Back to the Burgh

Remember in my last post how I shared about how wonderful RWS and Associates is?

Well, they're at it again!

Thanks to this incredible office of people, I had the absolute pleasure to drive down to my college town of Pittsburgh, PA for a performance and a visit!

I hadn't been back to Pittsburgh since I graduated, so I was truly jumping out of my skin to see this beautiful city I lived in for four years of my life.

In true RWS fashion, they teamed me up with two of the most wonderful people I have ever worked with! We learned our show in two short days, drove to Pittsburgh on the third, and performed on the fourth! Talk about a whirlwind experience. However, I made sure to get in all of my favorite, albeit touristy, spots on my Pittsburgh checklist.

As soon as we arrived in the burgh, we dropped our stuff off at the hotel and drove through the Liberty Tunnel (You know that scene in Perks of Being A Wallflower?) to "dahntahn Pixburgh" for Primanti's sandwiches.

My Primanti's sandwich was comprised of freshly baked Italian bread, french fries, tomato, coleslaw, provolone, and sirloin steak! The classic!

Michael and Brittany were as in love as I first was with this sandwich! If you're ever in the Pittsburgh area, I recommend it wholeheartedly.

We went to bed early, however, because we had a show the next day! As much as it can be joked about, I love doing children's theatre. It's so magical to have children looking at you, so enthralled by your every word and movement. 

After the show we did some shopping, and I headed to meet one of my favorite dance teachers from college, Miss Maria Slutiak. This woman is a force to be reckoned with! She has four beautiful children and can teach anyone how to land a double pirouette. She's tiny, she's loud, and she has one of the biggest hearts I've ever seen.




Eating my way through Pittsburgh! Primanti's, Pamela's, and Razzy!





Next stop, meeting up with one of my favorite people from college, Bucci! (Apparently he goes by Jonathan now, but I don't buy it!) We walked around one of my favorite places in Pittsburgh, Squirrel Hill, and then we headed to our old college stomping grounds in Oakland for the best frozen yogurt I've ever had: RazzyFresh. I actually can't talk about it for too long because truly, nothing compares!










My last morning in the burgh was the cherry on top of a perfect weekend. I met up with Bucci again, but this time the one and only Ian Sulkowski met us too! We pulled up some chairs at Pamela's, ordered big breakfasts, and got caught up on everything we've missed. (We took some jogs down memory lane, too!)

Then I headed back on the road with my country music Pandora station and my windows down. I hope you all had beautiful weekends!
Meghan

Country music, Crinolins, and Coffee

These past two weeks I had the extreme pleasure of workshopping a brand new show with RWS and Associates headed for Hershey Park!

Workshopping a show is a great experience. You get the opportunity to be a part of something constantly changing and growing, create something brand new, and it's all put together in a very short time!

The show is called Rollin' Down The River and features three couples on a riverboat. It's chock full of great country songs (Wagon Wheel, Tortured Tangled Hearts, Homegrown Honey, Walkin' In Memphis...) and I love the opportunity to sing some country hits!

Whenever I work with RWS and Associates, I'm surrounded by the greatest people. I don't know how they seem to find incredible talent with such kind hearts, but I'm honored to be a part of it! This time around, I got to work with my dear friend Nicole, and meet some new wonderful people as well!

In under two weeks, this team of people were lead fearlessly under John Charron, Jens Kramer, Robbie Eicher, and Molly Tynes. Despite all kinds of changes (like a cast member halfway through our process!) we pushed through and created a product I was proud to be a part of.

Look how much fun we had!

Have a great week!
Meghan

Saying Goodbye to New Hampshire

It is officially my last full day in New Hampshire without shows. I am surprised at how quickly my time here has dwindled, and I'm kind of sad to see it go, too.

I spent my morning packing up my car so I wouldn't have to do it over the weekend (also so I could know if all of my things could actually fit in my car) and my room is now empty except for the few things I will need for the shows this weekend.

Now, I am sitting at Starbucks rewarding myself with a Pumpkin Spice Latte and enjoying one of my last days looking at the White Mountains. (Joni Mitchell's "All I Want" just came on. Perfect.)

But, it's time for the next adventure. It's time to try my hand at the midwest and to do a full length musical for the first time in a long time. According to the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse Facebook  the kids have already begun rehearsals! I can't wait to arrive in Rock Island and have a show already being put together. It is going to be an exciting rehearsal process and a great run, I can feel it!

For now, I am off to the outlets. I can smell a Columbus Day sale all the way from here.


Goodbye, New Hampshire. Hello, Illinois.
Meghan

Flume Gorge

This morning Nina and I woke up and decided to travel to Flume Gorge!

Flume Gorge is a walk through granite walls, over water, up and down steps, at the base of Mount Liberty. Here's a picture so you have an idea:

I think my favorite thing about Flume Gorge is how it was discovered. The gorge was discovered in 1808 by a 93 year old woman named Jess Guernsey. First of all, I cannot imagine living in New Hampshire in the mountains in the 1800's. Second of all, I cannot imagine being 93 and living in New Hampshire in the mountains in the 1800's! Anyway, Jess had gone fishing, alone, and happened upon the gorge. When she went back to tell her family and friends, they didn't believe her! She finally got them to see the gorge and they were shocked- wouldn't you be? I was surprised and it's 2013! Initially, when the gorge was discovered, there was a giant boulder between the walls. 

If the boulder were still in place, it would have been over my head in the picture to the left, but in 1883, a huge rainstorm came and swept the boulder away. The rainstorm also created Avalanche Falls, a waterfall within the gorge.









It was stunning. The walk itself was short (especially in comparison to Mount Washington!) But it was a beautiful, cool, fall day and we enjoyed seeing more of what New Hampshire has to offer!

More to come,
Meghan

Portland, Maine

Today Nina and I ventured to Maine! I had never been to Maine before, but we took a trip all the way down to Portland to enjoy some sun and sea.

It was a positively beautiful day and we walked around for a bit and had lunch. We ate outside at this little restaurant called J's Oyster where Nina had the lobster roll and I had the haddock. It was absolutely delicious. I have this theory, about good seafood restaurants, where they should be a little run down with seats right on the water... You'll always see tons of people there, and that's how you know it's good. 

This sign was right outside the restaurant by the dock. It reminded me of my grandpa, because it sounded just like something he would say.

After a delicious lunch in Portland, Nina and I decided to do what we do best and visit the Freeport Outlet Mall, home of the Flagship store for L.L. Bean!

We were actually a little in shock as we pulled up to the outlets. L.L. Bean had a separate store for all of their products: Flagship, Home, Hunting and Fishing, Bike, Boat, and Ski, and, of course, the Outlet. All of the stores except the outlet are open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. So, you know, if you find yourself in Freeport, Maine in the middle of the night, now you know where to go! Last minute Christmas shopping on Christmas? L.L. Bean has your back!

All joking aside, it was like the mecca of the catalogues I have seen my mother get my entire life.

Nina and I on the L.L. Bean boot!

Hope you are all enjoying your own life adventures!

Meghan

Hiking Mount Washington

So about the second day I arrived here, Nina, my housemate and fellow performer, asked me if I would hike Mount Washington with her. I thought, "Sure! Sounds like fun, I bet it will never happen, but sure!"

Well, let me tell you one of the many good things and bad things about the life I am currently living. The good thing is that you get to meet new people all the time. The bad thing, is that you never know what to expect from them. 

Nina is an adventurer, thank God!, because she basically became my tour guide for the entire time I was here. She wanted to do anything and everything- and she brought me along for the ride.

So, September 25th, Nina and I woke up and decided to hike Mount Washington.

We started at one of our favorite breakfast places the White Mountain Cider Company to get sandwiches and coffee and get to the base of Mount Washington.

Nina decided that we were hiking the Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail up and the Jewell Trail down. Here's us, before the hike around 9am...

Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed (or at least caffeinated) we began our hike. It was a cold,  cloudy day, not the best day to hike the mountain, but we were determined and there was no going back. Initially, it was easy. The Ammonoosuc trail was beautiful. We hiked much of the trail next to water and we were having fun taking pictures and talking.

As we got higher, we past the treeline and it got increasingly colder. We added more layers we brought in our backpacks and trekked on. We passed the Lake of the Clouds and up, up, up we went. We were completely in a cloud.

Did I mention that there were signs and memorial plaques commemorating people who passed away along the trail? (Granted most were from the 1920's, but ominous, nonetheless.)

We finally reached a point where there was no clear path, only cairns (cairns are manmade rock piles) and paint on the rocks letting us know we were headed the right way. 

After about 4 hours of climbing uphill, we reached the summit! Mount Washington's summit is the highest point in the Northeastern United States at 6,288 feet and is known for it's dangerously erratic weather. Learn more here.

At the top of the mountain, Nina and I ate some snacks, bought some souvenirs, took some pictures and began our descent.

We were taking the Jewell Trail down, a trail that is supposed to be much simpler and safer on our knees and ankles. We began our descent with the utmost confidence- we made it up the more difficult trail, down the simpler trail should be easy, right? Wrong!

We followed the cairns and painting on the rocks until suddenly, we reached a standstill. We couldn't find any more markings! Nina decided to hike down through the rocks, but we found nothing. We looked at the map, which wasn't much help, but we were stuck. In our back and forth confusion, we eventually found a sign that informed us that we had ended up on a different trail. We retraced our steps and ended up back where we were lost the first time. Out of desperation and with wide eyes, we found our paint marker! It was located down, but in the opposite direction of where we had descended the first time. The paint was white on a gray rock, and with the fog from the clouds, we had just missed it.

Now, an hour and a half off of our approximated route time, we had to rush down the Jewell or risk being on the mountain in the forest at dusk. We pushed ourselves and ended our hike right around 6pm. Here's what we looked like by then!

All in all, it was an amazing hike and experience. But I couldn't help relating everything to the craft I do. At first glance, theatre seems like an unachievable goal. But then, you're in it, journeying up and up with no end in sight. For a moment, it seems easy. But then, your body catches up with you and you need a break. By this time you think you should turn around, but now it's much too late. That's when you find you need mentors, cairns, to keep you on your  way as you go; positive influences that can only put you in the right direction. Sometimes, there is no one to guide you. You feel lost and look for another way, when you realize, it was you all along. You had the work, technique, and the passion, you just needed to trust yourself and find your way. 

Till the next adventure!
Meghan

Unexpected Special Guest

So I recently shared this on my website, but I thought I would share it here as well!

Recently a friend who I met while performing at Idlewild and Soakzone sent me a video of a hilarious moment from the summer.

This is a video of me as the character Demi singing "Give Your Heart A Break" in Camp Rockmore Talent Show at Idlewild.

As I remember it... I was starting out the song, everything was going as expected. We had a big audience that day, and we were all excited about it. As I started to get to the chorus people started laughing. I thought, "Okay, what's going wrong? My microphone was working, nothing was wrong with my costume, my wig was still on my head... Did I sing a weird note?" Now people are laughing hysterically, so I turn expecting to see a cast member pranking me, a set mishap, anything! But no, there is a toddler stealing the stage! I wanted to laugh so hard, but I kept my composure and did what my college professors would expect of me and... "Took the coaching." 

I went to the baby and sang to her. If she was going to steal the scene, I ought to let her have it! She deserved it! This baby just adored the stage! I have to admit, I was the same way as a kid. If someone let me have the stage, you can bet they weren't getting it back!

The best part though, is seeing my cast members come back onstage after their quick change and finally realize what went wrong! 

Enjoy this hilarious moment of live theatre!

Meghan

ps: Special thanks to Lisa and Kyleigh for filming this! I can't thank you both enough!

Summer 2013

Today we're going to do a little throwback to my time at Idlewild and Soakzone with RWS and Associates!

I was so lucky to be offered a contract at Idlewild for many reasons. 

First of all, RWS and Associates is an amazing company and one I have wanted to work for quite some time. They take great care of their actors and the company is still growing. (Did I mention that they won an Emmy?) They continuously have amazing opportunities all over the country for their actors and I am so proud to say that I have worked with them not only once, but twice! (More on that later!)

Second of all, the contract I received was long and diverse. I had work and housing in my field for a solid four months. Additionally, got to perform three very different shows for very appreciative audiences every single day!

Last but not least, this cast was and is incredible. They are such a hardworking, loving, and creative team that anyone would love working alongside. We certainly had our ups and downs, but we put on amazing shows together everyday. (If I do say so myself!)

I miss singing and dancing alongside these crazy people! 

Stay tuned for more adventures to come!

Meghan