Non-Theatrical Day!

I'm waiting for my scene partner to show up (her favorite activity is rehearsing at the most inopportune time EVER). And so I will therefore update on my life.

Our conversations tend to go like this:
Kelly: When are you free to rehearse this week?
Scene Partner: Ummm, well, how about on Monday and Tuesday?
Kelly: Perfect. I'm done at 5:30 on those days. Right after I get out of class?
Scene Partner: Wellll...I was thinking maybe on Tuesday morning. At about 7:30, so we have time to rehearse before class at nine?
Kelly: ...They have a 7:30 in the morning too??? I thought there was just one at night.

I don't think Scene Partner realizes that when we rehearse at 7:30, I have to wake up at 6:00. Yikes. Remember high school? Remember when I woke up early every day? Thank GOD that's over.

This week was mucho fun. Good things happened in rapid succession.

On Tuesday, Nick and I ventured to Pace University with the rest of the Strasberg Institute to see the taping of Inside the Actors Studio with Kate Hudson. It was...okay. I kinda hated Kate Hudson (except in Almost Famous), and I still don't love her, but she's better now. Of the women in that family, I much prefer Goldie (First Wives Club, anyone?).

And I would have preferred that they ask her more questions about her actual acting method, rather than about being the spawn of Goldie Hawn (which not only rhymes, but is also something I desperately desire for myself). They never really asked her what her process is for developing a character, or how she approaches a role. So it wasn't so much Inside the Actors Studio as it was Inside Kate Hudson's Family. Psuedo-intriguing, but not what I was looking for.

And Wednesday was the Culmination of my Adult Life. WE SAW THE TYRA BANKS SHOW. Oh. My. God. She is on crack. And I LOVE it.

The day started with getting to walk through the Tyra Door, and then being told to fill out a card with interesting facts about myself. This presented a problem for me. I am overflowing with interesting facts about myself when they are unnecessary (I have never been stung by a bee! I dream in color unless it's a dream about something that has already happened to me and then it's in black and white! I have won lots of spelling bees! I can read mirror writing and upside down just as fast as normally!) but give me a pen and paper and tell me to write interesting facts and I have very few.

I was also limited by the fact that I was concerned that Tyra was going to try to involve my interesting facts in her show (that ruled out anything involving the piano, singing, performing in any way, shape or form or anything that has to do with my nonverbal communication skillz). So I was slightly limited.

The shows were bizarre, but not as crazy as Tyra can get. One of them had a theme of Makeover! and the other had a very loose theme of Body Image. There was a woman who keeps getting plastic surgery sans anesthesia to save money. Crazy woman say whaaat???

And Nick won a dance competition. He won a dance competition against three black chicks and a Latina. I have never been prouder. Should I be called upon to give a speech at Nick's wedding/graduation/deathbed (which is something I will be doing, regardless of whether or not anyone has asked me to), I will recall that moment.

Wednesday, I finally got to see a show of Michael's! The first since...Little Shop of Horrors, circa 2007? Blast from the past, right there. The show was marvelous, and I was very excited. I can't wait until I move back here and we actually get to see all of each other's shows. Yay hooray! Plus I went alone, which is a big step for me. I don't often do things alone (eat, attend shows/movies, sit and do nothing...). So let's all take a moment and be proud of Kelly for taking a Big Step Forward. Haha.

Also on Wednesday, Ed and I had our "second date", seeing Spliterheads in Union Square. Thank Zeus it was fo' free. Because it was not good AT ALL. If anyone ever asks you if you want to watch Splinterheads, say no and go home and do your homework instead; you'll have more fun that way.

Thursday/Friday was also the midnight showing of the new Twilight movie. FUNNIEST MOVIE I HAVE EVER SEEN. I don't know if I couldn't find a plot because I haven't read the books or because there isn't one, but it was terribly written, the acting was even worse and Kevin and I spent the entire time making inappropriate jokes. None of which I will repeat. Wildly inappropriate.

A good time was had by all. Except probably for the girls who were there to actually scream at the Lizard Man. They were slightly upset, I imagine. I also found this HILARIOUS.

Dana Tarantino will probably be thrilled that so little theatre has been seen this week. Although this is mostly because of a person named Anthony Vasquez, who wins EVERY LOTTERY IN TOWN. I swear to God, he follows Nick around and wins instead of him. Still furious.

And also: I don't have to set an alarm tomorrow. Mere words cannot explain how thrilling this is to me. Hooray!

The fam arrives in T minus four days. CAN'T WAIT. The Voigt Family Does Manhattan is sure to be an instant hilarious classic, warming hearts and touching souls across the nation.

Either that or we'll wreak havoc. Jury's still out on that one.
Miss you all! Love, Kelly

New Obsession Day!

New obsession: blogging. As a concept, as an activity, as a way of life.

Haha. Sometimes I crack myself up.

Point of the story: this is really for my benefit anyway, so that a year from now I can go back and read what on earth was happening while I was here. But it's also sort of a life update. Sort of.

Plus also: I'm a sell-out. I got a Twitter. And I'm pretty sure it will be taking over my life. I love that I can update from my phone. Yikes. I might suddenly become obsessed with what Ellen Degeneres is doing today, or what Jason Segal is thinking. I may or may not have a problem.

Anyway, busy weekend. Sort of. It was a lot of busy surrounded by a lot of sitting around and doing literally nothing.

As I said, Friday was another Hair day. Saturday morning was a combination of my final audition seminar and my first real audition! Hooray!

Amanda and I went to Chelsea Studios early Saturday morning to sign up for an audition time, making sure that we would be late enough for us to get to Seminar and back. So we talked to the audition monitor, signed our names up as numbers 46 and 47 and trotted up to our seminar.

The seminar was fine. I was allowed to keep the monologue that I originally chose for myself, rather than being assigned a different one (which I might have preferred, actually, because I am always looking for new monologues to work on - my goal for the end of senior year is to be able to perform twenty because of this article: http://www.monologueaudition.com/ma_why-20.htm).

I don't feel like I learned a ton of things from this seminar. I think it mostly just confirmed everything that I already thought about auditions. But it was nice to have that at least. Kathy (the woman running the seminar) went over my resume and told me what to change, and told me that I was too still during my monologue, and needed to allow for organic movement. She's probably right; I am always wary of moving for the sake of moving, and I think I end up erring on the other side, where I look like a talking 2 x 4.

After Amanda and I did our monologues for class, we immediately peaced out and ran back to Chelsea Studios to...wait for hours on end. Seriously. When people tell you that an open call involves waiting around all day, THEY ARE NOT KIDDING. I could have used that time to write my NYAP journal, jog around the block, memorize a whole new monologue, write a novel and fix the economy. Seriously. WE WAITED FOREVER.

All for this:
Kelly: Hello, ny name is Kelly Rose Voigt and I will be doing a monologue from All I Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. [hands over headshot/resume]
Auditor: Whenever you're ready.
Kelly: [insert monologue here] Thank you.
Auditor: Yes, thank you.

Haha, at the end was a distinct tone of Don't call us, we'll call you. Just as I expected. I'm not too broken up about it. Actually, being cast would have been horribly inconvenient, because I would have had to take a semester off school and find someplace else to live in New York and it would have been a lot of work.

But SUPER awesome at the same time.

And that was my first audition experience. Hooray! I've got one rejection down; hopefully not too many more to go.

The rest of the day was lame. I was on-call again, because Sally's family is here, so I'll be off for the next two weeks, so I can spend T-giving with the fam. Hooray! I'm already getting SUPER EXCITED for them to arrive. I've never been away from home for this long, and it's starting to drive me a little crazy. I miss my bed, I miss my dog, I miss my desk and piano and DVR and family room couch and access to salsa and velveeta dip and car and shower with actual water pressure and mom and dad and sister and stuffed animals and space to store all the crap I own and all my books and having someone else do the grocery shopping and multi-colored walls and also a million other things.

But it's a weird homesick: one that doesn't want to go home at all, but also wants to go home just to be there for five minutes. But I don't want to move away from Manhattan ever. Kind of an inner conflict with myself.

Another new obsession = Upright Citizen's Brigade. I've been wanting to go for a long time, but I've been busy for many Sundays in a row. Today I finally managed to make it and TOTALLY LOVED IT. Chevy Chase was there, as well as a few other New York stand-up artists and it was HILARIOUS.

Plus also, at the very end, they gave away a couple of pairs of tickets to a movie screening that two of the performers are in. To determine who got them, they asked if anyone in the audience was on a first date and wanted to have a second one. My friend Ed, sitting next to me, immediately grabbed my hand and raised our hands in the air. So we got tickets! Hooray! Plus also now we're in love, haha. (This is a joke.)

Tomorrow in class, Jessica and I will be doing our scene. We rehearsed today as well, and I think we're going to be great. Because performing in Irma's class without practicing and adding sense-memory is like trying to put together an IKEA bookshelf with just the instructions. Written in the original Swedish. You have a vague idea what on earth is going on, but you're basically left with a few pieces feebly hammered together and no explanation for what is supposed to happen next. Bad news bears. (See description of her class a few weeks back.)

But we should be fabulous. Also up this week: a trip to see the taping of Inside the Actor's Studio, a taping of The Tyra Banks Show, Michael's show at NYU, "second date" with Edward and the midnight showing of the Twilight movie where I will probably spend most of the time either a) confused about the plot - or lack thereof or b) laughing at the terrifically bad acting or even c) laughing at the crazy thirteen-year-olds screaming at that one guy who looks like a lizard and a hobo had a child with crazy cheekbones. Should be a marvelous time.
Love always, Kelly

PS: I know this is kind of unnecessary, but I like blogging. So I will, even if I don't really have anything to say. So there.