Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in...

I went to Toronto yesterday morning for an audition which meant that I would be missing all Fringe activities (and giving other people the chance to catch up to my record 19 shows + 3 performances - so technically 22) that night. "That's a good thing," I thought. I needed the break. I realized throughout my marathon viewing schedule that my attention span was waning. Unless an hour-long show was absolutely brilliant, I'd start to lose focus. This did not mean it was a bad show, it just meant I was tired. (Though I give incredibly high-praise to anyone whose shows come in just under the hour mark - Hey! This one does!)

*Side note - I find it interesting that I'm not the only blogger talking about time right now.

Anyway, so I arrive in Toronto at around 1:30pm and grab lunch at this great little sushi place I found on Queen Street W the last time I was in town. By 2:30pm, with 3 hours and 15 minutes to go until my audition, I decided to just find my way over to the venue, the Tarragon Theatre (Look at that, they are doing Scorched again. It's a good show.) Since I was ready to audition, I figured why not ask if I could be seen right away. You see, there's a 5:30pm train that could take me back to Ottawa that night. Since my audition was supposed to be at 5:45pm, I never would have made it, but...

The group from Theatre New Brunswick was wonderful. They squeezed me in early and I had an absolutely amazing audition that lasted about 5 minutes in length.

I headed strait to the Yonge Subway line, arrived at Union Station, exchanged my ticket, went to the LCBO, and boarded the train.

I arrived in Ottawa at about 10:30pm. Plenty of time to... head down to the Fringe tent... for karaoke... which I didn't get to participate in after all due to bylaw restrictions. Hell, if I was ambitious, I might have been able to catch something last night. But no, I needed the break.

I met my billets: two lovely gentlemen from Uncalled For and set them up in my condo.

Today, I get right back into the swing of things. No Exit Upstage is back on again at 6:30pm in the Studio Leonard Beaulne. As I mentioned in my previous post, the reviews have been fantastic. Then I will spend the evening catching up on shows.

See you on the Fringe!

Chill Out, Virginia, It Can Be This Easy

I woke up a little earlier than 5:00 a.m. with the sun barely creeping through my blinds. I was ok with that since I was going to head out for some early morning yoga, but I couldn't figure out if I had slept. If I did sleep, I spent the entire night dreaming about THE SHOW and my tossing and turning was based on all of my blocking, or I didn't sleep and I just thought about the show all night... Ah well, being up that early reminded me that I needed to do laundry, since my costume top was in the basket and we were teching at 9:30 a.m. I also filled out an application for what will surely be another cool festival for No Exit Upstage in September. Yes, the application deadline is way beyond past, but the fine folks in Kitchener-Waterloo have been kind enough to grant me one massive extension.

All in all, with the working out and an impromptu coffee meeting with theatre friends post-yoga, I had a very productive morning before heading out to our venue in Studio Leonard Beaulne on the University of Ottawa campus.

The reality of the situation finally hit me when I got there. We open in LESS THAN TWO DAYS! While on the bus my director/stage manager called to say his own bus hadn't shown up and he would be late. I arrived at the venue and couldn't find either the technician or my fellow actor. I wanted to panic! Where was the Fringe office phone number? Where was everyone? What the hell is going on!?!

Then I looked at my phone. It wasn't even 9:30 yet...

Needless to say, everyone arrived and things went as smoothly as they possibly could. I worried a bit, some more, that I wouldn't be able to get the timing for some of my cues, but we just kept working them until we got it right. I also had to keep telling myself that a cue-to-cue was not a place to be worried about character development. An excellent technical rehearsal later (Vincent is awesome!), we were having lunch on the grass before tidying up a few bits of the story arc. It was wonderful. Post-rehearsal I went to tape up posters around the venues.

Two days before opening and I am confident we have a solid show. It is an incredibly uplifting feeling to know that we won't simply be running on adrenaline to pull this all together. I can't thank the gang enough for making my life so incredibly easy. I sincerely hope to see you all out there throughout the run!

Nancy Kenny's No Exit Upstage, opens with a 2-for-1 admission price Thursday, June 18 at 9:30 pm and plays in Venue #3 - Studio Leonard-Beaulne.

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As an added bonus, while we were finishing up our rehearsal, I received a call from Theatre New Brunswick. I guess I haven't simply been killing trees after all! I'll be heading to Toronto on June 23rd (a day we are not schedule to perform on - thank you Universe!) to audition for their TYA Touring Company.