Happy #theatrethursday friends🎭 and look I'm doing two post in a week! Literal craziness.
So last Saturday the national tour of Jersey Boys was in town and I was beyond excited to see it. All of my roommates were busy/working so I took myself out on the town for a night of theatre. I got a Lyft because I was worried about parking on a Saturday night and headed to the theatre.
Before the show I bought a souvenir coffee mug (I have a trillion coffee mugs and always try to get on from each show I see) and took my seat in the second tier at the very back of the theatre. My seat was in between two couples and the older couple asked me if I knew anyone in the show (unfortunately I didn't). They also told me they saw the show back in 2007 when it had toured to the same theatre.
Needless to say, the show did not disappoint. I knew nothing about the story going in, so I was surprised to find myself in tears at the end of the show. Honestly though, I almost prefer to know nothing about shows going in (ask me about my experience with The Color Purple and Hamilton). I also didn't expect to be laughing as loud as I was through out the entire show. One thing I will say though is I am very excited for Book of Mormon to come into town because 1. I've been trying to see this show for forever and 2. After Beautiful and Jersey Boys I think I've had my fill of jukebox musicals for the time being. Overall though, I would definitely recommend seeing this show if it is playing in a city near you! I would also recommend following Chris Stevens ( @cjstevens421 ) who play Nick Massi on Instagram because he is hilarious and puts an intermission dance party on his story almost every day.
Next up on my agenda (as in NEXT WEEK) is tech week for my first stage management job outside of JMU (#godukes). For those of you who don't know I'm currently an intern at Sacramento Theatre Company and I'm the stage manager for the YPC production of Our Town. Sacramento Theatre Company has education as the primary goal of their company and as part of that they have a Young Professional's Conservatory. Essentially that means, I (alongside a fantastic director) get to work with about 20 kids on a production in STC's smaller black box-esque space. While Our Town is not a tech-heavy show (most of our props are mimed and we are using a lot of foley instead of pre-recorded sound cues), I am so excited to sit in the dark for hours upon hours and finally be calling a show again.
And finally, I've been super busy preparing for the USITT Conference. This year I will be the returning mentee for the Stage Management Mentor Project, which means I've been helping collect information/organize the schedule, and answer any questions the new mentees or the mentors may have leading up to conference. I am BEYOND excited to get to attend a conference I have been going to since my sophomore year of college and even more excited to be back working with SMMP. SMMP is truly a one of a kind program and I am excited to get to experience all it has to offer for the second year now. I am also super excited to be a panelist on the "Stage Managing as a Student" panel. If you are a stage manager heading to the USITT conference this year be sure to check it out (or if your my friend just come heckle me - your choice 🙈) !
That's all I have for this week, but I would love to hear a role call of who is going to conference this year!
Be sure to follow me on social media:
Twitter: @Seachels12 @TipsyTTraveler
Instagram: @Seachels1294
Much love always and be sure to check back next week for an exciting post about interviewing!
Chelsea Janke💜