Revelations

I've stumbled upon some brilliant revelations this week.

#1: No matter how hard you try to break one, a curse is still a curse.

#2: The most major setback the theatre industry is facing is not the internet, lacking attention spans, rock musicals, stunt-casting, the melding of singer-dancer choruses, or 800 producers above the title.  It is, in fact, the audition studio.

Who decided it was a good idea to make performers sing in a concrete wooden-floored box?

I had the fortune to audition this week on a stage.  In a theatre (albeit the basement of a church, but that's practically the definition of off-Broadway these days).  Facing a rise of seats with the casting director and director occupying the house seats.

And I performed my a** off!  With 110% tonis (RIP, JPT)!

We're performers.  Not monkeys in a box.  We deserve to strut our stuff on a stage.  In a theatre.  It doesn't have to be under stage lights or on a set, but I think we truly have lost something from 50 years ago when you went to the Stage Door to audition.  When people booked their debuts on Broadway.... on Broadway!

People can be great auditioners and terrible performers.  Because moving the audition (or at least final callback) from the stage to the rehearsal room denegrates our technique and the energy of a performance to merely another interview.

Not that I can't work it in a box (don't get me wrong), I just think we deserve the chance to truly strut our stuff.

But who am I to tell producers how to spend their money?

#3.  Great friends and great conversation continue to challenge and excited me.  And through these great friends I'm aware what terrible trouble our society is in.  ("with a capital T and that rhymes with....")  As hate fills our hearts further and further every day in internet comments, where people hide behind the guise of anonymity on their couch and say things they would never dare to actually confront someone with, we slowly are turning the tables on ourselves.

People are fighting words and sound bytes and each other, instead of taking a stand for the true ethics of a gracious society.  Now that morality has replaced ethics, I wonder how hate became a form of currency.

#4.  Evan's coming to visit.

GRIN!

Cracking the Race Quiet

I made a sound onstage today that was inconceivable.

And hilarious!

To the point that 30 minutes after the squawk was made, Adam, Michael and myself were still rolling on the floor (literally) laughing about it whilst playing it over and over on the VCR backstage.

Basically, Michael messed with our traded "doo-wah's" at the end of the opening, and in attempt to copy/tribute/one-up him, I didn't really think about what I was doing and sang some random note without any support AND then cracked.

I mean, it was a friggin' riot. You could then hear me laugh as we exited, since I sang in unison instead of my harmony line with Michael, which also is hystercial. And then we were obnoxiously silent-talking and guffawing over it across the pit before our next entrance.

I mean, seriously, parrots aren't even cool enough to make this sound.

And the fact that said laughter brought mucho joy to our 5th (and gruelingly brutal) show of the day just speaks volumes about what kind of medicine laughter happens to be.

It can make any situation brighter, especially when you are willing to laugh at yourself. At the things your brain/body just happen to decide to do when they don't connect all the neurons.

I died. And I'd replay it for you here if I could.

I'm also just now getting to bed because Destiny and Joe and I went to Saizeria after rehearsal and had a nearly 3 hour discussion about race, and how the lines between culture, and religion, and environment, and ethnicity have become so blurred it's hard to really define "race" without defining a statute of limitations first. It was pretty darn awesome to sit down with a New Yorker, a mixed-race (ethnicity) Californian, and a Kiwi and talk about race and religion and politics and have a smart, thought-provoking intelligent discussion without anyone getting heated or losing their temper. AND, even more importantly, to walk away with new thoughts and questions and ideas and to have really listened to other people's points of view...

This is why I'm glad their my friends!

In summation, I would like to say that yes, I am, in general a very nice and kind person. But I am a Gemini, and if you push me hard enough to flip my switch, I will lose my temper that I inherited from my father. And a really good way to irk me is to refute me and make me seem crazy when I ask people to use their inside voices, when, shockingly, they are inside.

Inside a small, confined, shared space.

I don't really ask much, but lowering decibel levels doesn't seem that bothersome of a request, especially if I have a headache.

Luckily, I work with lovely people who know me well enough that despite slightly losing my temper, 5 minutes later all is forgotten and fine.

Which speaks volume to have far we've all come in this contract in terms of getting along.

So now I'm smiling.

A Call to Action

"Conversation and complacency. If we wanna combat complacency, we have to start the conversation, and we have to talk to people who don't wanna talk about it. We have to tell them who we are and get them inspired." -- Gavin Creel, BroadwayImpact.com

ACTION = EQUALITY

I'm not really a political person. I have my views, many of which I fervently believe, but I rarely make the effort to speak out for what I believe, beyond the confines of the occasional political discussion.

But I'm choosing to combat the complacency within myself and speak out.

Because I refuse to look back down the road in 20 years and marvel at my own complacency.

Because I watched a movie today that exposed the hate and violence and prejudice that is rampant in our country today, that was so offensive it made me cry.

Because if Sutton Foster and Gavin Creel can speak out, so can I.

How would our nation be different if we hadn't fought for civil rights for people of all races? Or for men AND women? How bigoted would we remain? And yet, how bigoted do we still remain?

My life as a performer has exposed me to many blessings and struggles, both mine and those of the people around me. And my many travels have exposed me to different cultures, different religions, different political beliefs, and different ways of life.

And I fervently believe it is time for us to speak out and fight for Equal Rights for all in the United States.

We currently live in a country where millions of people are denied marriage rights, health care privileges, and the ability to create a family. Because they were born differently, and love someone of the same sex. Contrary to much of the propaganda being spewed out across our nation, they cannot choose or change this fact any more than Martin Luther King, Jr. could choose or change the color of his skin.

We are dealing with a civil rights issue. We are living in a nation of injustice where people are being denied their civil rights. They are denied the freedoms of marriage, insurance, adoption, and tax benefits the rest of the citizenry enjoy. People in our nation are still being treated as second-class citizens.

I was raised in the Catholic church. I understand as well as anyone what the man upstairs feels about same-sex relationships.

But this isn't a religious issue.

This is our government.

Our civil government. Where religion is supposed to be a free choice. In a nation with religions that do not believe same-sex marriage is wrong.

So why are we still denying a minority its equality? Because Christianity and other religions who do not wish to marry same-sex couples are the majority? How much in 95% of the population's lives would really change if two women were allowed to go to City Hall and say "I do"?

I am speaking out. Because I am living in a country where love and relationships are kept private behind closed doors. Where homosexuality is secret and hidden and kept from view. Where people of different skin colors are treated differently. People who aren't sitting at the back of the bus, but are standing on the side of the road left in the dust because they don't look like the majority of the population.

Because I cannot lend my voice to shout for Equality in the March on Washington on October 11th, 2009.

And so instead I am starting the conversation. I am asking you, my family and friends, rich or poor, black or white, gay or straight, to take a step back and ask yourself what you have to lose by fighting for equality for everyone. How different will our country be when we stop arguing over religion and morals, and extend marriage and health care to everyone, not just the straight and the rich?

40 years ago, a mixed race man could never have been President. Hopefully in 40 years, we will have an out and proud President, or just as great, a straight President proud to be born to and raised by married same-sex parents, looking back inspired by those of us who used our voices to fight for Equality for all.

Call your senator. Write your senator. Donate money. Visit BroadwayImpact.com. Talk to the Human Rights Campaign. March on Washington 10.11.09.

Because just think. If you were being denied equality because you were different and a minority, wouldn't you want people championing for your equality?

What do we want? Equal Rights. When do we want it? Right now.