Tag Archives: show: Welcome to Intercourse

My Debut in the Orlando Fringe Festival

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I had been hoping for a chance to perform in the Orlando Fringe Festival- definitely a bucket list kind of performance! A lot of cities have a Fringe Festival; basically groups will perform brand new, usually off-the-wall shows in a myriad of designated locations throughout the city. I actually was invited to a part of the Fringe Festival in the spring of 2017, but I had to turn them down. I was in a wedding as a bridesmaid for the entirety of the second weekend, and that’s…you know, ever so slightly important.

In February of 2017, I performed in a premiere of a short play called Welcome to Intercourse. It’s a super cute play and I loved the role I played so much. Well, the author of the play wrote three more short plays and packaged them together as a show called Quickies, and she wanted me to come back to play Peggy again, as well as two other roles. But I couldn’t. I was so upset! I loved the role, but ultimately I wouldn’t be able to do it and I had to turn it down.

Flash forward to this past summer! I got an email from a director I’d worked with previously; Quickies was possibly going to the winter mini Fringe festival, and the actress who originally played the roles couldn’t make it. Would I be interested?

WAS I EVER!

The show was confirmed in late October and we rolled into rehearsals shortly afterward. It was a short rehearsal period, but the four plays are about 10-15 minutes long each, divided amongst the four actors, so all in all it wasn’t too terrible to balance. It was just a lot of practicing lines in the car as I drove to and from rehearsals.

The show only ran for two performances, but we had fantastic audiences and great feedback. It was a new theater for me, and it was fun playing on a new stage. And I loved revisiting Peggy, who’s one of my favorite roles to play. I’ve gotten a lot of great feedback on my performances and it just makes me pleased as punch.

I wasn’t actually in the first of the four short plays. It was a two person retelling of Scheherazade and the Sultan; it was funny and sassy and I loved watching it from backstage. Of course, backstage was about 3′ by 4′ (and that’s generous) and there were three of us back there, so it was a little uncomfortable.

The second plays was called Meet the Pets. A guy brings a girl (me) home after a date so she can meet his pets. So we had a snooty cat (a guy in a tuxedo and a British accent) and a lovable dog (a girl in flannel and corduroys). It was super funny, and while my character started off as a manic pixie dream girl, she ended up being really smart and self-assured. So it was fun playing both sides of the spectrum.

dress: Forever 21
denim jacket: …I’ll have to check?
floral leggings: No Boundaries
boots: Blowfish
hat: Target
purse: Betsey Johnson
glasses: Eye Buy Direct (Moody frames)

The second show was called Buried. It’s short and bittersweet. I played a girl named Grace who runs into her ex-boyfriend in the middle of a graveyard, and you start to put the pieces that it’s a metaphor for her mind, and she’s trying to bury the memories of him, and she can’t…and then BAM guess what it’s real and she killed him and she’s talking to his ghost. It’s one of the trickiest roles I’ve ever played even though it was only about ten minutes long. Grace is both lighthearted and deeply hurt, so there was a lot of balancing. Plus I had to drag around a shovel.

dress: Forever 21
headband: Goody’s
shoes: Keds

The final short play was my favorite, Welcome to Intercourse. I played Peggy, an accountant who just got jilted by her fiance. Her best friend Eva decides they should go on a road trip, and of course their car breaks down outside of Intercourse, Pennsylvania. And who comes to rescue them but a pair of Amish boys! Peggy and Josiah have a deeply touching conversation onstage, but offstage Eva and Ezekiel fix the car, and of course it sounds extremely suggestive. It was a great little play full of innuendoes, and the girl who played Eva is a dream and it was literally so fun to play opposite her.

dress: Modcloth (Blueberry Lemonade dress)
jacket: I’ll check…
shoes: Payless
glasses: Eye Buy Direct (Sophie frames in pink)

I had such an amazing time doing this show. It was such a quick run (haha, get it, Quickies, I’m hilarious) but it was so fun to do. I don’t know if I’ll get to be a part of it again, but hopefully I’ll get to work with this team again in the future!

upcoming shows for 2018: Legally Blonde, Little Shop of Horrors, and more!

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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!