Busy Work: I’m Doing It Right.

Hello hello from my resort housing! I’m once again working an out of town contract, this time in 1962 Baltimore, MD, performing “Hairspray the Musical”. I’ve written a lot on staying productive (read Busy Work: I’m Doing It Wrong) and while that is something that all of us struggle with when  on out-of-town contracts, I haven’t faced that problem too much in these last 8 weeks. This time, I have been so busy with multiple projects that I haven’t had time to freak out over my lack of work.

It started with a 10 week intensive scene study class for theater acting, happening once a week on one of my days off. Working on serious scenes in class has been a fantastic balance to my silly crazy fun Hairspray workout. In addition to class I have to meet to rehearse with scene partners, and memorize new material constantly.

I’ve also had several big auditions/callbacks come up that have required hours of practice and memorization. It’s always easier to prep music when there is a deadline, vs. prepping music to use eventually.

A friend asked me to sing a few songs at his theater’s cabaret night. Then a music director friend asked me to record a song for a client of his. The songs I sang for both the cabaret and the recording were new to me, and by that point the song lyrics and Neil LaBute dialogue were having a battle for my short term memory.

And just like that, only a month remains in my contract, and today I signed paperwork for a holiday gig that will begin the day after this ends. The generic thing to say now is “always say ‘yes’ because your next project will always be there!”. But I know that how I’m feeling now and the work I’ve been doing these last two months is because of the last year’s work in networking, auditioning, and personal investment. I truly believe that the work we create and the way we work draws others to us. If you aren’t where you want to be, start walking towards that. I’m not where I want to be, but where I am now is where I wanted to be a few months ago. And for that I’m thankful.

Me as Amber Vontussle