Ensemble Roles

So at this point I do not have much of an acting resume but I am hoping to build on it the next few years. Including the show I am currently in I have only been in five shows (including a show I directed when I worked as a camp counselor at the Boys and Girls Club in Milford in Summer 2006....before the Barn Playhouse) mostly in ensemble roles or small walk on roles..some had lines and some were non speaking. One of my main goals is to eventually get a part in a show that has lines.. perhaps not a lead role but the next below that.. always something to work toward. Although when it comes to musicals the obstacles I would see standing in my way are singing and dancing.
As a bit of performance history the first role I ever had was my senior year in high school when I was in my school's fall show A Fatal Combination. This show was really fun to be in. I was a waitress who got to be really snippy with another waiter who was played by Matt Cahill. This show was an a la carte murder mystery which was fun to me in because there was a lot of audience interaction. The show I directed when I was the Camp Couselor was also fun because I got to play a pirate. I don't remember what the play was called though. At the Barn Playhouse I was in two shows Barefoot in The Park and Annie Get Your Gun. In Barefoot I was in the moving company and was only on stage for 10 minutes to set up the apartment scene. In Annie Get Your Gun I was in the ensemble and in most of the crowd scenes. That was a really fun show to be in. The fun thing about ensemble roles is that you get to be create your own character and see how your character interacts with the other characters that are in the scene. I also liked to make up different scenerios for the different main characters in my head which would later become inspiration for some fan fiction that I wrote. Page back in the archives for entries about fan fics related to Annie Get Your Gun. That show gave me a lot of new found confidence that I never had before that helped me to do better in auditons I would have for future shows..including the show I am currently in. This confidence also helps me to do well in my performace because whenever I go back and watch the dvd of Annie Get Your Gun I observe myself in the opening musical number Colonel Buffalo Bill and while I may have looked calm on the outside I was really nervous on the inside because it was my first time performing on stage. Naturally the show went fantastic but judging from the video I can judge that I was insanely nervous. I also didn't feel my character was developed enough for some reason... even though it was an ensemble character that didn't have a speaking role. I don't know why I was so nervous about the interacting part in the crowd scenes. The reason why I am even thinking about this now is because I am comparing that performance to Music Man. With Music Man I feel somewhat less intimidated to interact with peope during the crowd scenes. It helps me to develop my character a little bit better and for some reason ( that is really undefined) during Annie Get Your Gun I felt I couldn't do that quite as well. I don't know if that was my fault or not but I suppose you live and learn. This lesson is helping me to improve with my development of my character for this show.

And now.... more about Music Man....
I haven't written a lot about Music Man in this blog yet. I did talk about the audition process in a past entry but that was only in brief. I actually did a video blog updating with my progress on the show on Superbowl Sunday but I had issues with posting it to the blog. This is my first PTA Play and I am having so much fun being in it. I am in the ensemble as a townsperson and it has been fun working with my other cast members.. most who I have seen throughout the years in other PTA Plays and some high school kids who I have worked with on Riverbend Youth Company shows. Learning the dance numbers was a bit challenging in the beginning but I am catching on quickly. I think my favorite dance is Marian The Libarian. It is fun to see how Ashley and Stuart who play Marian Paroo and Harold Hill interact in that scene. Last week at rehearsal we broke in family units for the townspeople scene which means tha t each adult now has a child or children. My family unit consists of me,Bob Pitrowski, Mrs. Swanson, Mrs. Zall, Mrs. Scagnelli and two middle school girls Madison and Hannah and another girl named Kria who is 5.. It''s fun the group scenes to see how the various family units interact with each other.
Side Note: Ashley and I went to high school together and were both involved in theatre. We never got the opportunity to work together in high school so I am so lucky to get the opportunity to finally work with her. :)
Side Note 2: I dedicate my performances in Music Man to my friends from my NLBP intern company. Wherever their paths away from the Barn have led them they continue to inspire me with whatever they are doing in their professional careers. <3
March will be a busy month as the show grows closer and closer (Apr 13-17 for those who want to come) I am excited to see how everything we have been learning so far will come together and how the scenes will connect together with the scenes that we have not rehearsed yet


And who know what kind of new fan fictions ideas I will get from Music Man..I'm sure there will be a few a ha moments to get my creative juices flowing!