Thought for the day

From the finale  number in Annie Get Your Gun   <3

Today's topic:   How long it took me to move on from stuff related to the New London Barn Playhouse.

Let's just say that sometimes transitions  and  life changes not matter if they  are big or small. are not easy for me. 

Key example: How long it took me to move on from stuff related to the Barn Playhouse as you will read...

 In summer 2007  I had the most  amazing experience of my life at the New London Barn Playhouse. I was downright depressed about stuff related to the Barn  for a very long time.  One thing that triggered my depression was the fact the Nancy Barry got fired. I found this news out in  November  2007 from one of the high school students that I directed in Bravery Soup. Nancy was very instrumental to the Barn and not only that she was the person who hired me so naturally when  I found out that news I was extremely pissed off.  I was in a facebook group about for about two months  but I eventually left it because I figured that  no amount of complaining in a facebook group  would bring Nancy back to work at the Barn. Plus she opened a new theatre in Meredith and she is doing very well there.   So that's the only positive thing that has come out of this whole situation. I have heard from various sources that since then things have continued to go downhill.  Not surprising to be honest.   Part of  dealing with my depression has been learning to deal with the changes the Barn Playhouse is going through and realizing that I can't change them  (ie  the junior intern fee that is going to  be instituted this summer)

Another thing that was a trigger to my depression about NLBP was the fact that I was fearful of forgetting memories and being forgotten about  by the other people   I worked with including one of the acting interns Will Porter who I grew incredibly close to by the end of the summer.

One thing  that I only started to realize recently was that even though  people have moved on from their experience at  NLBP  it doesn't necessiarly mean that they have forgotten about me or don't want to be my friends anymore. (Thanks   Caroline  Kittrell)

I should have moved on from stuff related to the Barn Playhouse several months ago and I am extremely happy that now  I am finally completely  over my depression. I am at a point now where I am no longer depressed  and  where  I can move on.   Watch the dvds without getting emotional and miss working on the shows  I worked on,look at all the pictures in my scrapbook and on facebook without getting sad and thinking that  I've  been forgotten about by the other people I worked with because I haven't  I can finally say " That was  a fun summer" and not get sad about missing  certain aspects of the experience  (ie the cast parties, being in Annie Get Your Gun)  I also apologized to the other interns that I worked  with far too much about the fact that it took me so long to move on from stuff related to the Barn.. the guilt I was feeling toward being annoying to them because I was drowning in the fear that  I was going to be forgotten about by everyone.  Thanks  Ryan for  helping me to realize that.  Of course now  I know now   that I was  most likely just being paranoid.  I've been pretty paranoid all along. 

Publish Post

From Courtship To Coffeeshop- An Evening Of Dating Lessons a treat

 Last night I went  up to  NEC to go see the Carriage Theatre Ensemble Spring Production of  An Evening of Dating Lessons.  Once again  I was impressed by the talents of the underclassmen  since a majority of the cast was made up of freshmen and sophomores.  The two one act plays  Blind Date and  Scuba Lessons  were directed by  senior Chris Mitchell and sophomore Christina Vasta.  The plays starred   Michelle Bibeau 12' ( Kelly Donovan in Scuba Lessons)   Jacci  Drummond 10' (Rayne Storm in Scuba Lessons)  Kyle Fullford graduted in 07 but still lives in Henniker  (Felix in Blind Date and  Dan Lanzetta in Scuba Lessons), Elliot Greer 10' ( Robert Henry in Blind Date and Coffehouse Guy/Patron in Scuba Lessons)   Brian McKewon 12' (Martin Michaelson in  Scuba Lessons)  Kelly Merrick 12' (Dolores  Henry in  Blind Date)  and Katie Sullivan  12' ( Sarah Nancy in Blind Date)   In their own way  each one act play had their funny moments as each of the characters brought their story to life.

Congratulations to everyone in the cast and crew on  a job well done.  The crew included   Christina Vasta and Chris Mitchell (directors, set and sound design) Sarah Thiel  10' (Lighting),  Leanne Derosa 11' ( Hair and Make Up and Costume Design) Alex Preston  12' ( Costume Design-Scuba Lessons)    Kyle Fullford , Katie Sullivan  12' and Rachel  (I'm assuming it's Buck but her last name got left off of the program so  I couldn't tell 09')  Dalton Dececco 12 and Alex  Kendall 11'   (Change  Over Crew)  John Hanks 11'  Chris Mitchell 09 and Joe Paredez 10' (Electricians) and  Jamie Valentine 10', Nadia Potenza 10' and Emma Laing 08'  (Stage Managers) 

Keep it  up everyone!

Love  

Janine

Upcoming  Performances I will be viewing

April 17th  Amherst's PTA Play  Peter Pan

April 18th-  By The Bog  of Cats    NEC's Mainstage Perfomance

April 25th (tentative  bc our trip could be pushed back again  due to money issues)  Broadway Revival of HAIR

Souhegan's Evening of Dance is also in April but I do not   know the exact date yet

Stay tuned also for my next article for the  Cabinet which is about the professionals they hired to help with the  flying in  Peter Pan

Comedy and Dance

In this economy it's always good to partake in a free show once in awhile. Lasr night I usherd at the Milford Area Player's production of No Sex Please We're British. After several weeks of being severely stressed out with looking for a job it was nice to go see such a light hearted and funny production. I do not think I have laughed so hard in a very long time. My favorite character was proabaly Brian Runnikcles played by Eric Skoglund. The play takes place in the late 1960s in an apartment that is located in Windsor England. It is the story of a newly married couple Peter and Frances Hunter ( Dave Kulvete and Christina Hamilton) who accidently recieve a package that contains pornographic photographs in the mail. As it turns out instead of stopping the order the end up getting more pornographic materials sent to their house and their tirades to get rid of them is the humor behind the story. Very much enjoyed. Congrats to all.
Today I want to my sister's dance team compettion at my former high school. It had quite a big turn out. Two other local high school dance teams were in the compettion Conval of Peterbourogh and Bedford. I have to try to be nonbiased her because my sister is on the Souhegan team but all teams were very fun to watch. There were five catergories Jazz,Hip Hop, Captains Choice , Pump It Up and Soloist. Both of the girls who performed in the soloist category Paige Duarte from Souhegan and Lauren Allen from Bedford were really good so it's hard to pick a favorite out of the two of them. The other categories aren't as difficult. Conval was my favorite out of the Jazz catergory with their dance to I Got Rhythm. I could be biased because I am a huge Broadway Musical freak and I am very familiar with that show tune though I can't seem to remember what show it is from. All teams did really well in the rest of the categories though Souhegan and Bedford tied in my opinion for the Hip Hop category. Good Job to all dance teams involved in the compettion.


The economy kind of throws a sucker punch into going to see plays this summer. There are quite a few shows I want to see but money is an issue. I am getting so frusturated that I still don't have a job yet.. if I had a little bit of extra spending money I wouldn't be so worried about being tight on cash. The shows I hope to see are Gypsy (Seacoast Rep), Man of Lamancha and Forever Plaid (Interlakes Theatre) Anything Goes and The Fantasticks (New London Barn Playhouse) Alter Boyz (Stage Coach Productions) and The Drowsy Chaperone (Maine State Music Theatre). Also my boyfriend and I are making some plans to go to New York for our one year anniversary to see HAIR but once again our plans may have to be postponed because neither of us are working right now.. I am really hoping that both of us find jobs soon. I am so excited to see HAIR my friend Jay is giving me a backstage tour and I am super excited. I'm sure I've already mentioned like 5 or 6 times. YAY!! :)

Time for bed.
Love
Janine

2009 Tony Nomination Predictions

Having not gone to New York to see many shows it is hard for me to make predictions of which shows will get nominated for Tonys Below is a list of shows that are have opened over the past year and shows that are yet to open.Under each show title I will list what award I will predict they will get.

Shows That Have Opened/ Are Going To Open In 2008 and 2009

* I do not know which plays are new plays and which plays are revivals

2008

June 26 - Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy

July 17 - [title of show]

Best New Musical

Sept 18 - A Tale Of Two Cities

Sept 25 - Equus

Oct 2 - The Seagull

Oct 5 - 13

Best New Musical (runner up in case one of my orignal selections does not get picked)

Oct 7 - A Man for All Seasons

Oct 14 - To Be or Not to Be

Oct 16 - All My Sons

Oct 23 - Speed-the-Plow

Nov 13 - Billy Elliot

Best New Musical

Best Score

Best Chreography

Best Leading Actor In A Musical

Nov 17 - American Buffalo

Nov 20 - Dividing the Estate

Nov 23 - White Christmas

Dec 3 - Liza's At The Palace

Dec 7 - Slava's Snowshow

Dec 14 - Shrek: The Musical

Best Leading Actreess Sutton Foster

Best Leading Actor Brian D'Arcy James

Best Costume Design

Best New Musical

Dec 18 - Pal Joey

2009

Jan 15 - Soul of Shaolin Jan

22 - The American Plan

Jan 25 - Hedda Gabler

Feb 5 - You're Welcome America. A Final Night with George W Bush

Feb 19 - The Story of My Life

Mar 1 - Guys and Dolls

Best Revival for A Musical

Mar 9 - 33 Variations

Mar 15 - Blithe Spirit

Mar 19 - West Side Story

Best Revial for A Musical

Best Chreography (there are tons of good dance #s in this musical)

Mar 22 - God of Carnage

Mar 24 - Impressionism Mar 26 - Exit The King

Mar 29 - Irena's Vow

Mar 30 - Happiness

Mar 31 - Hair Seeing this on April 25th CANNOT WAIT!!

Best Revial for A Musical

Best Scrore for a Musical

Apr 2 - reasons to be pretty

Apr 7 - Rock of Ages

Apr 15 - Next to Normal
Apr 16 - Joe Turner's Come and Gone

Apr 19 - Mary Stuart

Apr 23 - The Norman Conquests

Apr 26 - The Philanthropist

Apr 27 - Desire Under the Elms

Apr 29 - Accent on Youth

Apr 30 - 9 to 5

Best New Musical

Apr 30 - Waiting for Godot

Apr 30 - Tony Nomination Cut Off

Upcoming Performances that I will be viewing.

It's going to be a busy spring for me theatre wise. Here's what my schedule is shaping up to look like
March 20th- No Sex Please We're British Milford Area Players
Weekend of March 27th
An Evening Of Dating Lessons Student Directed 1 Act Plays at my college
The thing that's going to be good about this is that the cast is mostly made up of freshmen so it's always nice to see what the talent in the department is shaping up to be like. My former roommate Jacci is also in one of the one acts and I think this is the first time I've seen her act because I don't think she was in any shows when I was at NEC.
Weekend of April 17th
Peter Pan Town Community Theatre Production. I am no longer doing props for this but I will be helping out with tech work in some other way. Hopefully there not too many people who I told that were planning on coming to see it. I know I sent an email to my friends from the Barn Playhouse about it but I wasn't sure how many people were actually planning on coming down. They probably have their own stuff going on.
By The Bog of Cats Spring Mainstage Production at my college
Evening of Dance At My High School ( do not know the dates yet)
May 8th and 9th
Movement Concert End of the year dance department production at my college.
May 9th-17th Joesph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat Peacock Players



Top shows I want to see at local theatres this summer.
1. Altar Boyz Stage Coach Productions Nashua
2. Man of Lamancha Interlakes Theatre
3. The Drowsy Chaperone Maine State Music Theatre
4. Forever Plaid Interlakes Theatre
*5. Anything Goes New London Barn Playhouse (heard something they might be closing down this summer.. not sure if it is totally true though WHATEVER YOU DO DO NOT QUOTE ME ON THAT)
*6. The Fantastiks New London Barn Playhouse
7. The Producers Hackamatack Theatre
8 Gyspy Seacoast Repretory Theatre

Current work in progress for the Cabinet

One Act Play Festival Shines Spotlight of Student Actors and Directors
By Janine Leffler

The Fourth Annual One Act Play Festival at the Amato Center for the Perfuming Arts shows a lot of promise for up and coming young actors and directors.

The three one act plays are Telemarketers in Space a musical parody of Star Trek written by Andrew Cass and Michah Edelbliut and musical composition by Joseph Harris, Phineas a telling of the Sword in the Stone from the stone’s point of view written by Aly McKnight , Nicholas Hammes and Caitlyn Labreque and Story of My Teenage Life a musical comedy similar to Disney’s High School Musical written by Molly Desmond and Katrina Feraco and two original musical pieces written by Molly Desmond features the acting talents of students in grades six to twelve as well as the directing talents of Nicholas Hammes, and Caitlyn Labreque.
The students performing in the One Act Play Festival include Isaiah Cass, Molly Desmond, Rachel Dobbs, Rebekkah Claucasure, Paige Craven, Annie Feraco, Katrina Feraco, Melissa Gray, Helaine Hall, Nicholas Hammes, Meghan Hammes, Katie Hammes, Joseph Harris, Dagny Hedbeg, Rachel Kellis, Ruth Kemmerer, Caitlyn Lebreque, Kent Maggelet, Aly McKnight, Lucas Nevrla, Michael Robicheau, Tess Ryan, Conor Sandin, Stefani Stroms and Tristen Wade.

Nicholas Hammes, a freshmen at Milford High School and Caitlyn Labreque, a senior in high school who is homeschooled are the writers and directors of Phineas. The play they wrote was expanded from a skit they worked on when they were counselors at the theatre camp at the Boys and Girls Club this past summer. For them the biggest challenge of directing this play was “Writing the script under the deadline and adding more characters as we went along.” Both Lebreque and Hammes are excited to see the play performed and have no worries. They have had a lot of fun with working on this show.

For Melissa Gray, a sophomore at Milford High School the most fulfilling thing about working in the one act play festival has been “Even my character in Phineas was one of the one who was added after the original script was written and I didn’t have much of head start as the rest of the members of the cast did it has still been a great experience.”
For Lucas Nevrla and Conor Sandin the biggest challenge they have faced in working on this production has had to learn lines for three different characters. While Nevrla said that has been the biggest challenge he says the most fulfilling thing about working in the one act play festival is that he gets to play a variety of different characters. He admits that Captain Ricardo in Telemarketers in Space has been the hardest to play because it is a very serious character and he is more laid back and funny.

The one act play festival takes place @ the Amato Center For The Performing Arts at The Boys and Girls Club of Souhegan Valley. Showtimes are Thursday, March 12th at 5:00 pm; Friday March 13th at 7:30pm and Saturday March 14th at 2:00pm. Tickets are $5..00 at the door.

Various feelings

Beau Bristow performs in the Charter Coffeehouse @ New England College in Henniker NH








Two disappointing things happened to me that are theatre related. First of all next Sunday I was supposed to go see Dirty Dancing in Boston with the Tech College theatre troupe. I found out that the fee for people who are non-students got upped from $10.00 to $25.00 so I am unable to go now due to the fact that I am broke. On the plus side I think it's better off that I go next semester any way since I'll be a fulll time student and will not have to pay a few. Apparently I jumped at the opportunity to do props for Peter Pan a little bit late because the position has been filled already but I am still going to be doing tech work in some way shape or form and helping out with that closer to when the performance is.












Last night I went to go visit my friends at New England College. I was lucky to catch a musician perfom which the Student Entertainment Committee sponsered. His name was Beau Bristow. I had missed his performance last semester because I had way too much homework to do that particular night. I always like listening to new and upcoming musicians. I thought he was really good. He did a really nice cover of one of my favorite U2 songs from The Joshua Tree album and a few other covers of popular songs plus a lot of his own work. It was a very welcome relaxer to all the stress I have been under over the past several weeks with looking for a job.



Well off to bed it's been a pretty busy weekend and I am wiped out
Janine


Updated Perfomance Viewing Schedule for March/April
March 27-29th Carriage Theatre Ensemble Night Of One Acts ( Student directed plays @ my college) Thoroughly Modern Millie Kearsarge Regional High School's spring musical ( must make an effort to go see this because a lot of the kids I assitant directed in Bravery Soup are in it)
April 16-19th

• Peter Pan
• By The Bog of CATS NEC Mainstage Productionn

My boyfriend and I are still trying to figure out when we are going to NYC to see HAIR. It's either going to be the third week of April or the third week of May. It depends when we both get jobs.