So I wore heels yesterday, and I am wearing heels again today. I am going to start making a habit out of this. Ya see what had happened was I moved to China. The first question that I am inevitably asked is "Were you the tallest person there?" or some variation of that sort. I mean yes I am tall but hell I am tall for America too. I am roughly 5'10" tall so no matter where I am I am looking at the tops of heads. Of course it was worse in China bc they are just smaller in general. Especially women, my girl friends were a good 5 inches shorter than me and almost half my size width wise. It was definitely an adjustment. It was really nice getting back to America where big girls are all around and appreciated. But anywho, while in China I only whore high heels 1 time, seriously. I wore them on Thanksgiving Day. I figured that is as American a day as I was going to get.
That was a funny day in general. I was the only American at my company so I ended up having Thanksgiving dinner at the Sheraton on the West side of the city with my friends Lindsay and Rob. So basically I had TDay with a couple of Brits in China. I imagine this year will be a lot different. It was tons of fun teaching my Chinese students about turkey day. I am pretty sure the only thing one of my students learned the whole year was that turkeys say GOBBLE GOBBLE. I had them draw the hand-print turkey thing. They loved it. I still have a stack of them that I brought back. While explaining the whole tradition about being with your family and such they were all so confused as to why I was not going to be with my family...which led to a time zone discussion which led to some serious Chinese mind-blowing!
Anyway, turkey day 2009 was the only day I wore heels. The country was too dirty and I was already too tall, so there you have it. Well I haven't had a chance to wear them much since I have been back. Working at the toy store isn’t the best place to wear them...BUT now that I am back at an office job, and really because I have retrieved them all out of storage, they are back in rotation.
There is another reason as to why I am wearing them, I found out last night that I was, indeed, cast in the show I auditioned for on Sunday night. I am absolutely elated. I have wanted to get back on stage for years...well there was an on-stage excursion in China where I sang and Oasis song in front of 100+ Chinese people at a factory grand opening but that is a horse of a different color! The last show I was on stage for was the satirical For Whom the Southern Bell Tolls a parody of The Glass Menagerie. It was fun. Other than that is has been about 4 years. I have been full force behind the scenes stage managing but I have always been a fan of the front.
I have been involved with theatre since age 8, well all my life really. I started dance classes at 3 with Betty Stockman. Oh bless how I loved those finale performances and the great costumes. Then when I was 8 my parents enrolled me in the youth theatre at Workshop on Bull Street. Oh my, I was absolutely in love. I used to perform for my grandmother, Nanny, all the time. I would totally ask her to sit in the kitchen while I would make commercials and would do dramatic readings etc. Well once I started those classes I never stopped. In middle school I was so involved I used to cut class to organize the costume closet. I was stage managing and assistant directing and sewing costumes and doing everything I could possibly get my hands on. I was in love.
In high school I had some wonderful opportunities. I was cast as Amelia Tilford in The Children's Hour in 10th grade with a smattering of other parts. When I was sent to boarding school-ohhh yeah- I was cast as Joann in our drama competition piece from Vanities. We did really well in the first round but then placed 5th overall. I was not really worried about that seeing as from the first round to the second round our school had taken a trip to Italy, awesome, where I was snitched on for drinking and was suspended, not awesome, for two weeks. Dean Booth let me compete before having to go home--umm my bad, it was Italy what can I say.
Anywho. When I returned to Dreher my senior year I opted on early dismissal instead of taking drama. My priorities were waaay out of whack back the- hindsight right! It wasn't until I started taking classes at Midlands Tech to transfer back to USC; there was an enrollment at USC then a not so proper self-unenrollement. I took a class from Christopher Cook. He was trying to start a new theatre company, High Voltage, in Columbia. His first project was for our class. He adapted a script of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and we performed it at MTC. It was amazing in all its simplicity!
Chris and I were soon inseparable when it came to theatre. After that show we worked on 6 shows back-to-back for the next year. I was in theatre heaven. He also adapted a version of Reservoir Dogs that I was in; still today one of my favorite shows ever. After that He cast me as Cavale from the Sam Shepard/Patti Smith crazy town combo Cowboy Mouth. It was the most neurotic script I had ever read and that was the strangest role I have ever had...part of me wants to do it again. What do you say Chris CBM version 2.0. HA
So I owe a lot to Chris for getting me back into theatre. Also while I was SM'ing, lighting, sounding and costuming the High Voltage show Sundance I was reintroduced to a couple of people, friends of friends casual acquaintances. Well one of those persons ended up being one of the most important people in my life to date, one Miss EG Heard. Yep, she was cast in that show along with my good friend Patrick Kelly, and another blog regular Madeleine. It was the beginning of so many beautiful friendships. From that led to my association with the youth theatre Armed Chair at Trustus, which led to my becoming a Trustus Company member, which led to my running the box office for a summer before becoming their publicity manager for a season or 2! Sheesh. Apparently I have dedicated most of my life to theatre. When people ask me why I didn't major in theatre I tell them that I already had, I majored in theatre every day of my life.
All that to say, I am wearing high heels these days because soon I will start rehearsing the role of 1960s housewife hottie Tracy Ann McClain. She is young and good looking and just a little bit on the flakey side...ah just how I like 'em! I am really excited. I am going to channel the looks of Christina Hendricks from Mad Men while toning up the body and down the smarts.
I will keep an ongoing update for you. So you get to take the journey with me and one day I will find you in the audience!
xoxox
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