ouch

tour van = back pain.

30 hours in the van for a four day trip down and back to miami.

that is a LOT of van.

BUT

it's the last week of tour yall.

then back to the glorious bham for a week to visit the fam ( throw in a night in my beloved auburn! )

then back to new york city where God willing Christina and I will be moving into our very own new apartment.

ps i am getting bangs a la zooey deschanel. if this is a bad idea stop me before friday.

stu update!

there is a lot to catch you up on because we have been INSANE with our schedule lately.

this is how we feel about our schedule for tour. TESS IT'S SO BAD!

So i am going to post all the pics and then highlight some of my favorite parts.

-KARAOKE.

omg can the stuart group karaoke. eric rocked some always look on the bright side of life (or tour, as tess sang) joe rocked some tenacious d and tessory sang some rockin tina turner. they were sort of the celebs.

joe rockin out

tess and me just a grinnin at our fun night out!

-Law and order SVU

we have had a few more days off this legof tour and i promise you all free time is dedicated to law and order svu. we loveeee elliot and olivia.

-kids say the darndest things.

one kid told tess " i saw your skirt and i thought it was a rug but then i looked and it was a rug." no idea what they were talking about but it was hilarious.

another kid thought the character margalo was actually named angelo. and proceeded to call margalo angelo for his whole question.

-READING

I have read the entire sookie stackhouse series (thats 11 books) on this leg of tour. easy reads. like twilight but with good. and characters you care about.

-EASTER ADVENTURES

i was so lucky to have payne in richmond on easter. we got dressed up, went to church together, and had a great easter lunch at Joes inn. Payne got the spaghetti a la joe. it was intense. clearly.

-FRIEND SIGHTINGS.

we have gone to nyc several times where i have gotten to see my nyc girls christina liz and kristi.

c money was making a beard with her scarf. she got dinner with me before i had to hop on my train back to queens.

we also went to michigan and i got to spend the night with kat and kara! We got Dim Sum ( my first time and it was delicious) then we had cupcakes and snugged! then kara made us breakfast in the mornign and we went to the michigan theatre and they got to hang out with some of my cast mates!

my beloveds.

-MOM DAD AND THE GRANDMAS CAME!

my grandmas dont fly and they DID coming to see me in richmond! they spent time with me, lunched with me and the cushings, explored richmond (including the jefferson hotel which is HUGE AND BEAUTFUL)

me at the jefferson

and they got to see the show. love them! im so lucky!

the grandmas rockin out in richmond!

and ya know. we've done the show about 60 times now. so woo hoo stu.

the tour is over in 2 weeksish and then I will get a few days in Bham to play then back to nyc!

the midwest yall.

this is me and stuart. we've become besties.

stuey is still traveling all over my friends. we are in the midwest now, specifically back and forth between minnesota and wisconsin. did you know that the mississippi river is in wisconsin? yea i did not.

we are performing about ten shows a week and all have which have been in great venues! Venues while we have calls times two hours before the show are still awesome because they usually feed us and have coffee and green rooms to store us in.

The hardest days have been 1. a three show day. 2. a two show day followed by a six hour drive. We have been working several 15-17 hour days. WHEW.

We did get a single glorious day off in Minneapolis! WE GOT TO GO TO THE MALL OF AMERICA!!!!

YALL. THIS MALL IS NOT A JOKE.

we ate at a restuarant called big bowl and the food was beyond delicious! We also ordered their ginger ale which is just seems like regualr ginger ale but the ginger is REALLY strong and it was so FUN!

got a new purse eric is showing off and i got a new hat!

I also bought Tina Fey's new biography. Bossypants. This is hilarious!

funsies!

more from the stu tour!

so the tour continues! stuey has been driving all over the country since we last chatted. We drove from Blacksburg VA to Staten Island. ( HOLY MOLY THAT IS A LOT OF VAN TIME)

In the van i curl up w my auburn blanket and tim keller book

We arrived in Staten Island around 7pm and I immediately hop on a shuttle to go to the Staten Island Ferry, then the subway to Christina's apartment! CJ and I went and got our mani/pedi on in our favorite little place in Murray Hill called Wink. Then we went to Kristi and Liz's apartment for me to visit kris and tex! so glad to see my krispi and my kitty! I spent that night w christina. The next day was a day off so I shopped all day with the girls! Then one of my cast mates Eric met up with kristi and me at Pret ( my fav sandwich place in the city) then krisp left me and eric and we walked 20 blocks in the gorgeous weather to christina's apartment. We went and got a bight afterward at a random little pub and wound up staying for a while and making buddies with all the people who work there! eventually i dragged myself away from christina and eric and i navigated our way back to staten island.

me and my sweet cj.

union square with kp!

We then performed in Ststen Island the next day for two audiences. both audiences seemed new to being audiences for live theatre. they were quite boistrous and interactive. I wasnt phased though bc my "sweet friend" ChristinA TRAVELED ALL THE WAY TO STATEN ISLAND TO SEE THE SHOW. love you johnson.

after these two shows we then had to drive 7 hours to kent ohio. LONG DAY! we then stopped at my cast mate Tess's parents house for dinner and the next day for brunch. This was SO nice!

We woke up the next day and drove to Milwaukee. We performed twice today and then drove to Lacrosse! Whew ! now we are caught up!

Joe drew this picture in Blacksburg VA. pretty CUTE!

Stuart Little Tour week 1

On a cold Wednesday morning before the sun came up five brave ( or dumb) actors woke up and took all of their belongings and climbed in a gutted out 16 paasenger van headed out for a little thing called tour.

"Even a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. (I heard that in a movie once)"

-Stuart Little

So it has begun. We have been to Holly Ridge North Carolina ( 2 shows at Holly Ridge Elementary) then immediately drove 3 ish hours to Spindale , North Carolina.

We performed the twice next day at Isothermal Community College. We were treated like mini celebs here ( which is hilarious bc tour life is the antithesis of glamour. ) I love when we get to go to venues bc we get to meet the people who are bringing us to there venue ( plus there is usually free coffee and bagels and a crew to help us load in!) The guys who helped us load in were hilarious! We felt very appreciated at this stop by these guys then next we stopped at Denny's. I mean LITERAL STAR TREATMENT! we got major discounts on food. Gift card for another free meal, free desert (which was funny bc we talk about ice cream with chocolate sauce on it in the show ) The waitress was ADORABLE and wanted our autographs and took our picture. Very VERY sweet.

After lunch we headed to Blacksburg Virginia! We knew right where we were staying because they had us advertised as staying at our hotel on their marquee. We then ran right next door to the mexican restaurant where tess and I had the best fajitas we had ever had! Fun night for the group!

We stayed the night and woke up this morning and loaded in at the Lyric Theatre ( which is a fantastic space that holds about 400ish people. We had a great show this morning ( they gave us free coffee and great vegan muffins! ) Our next show isnt until 7 tonight, so we have gotten to go back to our hotel room and nap and play all day! VICTORY! We'll stay here again tonight and head to NEW YORK! tomorrow! We drive all day tomo and then have a day off that I plan to spend the entire thing in the loving arms of Christina, Lizard, Krispi and Tex!

Looking forward to what is coming next!

stuart little

so I have moved to Richmond.

( i wonder how many of my blogs have the words "so i moved to..." in them. )

But i have! I have moved to beautiful warm sunny lovely happy richmond.

( home of VCU who is the glorious underdog of march madness. and yes im weirdly proud of them even though i have no affiliation with the team other than sharing a city with them for two weeks. )

so needless to say. LOVING RICHMOND. The weather is warm, the city is spunky, there is a real theatre community that thrives in Richmond. I am also living with the most wonderful family on the planet ( they come in an immediate second after my own family. ) The Cushings are so so so WONDERFUL! Not only is this an amazing gift that I can live here and not pay rent but the amount of love I have recieved living here is humbling. They are such a blessing. Mrs. Gale and granny Lorma and I play more card games than you care to know. Mrs. C even watched the finale of the bachelor with me! Mr. C is keeping me straight with world affairs and march madness while simultaneously cooking the best steak I have ever had! Granny Lorma plays double solitare with me every night ( which I think she worries I am doing for her benefit but if you know me at all I am probably taking advantage of her so I can have a game buddy!) I couldnt adore the three of them anymore than I do!

I am also so stinking thankful to be working not only in the same city but the same company with one of my bfa classmates and best friends. Payne Hopton-Jones. He has been a gem showing me around the city, the ins and outs of theatre iv, introducing me to all the actors, and all the places for good eats! ( stickyrice bucket o tots.) It is so rare to get to have experienced all we did in college and then have a contract that overlaps in the real world. He has given me a sense of confidence and security in a brand new place and I love him for it! Thanks Hoj!

I also have been enjoying theatre iv a great deal. I have a fantastic director and a great cast. I think I will luck out again with a great touring cast!

Stuart the puppet makes me a little insane. We have been having a really intense love hate relationship. I love him because he lives on my arm and I am his voice, but I hate him because he is so difficult to manuever while I am also trying to sing act move do choreography and so on. But we have come to terms stuart and I. I think when we ship out on Wednesday it will be the beginning of a beautiful thing between myself and what laura williams calls my tour boyfriend.

as I said we are shipping out on Wednesday for a tour of epic proportions. We will be going to North Carolina, New York ( more than once! Could I be more excited to get to see my new york girls and my cat? nope. couldnt be.) WI, MN, IN, all over Virginia, RI, Ann Arbor ( to see my kat and my kara! ) OH, DE, NJ, MD, Aventura Fl ( yea thats almost miami haha!) and PA!

I am going to try my best to be really good about blogging about all of these places because I havent been to any of them!

So hello world! Stu's a comin!

The King's Speech

The second moving piece of art I have seen this week was The Kings Speech.

Holy Moly this was so moving. Collin Firth plays King Henry VI who had a TERRIBLE speech impediment. Jeffery Rush is a speech therapist and gives the King technique and confidence to overcome all of the technical and emotional problems that contributed to his stammer. As an actor I understand how important a voice is and also how much it can affect you to be mocked for your voice, to be ashamed of your voice, and how vulnerable it can make you feel to need help overcoming obstacles. I went to speech therapy in college for over a year for vocal issues. I did many of the same exercises in speech therapy and in my BFA classes that Jeffery Rush took Collin Firth through in the movie. I cried off and on through this entire movie. ( If you want to know more about the personal and physical history in your life that makes up why you speak the way you do read the book The Right to Speak by Patsy Rodenberg. it will change the way you view your own voice.) It broke my heart throughout the whole movie to watch Collin Firth struggle to communicate. This movie to quote my dad " is a movie about the triumph of the human spirit

The part that moved me the most :

Linonel " Why should I Listen to YOu? "

King George without thinking screams back at him " BECAUSE I HAVE A VOICE!!!!

Lionel "I know you do, I believe you."