Take You To My Castle Far Away

You guys.

One mere week ago, I was up at 8:30 in the morning to sing Peter Cetera.

Now, granted, I'm not what you would call "musically inclined." I don't often sing in shows, but I've been singing more than a bit in Kidstuf recently. We've got an interpolation of "Glory of Love" by Peter Cetera (The theme from Karate Kid II...) that the comic hosts had to come in and record for the February show.

I will say this. I went for it. And no one can take that away from me. But that man will break your soul if you have to sing like him without properly warming up for eleven hours.

Eight thirty, you guys... That's too early for that.

Tune into the website after the show, too. Jon Williams, Brandon O'Dell and I also shot some videos. They're all improv. I'm not sure whether I would rather someone write for us or not...

AND go to the website NOW to see the very last landing page that Allison and I got to do together. And, after you see how hilarious it is, write to the Kidstuf staff and convince them to bring it back.

Although, real talk time, I guess I understand why they're getting rid of them, and all I can say is that I'm so happy to have had them for so long. I go back and watch the old landing pages, and you can really see our relationship and chemistry mature. When she came in, I'll admit, it was a tumultuous time and not exactly the way I wanted my first couple of months at Kidstuf to go. Without the time we spent working together in those landing pages, it would have taken much longer for us to get our patter down. And, even beyond that, become such great friends. Truly, she is someone that I look at as a big sister now, no matter how I treat her on stage.

And so much of that was built on the landing pages. I loved the opportunity to do them for so long. It was a blessing.

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I had a couple of auditions last week. I feel like the one for New Harmony in Evansville, IN went pretty well. I'm not as happy with the one I did out at Actor's Express (my first audition for them!), but I do think I showed them what my interpretation of the character would be like, so in that respect, I'm pleased.

I have a couple more the next few weeks. But I'm worried about going to UPTA. It's going to be a bear of a drive alone.

I also think my Georiga Shakespeare audition went well. Diany's Georgia Shakespeare audition, on the other hand, was... not what one would expect.

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There's not much to update, really. Things are going as well as they can, I guess. I'm starting rehearsals for And Then They Came For Me on the 1st, so there should be more to talk about.

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Good to talk, blogfriend. Here's hoping I have all sorts of stuff to talk about in this new year.

Quiet Time

It's been pretty quiet in my life, folks, which is why it's been pretty quiet on this blog. Now, I'll try and figure out some things to talk about.

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Auditions have been pretty few and far between recently. I'm hustling to find as much work as I can, and I have had a couple of moments I'm proud of, including on ALMOST general audition at The Shakespeare Theatre in DC, but there just isn't much going on right now.

I do have a couple of auditions scheduled for January, at least. That's nice. And at places that I've never worked before, one in Atlanta. Keep your fingers crossed for me, though, for there are still so very many places I haven't auditioned for, and even more than I simply haven't worked for yet. Hi, Theatres That Haven't Seen Me Audition Yet. My name is Jacob. I'm sure you'll just love me.

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I've done two readings in the last month, after having not done one since that baseball play I did a reading for out at Market House Theatre. One was called Behind Closed Doors and was written by good friend and fellow Middle Schooler, Bernard Jones.

Secondly, but first chronologically, was Spoon Lake Blues by Josh Tobiessen. It's a play that The Alliance is looking to do next year. Here's hoping I acquitted myself well. All the bigwigs were there. That was intimidating.

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They're cutting the Kidstuf landing pages, those hilarious videos featuring me that you'll see when you log onto kidstuf.com and click on the Buckhead button. If you're only now finding out about them, I do feel sorry for you, because we've had some pretty hilarious shoots. Some of my favorites have featured me singing songs about love to my co-host, dressing up as a superhero and, of course, chewing on a grotesque cud of candy corn.

Complain to anyone who will listen. This was, truly, one of my favorite parts of Kidstuf. I'm sad it is going away.

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Christmas is just around the corner. My proud return home, a mere three days away. It's going to be a hard holiday.

After that, New Years! I'm sure I will have something to say about it.

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Hey...we're coming to the close of the first full year of me having a blog. I'll throw a party. We'll eat cake. That's how I get down.

Sorry for the absence

Real life has intruded pretty heavily on my blogging. I've had some pretty serious things happen in the past few weeks. If you care to know anything about them, feel free to e-mail me. I find that I tend to be pretty open about most things. I just hesitate putting them here, even though I know it would be good for me, in a way.

I never got to talk about the last Kidstuf we did! Sadly, I probably won't, at this point, since much of the high has worn off. But, suffice it to say, it was (no exaggeration) one of the best artistic experiences of my entire life. I think so much of it is because I'm essentially playing myself. Sure, there are bits and pieces where I'm some guy with a zany hat on, and obviously we're dealing with a sort of heightened reality, but I'm just Jacob... Which was why it was so emotional. And rewarding.

I just wrapped up rehearsal for Hamlet, which is a lot of fun, thus far. Obviously, nice to be back in the building. Nice to see my friends. Nice to be in ATL, ya know?

I've got a couple of out of town general auditions set up for the next couple of months and they BOTH involve all night driving after a performance of Hamlet. I'm such a dummy... But an active dummy is better than a lazy one.

I need to find a monologue from Midsummer. Maybe one of the lovers?

I've got a lot in my head right now. Maybe it'll all fall out eventually, but for now, I'll see you on the other side.

What I'm grateful for

There are times when I question why I do Kidstuf. I mean, I gotta get up so early.

And there are times others question me about why I do Kidstuf. In some ways, it's theatre, in the same way that one would call a Kaiser Permanente show theatre, but it's not what one always envisioned when going to school. I know I figured I'd be getting paid six figures to do Cherry Orchard somewhere by now.

But when I ask myself that...or someone else asks me that...I can always point to this.

For this month, one of the "props" we're using is called a Grati-journal. You write down something you're grateful for. We got an e-mail with this in it...



If you can't tell, the text is, "I am Grateful for Church" with a drawing of the Kidstuf stage underneath.

To be doing something constructive. That is what I'm grateful for.

Red Rose

Tonight, we open the First Part of Henry VI at the Shakespeare Tavern. It's an incredible undertaking. To sit in the house after our preview last night, you would have thought we had a small audience. We were spread out a bit, but there's just a lot of people involved in this project.

I'm happy to be one of those people involved. I'm enjoying my time as Somerset. He's very different from anyone I've played on the Tavern stage, so it's good that I'm not getting plugged into a precise slot just yet. Unless that slot is "Hot Young Lord"...which...you know...

After the show opens tonight, there's going to be a party. I'll talk more about that at a later date, I'm sure. I have few goals for this party, but I at least want to play some Rock Band and watch Paul Hester dance.

It's been pretty quiet on the audition front, which isn't bad, exactly. I'm still looking around and trying to be as available as possible. I actually got to hand out one of my cards today to someone who came into my day job! Only 485 left to go.

If you haven't been able to get out to the Tavern to see my stuff, but you would still like to see me make a fool out of myself, you should go check out the Kidstuf website. I'm at the Buckhead campus, if you want to delve in. I'm even in the opening page video now. I find that when I don't have a script to follow, I dance a lot.

Come see Henry VI! My unofficial diagnosis is that, IF you can only see one (which, it goes without saying, you should try to come see all three), I think you should come see Part II. Just my opinion. Also, I fight in it. Yay!

Let's call this halfway...

At the end of a long day at work, nothing quite like settling down to listen to some Bonnie "Prince" Billy on a rapidly deflating air mattress and blogging to keep you folks updated.

So, the update...

- We shot the stuff for Kidstuf! I just realized I'm going to be MORE busy with them than I initially planned, but that's great. I actually really like everyone I've been in contact with. I hope my cast is a great as all of the regulars I've been working with so far. We shot a couple of scenes for the show and one for the website. I don't want to ruin anything for anyone, but I will say that one involved about two pounds of candy corn and is, literally, the grossest thing I've ever done in the name of performance.

- We also had the first of a couple of big rehearsals for Henry VI today with another coming tomorrow. I was knocked over a bit when we changed characters in medias res. I'm no longer playing Iden in part two. It appears I'll just be playing Somerset throughout. Which ain't bad. I like Somerset. He's got a...clear vision. BUT...I'll probably go ahead and use the resumes that I've already printed out...

It's going beautifully, though. I'm so proud to be a part of it.

- While my girlfriend was in town, we went to Center for Puppetry Arts, since the little lady is a big fan of Jim Henson. I'm sure we'll go back once the Jim Henson wing opens properly. Anyway, saw the Ugly Duckling while we were there. Super cute. And, you know, educational. The museum was interesting too, but the room filled with puppets that would randomly move...it set sort of a weird, foreboding mood for the rest of the time in that area. Creepy, in it's own right.

Tomorrow we've got another big, long rehearsal and, wonder of wonders, my first chance to go work out! I'm so happy about that. I miss working out when I go too long without it.

"When you get your flock together, please take me along. Lord, I'm too weak to travel. I'll be glad you're strong and I'll lean on your arm."

I won't feel no fear, 'cause I'm not really here...

It's been a busy week. An incredibly busy week, actually, between acting and my day job. For the record, if you're standing in a store while the power is out to wait twenty minutes to buy a 1 cent pencil sharpener, you're wasting precious moments in your life. Just saying.

- I had Kindergarten Konfidential first at Buckhead Church, which was my first basic exposure to the world of Kidstuf. It was a good time. I was confused at first, trying to find out where to go, but it ended up being a good first experience. Everyone was super nice and accommodating. Those kids are a tough crowd, man. I don't know if my subtle political satire is going to reach them. I think they liked me enough. But, for the record, there's nothing more intimidating than a five year old standing alone at the foot of the stage, looking at you like you're a total idiot.

- We also started rehearsal for Henry VI. What a huge project. There were twenty four people in the room. We will, of course, have more people join us, including apprentices and folks in the later plays. A couple of people brought up that it felt like the first day of school. I know it felt that way for me. After being gone for a month, it was good to be back in the building. Also, as Somerset, I love that, in my time on stage, I'm going head to head with Maurice Ralston. Seriously, he's such a great, sharing actor on stage. I couldn't be luckier in that respect.

- The next two weeks are going to be busy. The girlfriend is coming into town, we're reopening Much Ado and Twelfth Night. On top of Kidstuf video shoots. On top of Henry rehearsals and learning lines. On TOP of other auditions (Yay for later in the year calls from Unifieds!). I feel like a busy little actor right now. Always down to be busier though...

- There's actually an audition up on Atlanta Performs that I would LOVE to be able to be involved in, but it conflicts with the remounts, and I'm not giving up any chances to play Claudio. It's a call for Edmund in Long Day's Journey and, man, what a pleasure that would be. Plus it's in Florida, which, if you didn't know, is a place I've lived before and want to live again. Granted, I'm more of a fan of Central Florida, but still... I've actually been listening to the new song by The Streets quite a bit because it reminds me of my time in Florida.

- On a personal note, I'm ridiculously excited about many of the games coming out in the next couple of months. I mean, there's the sort of higher concept stuff like Fable 2 and Fallout 3, where decisions have consequences and life can change in the blink of an eye, and then there's the ridiculous sports stuff like TNA Impact and Blitz: The League II. Fun!

The Return...

Well, what a nice way to come back... But, first thing is, of course, first.

- I had a wonderful time at home. Between being able to see my family to the marriage of two of my best friends, everything was beautiful from the time I crossed into the Bluegrass state until the time I left. I saw The Dark Knight twice and I saw WALL-E twice. I got to eat at Belew's and stand barefoot in my backyard. I got more love in two weeks than I can possibly count, and for that, I am grateful.

Home is just...there is something about it that simply cannot be matched. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I am a country boy at heart. You can say what you want about the city and all of its trappings. You can keep 'em. Just give me a bright orange sun setting over my Granddaddy's farm.

But, one has to return to the real world. And, when I came back, I had some interesting events happen.

- First, I know the masses are wondering, "When will we be able to see you act again, Jacob?"

And, to that, I would say, "We discussed this before, masses. I'll be back in Twelfth Night and Much Ado About Nothing in August and September. Duh."

And, to that the masses would say, "But we saw you in every performance of those! We want something more. Something new! By the way, you were great as Valentine."

And, to THAT, I would say, "Hey, thanks. I appreciate it. And, if you want to see me in something new, you may want to come out in November to the Tavern. We'll be doing Henry VI, Parts 1 - 3."

Yeah, folks. I'll be in History Extravaganza, Part Duex. You'll be able to check me out as (primarily) Somerset in Parts 1 and 3, Iden in Part 2 and, (secondarily) Offstage Warder 1, Officer, Servant, Gentleman, Soldier, Westmerland and Rutland's Tutor! It should be fun. I'm a huge fan of the histories, so I know I'll be in for a heck of a time.

- I also went in for a second callback on Monday for Kidstuf, out at Buckhead. I didn't really have any concept of what I was coming in to read for, but I must have thought on my feet well enough, because I'm going to be the new Comic Host for the Buckhead location. Awesome! I'm actually getting really pumped about it, especially after seeing some of the stuff we'll be doing. It's got a slightly off-kilter sense of humor that I can work with. Thumbs up. In fact, I'll be out at Buckhead this Sunday for Kindergarten Konfidential. I'm still not entirely sure what that is either, but I'll roll with the punches.

- So, it's good to know I've got a gig for November! Although, for the record, I am still available for October.


*Ahem*