i was a high school hottie... er, no i wasn't.

My guess is that most of you didn't know me in high school. It's probably better that you didn't. Although one of my subscribers (bless your heart, Jamie) actually dated me in high school.
Turns out that my high school is doing some sort of "retrospective" on their drama program, and they're looking for posters, programs, photos and other stuff to put in the lobby of the high school. Especially valuable, they said, was anything before 1995.

Ouch.

So I rifled through my parents' attic, and came up with a buttload of attractive pictures of me and all my friends at the time -- most of whom were in theatre with me. I've got scads and scads of pictures, but I'm not in most of them; I took them. But if you're interested in seeing others, let me know and I'll send some your way. Other than that, take a peek, laugh your fill, and thank god I grew out of it.

Our Town. I was fourteen. Fourteen!

More Our Town. On the left is my friend Dave Kuhr, who is now an actor and calligrapher out in Los Angeles. Should you ever need calligraphy, contact him here (he did some of my sister's wedding invitations), or if you're interested in his theatre company, Theatre Junkies, go here: http://www.theatrejunkies.com/
The best part of doing Our Town was when my dad came backstage afterwards, with tears in his eyes and told me that I could do whatever I want in life, but would I please never die in front of him again?

Heartmelting.

Hello Dolly! (I'm the round-ish one, with braces)
And this was easily one of my most favorite costumes EVER. I'm not sure I could polka at all, but I sure looked nice trying!

I grew out of high school (luckily) but I still had some really attractive theatre experiences. Like playing Susie Needlethread in The Emperor's New Clothes at Summer Theatre at Mount Holyoke:

And most recently, Regan in King Lear in Central Park. (my mother captioned this picture "Kate Throws Up and Dies" which is pretty much what was going on...) I guess bad pictures are just a risk you run when you're super famous like I am.

Right?

a series of firsts

I've been out of my office a lot recently (THANK GOD) so I haven't had the time or wherewithal to navigate the internet via dial-up at home, but I'm back now, and have a lot to say. (Sadly, I also have a lot of work to catch up on, so I will post things sporadically.)

I was in Vermont this past weekend, at my sister and brother-in-law's cabin, with no running water or electricity, and I had a blast. But more than that, I accomplished a series of things I've never done before. Among them:

1. I rode in the "back seat" of a pickup truck (you know, that shelf where you're supposed to store your toddler), wearing a safety helmet (just because) and trying not to watch the cat barf (for the second time that trip).

2. I mowed a lawn. A big-ass lawn. A big-ass hilly lawn. A big-ass hilly lawn in high heel sandals. I rock!

3. I chopped wood. Nuff said.

3a. Although while chopping said wood, I did wonder, however, who would take me to the hospital if I chopped my leg off, and how far away would said hospital be... turns out it would be a good 45 minute drive. Luckily, I didn't chop off my leg.

4. I lost all feeling in my feet. I'm not saying how this happened, but let's just say it was VERY late and it was Vermont and I might have been doing something that often gets done in Vermont (and I don't mean cheese-eating, cow-tipping or skiing).

5. I stayed up until 4:45 in the morning (which was not a first) and was not grouchy the next day (which was).

6. I did dishes with no running water. No stream, no taps, just bottled water. Very festive.

7. I played frisbee in the dark. Luckily, we had a glow-in-the-dark frisbee, so that was sort of cheating. But by that point, the odds were against my ability to catch anything at all, so I'd say I did very well.

Here are some other valuable pearls of wisdom I picked up over the weekend:
Popcorn does not pop when thrown directly into a monstrously large fire. It should, but it doesn't.

You can tip over in a chair-in-a-bag, but you can do it in such a way as to not injure yourself at all, and end up sideways in a chair being very, very comfortable, actually. (takes an advanced degree, though, to get you back up)

A hybrid engine that does not use a gas motor to recharge the electric motor, isn't really a hybrid. (I didn't learn what it was, but I did learn that).

I'm better at frisbee in the dark.

People are more likely to tell you secrets while sitting near a campfire. They'll also tell you what's wrong with themselves, why being an elitist is better than being a liar, or recount to you the merits of Steely Dan... which is a very hard sale to yours truly.

Want to learn more? Make friends with my sister and get your ass invited up there! Definitely a good time!

a prescription for wasting time

Tired of slacking off in the same old ways?


Well no more xeroxing your butt! No more prank phone calls to Managing Partners! Here's a new at-work pasttime that can keep you busy for at least a couple of hours!!


It's Fake Prescription Labels! (no, this is not illegal, and no, I'm not a drug dealer. Just shut up and keep reading...)


The guy I had been dating (his name and work address appear on the labels, but that is NOT an invitation to stalk him... please don't, he's good people!!) was about to go into tech for Mother Courage at the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park (starring Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline (previously, Christopher Walken, but he quit)) and I knew he was going to have a rough time of it, so I filled prescription bottles with candy and smacked these labels on them. There are a bunch of inside jokes that may not be readily available to everyone, but I'm pretty sure they're funny to anyone who knows what theatre is.


Maybe not.


Either way, here they are:

something to laugh at

I broke up with a sweet and wonderful guy this weekend so I'm sad and feel very little like laughing at the moment.

But my friend RJ, who hosts a blog (www.procrastinet.com) has a really REALLY funny entry here (read July 26th).

I'll write more myself when my heart picks itself up off the floor and stops punching itself in the guts.

audition notices

I'm not kidding, these were posted on a list of casting notices I get over email:

ACTING CALL: This is a very small short film in cooperation with CTV Studios in New York. We are looking for Male and Female actors of Caucasian decent. Must be capable of playing younger than your actual age. [NB: age not listed] Minimal athleticism required. [what kind of film is this again?] No formal experience needed. [just have big tits and be willing to show them to us] There is no monitary payment for participating in this film. However, all actors will recieve a copy of the finished product for their resume or "reel". All other expenses are payed for including meals on days when multiple scenes are shot.

And:
Seeking a Persian type of cat with long hair for greeting card company

* Read Details Listed: 7/26/2006
Seeking a Persian cat (or cat with Persian looks) with long hair for a greeting card company. Please no white cats if possible. Pet owner must be willing to sign a standard model release form. Shoot date TBD. Submission deadline is Friday, 7/28.

The question remains: should the cat bring a resume or "reel"?

where to get theatre tickets at a discount

So I've been doing some research lately, looking for the best way to get theatre tickets (for cheap) without standing in line at the TKTS booth. As it turns out, there are a variety of ways, but none offer the outrageous discounts I was hoping for. However, if you're looking to see a show (either On or Off Broadway), check out the prices here first, and see if you can't get yourself a deal.
http://www.broadwaybox.com/ (no links for you today, missy!) offers discount codes that you can use to purchase tickets for major shows and events. You can see Avenue Q, for example, on a Friday night for $81.25 a $1.25 handling fee, and Altar Boyz for $39.99 a $1.00 handling fee.

http://www.hitshowclub.com/ also offers discount codes, but requires a free membership. (Katte, who also lives in my apartment, signed up for me. She's great.) Same deal here as above: Ave. Q on Friday for $81.25 a $1.25 handling fee, but Hit Show Club isn't offering tix to Altar Boyz. (seems to be Broadway Only)

http://www.bestofbroadway.com/ is truly NOT the best of Broadway. Maybe if you're a group, but if you're flying solo, you can see Avenue Q on Friday night for 101.25 a $10.00 service fee a $1.25 theatre restoration fee. And if you had ten or more people (no solos here) you could see Altar Boyz for $41.00 a $5 service fee a 10 ervice fee. (The $1.00 theatre restoration fee is included in the price.)

At http://www.theatermania.com/discounts/, you can't get discounts to Avenue Q (but they do have Faith Healer, Rent and other shows), and you can get tix to Altar Boyz for $49.99. You also have to have a free membership to get the discount.

http://www.broadway.com/gen/general.aspx?ci=524474 won't offer you tickets to Avenue Q (this week at least) but you can get $111.25 tix to Spamalot (they're calling it a 20iscount), which is better than nothing at all. No Altar Boyz here... Broadway only! And don't plan too far ahead -- this site is best for last minute, listing only tickets available for performances through August 8th.

Bless their hearts, http://www.nytheatre.com/nytheatre/vc.htm is offering discounts. They're a scraggly, odd variety of discounts, but hey, maybe you want to see somethin scraggly and odd! No Avenue Q here, but Altar Boyz can be had for $49.99... and if it benefits nytheatre.com at all, I'd recommend purchasing them here.

http://hotnycdeals.com/_wsn/page2.html offers discounts, but they're a little sneaky, offering rush "POPULAR" tix to Avenue Q for $21.25... and then explaining the process of the lottery. Altar Boyz can be had here for $39.99.

The Playbill Club (http://www.playbill.com/club/offers/) used to be the place to go, but these days... maybe not so much. No discounts for Avenue Q, and Altar Boyz can be had for $39.99, provided you sign up for their free membership (which you probably should anyway).

If you're looking to pay an upfront fee to join a club that will give you discounts on future theatre-going, there are two options I'm aware of at the moment. The first is the TDF's program: http://www.tdf.org, and the other is TheatreMania's Gold Club: http://www.theatermania.com/gold/. For a mere $25, TDF will sign you up and give you "regular opportunities to purchase Broadway, Off Broadway, music and dance productions at a fraction of box office prices." ($32 or less per ticket) The Gold Club, on the other hand, charges you $99 upfront (or $69, if you're on the right email lists... I can hook you up if you're interested) and then charges you only $4.50 per ticket (max two tix per show). I have friends who are on TDF and their show lists are essentially the same as the Gold Club's (of which I am a member), and their prices do go as dramatically low as the Gold Club's. I might recommend TDF, only because the Gold Club has been kind of lame lately.

Have a ticket to sell or swap? Of course there's always ebay (beware! they're charging there for the discount codes I'm providing you here!), but there's another site, StubHub: http://www.stubhub.com/tix12-ticketcenter/theater-tickets-and-arts-tickets/?gtse=goto&gtkw=theater ticket that allows you to buy or sell your ticket there. A friend of mine has had a very good experience with them and would definitely recommend them.

Other than all of that, this site (http://home.nyc.rr.com/frugaltheatergoe/) seems to hit something of a motherlode! If I've missed it here, they cover it there! They seem a little slow to update (they're offering discounts to Stuff Happens at the Public, which closed about a month ago) but if you've got time to cyber-wander, check it out!

Got more suggestions? My comments are your playground!

i'm too young for my childhood toys to be vintage!

It being a very slow day here at work (thank god!), I decided to take a little stroll down Memory Lane. Only once I got there, I discovered that Memory Lane quickly turned into Vintage Boulevard, and I was a lot older than I thought.

Are you old, too? If you (or your sister) had any of the toys posted below, you're probably old. You're also probably really cool, but that doesn't make you any younger.

Going back as far as I can remember, we start with Richard Scary's Puzzletown:
This was a fabulous set of interlocking toys based on the books of Richard Scary. We had the medical center (above) and the downtown, the farm, and god knows what else. My favorites were always the picklemobile and the egg mobile. I think that may be all we have left of them now.

Then our good old bathtime favorires, Sea Wees. My sister and I shared them, and I'm pretty sure we had both of the ones below:

In addition, we had the blue one, the white one and the orange one. I sure as hell don't remember their names, though. I'm waaaay too old for that.

Ah, Pretty Cut & Grow. What they don't show you here is that if you buy the blonde doll, it comes with blonde hair in the doll, and a PURPLE HAIR REPLACEMENT. What the hell was that??
The Brooke Shields doll (The World's Most Glamorous Teenage Doll). But I could SWEAR that mine came in a Blue Lagoon bathing suit outfit. Maybe my mom made that, though. There's no evidence of its existence (outside my own home) anywhere on the internet.

The infamous Barbie Head, which they still make -- although none of the ones made now come with that attractive ruffled prom dress. After my mom would do our hair by pulling it super-tight, my sister and I would always shout, "I'M NOT A BARBIE HEAD!!"

My friends Becky, Jenny, Mandy and, um, er, Timmy? (we didn't have him) At one point, my sister and I had two Mandys, so we cut one open to see what was inside. (Just fluff) These dolls had great shoes. Not sure why I remember that in particular, though.Dolly Pops! I especially loved the brown haired one because I thought she looked so much like me. These were dolls whose clothes were made out of plastic and you just popped them into place on the doll. We never had this fashion show stage, but family friends did and I certainly thought about stealing it when I was younger. And had no scruples. Unlike now.
Real Baby. Really heavy. Pretty ugly, too. This doll was HUGE. And when I got mine, it came in this enormous bassinette that took up half of my bedroom. But boy did I feel like a Real Mommy for about a month!Then there were all the happy meals, and everything you could collect from them.
Like the potato head kids.
Or the McNugget toys. (Creepy, but lovable)
I don't think the Glo Worms came in happy meals, but they could have.
Pogo Ball, which I fell off of and sprained my ankle so badly I had to go to the hospital.
And then, as I grew up, we had all sorts of other toys and games, but one that I remember having that nobody else had:
THE DURAN DURAN BOARD GAME.

(I have no idea how on earth you play it, but Polly and I were champions!)

My mom was in children's advertising for my entire childhood, so my sister and I got a number of toys that never made it to market, including a set of collectible birthday My Little Ponys, Ripley's Believe it or Not game (which is actually good), and who knows what else. And we had all the other toys, too, like Strawberry Shortcake, Jem, Barbie (although Jem was mom's client, and we had more of them), Cabbage Patch Kids, Weebles, and on and on and on. Although, you'd think with a mom in the biz I somehow would have ended up with a Snoopy Snow Cone maker, but I never did.