Is It Naptime Yet

The play opened last week. It’s been fun and I was a little worried about how we’d pull it together, but it’s been going well. Now I just hope our ticket sales go up, because that’s been the only disappointing part thus far.

The play schedule is a little different this year. We have the theater a week longer than normal, so instead of cramming 9-11 performances in a two week period, we have 14 over three weeks.

While we were at the theater each day last week, having dress rehearsals, then family night and finally opening on Thursday, this week we had three days off.

So we spent Father’s day at the house this year, cleaning and getting it in some sort of order, then Monday the girls and I went up to Pine Valley to spend a mere 24 hours in the fresh, cool air. We came back Tuesday so Jon could see us, and tonight we start performing again, each night and then twice on Saturday. Then next week we’ll perform Tuesday through Friday, and get back to our normally scheduled life, at least for a little while.

I’m so happy to see the light at the end of the tunnel, while I hate that the play season is almost over, and it may be the last one the organization does due to recent rate changes for the theater, I’m happy to be a part of a wonderful production.

Here’s me and the girls in our play attire.

I’m a zebra, in case you didn’t know, and they’re cadets.
www.lvfamilytheater.org

So I was not cast as a lead this year. 🙁 But I am pleased with my auditions and how I did at callbacks. I feared I would go back into my old singing voice, but I was able to hold my own, and the poor guy who auditioned with me for the mayor’s part had to sing a little louder than he’s use to, but he’s a great singer and adjusted well to my very loud voice. I got a lot of good feedback and even though it’s on Facebook, I really don’t want to lose some of the encouraging comments I got, so I’m putting it in this post. 😉

Back story: My friend Heidi Green was called back with me for the Mayor’s wife. She was First girl last year, while I was Second girl. I told her and her husband how this was the part I wanted, and immediately she felt a little bad, since she didn’t know there was a Mayor and Mayor’s wife part till she and her husband were called back. We talked and of course, it was all about whoever is the best person will get the part, and not to worry about hurting my feelings. She was really cute and I thought she might get the part. In the end our Cinderella from last year was cast, which I kinda thought would happen when I saw we were in this callback together, and it was the only callback she had.

FaceBook comments after the cast list was sent out:

Heidi: Lacey, all I have to say is that I wish you were Mrs. Mayor. Especially because you’re humble. You did great at auditions.

Kelly (The Director): You both did great. This is why cast lists make me sad.

Me: I know. It’s hard. I’m happy to have put myself out there and actually say I wanted a part. That was a big step for me. I’m still happy to grow and learn from wonderful actors and directors.

Kelly: There were alot of tough choices made. You should be so proud of how well you did Lacey because you made it very hard for us.

Me: Thank you so much Kelly. You’re positive comments mean so much to me.

Kelly: I really mean it Lacey. Keep working and you’ll see that lead sooner than you think. Be more confident in your abilities because there is alot of talent and potential there. Trust me and ask my students when I say I don’t BS to make people feel better. I mean this from the bottom of my heart. You really did shine.

Me: I totally plan on working hard on my singing, acting, and even dancing ability. I’m slowly gaining that confidence and am happy to be surrounded by such wonderful people.
Thank you so much Kelly.

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I was also called back for a Bird Girl part, but I wasn’t holding my breath since I had to be able to dance, like really dance. I knew I could probably sing in a trio, but dancing proved to be my biggest hurdle. I won’t go into too many details, but I did fine while learning the dance, though I was not great, but when it came time to perform it, I came in early, forgot parts of it, and I’m sure looked a fool a little. It was fun, and I’m still happy I hung in there and didn’t cry when it was all over, or even feel inclined to cry, which is something the old Lacey would have done.

I’m still happy to be in the play, sad no doubt for not getting a lead, but I still have a lot of nervousness when it comes to singing and performing, and I hope that I’ll be able to get over some of it over the next year. My voice teacher is having a recital later this year, that she wants her adult students to be in too, and I still need to sing in church.

I will say I’m finally liking my voice when I hear it on recordings. I usually can’t stand to listen to it, but I’m gradually liking it, and that helps me to sing louder and more confidently.

This has been a great learning and growing experience and I just hope I can continue to put myself out there.

See you in Whoville this June. 🙂

Update: Due to a few drop-outs, I am now a Jungle Animal in the Jungle of Nool. I think I get to be a Zebra. If anyone has tips on how to “be” a zebra, let me know.

She showed up at the school a little before 6 pm. Auditions were to start at 6, and she was there to assist and audition. She said hi to the familiar face at the desk, Trish, a fellow theater committee member, apologized for not being there sooner, then grabbed an application to fill out.

She entered a room full of high school students, with a few middle school students and some parents. She thought, “I do not want to audition with a bunch of high-schoolers.” She quickly filled out the paperwork and returned to the hallway.

When she turned in her application she told Trish that she would wait to audition. She wasn’t ready and the thought of making a fool of herself in front of the teenagers was something she’d rather pass on.

The night went by quickly and a familiar faced showed up. It was the actress who played Cinderella in the play last year. She decided she would audition with her friend, and another actor, one of the step sisters, also came. They were in a group together.

They filed in and took their seats in the front row of the high school theater and waited for their directions. It was decided they’d go in numerical order, #14 was first, her number.

She handed the young lady running the CD player her disk and walked on stage.

Her nerves were getting the better of her and she could feel her body trembling. Jokes were passed between herself and the judges as the disk was cued. “Who are you?” the director teasingly asked. She repeated her name in a halfway pretending to be extra shy way, “Uh, I’m Lacey Blake and I’ve come to audition.”

The music started, but then the CD skipped as the young lady moved the player to face her on stage. She asked if she could start it once more, since counting was the only way to know when to enter the song.

She was nervous, she probably entered too early, but it was a blur.

She knew she was not singing her best, so she focused on what seemed like a million little things, all at the same time, and tried to remember the words.
A stranger in white, in a car. Going somewhere. Going Far!…
Let your jaw drop.
Sing out.
…How it must feel to go racing wherever you please…
Make your movements look purposeful.
Listen to the music so you stay on tempo.
…Oh gods, oh gods hear my prayer!…
Wait, you can’t hear the music!
Go through this part slowly.
Don’t close your eyes so long.
…I’m here in the fields with my feet on the ground…
Use your whole body.
...And my fate in the air, waiting for life to begin!
Stopped being nervous.

The song ended in what seemed like just two seconds, but it was really one minute and ten seconds later.

Right after she finished the artistic director made a comment, “Lacey, I just want to say that was 100% better than your audition last year.” He was last years director.

She was flattered, but then the negative comments her brain automatically produce crept in, “He just said that to make you feel better, for when they don’t call you back or give you a lead.”

She watched the other women audition. She thought how wonderful they were and how they seemed to be so naturally talented. “Look how they get into their songs. They were so much better and they don’t even need voice lessons.”

She ran her hands through her hair and waited for it too all be over.

She exited quickly and found her way to her things near the desk. As she put away her CD, the other ladies exited and began talking, complimenting one another, reassuring each others egos. They didn’t notice her across the way or say anything, she thought it was because she was so bad and they didn’t want to give her any compliments out of pity.

After all the auditions were over she went into the theater. The director said, “Lacey, you actually have a very pretty voice. It’s very light and I really like that quality.” She said thank you.

Then the artistic director told her he thought she should audition for other theater groups. She found it hard to believe he meant it, but knew he wouldn’t suggest such a thing if he didn’t really mean it.

It’s hard to accept compliments after years of self doubt and deprecation. She really wants to be a better singer and performer, but she has never believed that she could be good enough, or had a nice enough voice to be a soloist. She’s always worried about making herself look like a fool by believing or acting like she had a beautiful voice, but really not having a nice one.

She’s now trying to change her thought process and her own beliefs about her voice.

It’s hard, and even though she hates to rely on others compliments, that is what’s helping her build her foundation. She can’t find her voice by herself, it takes a wonderful teacher, a supportive husband, and compliments she feels are genuine, but she is working hard and it’s developing.

So she’ll continue to sing, and maybe she will make a fool of herself, but at least she’ll be having fun, and at least a few people like her voice, and at this moment that’s all that matters.

Just two days later she was sent an e-mail and was invited to come back for callbacks. There are a lot of talented singers in the mix, so she’s finding joy in just being invited, hopefully she makes the final cut, but if not, she’ll know that she at least tried and finds comfort knowing that she’s getting better.

This won’t be the last play she auditions for.

While I participated in the play Jon was wonderful and supportive of me and my craziness. There were times he had to remind me that when I volunteer myself, I volunteer our whole family, and I tried hard to keep a balance, but towards opening night and crunch time I greatly neglected our home and him.

Jon took the two weeks off for the run of the play. Mostly he did this because he needed to use leave time, but it helped me, even if it wasn’t ideal for him, to get things accomplished. For his first week he spent much of his time taking care of house and kids while I stayed up way to late working on projects and slept in too late catching up on sleep. He did take one or two hiking days for himself, but was also wonderful with helping me. After the first week was over he asked if he could start his real vacation, AKA not have to do dishes, laundry or be neglected by his wife everyday. The second week we had more time together, but much of if was spent with the girls and me sleeping in and me trying to get a little more order to the chaos that had become our home. I had sewing machines, sergers, make-up, curlers and other things I was using for the play around the house in specific areas so I wouldn’t forget them if I needed to take them or because I had no where else to put them. (AKA right in the middle of my living room.)

Our schedule was pretty crazy. Wake up around 9:30 am, hopefully have breakfast by 10:30 am. Then we’d do stuff, like put curlers in hair or dishes, Eat lunch sometime around 1. I would take a shower at 3:30pm and be occupied doing face stuff an putting curlers in till we left at 4:45pm to 5 pm. Come home from play around 10:15pm and get girls into bed by 10:45- 11 pm. Even though I had a few hours each day to do things, it seemed to get taken up with trips to the store or other miscellaneous things that seemed important.

Poor Jon is also an early bird, so he was usually up for 3 or more hours before us, and went to bed right as we got home. With sewing for weeks and staying up till 2 or 3 am, my sleep schedule changed, and so I now sleep from 2 am till 9 or 10 am. It’s not good, I’m hoping to change it back to a more acceptable schedule, even though I love watching 30 Rock on my TV via the Wii and Netflix till the wee hours of the morning.

We did see Toy Story 3 in 3D as a family one morning. We all loved it, and Eden loved it, though there was one scary part that she had to be held for. I think the suspense of the situation was just too much for her, though she was alright once the scene was over.

I also didn’t cook for two weeks because we had potluck meals each night as a cast. Last year I think I was more considerate and tried to cook things that Jon could reheat and have a couple nights, especially since he had to feed himself and Eden, but this year I was not so thoughtful. He never once complained though and I really appreciate his patience with me as I did the play and enjoyed myself immensely each night for two weeks. (More if you count rehearsals.)

It’s nice to be back to the normal housewife, and not the crazy housewife/ seamstress/ actor. I am so very thankful for Jon and his support.

I’ll try harder next year not to volunteer our whole family for so much, but I truly appreciate the support you give me in allowing me to be a part of something I consider very special and enjoy tremendously.

I love you Babe and I’m back. Just in time to take care of the ant problem we’re having. 😉

Well I haven’t posted in a while and I thought I’d do one final plug for the play, since I’m plugging it all the time on Facebook.

I took a few pictures of some of the cast and me last week. It’s not everyone just a few of who I could find in the halls at the time. I’ve edited them so I could put them on Facebook in hopes of generating some interest. Not sure if it worked, but I also like play make-up and hair so it was fun to post me in it. I love to play dress-up for the play. It’s so much fun.

Cinderella has gone pretty smoothly overall. It’s lots of fun each night and I’m actually remembering most of the dance steps! ( Knock on wood.) It helps to have a partner though, because when I forget I just look at them and figure it out, or follow their lead, especially since they’re the guy and the one leading. There are many times I forget because I’m so focused on counting, which is helpful unless you’re counting and thinking of the wrong step, or I get lost in something else since your mind sometimes gets bored of counting.

Some fun moments of the play or practise. One week Chuck was just throwing me around for our lift and it irritated my foot. I was getting so high in the air though. Now he’s a little more gentler, but we’re not as high. 🙁

Once Ken became my second dance partner, just a week before opening, I kept calling him Chuck, because I just could not remember two names. He was a really good sport about it and I now remember his name, most of the time.

I put one of my fake eyelashes on crooked on Saturday and it was really bothering me. Dena and Kerri started joking about not if I would fix the eyelash, but when I would. They seem to know I’m a perfectionist for some things. ( I ran out of time to fix it and just left it. I decided it wasn’t that noticeable and I didn’t want to have to re-due my make-up. )

Tonight I forgot my make-up, so some of the cast let me use theirs. I used MAC make-up for part of it and now I want some of my own. The fairy god mother also supplied me mascara, eye-liner and some fake eyelashes. She really has all you need in her magical bag.

So if you haven’t come out and seen the play, please do. It’s lots of fun and you never know what’s going to happen in live theater.

Go to www.lvfamilytheater.org to purchase tickets. We have just 5 more performances!

Me and the girls.
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Diana and me. She’s a The Bad Girl.
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Heidi and me. She’s first girl and I’m Second Girl. We joke that I’m Snow White and she’s Rose Red. (Many cast members have called me Snow White with my make-up and hair done.)

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Dena, our wicked step mother and me. She was Glinda last year.
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Ken, The Herald, and Chuck, The Clumsy man. I made the jacket and gold pants for Ken and the vest for Chuck.
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Me with Ken and Chuck. They’re my dance partners in the play, minus the Prince whom I also dance with. I dance with Chuck most of the time and then I finish the waltz with Ken.
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Kerri and me. She’s one of the choreographers and on the Seastrand Theater Committee with me.

So right now we’re entering the crazy part of the play where all my sanity and reason goes our the door and I get overwhelmed and grumpy. Hopefully you’re not around when this happens, but my poor girls and friend Anna have been and it wasn’t pretty.

It’s one of those things I love and hate about the play.

I love creating the costumes and doing more than just being in it.

I hate the stress that can comes with creating costumes and doing more than just being in the.

I had to apologize to three people I love, because of the grumpiness. I was happy that I realized I needed to apologize in a rational amount of time, rather than ignoring my rudeness or forgetting how ugly I was to the girls.

The funny thing is, my brain was what was making it hard. With my lack of sleep and trying to do so much, I blew things out of proportion and in the end everything was fine and dandy.

Jon says I’m doing too much, but then I think of how much other people are doing, and I’m really just trying to lift that burden. The craziness also only last for a little while, until I realize things aren’t as bad as I thought, or I get my reasoning back.

Anyways, costumes are getting on their way, rehearsals are becoming more frequent and I’ve realized I have to actually sing my little solo. I was hoping I might be able to just speak it since the notes are hard to hear.

Anyone have an in tune piano and want to plunk out my solo? I have a feeling it might be the next thing to drive me insane.

They had been rehearsing for 3 1/2 hours with just a few breaks in between. The breaks never seemed to help. As soon as she took the first step with her bended knee, her legs felt like jelly. She tried not to keep count by mouthing the numbers, instead she counted 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or whatever that particular dance sequence entitled, in her mind, slipping up just a few times when she got off beat. She tried so hard to push her body. So many times her feet were not following what she wanted needed them to do. Luckily, her partner was pretty good at pushing her around, as she sometimes lagged behind.

This was the hardest and longest dance they’ve rehearsed for any of the foundations plays. That’s what the choreographers had told her, and she, she was out of shape. They were getting help from a professional ballroom dancer and she was pushing them to their limits.

Dancing wasn’t the problem as much as traveling. With the holds she took small steps as she bended her knees to get the proper up and down movement of the waltz. Traveling, now traveling was hard. She had to take large steps as she bounced up and down and bended her knees with each step. Her legs wanted to buckle and give up, but she pushed her body and continued to dance. She was so relieved to hear they were finished for the day. The rehearsal had gone long, but they all needed the practice and it paid off as they got better with each run through. It felt great to hit the lifts and spins, though they still missed a few.

Four hours. Four hours of dancing and now her feet and legs beg to be rubbed and to never do it again.

But she will, and she will love the pay-off of having a spectacular show in just 5 short weeks.

Yay! Tickets go on sale Monday. I am so excited and nervous. I wrote this to my two homeschool groups and am just too tired to think of anything exciting. I might also be mass mailing this to a few of you. Sorry if you get sick of me promoting it. Just let me know once you purchase tickets and then I’ll leave you alone. 😉

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Some of you know that Lilah, Eden and I are in a production of Rodgers and Hammerstien’s Cinderella. It’s an annual fund-raising play for the James Seastrand Foundation. Their mission is to assist the frail and elderly by providing services which foster independence and enables them to remain in their homes rather then be institutionalized. (Lilah and I were in The Wizard of Oz last year.)

We’ll be performing at the Summerlin Library Performing Arts center on June16-19 and 21-26 at 7:00 pm. We will also have a matinee on Saturday, June 19th at 2:00 pm.

Rates are: $8 for children, $10 for seniors, $15 for adults.

We have a group rate of $8 per seat for ten or more seats purchased for a single performance. So if you want to get the group rate one person needs to purchase the seats, and it will have to be for the same night. Group rates do no apply for the Friday and Saturday shows. Usually young children, age 3 and younger, who will sit on a lap, are free. I will check on that and if is is any different, I’ll let you know.

You can purchase tickets at www.LVfamilyTheater.org or call 702-649-7853 starting Monday, May 3rd.
If you go now, you can purchase them early at https://www.jadeusa.net/~jshhnlv/play/ since you’re friends. 😉

I really love our director and we’re working really hard to put on a high quality production. We are all volunteering our time and a little money to help with the production. The only thing that can make it a success is having people come out and support us and watch it. So please come if you can. I think it’s a wonderful foundation and a wonderful opportunity for my girls and me.

I’m involved in making costumes, so if I seem sparse, it’s because I’ve lost my sanity and am up to my elbows in sewing.

Thanks.

Lacey Blake

Rehearsals have begun for the play.

And I am so excited.

Instead of being third girl we’ve switched me to second girl, but only because I cannot comfortably hit the notes of third girl.

I really like being second girl, now I just need to learn the notes I sing since I was only vaguely paying attention when the previous girl sang because I was worried about hitting my high notes as third girl.

I’m really happy the director let me switch parts.

I’m assisting Anna on costumes this year. She is our costume designer, and I am really excited and nervous. Nervous, because I wonder what we’ll be sewing. Excited, because I love sewing for the plays, even if it is a lot and tedious at times, and at times frustrating…. but doing it and having people look nice is so wonderful and rewarding.

Hopefully what I make will look nice and contribute to the total look of the play.

I’m also so excited for our director. I’ve only had one other experience with a director, but this year, both the director and assistant director are very involved in even the small parts. They want us to develop who we are and bring it to the play. They want us to have purpose in where we move on stage, not just move because the choreographer told us to.

I’m loving it.

I’m suppose to be overly flirty, as are girl one and three, but I feel I need to work on a little. I feel rather silly since I am a mom of two girls, but I am an attractive woman, so I can be flirty, right? I like that I have more to my character this year, and I really am loving the play.

The dates are June 16th- 26th, except Sunday the 20th.

Be there to hear me sing and watch me be flirty. The girls will be in the opening scene and will no doubt be so cute, though we won’t find out what they’re doing till May.

I’m so excited for what’s to come!

Saturday night was our last show. It was bittersweet to be performing for the last time, but oh what a relief. Saturday night there was a lot of ad lib going on. I guess since it’s the last show, and we’re all a little tired from performing, so the actor’s shake things up.

Kerri was the Wicked Witch of the East leg’s for the play. Friday she decided she was tired of playing it and said we should get a boy to play the legs and I suggested Jeremy. He has very skinny legs so they’d be perfect. He was game and amazingly even fit the shoes!

Here’s a picture of him with the striped thigh highs and shoes. It was a riot in the dressing room when he came in wearing these.

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One thing the leads decided to do was respond to the guard after he asked them to read the sign. You know, he says “Cant’ you read the notice?” and they say “What notice?” “The one that’s as plain as the nose on my face.” Instead they responded “Oz” very slowly, since the doors had OZ painted on them. Shawn, the guard was definitely caught off guard and had to recover from it but he did a pretty good job.

The main prank happened at the end of the Merry Old Land of Oz. We hear a loud noise and then the witches music plays. This is when we see the smoke sign written by the Wicked Witch of the West. We all look stage left towards one of the spotlights, but this night the spotlight person had made a sign that read ‘Dorothy’s #1’ and was waving it around. It was a little hard to keep in character while watching this through the whole scene, but I definitely laughed slightly when Dorothy decided to run with it, and instead of reading the  smoke as ‘Surrender Dorothy”, she said “Dorothy’s #1.” There was silence on the stage, except a chuckle from Kerri, but Tin Man chimed in “I think it says surrender Dorothy.” and we finished the scene.

Those are the two main things I knew about that changed besides adding a line here or there. Jon said it made for an entertaining night and the audience seemed to be just fine with it. Everything that was changed added to the show, not completely ruined it. I guess it’s a lesson that on closing night after a week and a half run it’s usually just a fun night for the actors.

Here are some pictures with cast members before my hair became extremely flat from my Winkie hat and some afterwards with the girls.

Me, Diana, Sara. We’re on the Oz set. Sara designed the flags and I sewed them and they added the fabric and embellished the trellis behind us. These girls are wonderful and they happen to live close by so I hope to see them before the next play.

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Me and Kerri. I love Kerri. We kidded around and had a lot of fun. I was next to her in the dressing room and since she wore fake eyelashes I decided to wear some also. I wanted to be just like Kerri because she’s wonderful.

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Lisa and me. Lisa and I sat next to one another during rehearsal’s. She’s a doll and a newlywed, like had only been married a month when rehearsals started, and still decided to do the play!

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Me, Lilah and Dena backstage. Dena was so nice and was always so helpful. She was one of the choreographers, as was Kerri, and she stood on the sidelines as we did the Jitterbug each night and always cheered us on and sang since we were always to breathless to sing while we danced.

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A tired Eden and Lilah with me and the Appletrees. (Kelsey, Sara, Diana, and Crystal.)

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Eden with Kerri, the head Winkie guard. Her staff was named Willie.

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Us with the witches. Jen, the wicked witch, did such a great job acting. Each night her death was the highlight of the play. Not because she died, but because of how well she died. There were many times I wanted to laugh because she did it with such comical grace, but I was able to keep face, or turn my head a little more away from the audience if I did crack a smile.

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Lion (Jerry), Tin Man (Josh), Eden, Me, Lilah, and Scare Crow (Steven.)

Jerry and Josh are brothers, though they’re so different, both in good ways, that you wouldn’t know they are brothers. (I know they look very similar in this picture, but they look different enough that you wouldn’t call them brothers right off either. )

I was in charge of helping Lion change every night to Zeke. His wife was always back there helping, which I’m not sure made it more or less awkward to be taking off and putting her husband’s clothes back on?  He was very modest though and it went so fast that it didn’t really matter.

Also, since I had a basket on stage for the Oz scene I was in charge of Steven’s patches that we took off during the sprucing up scene in Oz. He sometimes threw me off since some nights he wore three patches and other nights he wore four, and once a patch got left on stage so I was never certain if I lost one or if he wasn’t wearing all of them.

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Dorothy (Jessica) with the girls and me.

Jessica was so sweet and wrote a little personalized note to each cast member. Some of the things she wrote in my letter was what a hot mom I am (I know, I know, stop it.) and how darling my two daughters were. She told Lilah that she was the cutest lullaby girl and that she loved her curls for the play.

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Jon’s niece Shauntae with the girls and me.

Shauntae drove down from Logan just to see the play. Well, maybe not just for the play but luckily it was while the play was showing and she was able to see it! Jon came with her Saturday night since I had bought two tickets and he missed Friday’s performance.

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After the play and picture taking Jon took both girls home while I helped clean up the theater. Then some of the cast went to the Cheesecake Factory for food. I had also gone out Friday night with a few cast members so I just ordered a piece of Cheesecake on Saturday night. It was definitely fun to be with other cast members without the stress of getting ready or hurrying out the door to leave. (We had to be out of the theater by 9:45 pm every night, except closing night for take down, or their was a fine.)

I really loved being in the play and already miss some of the people I met. I hope to do it again and again.