Up Next…
I will be playing Mrs. Lambchops in Walnut Street Theatre for Kid’s main stage production of The Musical Adventures of Flat Stanley come April! I am stoked to work with the fabulous Jennie Einsenhower again (our director of Mean Girlz and private vocal coach), be back in a Walnut rehearsal studio, and watch Evan Faram, the acting apprentice playing the title character, become as thin as a pancake. I suggested Weight Watchers as soon as possible. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO ON SHOW TIMES AND TICKETS.
In other news…
"I really enjoyed your play. The songs were nice. It looked like your really enjoy acting. Good Job!" Bryan of the 7th grade on Mean Girlz
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"If You Breathe, It Breaks..."
Jillian Louis in The Glass Menagerie at the Walnut Street Theatre Studio on 3
The Glass Menagerie embarks on its tour route this week after a nearly sold out run at the Walnut, becoming the theatre's 1st National Tour to take wing. I had the fortunate invitation to slip into GM rehearsals whenever I had free time, watching the four gifted actors work through and explore scenes before it hit the intimate studio space. It became my rock after long days of touring, sucked immediately into the dreams and conflicts of these characters. I began understudy rehearsals shortly after opening and had an amazing time getting to taste Laura’s world. Finding my Laura opened up tiny little doors inside me, these terribly fearful ones that I always try to keep shut. Growing up, I was exceedingly shy and let peoples’ hurtful words, stares, and/or judgements cut through me like a knife. Theatre became my medicine and it lead me to find my voice, stemming a confidence, but without it, I could see myself falling to Laura’s frail nature, so easily breakable. The staging of the play, directed by a favorite Bill van Horn, is really quite something too because it allowed me instantly to find grounding and to not feel like I was working. It’s a solid road map that completely serves every character- I just had to ride it. Jillian Louis, the actress playing Laura in the production, is just incredibly moving and natural, breaking my heart every time I’ve watched. Watching her has been a master class in itself; she is the type of actress I aim to be in her commitment to her scene partners and never-ending discovery.
With all this backing me, I definitely do feel ready to go on and am proud to say that. Evan, the Tom/Jim understudy, named us the JV Menagerie. It has simply been an honor and pleasure of an opportunity. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE TOUR.
ON TOUR...
The Educational Outreach Company went through many alterations and adjustments with the arrival of the new year, saying good bye to our company member Carlos Aviles, whom moved back home to Puerto Rico, and welcoming aboard our new acting apprentice Brian “BK” Elam from West Philly. BK quickly learned all his tracks over the holiday lull and we were back on the road, new van and all, in no time. We lead our first round of workshops in January on Diversity with junior high kids, in which we devised our own lesson plan full of theatre games and activities. SUCCESS! On the many snow days stuck inside the office, we read through letters from our adoring fans (refer to above), many accompanied by awesome stick figure drawings of the four of us in which we never looked better, and wrote personal messages back. I’m starting to gain a reputation as the Bully of the Delaware Valley, tomboy tough in The Boy Who Cried Bully and nasty blonde bitty in Mean Girlz R Bullies 2: The Musical. My mom and dad are so proud. Also in the office, we have been researching and reading plays for next years Outreach Season, which has become a fun hunt, and application processing next year’s hopefuls for the 28 apprentice positions offered amongst all the departments. It’s a little scary to think that pretty soon, I’ll be waving good-bye to this job. What will life be like without a jam-packed van, I-76’s traffic, looming smells of cafeteria lunches, school bells belting during scenes, yearbook papparazzi, pre teens in UGGS, principal offices, and hallways papered in finger paints?
Highlights On The Road:
*TAP-SPEARE- Leslie (other female acting apprentice) and I’s program of trading shuffles off to buffalo for soliloquies- has become a brilliant alternative to sleeping in the van or reading trashy magazines on lay over time. We need to make T-shirts.
*Coining the phrase Broadway-torium, which are the FIERCEST auditoriums on the school circuit
*Performing on an Into the Woods set at Brian Lowdermilk’s old high school (of the Kerrigan-Lowdermilk MT composing team)- He wrote their Alma Mater!
*Our First King of Prussia Mall Pit Stop- Window shopping only restrictions.
*Drinking Evian water bottles during Catholic School Week (in honor of Mary Catherine Gallagher, the SUPERSTAR of catholic school girls)
Aside from apprentice life, I have been filling my free time full to the brim! On the stage I got to see the exquisite Meg Buzzard star as Marian Paroo in The Music Man National Tour with good friend Seth Eliser shipoopi-ing his life away as a River City youth, the Liberty to my Bell Rachel Camp of my MSU graduating MT class rock out as a falcon in the hilarious The Three Musketeers (The Later Years): A Musical Panto at People’s Light and Theatre, and another beautiful MSU grad Ashley Tobias be absolutely adorable Off Broadway in the The Ohmies, which made me feel like I was on a pre-school play date. I also have began classes at the Walnut Street Theatre School, which include Audition Technique with Kate Galvin, the casting director at the Walnut, and Advanced Acting Scene Study with the theatre school coordinator Jose Aviles. You can barely see the wooded floor in my room as it is covered in scripts and scores. I will need a warning for visitors.
I am looking forward to a few upcoming auditions, a giant list of shows I want to see (which includes a trip back to MSU and also my boyfriend’s Thomas and Friends tour stopping in Camden, NJ and Madison Square Garden in NYC), and celebrating Valentine’s Day with said boyfriend. I also cannot wait for sunnier days and warm weather. I want excuses to frolic and go to the art museums!
Finally...
My New Year’s Resolution (stolen from Anne of Avonlea):
I’d like to add some beauty to life. I don’t exactly want people to know more…though I know that is the noblest ambition…but I’d love to make them have a pleasanter time because of me…to have some little joy or happy thought that would never have existed if I hadn’t been born.
With that said, stay warm and beautiful!
Love, Tara Tag
