Guest Blogger: Tara Folio

As I was getting ready to graduate college and figure out my first move as an adult, I was warned by many of my theatre friends about getting too attached to my new destination. I am constantly being told that actors live a gypsy life; you have to follow the work, wherever it may be.

Currently seeking a therapist that specializes in multiple personality disorder, or maybe multiple character disorder.

At the beginning of the summer, I thought that moving from Atlanta to New Hampshire was a huge feat, but my 'journey' is chump change compared to the distance Giulia Dunes has traveled in order to be at Interlakes this summer. Giulia Dunes is a native of Holland, who is quickly learning how to become a native New Yorker. This summer she is taking on the huge task of Assistant Directing a show that she is performing in, while simultaneously rehearsing for her lead role in the next show of the season. Did you follow that? Me neither. Let me break it down. Giulia is performing as 'Missy' in 9 to 5 while rehearsing for her role as 'Ulla' in The Producers. The constant character switch is enough to give anyone an identity crisis, and on top of that, English is not Giulia's first language. I had to sit down and talk to her to find out how she handles all of this insanity and chaos with such grace.

As I head into my third week of summer stock, my coffee addiction seems to be at an all time high. The amount of energy needed to power through the daily schedule here is probably equivalent to the amount of energy needed to power the entire city of Las Vegas (a little dramatic?

Any thespian worth his or her salt knows that there is always more than one side to any story worth telling. The same can be said of working in a summer company. The ensemble here at Interlakes Theatre is comprised of actors of all different ages from all across the country, and we all bring our own unique perspectives to this process. This week I decided to give another actress a turn at talking about the in's and out's of life at summer stock, my new college and friend, Dana Rose. Dana is a rising senior at The Hartt School, and like me, she is making her summer stock debut.

As I begin this new job, I find myself stuck in this odd adult-but-not-quite limbo. For those readers who aren't familiar with the term 'summer stock', it is a period of about two or three months during which a group of young emerging artists are sent to a remote, usually rustic, location to perform a handful of shows in rapid-fire succession.

The hardest lesson to learn as a newly graduated theatre nerd, is that actors do not get a summer vacation.

One of my favorite mantras is, 'If you rest, you rust'.

Theatre can be such a competitive industry, and at times it feels like you are under constant scrutiny.

Perfection: Something that everyone desperately craves, but no one can ever actually attain. Why is society so obsessed with striving for such an unreachable goal?

John Donne once wrote, 'No man is an island entire of itself'; this statement is something I always try to keep in the back of my mind, especially when working in the theatre.

Ever since I was a little toddler in a tutu every adult I have come in contact with has told me to 'reach for the stars', and that 'I can do anything I set my mind to'.

Until this point, my blog has been all about what happens when an actor has a job, but now it's time to cover all the wonderful things that happen when an actor enters a magical time called 'Unemployment.'

Unfortunately, all good things must eventually come to an end, and Assassins is no different.

After doing six shows a week, you begin to settle into a production; the scenes seem to run smoothly, most actor's seem to be making similar choices in each performance, everyone can recite their lines at the drop of a hat, there's nothing to worry about, right? Wrong.

Well, here we are; we finally made it to opening night.

Do you know the saying, 'sharing is caring'? Well, here at Auburn the cast of Assassins has taken this idea to the extreme. It seems that in the past two weeks, the entire cast (except for about three extremely lucky people) has come down with a bad case of what seems like the plague. With all this sickness and lagging energy running rampant backstage, it sometimes seems impossible to keep the show running smoothly. So how does a cast with an abundance of sneezing and coughing still manage to project their voices to the last row and sing high notes until their ears ring? (That was a real question; sometimes I really don't know how we keep going.) Somehow, thanks to steamers, tea, cough drops, Dayquil, and shots of olive oil, we have all managed to power through rehearsals, but our ability to keep going comes from more than just our mass amount of pharmaceutical products; it comes from our ability to work as a team.

Sometimes being a theater student can feel like I'm living a double life. I leave for school to be a student from about eight in the morning to five in the afternoon, and then almost immediately after school I arrive in the theater for rehearsal, which can last until about ten at night, or sometimes longer. Between school, rehearsal, my sorority, homework, and just trying to be a normal college student, it's fairly easy to feel overwhelmed a good ninety percent of the day. Most of the time I can never imagine my world as anything but chaotic, but then I remember one person that I know for a fact is always working longer and harder than I am: the Stage Manager of Assassins, Amanda Murphy. Amanda is the ninja that makes sure everything that needs to be done is taken care of, before anyone even realized there was a problem. Just imagine, one person in this cast is responsible for writing the schedules, communicating between the creative teams, taking notes for the director, keeping a eye on the actors, making sure everyone is where they need to be, and making sure everyone knows exactly what they're suppose to be doing. I know that she has about a million more jobs, but in order to actually write everything she's responsible for, I would have to fill up at least three more blog posts. This girl is responsible for all of these tasks in addition to her school work, and she pulls it off flawlessly; she is basically a behind the scenes Beyonce. I know I can't even begin to fathom what a huge responsibility stage-managing is, so I wanted to hear it from Super Girl herself.

Throughout my life of performing, I have always been told to 'take care of myself' and 'always work to make myself better'. I feel like to the untrained eye, this industry seems extremely 'I, I, I' and 'me, me, me' focused. This idea might explain why in most movies the theater kids are portrayed as the uppity, self-centered narcissists (I mean come on, I know most of us can relate to Sharpay Evans on a personal level). An actor's job is built on introspection, on looking inside ourselves to find our motivation, but sometimes we become so focused on what's inside us, we forget that we are part of an ensemble.

The process of stepping into a new role is definitely not something that can happen over night; it's something that an actor must gradually enter into. There is so much for a performer to learn about a new character; an actor must grasp an understanding about the role's background, who this person is, what they believe, who they trust, how they carry themselves (I could write a thousand more components, but let's be honest, none of us have time for that). Now imagine you have been cast in a new show, and your character isn't even a person (per say), but instead you are an idea, a concept; what if you were history? For Jordan Lunstead, a senior at Auburn University, this hypothetical situation is all too real. Jordan will be playing the 'Balladeer' in this production of Assassins, and has the responsibility of telling the story of each and every assassin, through song. In order to wrap my mind around such a complex character, I sat down with my friend, Jordan and asked him a couple questions about the challenging process that lies ahead of him.