performance. I am so grateful to have the Shotz Community. They are an amazing group of talented writers, directors, actors, and artists. And they like me, and sometimes it’s nice to be liked.
I also took a four-week Voiceover class in January/February with a well-known Casting Director. The class ended with an “audition” for three New York Voiceover Agents, and I’m fortunate to say I’ve been free-lancing with one of them ever since! This was definitely my hope, and I’m just waiting for my first booking! After the success of Hatchimals last year, I know I can be a successful commercial voice. Someone just has to say YES.
Amidst the jobs and the auditions and the Shotz rehearsals and the classes, I tried to have a social life, too. When I wasn’t sleeping, anyway... In January, I had a lovely visit from Buttface (my boyfriend, Will) before I started working at the restaurant. This restaurant job, by the way, is a way for me to hang with my MFA Brother, Ryan, who is one of the managers there. I also participated in the NYC Women’s March, an incredible experience! In February, I spent a three-day weekend at my sister Patty’s house in Maryland, where my mom was also visiting (two birds!) Family Time is always special. In March, my day job sent me to Seattle (their headquarters) for a two-day training, and I was reunited with the Pants again (that’s also Will) for a little getaway! I had a Saint Patrick’s Day date with my college friend, Michelle and some buddies. Michelle was also my New Year’s date. So apparently we spend the special drinking holidays together... And then it was April.
In personal news I have been back in PT for a pain in my hip. Grr. First my knee, then my other knee, and now my hip. (See what I mean about that whole adult/getting older thing? Let’s hope my other hip doesn’t get any ideas!) I haven’t really gone for a run in 2+ months (which is beyond weird), but I’m cleared to start getting back into it, though ever so slowly. And in February I finally sold my property in Columbia, SC, so that is a huge weight lifted, although it was bittersweet to let it go. Funny...
This evening I watched my beloved San Francisco Giants win their home opener on TV at Finnerty’s, a Bay Area sports bar here in New York City, where it kinda feels like “home.” Or at least there is beer and fellow Giants fans... Baseball Season just makes me happy. And today’s weather felt like Spring had come at last; I didn’t feel cold at all, which has been the case since November. Silly East Coast weather! And I had a rare night off to watch some baseball. And write this blog.
Ahhhhhh.
Don’t think I’m stopping though. I’m not. Because once someone gives me that YES, I’m going for the next YES, and the next, and the next...
I just have to remember to breathe.