Rainy Days and Tuesdays Always...

A) Make me wax nostalgic.

B) Make me wax my legs.

C) Make me want to nap.

D) Make me spend lots of time doing computer things, and then make me all sentimental about how lucky we are, and how touched we are by people's kindness.

The correct answer is B. (But since D was also a valid choice, I'm going to focus on that one.)

Making something and sharing it with other people is tough. Whether it's a homemade dinner for a loved one, or a meaningful wall plaque from the paint-your-own-pottery place, or a poem, or a play...putting your thoughts and heart and energy into something you believe in, and then putting it out there to the world is humbling. And inspiring.

You feel naked. It's like pressing "send" on an email that took you days to compose. Once you press that button it's out there. It's in someone else's hands to analyze and judge. Or maybe to appreciate and support.

Getting our play to Piccolo Spoleto has been like that. Asking people to give us their time and talents, their money and rehearsal space, their Facebook shout-outs and loaner cars. It's humbling to ask, for sure. But it's even more humbling when people come through because they believe in what we're doing and want to help.

These last few weeks have been emotional ones for us, largely for this very reason. Watching something come to life in a new way, brining in new people to make it happen, hearing other artists' ideas about how they would like to see the play unfold...it's all inspiring.

We are so grateful for the support we're receiving from friends, family and total strangers (thank you, Mr. Petrie of Cary, NC!) It makes us work harder. It make us more careful. And it makes us both excited and terrified to make everyone proud.

So, come see the show, if you're able. There's a link to purchase tickets on our website (www.thesalvagecompany.com), and we'd love to hear what you think.

Highs and Lows from a Rainy Monday

(Disclaimer: I am aware that the weather may not have been rainy where you were yesterday. I hear my LA friends were a teeny bit warm, and my Charleston peeps were about to drown at the intersection of Calhoun and Rutledge. The "rainy Monday" in the title of this blog only refers to the weather in New York City, and more specifically, the Upper West Side. No disrespect to those of you who did not have a steady, calming rain yesterday.)

The daily schedule of an actor widely varies from day to day. Last week, for example, I had several days chock-full of auditions, callbacks, rehearsals, and actor-themed errands. Days that began with the following conversation:

Me: (sternly) I absolutely cannot do any extra errands today.

Dean: (drinking coffee) OK.

Me: (defensively) I mean it. I don't have the time.

Dean: (not looking up from the paper) OK.

Me: (on the brink of a freak out) So, don't even ask.

Dean: (yawning) Were you saying something?

Yesterday, I had an audition later in the day, so I got to spend the day doing other stuff. First, I made another trip to Kinko's to copy scripts for Dean. (Shout out to Dean Poynor- he's had lots of really good theatres request scripts lately.) Finally, the people at Kinko's understand that we are married, and that while the scripts are copyrighted, it is OKAY for me to copy them. I had to forward them an email from Dean that began, "Hey Baby...could you please copy the attached script for me," to prove I was legit. Of course, now Renaldo seems super attentive when I go in, but I'm afraid clearing things up would affect the level of service I now enjoy.

Dean is the cook in our house, but he's been working late recently, so I made dinner last night. I did. I found a crock pot recipe, made a list, and went to the Trader Joe's for supplies. (While I love Trader Joe's, it's just not the same without Two Buck Chuck- grocery stores here can't sell wine, and it makes me wonder why I went an extra block out of my way to shop there. Maybe for the frozen rice.) So, I made this healthy, chicken stew-y thing, and it was very...healthy. So healthy, in fact, it prompted Dean to say, "With all these good ingredients, I wonder why it's not tastier." This was not a slam, but a shared confusion. Why wasn't it tastier? I followed the directions. OK, I added some extra veggies, but I mostly followed the directions. I take it as a sign that I should practice drinking wine and looking cute while Dean cooks for us. We already know I'm good at that.

On the way home from the store, a guy was walking ahead of me with a bouquet of roses. He was carrying them pointing down, so as he walked, rose petals would occasionally fall onto the sidewalk for me to walk on as I followed behind him. It was pretty sweet for him to do that for a total stranger. It made the walk home from the store much more regal.

Today, I'm going to take some time to get to know the new program I bought to organize my mailing lists. It's called Bento, like the lunch box from Japanese restaurants. Then, it's off to an audition I've been called in for, so I'll get those sides prepared, too. I'm working from home today!

It's almost lunch time, and last night's leftovers are calling me. But I might ignore them, because Japanese food is calling just a tiny bit louder.