It’s only January 2nd, and oh boy, is my schedule already filling up with theatre! That’s not a bad problem to have though, right?

If you follow me on Instagram, then you already know about what’s happening this weekend. If you don’t- well, I’m making my debut in the Orlando Fringe Festival! Usually Fringe happens in the spring, but they’re doing a winter mini festival of the top twenty-five shows from the previous spring. I was not part of the original cast, but I also I kind of was? Okay, it’s weird, here’s the explanation.

Last winter I did my third show with Playwrights Round Table, which is a really great local group that produces new (usually short) plays by local playwrights. I played the role of Peggy in Welcome to Intercourse, a sweet and sassy ten minute play about two girls stranded on the side of the road who get rescued by a pair of Amish boys. It was a lot of fun, and when the full version of the show was accepted into the 2016 Orlando Fringe, I was offered the role, as well as two other roles since the show is made up of four short plays. But I had to turn it down- I was going to be a bridesmaid in my friend Song’s wedding, and her wedding weekend overlapped with the Fringe schedule. Womp womp. So I wasn’t part of the show in the original Fringe run, but when the show was accepted to the mini festival, the actress who originally performed in the full show couldn’t come back, so I was asked and I accepted!

I’m playing three roles in three of the four short plays- Peggy in Welcome to Intercourse, Alex in Meet the Pets, and Grace in Buried. It’s been kind of a whirlwind getting everything together, but the show opens this Friday and I’m really excited! I’ll do a full recap post when the show is over, and you can always keep up with my adventures on Instagram and Snapchat too.

After that, I’m working on the costumes for three shows…all in the month of May. Yikes! But at least none of them overlap, and I’ve already gotten a head start.

First coming up is a production of Legally Blonde with Brightstage. I’m super excited about this one; my friend Taylor (the Horton to my Gertrude in Seussical and my director for Heathers) is the executive artistic director for the company and is directing the show, and he brought me on board as the costume designer. I’m even going to have my own team! It’s the inaugural production for the company, but the production team is fabulous and I’m really thrilled to be working on the show. We’ve had our first production meeting already and auditions will be coming up in late January, so I’m ready to get started.

Then I’ll be working on a production of The Wedding Singer with Melon Patch Players in Leesburg. It’s a little far, but I’m looking forward to it for a couple of reasons.

#1: I’ve costumed the show before, on a significantly smaller budget (that blog post is coming soon!)

#2: the director, Tad, was my director in Evil Dead so I think the production team aspect is going to go just fine

#3: the Melon Patch theater has a full costume shop I can pull from

The Wedding Singer is a complicated show to costume- not only do you have four wedding dresses, plus their wedding guests, but also every ensemble member has multiple characters to play, not to mention the celebrity impersonators- but it’s a truly delightful show. It’s still one of my bucket list shows to perform too!

The other show I’ll be working on in the spring is Little Shop of Horrors with Celebration Theatre Company. Not only did I perform with them twice last season (in the summer cabaret and Heathers) but this is my second year as their costumer in residence. So basically, I’m not fully costuming the show, but I’m there to assist with the production. I’m also most likely going to audition for the show. Audrey has been one of my dream roles since high school, and it’s one of the roles that people kind of assume I’ve played before because of my voice (along with Adelaide from Guys and Dolls). It’s going to be pretty competitive, but I want to audition for the show- I’ve got my song picked out and everything.

There’s a couple of projects that might potentially come down the pipeline later in the year (several auditions, more costuming….maybe even directing??) but I don’t want to count my chickens before they hatch, you know? In any case, the productions I’m already committed to doing are going to be great, and I can’t wait to get started!