Oh man, anybody ever have flashbacks to high school.  You start doing something, and you realize, "I've been here before."  That's how I felt on Sat. while helping build our set with the set designer, Jim Vozzella.  I haven't built a set since senior year of high school.  Sanding?  Who knows the last time, but I am pretty sure that I am great at it. :)
Jim's parents were nice enough to let us build in their garage.  Remember neighborhoods?  I barely do.  It was so charming to have parents around and dogs and neighbors and kids.
Jim, is AMAZING.  He built our set pieces, and I just came to help sand and paint.  Oh man I would have been lost without him.  Seriously.  I have no idea what to buy at the hardware store.  So thank heavens for Jim.  Also, he was kind enough to make Chicken Vesuvius. That's right ladies, this man cooks.  Come to the show and I will introduce you. :)
I really felt like I was working on a school project.  It was the best ever.  Mostly because Jim sent me home with leftovers.  :)

We have a new video!  Check it out!  :)

We started choreography last night.  Matt Colton is helping us work through things.  And it is a real adventure.  He showed up wearing his choreography wig and bandana and an additional one for someone else to wear.  Luckily Brian was willing to take him up on that.  Matt looked exactly like the character Sonny from Xanadu.  I'm sure it helped his creative process. :)
It's always amazing how long choreography takes.  We got through two songs and a tiny bit of another.  Both of the songs were ballads.  It was strange to me how hard it is to choreograph a ballad.  The songs are already so still that we don't want to loose the emotional with a lot of movement, but that means we become limited in our choices or at least that's how it feels.  I think it looks pretty good, and is fitting.  Now we all just have to remember it.
We are choreographing off of a track.  The interesting part is that nobody but me knows the music yet.  So they are simultaneously learning the song and the dance.  Probably not the easiest way to put it all together, but when you don't have a Music Director on the scene, you gotta do what you gotta do.
We have another choreo reho tonight and a run through.  Adventure awaits...Cougars! Rahn Rahn Rahn!

Gosh darn it!  I thought we were through with this rehearsal space malarky, but turns out, nope.  We tried to book Rough House out for our Wednesday rehos but no go.  They had people already booked in them.  DANG IT!  So we are running out of choices.  I contacted the Annoyance and they have space, but it is pretty pricey.  Alaina Hoffman (plays Jennifer), suggested a place called the Solarium in Rodgers Parks.  So I sent them an email to see what's up.
I am building part of the set this weekend with our set designer Jim Vozzella.  I'm glad part of it is getting done early in the game, but I am started to get a bit overwhelmed with the financial side of things.  The set, rehearsal space, liability insurance, and costumes are all hitting at once.  Plus Chuck is paying the singers on the boat to record the music, an unanticipated expense. <sigh>
It is so clear to me why people don't produce their own shows.  I send out into the universe a vision of full houses and breaking even.

Oh man, how happy am I?  As happy as a clam, or peach, or however that saying goes.  Rebecca, our new Cougar, is FANTASTIC.  She so adds life to the character of Lana and kept all of us laughing at rehearsal last night. We are starting to find the little moments that make this show great, and I really feel like the show itself it on the right track.
Now getting people into the seats...I AM FREAKING OUT!  I've been that actor that casually gives out postcards to my show, that doesn't really see it as my responsibility to push the show I am in, and now I am on the other side.  It is SO clear to me how important it is that actors push the show, especially when it is a show without a huge budget. 
Ugg...it becomes so much more important when you see how much posters and postcards cost.  Granted within the last few years I have gotten more savy about promoting just myself, so perhaps it is gaining some maturity as an actor that helps me realize the importance of promotion.  I have been that actor that takes posters and lets them sit in my car or house, and now I am on the other side and it pains me to think of that happening.  Literally hurts my being.  It's probably pretty classic for a producer to be freaking out that people get in the seats, but man it is really scary.  The art, no prob.  The biz, eeek!

Finally we have our new Cougar!  We are welcoming to our cast Rebecca Montalvo.  A Texan, just like me, Rebecca was referred to us through Dionna Griffin-Irons, who runs the diversity casting at Second City.  John Hildreth, a Second City director, suggested I contact Dionna, and voila we found ourselves a Cougar.
So now I'm on to new obstacles, like rehearsal space.  Turns out my dining room isn't as big as I thought it was.  At least not when there is 8 people in it.  So the pursuit for a space has been interesting.  I put out feelers again.  I like the idea of these long fuzzy tentacle things reaching out into the world.  Most places run around $10-15/hr.  But when you multiply that by 3 hours and then again by twice a week for 6 weeks, you start talking a heap of cash.  My friend Scott Allen Luke, who printed our postcards, suggested I talk to Rough House Theater.  They are in Logan Square off Milwaukee and turns out they are the cheapest rental in the city.  Horray! We start rehearsing there tonight.  So it will be a grand adventure.
We got our postcards and posters from the printer today www.urbanimaging.com.  They look great, and I can't wait to put them out places.
Almost all of the music is complete.  We have two reprises to solidify and one more song, but that's it.  I can listen to our soundtrack on my iTunes and stay in a state of perpetual Cougar love.
You know, the kind the rest of you will be in when you come and see the show!  :)  Let's do this thing.

Horray! I am so in love with this poster.  Scott Williams out did himself.  Really this is great.  I hope you guys like it too.  It's pretty sexy.

It's hard to tell but Justin has claw marks down his back. Super Sexy.  And he wasn't totally naked in the shoot but somehow Scott got him to look super naked.  I swear he added a butt to the bottom.  Either that or I wasn't paying attention when Greg was taking pictures. 

Hey Cougars Lovers!
So still on the hunt for that new hot Cougar to take over Mo's part.  I reached out to Teatro Vista and Luna, and also John Hildreth from Lifeline Theater was kind enough to offer some names.  I will find that special Cougar!  She's just waiting in the wilderness...
We have our first rehearsal today!  Hooray!  It's gonna be sassy.  I'm certain of it.
Also we got the first draft of our poster by Scott Williams Designs.  Holy Moly does that thing look sexy and awesome.  I couldn't be more pleased.  Can't wait to show it once the final is done.
On the music front, we're starting to make some real headway.  We have only a few songs left.  And as soon as Chuck Malone stops wrestling squids, we'll be all done.  :)

So I am having a "heck of a" and "hell of a" time trying to find a replacement for Monique Madrid.  It seems that Latin Actresses are difficult to find.  I contact Lori Diaz and Wendy Mateo and they are both too busy.  for a hot second I thought I had the role cast with Amrita Dhaliwal, and I was going to re-write the character as Indian.  Alas, she will be on tour for Stir Friday Nights in April.  Wendy and Lori were both kind enough to offer some additional names.  I also talked to my agent about possible people to suggest, and sent our PR Guru Steve Hickson a casting notice.  So if anyone out there in the virtual void knows anyone send 'em my way.
In exciting news, our press release went out today!  So "we have to do a show now" as Steve Hickson would say. There is no backing down.  It is time do a show people.  Also we have new viral vids up on our website, or just look at them below. :)  There are for certain, KITSCH!

So in our world of technology it would seem that promo vids are a must. I find this irritating only due to my lack of knowledge about how to actually make and edit a video.  But that hasn't stopped me.  I have now made two, count them, two Cougars! promo vids.  I'm not sure I would list quality as a word to describe them, but I would list awesome.  I have now learned how to take video from my flip and edit in iMovie.  Hooray!  Our first video we shot with the help of my buddy Jake Garringer.  Jake has a film degree from Columbia, and therefore has opinions.  Which is helpful, when I have no idea what I'm doing.  We shot in Jewel-Osco guerilla style.  Turns out that is pretty hard to do when you keep having to walk up and down the same aisle over and over again.  People eventually start to notice.  I'm not really one to break the rules much.  So I was FREAKING OUT that we were going to get kicked out of Jewel.  So the first few takes I was like a dead zombie delivering the lines and getting the hell out of there.  But after I calmed down, or rather Jake forced me to "get over it", I started...ACTING!
Justin Schumann, who plays Meat in the show, was also in the first vid.  As yet again, sweet young Meat.  We managed to do the shoot in about 20 minutes and then Jake and I figured out iMovie together.  I think it looks pretty dang good.  The only catch is we don't have any music to underscore it.  Doesn't seem very fair to steal something that copyrighted wehn you are putting up a musical.  So Chuck Malone is supposed to be putting together something porno-y.
The second video I made all on my lonesome with my new found knowledge.  That video seems a little bit more wonky, but I think that's part of it's charm.  I shot it in my house by myself and then edited it.  Man I hope people think it's funny.  I'm waiting on music for that one as well.  :)
I know.  You're all on tender hooks.