Hey Ya'll,
I'm back again after a bit of time to tell you about my experience finishing up my show "The Little Mermaid"
I'm not sure how many people reading this knew I was in a paid performance, or that I got to fulfill a life long dream of playing a mermaid, but I though I would blog a little about my overall experience and how it was working in a theatre that actually pays you to perform!
SO~ to start off... I have worked at this theatre in my community once before, and I'm not kidding you when I tell you that it was one of the best experiences of my life. I've always been an advocate of theatre arts, and any opportunity that I get to be on stage singing my guts out I jump at. Decker and I had been married for maybe a month and were living in Texas when the auditions went up in Utah. We knew that we might be moving back and I threw together an audition tape to be sent in, and waited patiently to see if I was going to be called back.
At that point, Decker And I had decided it was time to move, packed up our entire lives (Which was realistically just the two of us, and all the gifts that we had received at our wedding) and made the 5 hour trip to his parents house at the border of Texas. I was nervous about getting and email, battling what I didn't know was a serious case of Mono and trying to help my mother in law plan our open house that weekend. Of course in the midst of it all I got an email from the stage manager asking If I would be willing to make it to call backs, or if I could send in a recording of me singing, dancing, and acting all the parts that were required at the callback. I wrestled Decker, my mom and Dad, and recorded a thrown together video of us acting, and sent it in with fingers crossed and more than one face palm, honestly asking myself over and over "Is this even worth it?"
After waiting for a painstaking couple of days, I found out that I was going to be a mermaid, playing Ariel's Brat Sister AQUATA, my brother being cast as scuttle the seagull, and my best friend Becca playing Arista (one of the other Mersisters) I was seriously so excited to start, daydreaming of costumes and mer-makeup, and dancing to "Under the sea"
Fortunately everything began to fall into place and within a wink, we jumped back to Utah, found an apartment, and started rehearsals.
For those of you that don't know, working as an actress is super fun, but also really stressful. You rehearse in a space for a couple of months, Jump into tech week, and then you have previews. Previews are really just regular performances of our show that we do for an audience. The audience knows that we could have technical difficulties, have to stop the show for some reason, and things are subject to change in the show if the director decides. It's a great opportunity to finally be in front of the audience with all your costumes and do what you do best. After previews are over you are officially in the run of the show! (my favorite.)
Let me tell you. Being in a show with a bunch of people you know, and that want to be there is the best thing ever. Plus I was a FREAKING MERMAID. score.
But being in a show newly married? that was pretty difficult. Decker and I were both working really hard to make some money at work, and on top of that, Deck was juggling flight hours, airline interviews, and graduating. I was at rehearsal and in a show every night. Things got really crazy with us trying to be together and trying to meld our old lifestyles together. It was the highlight of my week when he would come to my show, and I could see him beaming at me in the audience! (He came 7 times ya'll.)
Although it was difficult to not be around Deck as much, being a mermaid every night and seeing the look on kids faces when we would all Come out in our colors was MAGIC. Not to mention my Kylie Jenner wig. There is something special for me about being in a show. I love being backstage while I was waiting for my next scene, I love all of the costumes I get to put on, and wigs that sometimes fall off. (funny story. that happens a lot at first.) Not to mention all of the difficult dances that test my abilities, and the rush I get when I nail it one night. It's truly surreal, and the closest that I can imagine it feels for Deck as he takes off in an airplane. It's nice to feel like you are good at something, especially when that something is so colorful, fun, and artsy.
We, as a cast, always come up with a bunch of fun things to do backstage. I'm honestly not even sure how they start. My friend Alec Played Sebastian, and I always had this unspoken rule that we would try to make each other laugh on stage (I do not recommend this.) One of the nights of the run Alec was singing "Kiss the girl" he came over on our side of the stage like usual to sing his part of the song for a second.
At this point in the production I was a Lily pad in the lagoon, and I had this jumbo Kentucky Derby style blue hat. These Blue Powdered Wigs were the WORST, and I had troubles with them the entire run of the show. So, Alec was singing his bit as Sebastian, and he full on WHACKS me in the face with his crab claw, and sends my blue wig and flower hat flying behind me. I'm sitting there in my wig cap nakedness scrambling to find my wig and put it back on. I unknowingly put it on backwards, pin my hat down, and try to control my laughter as I continue the scene. Every member of the audience that could see me had tears in their eyes from laughing at the wig-less head mess Alec had put me in. We honestly laughed for days about it, Especially when I realized that my wig was on backwards, and you could still see 85 percent of my wig cap through the entire scene.
With all of those fun moments together, the nice workout we got every night through "Under The Sea", and just having a great time putting a pound of glitter on my face every night, The Little Mermaid was such a memorable show. It was difficult too, but the fun definitely outweighed the bad. We were basically paid to have fun, but theatre comes with a lot of sacrifice, and hard work. We definitely put a lot of work into our show.
It was so colorful, pretty, and random. We had fish head hats, seagulls with feather wigs, and a huge bubble bath. We had backstage interpretive dancing, a turning stage, and a prayer before every show. But most of all we all had a blast. I love working for this theatre. I love all of the people who are involved in making a production that so many people love to watch. It was so fun to do a show after being married, and I hope I get to do another show here again soon. This theatre truly has a piece of my heart, and always will. It ended at the perfect time for Decker and I, we packed up our apartment again, and ever since we have been running like chickens with our heads cut off. He's been in training, and I've been doing my best to support him. We really look forward to what will happen in our future together, whether or not it's in the cards for me to perform again. But for now, It has been nice to lose the fake eyelashes, and the unitard. So I'll finish by saying "Till next time" to the theatre in hopes that one day there will be a next time.
Thanks for listening,
Krista
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