I walked into a room full of people surrounding a table stocked with Hershey's candy bars, lollipops and flyers for The Blank Theatre's Young Playwrights Festival. For a moment, I hesitated-was this where I belonged, in a building a couple blocks away from the Hollywood Walk of Fame?-but before I could back out, someone spotted me and asked, "Are you here for the 'Supermarket of Lost' table read?" and I said yes.

Boston is really the only city where you can be leaving the Boston Symphony Hall after seeing the Boston Pops and be walking alongside Boston Red Sox fans leaving Fenway Park. This past Thursday I had the opportunity to see my Broadway idol, Sutton Foster, with the Boston Pops.

Some of the most iconic musicals are inspired by American Heroes.

One of the most important skills in musical theatre is singing. The need for the ability to sing in musical theatre is why most of my friends participate in choir, besides generally enjoying it.

Destiny's Child pushed for women to be independent in 2001 with Independent Woman, and I am pushing for actors to be independent today with this blog. Independence is a quality few people possess, a quality I am thankful enough to have, and a quality I hope to instill upon people. This quality is useful in almost any situation. But truthfully, I think it can be most useful to actors. 

In Orlando, the Fringe festival is kind of a big deal. It's a time when the theatre community comes together to perform, watch shows, network, eat from food trucks, and celebrate the arts. I saw three shows this weekend at the festival: On The Line, Burn Job, and Simpleton.

Lion King Jr. was performed at Parkway Middle School of the Arts on May 18th and 19th.  After five whole months of hard work, dedication, and practice, an absolutely fantastic show came together. This is my last show at Parkway Middle School of the Arts, and I could not have asked for a better experience as my last memory in such a wonderful performing arts program. 

Show teasers allow the opportunity to publicize a production as well as create anticipation for opening night!

House down… Curtains opening… Go! Cue 634… Go!  Showtime!!!

This past Friday, we reached the end of our journey with Bye Bye Birdie! I know we will all miss being a part of this wonderful show, but we were so happy to share it with great audiences all three nights! Running a show is truly so different than the rehearsal process, because there is no room to restart and everyone is giving a 100% to their character that we normally don't see in rehearsals. 

Hello. My name is Aimee and I will be your tour guide to anything and everything Millbrook Playhouse. I am super excited to share my experiences this summer with you.  Millbrook Playhouse is a unique theater that used to be a barn. It has been open for over 50 years, and I have been with the barn for 11 of those years! (Including this summer season) This summer I will be in Peace Love and Cupcakes, The Little Mermaid, and the Teen Performing Arts Academy's production of Into The Woods Jr. I will write about performances, rehearsals, and the fabulous adventures with my wacky friends. 

Performers love the stage. Actors love every single second they get onstage, every moment under the spotlight. It's the best feeling in the world for us. But the worst thing to be in this highly competitive theatre world is specialized in only one aspect of theatre. For instance, only being trained in one style of dance isn't going to help you out in the long run when you audition for a dance company. The same is for performers. Stop performing. Quit thinking that it's okay to only be an actor, a singer, a dancer. Learn every aspect of theatre, every talent you can. This may seem annoying, but as an artist, it will help you in the long run to be knowledgeable about as much as you can. 

Hello!  It has been a long while!  These last few weeks I have been studying, stressing, and screaming.  Four AP tests,  one standardized test, and Annie auditions later, I'm back and ready to discuss all things theatre with you guys!

I'm still in high school and as a junior we just learned about the perils of sex and parenting. As a health class project, we were assigned electronic babies to care for over the course of two days. So how does this correlate to performing? … Responsibility!

Performing in musicals definitely has its perks. You can earn money, spend time with friends, strengthen skills, make audiences happy, and of course do what you love! But there is one serious challenge that all actors/actresses are all too familiar with: sore throats. Sore throats are very common, especially with the tentative weather patterns and sudden temperature changes happening now. So to help you cure a sore throat and go back to jamming out to Broadway each day, here are a few tips of my own, along with some other facts I learned after doing some research.

In a tight-nit community like that which I am from, the members of the town are all very close. Adults and children alike collaborate during sporting events, stream clean-ups, and fun-runs. This dynamic within the community also means that the members of the town play an important role in our school's drama department. Schools with less money in the theatre budget are often prone to do-it-yourself projects and community outreach, telling a story with minimal financial input. Coming from a small, rural community, myself and my fellow actors are accustomed to assisting in most if not all aspects of the high school drama program. However, we would not be able to create our productions without the help of friends and family. Through experience, I have learned that making a production is often so deeply rooted in the community you have supporting you. 

Every year towards the end of spring, Bay Shore High School puts on an annual Cabaret Night. Cabaret is basically just a talent show, with each performer doing their own act with piano, drum, and bass accompaniment. There's one catch: you can only perform a song from a musical or movie.

The Last Five Years is one of the most creative concepts for a musical I have ever seen. Last weekend, I had the opportunity to see this amazing show presented by the Short North Stage celebrating their fifth year since the start of this production company.

High Schoolers hold a wide range of responsibilities.

As the audience walks into the lobby of the performing arts center, we are greeted with glittery visions of teacups and saucers, large animated flowers, and welcoming oversized characters beckoning us with which to take a photo-op. Life is good and happy...just like a Disney Parade.

As a regular participant in theater throughout my community, I rarely get a break. Often, I audition for a role before the show I am currently cast in finishes running. In March, I somehow managed to pull off being in two shows at the same time; further exemplifying my self-titled and extremely suiting phrase 'High School Theater Addict'. I would not doubt for even a fraction of a second that I can be found stating, 'I can't...I have rehearsal,' more often than anything else. And while my weekend and afterschool schedule differs from most people my age, it affords me the benefit of having the most diverse medley of friends, along with the ability to learn skills that are absolutely priceless to me, as I am absolutely in love with performing.

Auditions. The thing theatre kids hate most. Auditions cause massive anxiety, stress, sleepless nights. They are hellish and terrifying. Regardless of the hate we all feel for auditions, this blog is dedicated to advising theatre kids to love auditions. Wait… is that even possible? Anything's Possible! Loving auditions can be the best thing theatre kids learn. Even though every person in the theatre world seems to hate them with a passion, learn to be different: love what everyone else hates.

Instead of a written final, our teacher has made a compilation of monologues, raps, and a play that brings Shakespeare's Hamlet to a modern day understanding. 

"Oh, the thinks you can think when you think about...SEUSS!!" Dr. Seuss, as most of us know, was one of the most iconic children's book authors. From One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish,  Blue Fish to There's a Wocket in my Pocket, Dr. Seuss never did fail to amuse children. In 2000, Seussical the Musical debuted on Broadway. Written by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, the musical incorporates all the memory-making Dr. Seuss stories such as Horton Hears a Who, Gertrude McFuzz, The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, and Oh, The Thinks You Can Think! Seussical the Musical was written to carry on the legacy of Dr. Seuss and to grant good times to anyone who sees it, and Susquehanna Stage Company located in Marietta, Pennsylvania, hopes to do just that.

In every show, there is a force behind the scenes that is never acknowledged--and I don't mean techies. Some of us are lucky enough to have supportive moms, and it makes a world of difference. It's a thankless job, and sometimes even disrespected. I just wanted to take a moment to say thank you.