The Calico Life...

Hey there!

So readjusting to not thinking and working on grad school auditions has been more uncomfortable that I thought.  Actually it didn't really ever enter my mind.  But to go from thinking about it and working on it nearly every day to having to push it out of your thoughts completely is challenging.  Though, I've never been good with change...and yet I crave it.

Oh my that sounds melodramatic.  How very "actory" of me to feel that way.  But it's the truth, I really feel a little empty.

One thing that has come out of this whole experience is I feel like I'm a better actor for it.  Especially in terms of my Shakespeare scansion.  The Shakespeare monologues felt like they popped for me in the rooms.  And since then I've auditioned for two Shakespeare productions and I really felt like the language came easier to me.  Perhaps that has something to do with the fact that I've been reading and studying Shakespeare since I was in 6th grade.  Something about having to look up words in a dictionary while I read excited me.  It felt like a puzzle.  I even went to Shakespeare camp.  For four years.

But I never really felt like the language clicked with me, not completely.  I always felt like there was something I wasn't locking into.  Working with my boyfriend, Ed Swidey, helped me tremendously, especially the week before the auditions.  We worked a few times and I broke through, which I think afforded me decent auditions this year.

This leads me to tell you an update in general about what's happening.  I've been working a lot as a Standardized Patient, and Ed and I are beginning to figure out where we are going to go on our vacation we are taking in April.  I've had some auditions for upcoming work, and I'm looking forward to some as well.  The gym and I have been friends and I've been cooking a lot more.  I've found that when I want to procrastinate, I cook, whereas before I would have sat around and did nothing.

Life is really wonderful.  Sometimes I get hung up on the rejection side of this business (I suppose we all do?).  But I'm living the life I want to live.  Truly.

So two nights ago I spent about three hours with my Dad and my step-mom because they sing in the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia and they had a concert last night in a beautiful cathedral along with The Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra.  It was beautiful and inspiring.  I loved being in there and hearing Beethoven.  I found myself thinking during the concert that Beethoven must have been considered a rock star in his time.  His music was so different and at times unsettling and then it moves into comfort and praise.  He was brilliant and I like to imagine what it must have been like to have been at the the premiere of Symphony No. 9.

The conductor of the orchestra was this stunning woman who came into the room and owned it.  I've never been more inspired by watching a conductor before.  You could hear her sometimes taking a quick inhale in the silence before blasting the hall with loud and boisterous music.  I felt like I was at a rock concert.  I grew up going to see the Philadelphia Orchestra but this was new and fresh.  I loved it.

My parents came in after the intermission with the whole choir...

Mendelssohn Club with the BPCO

Also about a week ago I did a little act for the EgoPo "Phollies" night with my dear friend, Sarah Schol.  We did a "singing sisters" act but we portrayed these washed up, kind of terrible performers.  It was really invigorating to write our own piece and have it be successful.  We sang little bits of songs, danced some Charleston, and got off stage.  In my opinion, it was a glorious, odd, and wondrous night of entertainment.  There was even a strong man act.  And a ukelele.  And opera.  And a one man band.

Sarah and Cindy the Singing Sisters!

It's going to be a lot more wait-and-see for me in the next few weeks.  But I'll keep you updated.

Love to all.

-Cindy