The Plan, and finally a photo from the Concert

First, here is the one picture I've found so far from the concert of me singing "The Winner Takes it All." See, I wasn't lying about being the concert. Are you loving the arms, though? It looks as if I was finger painting or perhaps the xerox machine exploded or something. (By the way, do xerox machines still exist?)

About The Plan, what can I say? I LOVE being in this show. The cast is really incredible. There is not a weak scene or a weak link in this production. Eric's writing is fantastic, the space is deliciously intimate, and though I was quite daunted with the role of Bathsheba when I was first cast, I love it so much now. What a ride my scene is! If you are local, please let me know if you want to see it. It will close on April 2nd and runs Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings with one matinee this Saturday the 26th. It's is about as good as any production I've ever been, and it's better than many projects I've done. Again, for those interested in attending, here's the Covey Center link for The Plan.

I should run to wake Mimi from her nap and get Aidan off the bus in 15 minutes (and I'm sure a bathroom trip for Ian would be wise), but I hope to post photos and anecdotes from the show before long.

Concert Recap and A New Project

I promise that I will post pictures of the Syd Riggs concert if I can ever get my hands on some, but I thought I'd give a little recap and share about my next escapade.

The concert was just an awesome experience! I remembered that I had such talented friends in college, but I think I forgot how good they really were. The host was Jenny Frogley, who I had met briefly once but did not know personally. She has fabulous pipes and is super, super nice. I really hope to see her perform again sometime, and I have my fingers crossed that I'll be invited to participate next year in the concert (which I'm sure she'll host again).

One of my old college friends in the show was Chris Higbee, who sang "Anthem" from Chess and "Bring Him Home" from Les Mis. He was, is, and has always been thoroughly amazing. In fact, he is so amazing that he came within inches of being cast as Jean Valjean in the National Touring Company of Les Miserables. Alas, he was considered too young for the role. It's a little bit of a shame, because he really would've been amazing. But he has a wonderful career in business and managament (doing something great currently with the Deseret News), and he and his wife Katie have a wonderful family and a great life together.

Another great, uber-talented pair are Allison and Brian Clark. I hadn't known that Brian had actually toured with Les Miserables playing the role of Javert, which explains his thoroughly awesome performance of "Stars" (one of my favorite songs from that show). Seriously, I remembered that he was good, but not that good! Go Brian! And he and Allison gave an hysterical performance of "A Song Like This" from Spamalot. Delightful! I must also mention other amazing school-fellows and their pieces Kathryn Matis-Adams (a rocking out and funny "Find Your Grail" from Spamalot), Michelle Gardner (a feisty and flawless "Don Juan" fromSmokey Joe's Cafe), Amanda Crabb (a beautiful, heartfelt rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream" despite having a terrible cold - BTW, she's an alto in MoTab), and Nicole Riding (singing "Trouble" - I think- from Smokey Joes Cafe and a FACE MELTING "No Good Deed" fromWicked as well as another solo from Rent). What amazing talent I was associated with at BYU! It really was nostalgic to see and perform with them.

The performance that moved me most was the song "I'm Here" from The Color Purple, sung by Josephine Dinnell. Oh. My. Goodness. It was SO powerful! I was a sucker for the film as a teenager (saw it dozens of times), and so I'm familiar with the basic storyline (at least to the film version). That song is touching in the musical, but never as much as it was when Josie sang it. I think it almost helped that I was backstage watching and could hardly hear the piano, because for me the song is all about Celie standing up for herself after a life-time of severe abuse and neglect and saying that she is beautiful and loved and worth it. I was so moved that I was whimpering as I cried. Honestly, just thinking about Josie's voice, honesty, and vulnerability gives me goosebumps and makes me tear up. It was so lovely!

But let's admit, you're here to hear about me, aren't you? Ha ha!! Just joking. But seriously, I was so nervous about how my song would work out. When Ben and I decided on "The Winner Takes It All," we put ourselves into a bit of a pickle. The song is very long and somewhat repetitive, and Ben was unable to find a track that he liked for the show. In addition to that, I was unimpressed with the ending. As you know, the original radio version fades out - not very workable for live theater. And frankly, I don't like the ending in either the movie or the actual show. Finally, I was not going to have any back-up vocalists, and I didn't really want any. So I was pretty unsure how I was supposed to rock it out.

So my answer was to strip the song down and just sing it with a piano. I shortened a couple of the choruses, moved some lyrics around, changed the ending, and when it was done it was a vulnerable song performed as a monologue with a passionate, very belty ending. My final chorus of "The Game is on again" etc. was somewhat ad-libbed with vocal licks and runs, and my last "The Winner Takes it All" popped up to a long, loud, held out D flat. (Ben did say to rock out, right?) I was wearing a yellow flowery halter-top dress with no shoes and simple make-up and slightly frizzy hair. (For some reason, I was thinking SNL's Loraine Newman, but not quite as hopped-up looking.) :) It was very fun!

We had technical difficulties in the first performance when my head-mic didn't work. Some of the audience members were laughing because it was so uncomfortable for a second or two (they thought they were uncomfortable!). Then LOVELY Jenny Frogley ran out from the wings with her hand mic and told me that we should start over. So we did, and though I didn't love the hand mic thing, it went fine. The second show was much better. That time my head-mic did work, and I was able to give the full performance with my hands free to really act out the song. I hope the somehow I'll find video of one or both performances, and if I do I will post it. Despite the challenges, I felt pretty good about it, and I got wonderful compliments all around.

So what next? I'm in a show! I've decided that I'd like to fit one full show a year into our lives, and I'm very excited about this show. The play (not a musical) is called The Plan by Eric Samuelson, and if we can do justice to the material, it will be something very special. Eric is hands down my favorite LDS playwright. I've always loved the quality of his writing, but nothing I've read of his has ever moved and impressed me the way this play does. It is a series of short plays/long scenes featuring the following people: Gaia (a premortal Eve) and Lucifer, Bathsheba and David, Ruth and Boaz, Leah and Jacob, Rahab and Joshua, and Eve and Adam (on Eve's deathbed). The cast is just wonderful, and I will be playing Bathsheba.

This is no My Turn on Earth or Saturday's Warriors. Eric's material is thought provoking and asks powerful questions. And, for me at least, the closing scene with Adam and Eve is genuinely spiritual. I hope that a lot of friends and family who are local will come and see this, because I really believe it's going to be amazing and powerful. If you are interested in seeing more about it, checking the running dates, and possibly purchasing tickets, here's a link to the Covey Center website. It's a very small space, so if you would really like to come, it might be wise to buy tickets early and online. I can't remember the exact number, but I think there are less than 40 seats in the house. But that means that audiences won't miss a word and every seat will be great! And oh how I love acting in a big black box!!!! So please check it out and mark your calendars!

That's all for now, but I'm hoping to post some pics of family and the concert very soon!

I'm in a concert!

Last Friday, I got a phone call that made me just giddy. Every year, a director/producer/choreographer named Ben Tichy pulls together a huge concert of musical theatre pieces. It's all to create a scholarship fund for some Orem High senior who wants to pursue theatre in college, and it's kind of in memory of the late Syd Riggs. She was an amazing drama teacher at Orem High, and she was a pretty terrific woman.

I never did work with Syd, but like many I knew her. If you met her, she became your friend. I understand that she was a terrific drama teacher, not unlike my amazing high school drama teacher, Beverly Blanchette. She was also truly awesome and has gone on to greatness in performing arts education in Florida.

As I said, I never did work with Syd, but I wanted to. I auditioned for a Christmas show she was directing the year that I was a Young Ambassador. None of the YA's were cast that year, and my rejection letter pointed out that there were scheduling conflicts. (They actually sent me a letter! That was great!) But Syd was complimentary of my audition at the time, and on a few occasions when we'd see each other we'd express a mutual desire to work together. Finally one summer, I was attending a master class at Sundance, and she and I visited in the party that followed the event. She mentioned that she was directing the musical Jane Eyre soon. I LOVE that show, and I believe I'd be a good fit for a couple of roles in the play, including Jane. I shared my insecurity about being a bit overweight and approaching 30, and I commented that there was a tremendous amount of talent in the area. Because she's so awesome and so nice she said, "But there aren't as many really great actresses as you think, Dianna." I took it as a compliment and an invitation of sorts to audition.

Unfortunately, life happens and things don't always work out, and that's okay. I planned on auditioning, despite my insecurities. But within weeks of the audition, my husband received a wonderful promotion that was also going to amount to a bit more stress, and he sheepishly asked me to consider not auditioning. I wanted to support my husband, so I didn't. A month later I decided to check out the CD of the musical, and as I listened to each song, I just burst into tears. It was one of those shows that I would've fit into so well. I still think it's unfortunate that we couldn't work it out somehow, but I'm glad that I could support my husband just the same.

That was around 2003. Two years later, Syd Riggs passed away. I don't know all of the details. I think that it was due to some unforeseen complications follow foot surgery. Life is strange, but I guess when you're such a wonderful person and you've finished your mortal work, God might find a strange way to take you home. I understand that it was a terrible shock to everyone in her life.

I want to say this. Syd was apparently a great teacher, and she was a great talent. But what I admired most about her was that she was clearly a great wife and mother and a generally wonderful person. She seemed to have a terrific relationship with each of her children who I knew, which is really saying something of the kind of nurturer that she was. And she was a great nurturer to so many other people. As I've shared, even though I never worked with her, she was very encouraging to me as a person and as an artist. It really is a wonderful way to be, and I believe she probably felt great peace when she went Home.

So, about the concert, if you or anyone you know are free on Saturday at 6:00 PM or 8:30 PM, it is really going to be a terrific show. There are so many amazingly talented performers in it, and the director is crazy talented as well. I'm so excited to be singing "The Winner Takes It All" from Mamma Mia. If you come, be sure to say hello afterward! (Well, I think I'll be able to come out and say hello. At least I know I can after the 8:30 show.)

Anyway, tell your friends!

Fair Thee Well, Facebook

I just quit Facebook. Yes, I officially deactivated my account, but I did something even crazier, more permanent. I literally went into the profiles of each of the people I care to stay personally connected to, and I copied and pasted their contact info into a spreadsheet. Then I deleted them as a friend until I had no friends whatsoever. Am I crazy and weird or what?

But if you know me, then you know that I don't do things halfway. When I'm zealous, I'm pretty much so. (Though I want to make it very clear that being zealous about things, such as religion or politics, does not excuse people to be mean and stinky. Is that clear?)

Anyway, I'm serious about this whole rejecting Facebook thing. Well, for me, I'm serious. It's a great idea for other people. Say, people who have jobs that take them out of their homes and keep them busy. I'm very busy, but in a very different way. I can sit and feed my baby a bottle and, should I choose to, I can pull out my iPhone and check email or surf the net. Cool, but a little sad. Because there's this really cute, fuzzy person in my arms who I can disconnect from in an instant.

And I have some really successful friends who are doing exactly what I once dreamed of doing. Now I want to make another thing very clear. I've chosen this path of stay-at-home-momhood for myself. It was not forced upon me. These monkeys need care, and I may as well be giving them care since no one can love them the way I can. And happily some new aspirations are forming as I've step away from theatre a bit. I see more potential for myself than to just be a performer.

But that doesn't mean that I find it easy all of the time. And when it gets really stressful or tedious or occasionally even boring (gasp), it's so easy to seek out a distraction. And then I see all of these people having (evidently) a wonderful time and tremendous success pursuing what were once my dreams while I scurry around trying to find a lost sippy-cup full of milk. Well, that all can just lead to Discontent. And a discontent mom, while being human and natural and not the end of the world, can make for sad kids who feel unwanted.

So you see now the logic behind my rash decision? Yes, I will miss the hysterical anecdotes about my friend's genius daughter who I'm convinced will someday be a NYTimes collumnist. I will miss the photo albums that only load halfway with extremely dated photos of my friends and I wearing poofy bangs. And I will miss the almost Jane Austen-esque (or Conan O'Brian-esque) lessons in wit that I got from some other friends.

I will not, however, miss the News Feeds, when FB randomly tells me that I'm supposed to care about so-and-so today because I haven't found the time to scroll through my friends list to hide them from the News Feed. I won't miss the Farmville invites (no offense people!). I won't miss the feelings of jealousy toward 30 of my friends who attended a big party that I wasn't invited to (which is okay since I haven't seen most of these people for 10+ years).

No, as I deleted the names and deactivated the account, I felt a sense of relief spread through me. It's going to be okay. To my friends who I wanted to update with my contact info, I started an email with the following:

"I feel as if I’ve just spent a very long time at a cocktail party, and it’s time for me to leave my card and get my coat."

I do indeed. Mine's the black leather with the faux-fur lining. Thank you. :)