A Day in the Life

I am finding this whole process remarkably difficult to write about. Not because I dont have anything to say, but because I have so many thoughts that I cant put them in order. Let me just start by going through a typical day of rehearsals.

All of the actors are staying together in a cottage a little ways from the prison. So first thing in the morning there is a general scramble to get up and out for the day. Lots of hurried cups of tea, burnt sausages and crumpets usually make an appearance as we all bundle ourselves into our cars and head down the road. Once we arrive at the prison we congregate at the front gate and are given our id passes. We have a fantastic guard who has been assigned to be our liaison for the project. He knows us all by sight and will banter with us as we assemble one car load at a time. Occasionally there are questions about what we can and cannot bring in with us to rehearsal, but by now we basically have the drill down. Every once in a while there will be a random search and someone will have to empty out their bag and pockets, but since no one brings a whole lot to rehearsals this isnt too much of a hassle.

Once everyone is checked in and badged we head out to the rehearsal space. I always mean to count the gates we pass through, but I havent managed it yet. I think it is something like 6 gates, each of which has to be unlocked for us and then locked again once we have passed through. On our walk to the room we pass the gym. We usually get waves from some of the guys as we go past, there are usually at least one or two of our cast members getting in a workout before rehearsal.  Once in the room we have a few minutes to grab a cup of tea, lock up our stuff and start warming up before the guys start showing up.

Now these guys, these guys are kind of incredible. I don't want to invade anyones privacy, so I wont go in to too many specifics. I don't know a whole lot about most of them, only what they chose to share, and that is pretty personal to each of them. But the fact that they are part of this production is amazing. I am pretty inspired by them on a daily basis.

Spirits are high from the moment they arrive in the room. Everyone is chatty, and the energy is infectious. Soon the room is full and we begin our day. The rehearsals themselves are both very similar to every rehearsal I have been in, and completely different. For one thing most of the guys have no experience with this sort of process. So, sometimes the chatting gets a bit noisy, or someone will wander off for a drink of water in the middle of the scene they are rehearsing. But for the most part everyone is pretty attentive. There are moments where things don't go as expected, and there are times when things can get tense, however the rehearsals keep moving forward.

The amount of work and energy these guys are putting into this project is fantastic. There have been some amazing moments in rehearsals. Moments where you realize that although the room was buzzing with whispered conversations a few seconds before, now every single person is transfixed by what is happening on stage. Moments of incredible humor and levity - the number of times the whole room will burst into laughter is staggering. And incredibly moving moments - when the entire cast joins in to sing Somewhere with Tony and Maria, the day we closed the rehearsal with Maria's final monologue.

The days are exhausting, even though the women's chorus are only in a few numbers. With these rehearsals you really have to be in the room every second. For one thing you cant bring all that much in with you. I will often bring some knitting or a book to keep myself busy when I am not being used in a scene, but I cant bring knitting needles, and most of my books are on my kindle here, which is also a banned item. Aside from that though I sort of feel like I really do have to be attentive the whole time - as an example to those who aren't used to rehearsals, but also to support the guys while they are working. It is easy to forget how foreign this sort of thing is to people outside of the business. So we are all there to be as supportive and encouraging for these guys as they step completely outside of their comfort zone.

The flip side of that is that we also have to be on all the time, to watch what we say to these guys and how we interact with them. They are not professional actors and we need to remember that. These guys are all where they are for a reason, and we just need to be cognizant of that. To be completely honest there are moments that have made me a bit nervous. And every once in a while I do sort of remember just where I am and who I am working with. However, these moments are completely overshadowed by how much you can tell this project means to the guys involved.

So, even though I am only in rehearsals a few days a week I find myself rather tuckered out the rest of the time. That being said I do look forward to these rehearsals for the entire week until I get to head out on Wednesdays.

I doubt this will be a flawless production. I miss the amount of dance that normally goes into West Side Story, and the majority of the cast have no performance experience to speak of. Nonetheless, I think this will be an incredibly powerful show when we are done. I am so proud to be part of this production.

Go Directly to Jail: Do not pass go, do not collect $200

Before I tell you about my current project I need to catch you all up a little. I am now, officially a working actor in London, with a visa and everything. The process has not been an easy one, let me tell you. I genuinely believe that the border agency like to make things difficult on purpose, for their own entertainment.

The saga of my visa is another story entirely though. One that takes a long time to tell and is full of nail biting suspense. However I have another story for today so I wont get in to the gory details. Let me just say that after weeks of waiting, many hoops to jump through, and ridiculous last minute problems, I have obtained a UK work visa. This is what I have been working towards since I moved here, and it finally happened. I am still in a little bit of shock about it. Now, it is not for as long as I would like, and I will have to figure out how to renew my passport soon, but these are problems that I don't have to face just yet. So I will just enjoy the fact that I can stay here for a while.

Now how did this fantastic turn of events come to be? Well, that is what I want to tell you about today. You see, I have a job. I have been cast in a professional and paid production. And this production is unlike anything that I have ever worked on in the past. You see, this show is being produced inside of a jail. Yes, a jail. We are doing a production of West Side Story, in which more than half the cast are prisoners.

Now, I don't know about most of you, but before rehearsals began I had never set foot inside of a prison. Most of my knowledge of the inner workings of the prison system came from things like 'The Shawshank Redemption' and 'Prison Break', which I believe may not be hugely accurate. Before we were even allowed in to begin rehearsals every one of us had to go through some intense security screening. The story of my security screening is strikingly similar to the story of my quest for a visa, so I wont go in to all of the mind numbing details. Let me just say that it was a long and arduous search for about 10 times more paperwork than they had originally asked for.

Once that was all taken care of I was finally allowed in to rehearsals. These rehearsals are incredible. I have a very hard time wrapping my brain around everything that is going in to this whole process. I will fill you in on everything, but I need to collect my thoughts a little bit first. So, I will leave you with this for now, but you should expect another installment of the Adventures of Captain Kate sometime soon!

Good News and Bad News

I'll start with the bad news. So you know the visa that I applied to through Central? They did not accept my application. I found out last week. I should get some feedback on my business plan in a week or so, but my guess is that it comes down to profit. I wanted to set up a theatre company to do small productions of new American musicals, but for practicalities sake it would have ended up being a profit share company. However the Graduate Entrepreneur visa stipulates that as my main goal would be setting up the company I could only work 20 hours a week to support myself outside of that. Not really enough to live off of.

So that's a major bummer. I am also a little bit miffed at the way the school has handled the process. Not only did they give us no guidelines or instructions on the application process they took an extra week beyond the proposed date to get back to us. AND when I finally did hear it was a completely impersonal email. I understand that with time constraints etc a form email was necessary, however with all of the effort that I put in I would have appreciated it if they had taken the time to put my name into the email. As someone who has had to send many 'we're sorry but no thanks' emails I know that it doesn't take that much extra time to switch out the name at the front of the email. And really its amazing how much that one slight change makes. This is pretty on par with the way the international students have been treated all year, so really I shouldn't have been surprised.

Now on to the good news. If you remember over the summer I recorded a voice over demo reel. It has taken the better part of a couple of months but I finally started making phone calls to agents. And last week I had a bite! I met with them this afternoon. And... drumroll please.. they want me to join their books. With my visa situation as tenuous as it is at the moment they have offered me a six month contract. But they seemed really excited about having me on their books. Explained that they had been specifically looking for a young American woman because that's what people seem to be asking for right now.

So that is very exciting. I also met with some colleagues of my agent this week to chat about social media. I am hoping that this may turn into a possible job. So I still have some options when it comes to the visa. Crossing my fingers. This may work out yet!!!

Reality Check

Well, its been back to reality ever since I turned in my dissertation. Since then its turned into a daily struggle to pay rent and plan for the next year. Everything is still up in the air, and frankly the waiting is getting to me just a little bit.

It hasn't been all struggle though. I had a performing gig a few weeks ago which was great. Central hosted an event in celebration of the work of Cicily Berry. A friend of mine wrote a vocal quartet for the event and asked me to sing in it. The piece was a lot of fun, a madrigal style quartet setting from Henry VIII. The event itself was great, a veritable who's who of the world of vocal work. Not only was Cicily Berry in attendance, but Patsy Rodenburg and Trevor Nunn also spoke along with several other Notables. And I did spot Derek Jacobi in the audience as well. It was really amazing to be part of that whole evening!

Apart from that its been a constant search for work in some form or another. I now have a 'pay the rent job' to keep the wolf from the door for a little while, waiting tables. As someone said to me when I mentioned this - Now I'm a real actor. Ah well, its a fun crew, and it puts money in my bank account. I have also started cold calling voice over agents, which is a daunting task. I sent my reel off to a few places last week, no responses yet but I am working on follow up.

I did have an exciting meeting yesterday though. The last time I spoke to my agent I had mentioned that my dissertation focused on the use of social media in Musical Theatre. He seemed very interested in the possibilities this could open up for me and got to work spreading my name around to the many people he knows. On Friday two of his colleagues contacted me about coming to meet with me about this. Nothing definite has been offered yet, but the meeting yesterday went really well. They seemed very interested in at least using me as a consultant for the social media campaigns for two shows that they general manage. So who knows where this may take me, but its definitely something that I would like to pursue. Social media is something that I can work on from any location and on a flexible schedule so it can easily be done along side other projects. Which may prove ideal. I am trying not to get my hopes too high, but at the very least I have made some good contacts.

Still waiting to hear back from Central about my business proposal. Originally they hoped to have a short list of candidates by last Friday, however now they expect it some time this week. So realistically I probably wont hear anything until next week, judging from past experience. I am getting a little antsy about this. I would really like to know just where I stand in this whole visa process, whether this will turn out or I need to find another option. Being at a point where I cant really do anything about it is much harder than working towards a deadline in my opinion. I did mention my business proposal at my meeting last night and they seemed interested in it as well, so I may have found some mentors in the process.

Hopefully I'll have some more concrete news soon.

Audition time!

My first theatre audition since finishing classes! Super excited, but also incredibly nervous. The audition is tomorrow for Steel Pier, for the Kristen Chenoweth role. So I am spending the rest of today trying not to over think things, while also singing as high as I possibly can. Its a fun combination let me tell you.

The audition breakdown for the role: On the surface seems innocent. Wide-eyed. Fresh. She is, however, driven, steely. Determined to get her shot so that she never has to return home. Soprano with a lovely high C and an E above that, if possible.

Crossing my fingers.

New Projects

As I start back into the professional world after taking a year away I am faced with several hurdles to get over. Most of them are the usual ones- trying to break in to the cliquey world of theatre, trying to compete with the millions of other actors out there just like me, trying to keep at the top of my game while I am not working etc. But there is one hurdle that is unique to my situation this year. That hurdle is the visa. I would very much like to stay in the UK, but at the moment I am here on my student visa which runs out in December.

I have found a possible solution though! It is going to take a lot of work, but I think it may all turn out OK. A new type of post study visa has been introduced this year (after they took away the wonderful post study options that used to be in place, grumblegrumble) and that is the graduate entrepreneur visa. Each school is allotted sponsorship slots, Central has 10, to give to students trying to set up businesses in the UK. The visas are good for a year, with the possibility of extending them further depending on the years progress.

Now there are several reasons why I am excited by this possibility. First of all there are a limited number of people vying for these 10 slots. The only people who can apply are non-EU, Central students, graduating this year. There aren't too many of those to begin with, and not all of them are planning on staying in the UK or trying to set up a business. Secondly I have now come up with a great idea that I think I can make work. It is still in the works at the moment though, I have a lot of work to do before the proposals are due in October.

I will tell you guys more once I have nailed things down a bit, but in the meantime I need your help. I need to brainstorm a list of musicals. Here are the criteria, the show must be: New (within the last 10 years), small scale (nothing with a huge chorus or with a big name like Disney behind it), and American. I am looking for fun quirky things, like [title of show] and Spelling Bee. Things like that.


Alright? ........Go

Back to Work Again

Well, it is done. I am officially no longer a student, again. The thesis has been completed, bound and handed in. On time. I am pretty proud of it to be honest. I have never written a paper of that magnitude. And I think it turned out, to use my dad's phrase, 'absolutely not bad'. I am certainly glad to be done with it. Its a little bit weird to be done with the course. I mean, it has completely consumed my life for over a year now, and now its done. My student card has expired, I cant even get in to the building any more. I am very sad to have lost my student discount, let me tell you. London is expensive! And of course now I have to head back out into the real world.

The end of courses is only the first of the big changes that have happened in the last couple of weeks. Right after turning in the dissertation I moved out of my beautiful apartment, and into a house with my friends. Ultimately the move is a good thing, the house is gorgeous and I love the people that I am living with, but it happened at a not so convenient time. After spending the summer slaving over my dissertation the last thing that I really wanted to do was move. I would have much rather collapsed into a puddle and slept for the next month. However I did not have that luxury. In the end though we got everything done. Cleaned the old apartment from top to bottom, hauled my stuff all the way across town, and got myself situated in the new house. The new place has been great, there are five of us living in this beautiful and huge house in South London. It is quite a trek to get into central London, but not insurmountable. And that wont really be an issue until I land my big west end roles and have to be at rehearsal every day, and in that case I think I can manage.

Things on the job front are going slowly. Meeting with my agent on Friday to see what is going on. In the mean time I have found a part time job waiting tables (which I think means that I am officially an actor now). I am also starting to look into voice over agents. Hopefully that will lead to some work in the mean time.

The other big project on the horizon (as if trying to support myself as an actor starting out in London wasn't enough) is figuring out my visa situation. At the moment I am here on a student visa, which will run out at the end of December. I have a few options that I am looking in to, different types of visas that I can apply for. My agent has some sponsorship slots so hopefully he can keep me here. But the other option is a new option that has been introduced this year. In previous years students could extend their stay through a post study visa for up to two extra years after their degree. Unfortunately they have just gotten rid of that (just my luck). They have replaced it with the post study entrepreneur visa. Basically I have to submit a business plan to the school. They will then pick 10 students from all of the plans submitted to endorse for the visa. So at the moment I am trying to figure out how to write a business plan to present myself as a freelance artist. The upside of this is that I am only competing with other non-EU students graduating from Central this year, which is most likely a smaller pool of applicants than the other visas. So hopefully my odds are good. We shall see.

Now it is back to the grindstone. Off to write this business plan. What I could really use though is a few days of vacation.... Maybe at Christmas!