It Might as well be Spring!

Big events in the life of Caroline! I've managed to stir up a lot of attention requesting a sublet on Facebook- "Where are you going??" and "What show did you book?!" I realized my mistake in not announcing all the fun and THEN asking who might be able to help me transition out of New York, so I am backtracking a bit here.

So, as an introduction to the excitement and a pre-req in understanding it all, this fall in NYC was really difficult. Auditions were few and far between, as were my babysitting hours, leaving me feeling artistically and financially lacking. I did manage to book a show (we'll get to that in a second...) but it still left me with months and months to fill in the mean time. After being on tour and surrounded by people, work, and travels, the lull of the actor's 'in between' was terrifying. I had been so ready to get back to the city, but not much was going my way.

I prayed a lot for guidance, and found myself anticipating something huge coming. I wasn't sure what area of my life it involved, what sort of opportunities would be coming, but it felt important and impending. Patience isn't my first virtue so I really struggled with not knowing what was next. I spent a few weeks at home over the holidays, hoping to be revived and ready to pound the pavement again, but upon my return a few days ago I was only filled with dread at facing more of the same from the fall.

After a few prayers, phone calls, and emails, the spring was set into motion in a HUGE way and I'm so excited to announce what is coming up. Here are the Travel Plans, which reveal all!!

New York to Texas: January 9th
Heading home to intern for the Diocese of West Texas, in preparation to serve as the Staff Director at Camp Capers. I grew up going to this amazing camp every summer and was a counselor for a week I was 16, but it is truly a dream come true to be on summer staff. I have lots of duties essentially boiling down to keeping the camp running smoothly- staff cheerleader, conflict mediator, and general communicator on programs staff. The spring will be spent preparing for my role, helping with hiring the staff, and general service at the diocese. It's right in my field of experience, yet way out of my box at the same time.

Texas to Arkansas: around March 25th
The acting portion of the spring: playing Natalie in Next to Normal at Theatre Squared in Fayetteville, Arkansas!! I've known about this one for a while, and am still in disbelief at my fortune to be in such a beautiful musical with what looks like an incredible cast!! My dear friend Jason Burrow is slated to music direct as well, so I'll get to work with his musical genius again in his home state- hooray!! For more details on the production, click here.

Arkansas to Texas: May 13th
Back home to really begin Camp Capers duties. Staff training and bonding, then right into camp. I'll be a busy bee in Waring, Texas from June 1st-August 17th. For more information on Camp Capers, click here.


I can hardly believe all the answered prayers- when it rains, it POURS! I'm overwhelmed with excitement and anticipation of the wonderful fun and growth that is coming for me. My sweet friend Gracie said to me, as I struggled through the thick of it, "Choose where to put your confidence and the rest will follow." I'm putting my confidence in my heart, which is overflowing as I look at what 2013 has in store for me so far.

Thanks for checking in! Love love love!!

Week 41-43: Toronto, ON

My last city on tour!! What a lovely way to end this big adventure by being in a city for three whole weeks!! Lots and lots of pictures... There are a few holes in my narrative, days that went by in relaxation or simply without a camera. Hope it all makes sense! :)

Our amazing 3 story house in Toronto! We even had a grill and two porches! We named the house Beta Tau Beta for BTB, since is seemed rather fratty of us.

So we arrived on July 2rd, which is Canada Day. NOTHING WAS OPEN! After a long day of traveling a beer with dinner sounded like a great idea, but apparently impossible. We stumbled into a wine bottling shop in our neighborhood, and somehow stumbled out with an entire small barrel's worth...21 bottles. Between 8 people, they disappeared in about 9 days.

Jen's little mole was consistently holiday appropriate, and it may be very difficult to see, but that little heart contains a small American flag. Our crafty- and patriotic- lady!

What I missed in San Antonio on the 4th- sweet Josiah's first Independence Day. Look at that face!!

Last press event for our group! We performed Gaston for a big network in Canada, and I even got a little screen time!

Jeff refused to wear his blacks, so the boys edited him out of the manly photo. It's kind of obvious here, but on Facebook it looked nearly flawless. Love these boys!

 

No rehearsals means plenty of leisure time. Sunshiney Toronto plus a backyard made for good times at Beta Tau Beta!!

New zapatos!! I've been wanting some oxfords for ages and I found a pair by Capezio on sale in this enormous mall near the theatre...Canada seems to have the best malls!

Ruth's Chris adventure. Kyle has been itching to plan a group outing to the steak house and amazingly we got nearly everyone there!

The Chicago group at Ruth's Chris: Amanda, Lauren, Matt, me, Jess, and Kolby. Just missing Nick Nelson, but he was with us in spirit. Jess and Amanda are staying with the tour but the rest of us are on our way.

Beta Tau beta house group! Mandy, Caitlin, Andrew, Carly, Michael, me, James, and Emily. Of this group, only James will remain...19 out of 30 in the cast is a huge turn over!

Carly, me, and Emily at Ruth's Chris. This must've been one of their biggest groups without some sort of set catering menu...I think we were close to 40, ordering separately. Our waiters were very gracious and we had a great time. 

Last week of performances means, my replacement is here! This is Laura Douciere, who happens to be one of Bill's students- he is our new Papa who came in Salt Lake City. She would be a senior in college next year- what an accomplishment to book the tour and finish school from afar!

The ladies of Beta Tau Beta riding the trolley to the theatre. We loved having an open air option every day.

 

So, I have been curious about what a pixie cut would look like...funny how you work for years to grow out your hair, and then you want to chop it all off. Here I am trying on one of the Salt/Pepper wigs from Be Our Guest...what do you think? A little Liza with a Z? (Don't worry, I still have all my hair)

Passing on the pertinent information to the newbies: makeup plots! Carly's was very pretty, mine was definitely not photo worthy...

Got started on our goodbye group shots early, to avoid the tears and hugs that would probably take up our final performance together. Jess is grandfathered in to the chorus as she spent her first 8 months as the "Busty Girl".

Amanda and my favorite on stage moment from Gaston...she just doesn't have that cleft chin. I'll miss my green silly!

The "singer" tracks...of which I am only really half. Basically we are the non-wolves of the chorus ladies. Love these ladies!

Yom-swith-eroo! The first generation BTB ladies started this trend...we all switched costumes for a photo op. I literally looked forward to this ALL YEAR. I'm Carly in the photo, and Christie is me. 

I feel like I could've rocked this sun hat and coral frock. Loved wearing it, even for a few minutes :)

The winning shot from our mini photo shoot in BOG leotards. We all loved the Toronto theatre's grandeur and Carly organized a day when we could take pictures all together in the famous gold leotard, which got very little photo time. She was so sweet to print this, our best pose, for everyone. 

Final performance of Beauty and the Beast for a whole lot of us! We got there early for breakfast and to watch a little goodbye video compiled by sweet Jess, which of course meant lots of laughs and tears.

Goodbye letters on my station...

Carly and I always walked down to stage together...

A great press shot from earlier in the run in Toronto, one of the most fun and crazy numbers I've been a part of- Gaston. Bye bye Big Clink!

I really wish I had a photo (or better yet, video) of the final Finale. Just tears and sobs from the entire cast. I'm not sure I could sing much past the first few notes. It was a very emotional and beautiful moment, I only hope the audience still got the end of the play!! And that's it!! Goodbye to Beauty and the Beast, my tour family, and suitcase life!

Packing up my box. My suitcases were so full I had to leave a lot behind.

One last look at the gondola line up. (Note: we didn't always have this incredible amount of space backstage...but Toronto was a treat. Thanks for the perfect photo op)

My goodbye gift to the cast. In my little note I included why...Hebrews 6:19 says, "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure." It is my hope that as we leave one another, it is the best of memories and lessons we take away from this trip together, and that we may find one another again along the way. (Thanks Brit for modeling :) )

Obviously we went out after our final show...I've got a thing for mustaches, and proceeded to draw them one EVERYONE's fingers. There is an entire album of pictures on my computer dedicated to this event, but I decided one example might suffice. Thankfully everyone plenty of fun with me.

Pre-show margaritas as we see the brand new Beauty and the Beast, with 19 new cast members!

Having a hot dog as we head out for our Toronto Island adventure. So nice to have lots of paid free time!

Toronto Island's view of the city skyline, from our rented canoes! We also rented tandem bikes, but it's a bit difficult to capture that fun when you are trying to learn how to peddle...in tandem...

Adventures in cooking...so apparently our salt grinder lived a little too close to the oven and the attachment melted. I went to add a little salt to my pasta water to boil, and this happened...It's very difficult to get salt off of a hot stove top.

Carly and me at the company hosted party...open bar, dancers to get the party going, and getting all dressed up. We had a great time!!

My stage husband Kyle. I told him no matter what, his new 'wife' will only ever be his mistress...

My sweet Jimmy baby. He's like a little brother to me, and it was hard to imagine leaving him to continue on the journey without me. But I think he's doing just fine, new friends and new fun!

We always wanted to have a field day, and better late than never! While many weren't feeling up to a long day outside after that big company party, the group that came out still had a blast. We had an egg race, kick ball, water balloon toss, and even threw in a little Cross Fit training!

Big group for water balloons means lots of accidents. So much fun!

I kept a map with our year on the road. It's very difficult to see the routes between flying and driving, but instead of packing on Saturday night I calculated our approximate mileage (check next post for the numbers!!)

A final farewell beer in the Toronto airport, headed back to NYC with Emily. What a wonderful adventure we've had!!

I can hardly believe it, but that's a wrap! Next post I'll do a little break down of numbers, best and worst, all that fun stuff. It's always bittersweet to close one chapter of life, especially as I found it just got better and better, but I am excited to see what the future holds. I've made some incredible and hopefully life long friends, played one of my dream roles, learned a lot about myself, and traveled the country (and Canada!) all while getting paid...what a wonderful gift!! Thank you my friends, for keeping up from afar!

Lots of love and credit goes to my ladies who were sooooo good at photo documenting le tour: Amanda Holt, Carly Casey,  Brittany Conigatti, and Jessica Haugh. I feel as though I must have stolen more than 50% of my photos here from your wonderful albums. Thank you for sharing!

Week 40: Charlotte, NC

(Please note the rather delayed nature of this post. We were Charlotte the last week of June 2012...)

Last week in the USA doing the show!! The countdown isn't quite real, but in reality we have just three weeks of performing left- that's only 24 shows!

Me and my onstage husband, Kyle, out for a drink on our first day in town. 

We spent a LOT of time at the hotel pool, partly out of necessity because it was so hot, and also because our hotel was in a complex with everything one could possibly need- CVS, restaurants, bars, Jamba Juice. We would venture out for supplies, and return to chlorinated bliss.

So, I learned how to do a fishtail braid and did it for Brittany one night. Pretty proud!! It's not that easy on my own hair...

The obligatory ladies shot at our presenter hosted post-show party. These often happen, but this was a particularly good one. The food was delicious and the hosts were all so kind. 

Christie, Andrew, Carly, and me at the post show feast. There were LOTS of vegan options, so these three were happy little health nuts.

Me, Carly, Jess, and Caitlin at the piano bar "Howl at the Moon" for Jessica's birthday.

Look at that forecast for the weekend!! It was SO hot- see pool pictures.

I wonder if the audience could smell the sunscreen...we were all coated in layers and layers. Thank goodness I didn't get a burn.

My little peanut Brittany. We're the littlest and biggest girls in the chorus, so whenever we're out and taking pictures I squat down with her. She'd always say, "Stand up straight Caroline!" 

Emily and I happened to be twins one day backstage. My sweet little Belle, I guess I can see from here how people would mistake me for her pretty often. (Also, check out the volume on my wig! I think she stuck her finger in a socket...)

Our lovely bassist Catherine also happens to like taking pictures. We had several "amateur" (amazing) photographers in our group with those big, spiffy cameras. As we had to leave her behind- insert long complicated story about musicians union here- Cat took a few photos of us getting ready for the show together our last weekend with her. We don't usually cram into one mirror, but it was fun for 30 seconds!

My solo shot with Cat. I do love a red lip :)

One final city, and a nice long sit down of three weeks. So looking forward to our time in: Toronto!