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

Best Friend Adventures

My best friend Kevin and I love to love this city. On any given weekend, you can find us grabbing coffee, shopping in bookstores, seeing a Broadway show, eating in diners, or walking through Central Park.

We both look up at this skyline and know we are home.

I think one of the greatest things about Manhattan is having Kevin around. We have been apart since graduation (he was on a cruise ship!) and we never really know when one of us will book another job and be off again. Here are some of our favorite adventures from this winter so far!

With Her Nose Stuck In A Book

Fun fact: I have always wanted to own a New York Public Library card. It is synonymous  with being a New York resident and provides hours of subway entertainment.

Today, I went out and got my NYPL card, Starbucks, and a stack of books to go with it! 

Some days, this city just treats you well.

Meghan

Bagels for Breakfast

So, let’s talk a little bit about being a Non-Equity member in Manhattan during audition season.

The absolute hardest part of your job is waking up. It’s the worst! You probably just crawled into bed at midnight (or later!) coming home from work, and here you are again. You alarm is going off and it is only 4am.

I’m not joking. My alarm goes off on audition days at 4am.

Now, you might say, this is the girl I hate. This girl is “that girl” that wakes up to go to an audition at 4am! To that I say, which came first? The chicken or the egg? Someone else is always there before me, so am I truly crazy? Yes, but that is not the point. I didn’t start the Non-Equity madness, so I can only say that I am doing what I can to do my job: audition.

If you haven’t ever done so, you should read Audition Update. It’s the great, albeit insane, account of what auditions are happening where, what time the list is up, how many are on the list, what they need, if the gig is good or not, and everything else you could want to know... Run completely by actors. 

So when my alarm goes off at 4am, I open my iPhone to Safari, check Audition Update, pull on sweatpants, put on a coat, and walk to the train. I wait for the train, get off in midtown, and sign my name on every “Unofficial List” for the auditions I want to attend that day. (An Unofficial List is a list started by actors who want to start an order earlier than the time the audition starts. Most casting directors and theaters will take this list, but they aren’t required to!)

After I sign my name, I hop back on the train to my apartment, sleep for a little longer, and get ready for my auditions. I walk my subway stop, get my conveniently placed Starbucks, and get back on the train headed to midtown.

Usually when you arrive at an audition during audition season, it’s a madhouse. People are warming up, both vocally and physically in the hall. Some are furiously trying to cut and staple headshots and resumes, while some are changing into their audition clothes. (Audition clothes: A brightly colored, probably blue, dress and nude heels of varying heights.)

My favorite part of auditioning is running into my friends that I haven’t seen in a while. So yes, I am “that girl” too. The one who runs and jumps on her gay best friend that she hasn’t seen in a year, or like, since last weekend.

This morning I had the pleasure of auditioning for the Beauty and the Beast National Tour. The tour is Non-Equity, so as long as you get up early enough, you are pretty much guaranteed to be seen. However, this is a popular audition to attend, so when 8am rolled around, there were over 500 girls signed up for this audition. Being the awesome Point Park University graduates that we are, my friends and and I signed up really early, so we were in the first twenty people to be seen.

We got ourselves lined up against the wall and found out we were only allotted 8 bars of music to sing. (In laymen’s terms, about a sentence.) In and out we went! It was fantastic and all five of us were done singing by 10:30am. We collectively decided that it was time to leave and reward ourselves... Bagels for breakfast! (But not before we snapped a picture.)

Left to Right: Audra, Myself, Arielle, Nicole, and Kevin, being Kevin.

What could have been an absolutely insane morning was calm and wonderful because of the people in this picture. I love having a group of friends who all have the same amount of passion, dedication, and work ethic, but are all different types. We can all be so supportive of each other at every audition, and it truly makes all the difference. 

"So What Else Is Around Here?"

So many times, my parents and I end up somewhere awesome because my Mom talks to strangers. She can, at any time, without warning, begin a conversation about anything. There was no such thing as "shy" for me growing up, because every person along the way was someone new to talk to.

So many times I find my Mom asking, "So what else is around here?"

This time, it landed us in LeClaire, Iowa at Antique Archeology, the home of American Pickers.

Now, my parents and I love antiques. My house is filled with incredible little treasures that we have picked up at garage sales, auctions, inherited, or saved. So television shows like American Pickers are right up our alley. We decided to keep the close proximity a secret and give my Dad directions without telling him where he was going!

Antique Archeology with my Mom (and Starbucks)
Photo Credit: Chuck Manahan

Antique Archeology
Photo Credit: Chuck Manahan

The entire place was filled with picks seen on the show. And motorcycles. Lots of motorcycles!

Down the street in LeClaire there are about a dozen shops all very similar to Antique Archeology... It was hard to leave!

Hope you are all having a wonderful Christmas vacation!
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