Cape Cod Journal 04: Fiddler on the Roof

Oh my goodness!
I have died and gone to heaven! Let me tell you, Chatham, Massachusetts may just be the closest thing to heaven on earth. It is just the most lovely beach town ever, and all I do here is theatre, theatre, theatre all the time.
On Tuesday night we opened Fiddler on the Roof here at the Monomoy Theatre. I'm just playing a small role, but I am so excited. The Cape Cod community really enjoys coming out to see the plays and we've been greeted with full houses and big smiles every night so far. We've even gotten our first reviews of the summer from The Cape Cod Times and The Cape Cod Chronicle. They certainly seemed to enjoy the show, The Cape Cod Times said, "the folks at Monomoy Theatre have staged a powerhouse musical that will be hard to match in the months ahead."
As for me, the theatre opening for the summer feels magical. The place has suddenly become so lively. We're doing two shows today, and there will be plays almost every night all summer. Just magical. Sitting in the courtyard yesterday evening waiting for my next entrance listening to the music leaking out from the theatre, and the sounds of a delighted audience I was brought back to my evenings spent working as a stage hand for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's greenshow. I was only a teenager, but I was so in love with the way you could hear the trumpets blow, and the actors begin, and especially the audience laugh echoing out from the Elizabethan stage. I think, theatre, when at its best, is the force that brings a community together, and it does that here at Monomoy. Magic.
We've already begun rehearsals for The Dining Room which is being directed by New Yorker, Rich Cole, and opens on July 6th. More details to follow!

Cape Cod Journal 03

We made it! Chatham is beautiful! I love it! It's so small and so New England. Had lunch at The Squire Tavern then went to the beach where they don't allow dogs all summer. How upsetting. It's really gorgeous here though. The theatre is on Main St. Chatham and we are all boarding in the two very old little houses next to it. Bunk beds, and broken dressers. Total actor housing, but I'm happy with my light house printed curtains! We'll be working so hard I imagine it will be rare that we notice how crammed in we are. Rehearsal starts tonight after dinner! Fiddler on the Roof is first!

Cape Cod Journal 02

We've done it! Finished one whole year of our Masters in Fine Arts in acting program at Ohio University, and it was rough, to say the least, but certainly fun as well. So now it's time for a true test of heroism; The Monomoy Theatre in Chatham. My classmate Nicole Tuthill and I drove all day long, from Athens, Ohio all the way past Baltimore, past Philadelphia, past New York City, to Stamford, Connecticut where we are staying the night in a cheap hotel before leaving early tomorrow morning for the theatre we are spending the next three months living in, eating in, celebrating in, and acting in. Boy, do we have our work cut out for us. I think I mentioned before that my major roles are, of course, being an ensemble member in The Dining Room, but also being Elvira in Blithe Spirit and Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing. In fact, I'm in everything but The Lion in Winter and The Cherry Orchard. It's going to be an extremely full summer!
The rest of our classmates should be arriving at various times tomorrow. The eight graduate students with the addition of one senior from OU are making up the main acting company at Monomoy, but of course there will be several more artists coming in as professionals and students from other schools to work with us as well!
Nicole and I had a fantastic day, though, despite all the driving. We met this great waitress at a diner in the middle of nowhere Maryland who was so excited about us going to Monomoy. She even told me that she had played Elvira twenty years ago. Which may or may not be true, although as Nicole pointed out, she did seem pretty sincere about it.
More driving tomorrow! Night!