"A hustlers' work is never done"
As Ne-Yo proudly states in one of his hits "A hustlers' work is never done" and that's exactly my sentiment when it comes to life in New York. I feel like no matter how much I get done during the day there's always something left-over for me to do for the next day. I can't say that it's a bad thing to never feel caught up, but this feeling does contribute to a large amount of stress.
After my mom left life returned to normal and the first thing I did was go to this industry reading of a play that was featured as part of the Ken Davenport Producer's Perspective Pro. It was called "Keeping In Touch" and featured two different actors. It was a story of two wonderful friends who ultimately stayed in touch throughout the years. It reminded me so much of my friend Joe from Stony Brook. At first it seemed to start out as a confused love story, however, as time went by their love, appreciation, and respect grew into a special friendship that endured until the day she died from cancer. It was a good show, however, I felt considering the current-day audience, it was a long-shot to believe that an attention-span could last long enough to enjoy a fine piece of theatre such as this.
Since I now was without a real project (I had released my book just prior to the arrival of my mother), I found that now was the time to really focus on getting a job. Through experience I have found that the act of applying for jobs is kind of the worst. Putting yourself out there and feeling completely vulnerable and worthless has never been one of my fortés, however the job search must go on, and letting emotions get in the way of success is not the New York mentality and is not at all wise.
So one day in my attempt at getting serious I decided to start looking at jobs on Craigslist. On the spot I created a theatrical resumé and sent in a headshot to this character birthday party company. Well, on account of my headshot (which is over ten years old, sssh don't tell), I was selected to go to this interview out in LONG ISLAND. Initially I thought that it was just a hop, skip, and a jump from the city, but then I learned that it was quite far and would require me to take the LIRR all the way out to Floral Park and then take a cab the rest of the way. Unfortunately Michelle did not budget enough time or money for this elaborate trek and in the end had to send a forfeiting text and ended up in a library reading her beloved New York Times.
On the way back from Long Island I decided to take the subway back to my apartment and was pleasantly surprised to see Celia Keenan-Bolger riding by herself in my train car. At first I looked at her kind of cockeyed and said pretty quietly, "Is it you?" She answered by explaining, "Yes." To that I just started gushing and couldn't believe that I was riding in the same car as a Tony winner. Currently she is on Broadway starring in "To Kill a Mockingbird" with Jeff Daniels and playing the character "Scout." I saw her perform in the "25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" as "Olive Ostrosky" and I also saw her speak at BroadwayCon. She played Clara in "The Light in the Piazza" in the out of town tryout and then she was abruptly let go and replaced by Kelly O'Hara. My heart broke for her. Meeting her was such a wonderful experience and I am still in awe of how nice she is. Not really knowing what to do and being altogether starstruck, I gave her one of my business cards and told her that she should go and visit my website. She told me that she would, and do you want to know a crazy thing, I believe her.
