Empire State of Mind

Cue Jay-Z and Alicia Keys... Because I will be going to New York! Concrete jungle where dreams are made of, there's nothing you can't do... you can bet I'll be playing this song to exhaustion from now until my trip.

I'd been keeping track of flights this summer/fall, to see how feasible it would be to take little vacation. Definitely have the vacation hours saved up, and not having to pay rent helps, and I'm single and in my 20s and have no attachments, so now seemed like a good time. I actually still need to fly outside the country and visit the Philippines for the first time, but I've always had plane phobia. However, a continental flight doesn't seem as bad as 16 hours across the Pacific. 

Plus this theatre loving kid really wants to see a show! 

So this week I found out that Southwest Airlines was having a three day sale, with round trip flights to the east coast for $240! From the fares I'd seen before and from talking to my JAWP, this was a good deal. I also wanted to visit Chicago too, as I have a first cousin out there with her family. It's not NYC, but at least I could visit family and there'd still be plenty to do and see. Maybe catch a game at Wrigley Field! Initially I was thinking I'd only take one trip, and I ended up leaning towards Chicago. I could stay with my cousin and not have to worry about hotel fare, which was a huge plus. So I threw out the idea to my mom, who then talked to my cousin, and then it was game on as she told me to order the tickets. So our late summer trip is a go!

This happened on Thursday evening, which left three hours in the online sale. But I still felt a pull to visit NYC... I mean, how often would I find a round-trip flight to NYC for that low? My biggest issue was going alone, as I don't know anyone in the city and knew no one to travel with. But then with a little nudge from JAWP, I decided to go for it. Picked a few days in October, and bought my tickets. Felt so great! I still have no idea where I'll be staying, or what I'll be doing exactly, but that's part of the excitement. I'll work out the details in the meantime and get some planning of all the sights I want to see. 

And of course, I will find ways to see Broadway shows on Broadway! At least one. My number one priority right now is The Book of Mormon. Tickets are pretty pricey, as it's Broadway and it just won a buttload of Tony Awards... but to say I got to see the smash musical (of which I adore the soundtrack) with the original cast (fingers crossed) at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre - which was home to Spring Awakening?!?! 

Bring it on. 

Theatre Awards

Right now, I'm sitting at home watching the Tony Awards - which brings me to point out one benefit of living at home for the time being, which is that I can watch basic cable TV (which my cousin and I chose to live without in our apartment). So it feels kinda appropriate that as I'm watching these theatre awards that I get an email from the producer of the musical that I was in... turns out, I've been nominated for a ACT Aubrey Award in the category of "Minor Supporting Actor"! Which is pretty nifty. Makes me feel like Robin Scherbatzky when she was nominated for a LAMA. ;)

Anyways - ACT (Association of Community Theatres) is a group of 6 San Diego independent theatre companies, and apparently they had a nominations banquet earlier this afternoon for shows that were produced in the 2010-2011 season. I knew that our theatre company had submitted names for nominations, and I figured that the star of the show ("Joseph") would be nominated for Lead Actor (and he was) amongst some of the other super talented cast mates with featured roles. So when I got the email (and when the list was posted on Pickwick Players Facebook group), my first reaction was "jigga-wha?" And then "alright cool."

My part in the show was super minor obviously, but it's nice that the directors (I'm assuming) submitted me. And it's interesting because not all the brothers received a nomination. I remember hearing it discussed that you could only be submitted for one category - i.e. the actor who portrayed both Pharoah and one of the brothers could only be submitted once, which was apparently in the "Major Supporting Actor" category for his Pharaoh role (and he got the deserved nomination). So stoked that the cast/crew got recognized and that I got to be part of it all.

The awards dinner is at the end of July, and it truly is cool just to be nominated. I'll probably go just to see some of the cast again and hang... and have some adult beverages. :D

Oh, and as for the Tony Awards - I have a mancrush on NPH. He's awesome. And I also really want to visit New York and see all these shows! Especially The Book of Mormon.