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Being back at the Hypnodrome felt like being back home. I always love the people and I always LOVE exploring that dark, forbidden place that I do not get to play with when I do children’s theatre. Head Trips was no exception to the fun. I got to play a green fairy, be a sexy femme fatale, and a Jesus seeking 6-year old afraid of Halloween. Now that’s what I call a good night at the theatre.

Take seven female playwrights, seven female directors and 30 actors of all persuasions, give them 24 hours to write, rehearse, and perform seven new plays, and you get BOOT CAMP! Seriously, when it was all over I felt like days, weeks, had passed. I was exhausted, and elated, and now I know I can memorize an entire play in 7 hours. It was an incredibly amazing experience. One I would definitely do again. The group at Woman’s Will is a wonderful collection of exciting and talented people. The motto of the day was have fun, and we sure did!

I learned a lot, about physical theatre and myself, working on this show. The gang at Ragged Wing is incredible. They have wonderful vision, amazing talent, and all of them have these shining personalities. Even when I was having a bad day, one of them would come to rehearsal with a smile and it was contagious. The coolest thing about this show was the physical work we got into as a cast. Our choreographer and Ariel, Amy Sass, is one of the most awesome physical actors I have had the pleasure of working with. She ran rehearsals dedicated to contact improv and View Points, and I really felt my self-awareness and trust expanding.

Have I mentioned I LOVE working with SF Shakes? I got a major workout during this tour. Not only did I get the once in a lifetime chance to play both Dromios, but our wonderful director Rebecca Ennals decided to produce this tour in the style of Commedia dell'arte. Dromio was the Arlecchino stock character.

This show was a wonderful experience. Not only did I get to tackle another accent, me Irish brogue is in bloody good shape now, but the company I had the opportunity to work with was an absolute joy. Our director, Jeanie Forte, was incredible. She was always honest, gave great actor notes, and really created a believable descent into the depths of human pain. And I love the script. It's Eugene O'Neill's best work and one of my all time favorites. It was really amazing to have the chance to work on a great piece of literature. Working at the Tao House was also amazing. The Tao House in Danville, CA is where O'Neill lived for a time and wrote Long Day's Journey Into Night. The audiences were so appreciative and hearing O'Neill's words echo off the stones of his house made for an exciting eerie experience.

One of the funniest shows of which I have ever had the pleasure of being a part. I played the ingenue Olivia Darnell, based on Olivia de Havilland the famous movie actress, in Ken Ludwig's 1930's romp through Hollywood. The premise is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of director Max Reinhardt's 1936 Warner Brothers film A Midsummer Night's Dream. Through some luck of magic the real Oberon and Puck show up, and of course chaos ensues. This was definitely one of the savviest casts, comedic timing wise. I had so much fun on this show. Director Bill Wolak was an absolute pleasure to work with. He is very much an actor's director, and gave insightful, workable notes.

Page to Stage is the brain child of CalaverasRep Artistic Director John Ribovich. It's a literacy program where the actors travel to schools and perform scenes from literary works. The stories we did were: The Fisherman and his Wife (Brothers Grimm); The Wizard of Oz (L. Frank Baum); Paul Bunyan (adapted by Louis Untermeyer); Treasure Island (Robert Louis Stevenson). My partner, Bill Olsen, was a lot of fun to work with, and as always with these kind of tours I absolutely loved performing for the kids.

This series of original one acts was written by the Pear Avenue Theatre's playwright group; a very talented group of writers. I played a music-writing hippie trying to reconnect with her brother, an outgoing girlfriend, and a lost pseudo-goth who falls for the wrong guy, again. It was a wonderful experience to be able to work with the playwrights, ask them questions, and get insights into the individual plays. We also had the wonderful opportunity to perform at the Tao House, Eugene O'Neill's house in Danville, CA.

This production was such an amazing experience. The women I had the chance to work with were incredible people, and very talented actresses. Our director, Lee Sankowich, was also an absolute joy and pleasure to work with. I fit right into Nancy. She was a jaded, sarcastic writer, who could see through the phony characters of the women around her, and always looked out for her friends. And Clare Boothe Luce wrote some very funny dry-wit moments that I just ate up.

I got to combine two great loves of mine with this production: Shakespeare and performing for kids. I also had the chance to play a character I wouldn't normally be cast as: Launce. It was a 6 month tour around the Bay Area, performing in schools, with an occasional trip down to Southern California. The cast really gelled, being on the road so long, and we all had a lot of fun. I had the opportunity to hone my Shakespeare timing, and was pleased with the honest responses we got from the students. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

I got to cover myself with baby powder every night for this early David Auburn piece, and wear a cast! A dream come true! Jessica was a photographer obsessed with old historic buildings, and hence obsessed with saving them. She would sneak onto demolition sites to take pictures and get dust all over herself, which is where she broke her arm. RTE was a fun group to work with. They were always supportive and eager. And the theatre space itself is beautiful.

Blood Bucket Ballyhoo was an evening of three blood soaked Grand Guignol plays. I played cold hearted, man eating Claudine in The Drug adapted by Eddie Muller (from the play La Drogue by René Berton) who gets her eyes gouged out in an opium den, and Madame Toulouse in Robert Keefe's A Slight Tingling a slightly off her rocker opera singer who has her metal bridgework ripped unceremoniously from her mouth. Good times. It was my first time working that heavily with stage blood and man did I have fun!

The 'Briefs' is a night of sketch comedy, usually revolving around a theme, performed in the basement of a pizzeria right off the campus of UC Berkeley. This year was the 'How-To' show. I worked with amazing talent, amazing playwrights, an amazing director, and amazing support. I played a neurotic scientist in How to Survive a Goldfish Attack, a very supportive girlfriend scared by the ultimate question: What would you do if the zombies attacked? in How to Ask the Scary Question, and a tight-legged 9 year old business women in How to Gain Controlling Interest. I laughed so hard doing this show I thought I'd burst my spleen.

Little Women was my last show at CTC, and that was sort of sad for me. I was leaving some very wonderful people behind. But I got the opportunity to play a beautiful historic character, work with some very talented people, including the student actors, and go out on a high note. Marmie was challenging in that my daughters bonded so well, sometimes I felt the way a real mother must feel; kind of on the outskirts of all the inside jokes and play. I had a really good time though, and will always have a special place in my heart for this production.

I played the geeky girl who wants to get the guy so she makes a wish and turns real life into a play with her as the all powerful witch character, in this adapted Brothers Grimm classic. Lizard, the witch, was so much fun. She had green, rhinestone studded, cat-eye glasses, and really bad luck with the guys. I worked hard on making her as genuine as possible, I didn't want to be a stereotype, and actually got some empathetic “aw”s from the audience.

What I loved the most about this production was that it was true to the original Hans Christian Andersen story. The Sea Witch is just a business woman who has had a run of bad luck in her past. It's always fun playing the off color characters because they have so much more depth, and it's more of a challenge to make them three-dimensional instead of falling into the stereotypical 'bad guy' mode.

I played another maternal character in this production. The challenge here was the slightly back-woods Southern accent. I had a really good time honing all the consonant and vowel changes, and the rhythm of the speech was especially fun. It was also a lot of fun working with the student actors. They were so expressive and unimpeded emotionally; I loved performing with them.

Miss Minchin was by far the most exciting 'evil' character I've played. There was so much going on for her, reasons behind everything she did, and every way she acted. She wasn't evil for the sake of being evil, and that's what made it so difficult to play her, and so wonderful at the same time. The high status British accent was fun too and I loved her dress! Everything just came together so well for the realization of this character.

I have to thank our director, Will Huddleston, for all his amazing and hard work on this production. The Journey of Lewis and Clark was his script, he did a lot of research and background work to make it as genuine as possible. I also had the wonderful fortune to play someone I would never get the opportunity otherwise to play. Sacagawea was a huge challenge for me. I've never been in a situation where I couldn't communicate verbally with those around me. I also count this as a huge break-through for me as an actor. I found the vulnerability and was able to repeat it and sustain it for almost every performance. I was very proud of myself.

This cute little romp through the mind of an eight year old was a blast. I got to be a kid again, play, act out, run around, role play children's stories...wait, that's what I do everyday. This was a three person cast, Will Brown and myself as the parents of little Amy (Isabelle Polito) who doesn't want to go to bed so she magically turns her parents into kids to play with her all night long. It was hard being on stage and keeping up the energy of an eight year old for an hour, but I sure didn't have to go to the gym for a while!

It was a real treat being called to understudy with CalShakes. I got the opportunity to work with professionals on Shakespeare, understudy an extremely talented Equity actor, and watch the workings of an Equity house. Everyone was amazing and very supportive. I never got to perform, which was good, it meant our Helena stayed good and healthy the entire run, but I did start my Equity Membership Candidacy, and made some wonderful contacts.

I had to warm up my voice extensively for this role. The tempest was so loud and powerful, in order to be heard over it and maintain a healthy voice for the entire run, I had to warm up for at least half an hour before showtime. I had so much fun! Besides the fact that I love the Bard's words, the cast was a lot of fun to perform with. Every night we had a few more sailors searching for buckets, and I got to wear a five o'clock shadow!

We used a Jack puppet in this production to give a very interesting perspective on how big the giants were. Katie Anderson was our real Jack and the puppeteer. And it was cool to learn how to 'act' with a puppet, and what the 'rules' of puppeteering are. The giant, Charlie Shoemaker, was also incredible to perform with. His sense of comedy is fabulous and I learned a lot watching him.

This was such a cool production. Not only did I get to look all tough, sexy and kick-butty in my armor with my long bow, but upstage was a huge projection screen where we did a lot of shadow puppetry and projected images of maps and cave walls. Visually, it was very stimulating. I also got the chance to work with Kit Wilder, our fight choreographer, on a sequence with a morning star where I got my guts sliced out. That was awesome.

The main hurdle in this production was making distinct enough choices for the stepmother and the witch that they were completely different characters. This was an interesting quest. I made the decision that the witch was much much older and lived in a tiny house which meant she was hunched over from having to bend down to get in and out of the door, which was actually a great visual because our set designer made the door to the house less than five feet high. I also really enjoyed scaring the kids with how diabolical the stepmother was.

Ah, the town gossip, what a fun role. The coolest thing though, was I had a little shadow. Allison Satterlee played Ellie, she followed me everywhere and imitated everything I did. She was amazing. She had me down to a T, kind of scary. And I loved my dress. Another example of how a costume can totally inform a character.

I loved playing Ma Ingalls. This play is based on the Laura Ingalls Wilder books, and tv series. It was the first time in children's theatre I played a 'real adult' role. The entire cast was wonderful, the set was beautiful, but a monster, the run was great and every day I looked forward to coming to work and performing. It was challenging, too, to create a three dimensional rugged prarie woman, and combine it with the maternal figure. My daughters were easy to fall in love with though :).

I played the shoemaker's wife, Claudia. This was such a cute play, and our elves, Katie Anderson and Kalon Thibodeaux were fabulous! They were funny, adorable, and the kids LOVED them. It's been my absolute pleasure working with both these talented people on two shows now. I also enjoyed being able to get in touch with my lovey-dovey side to create a loving 'parental' relationship with my partner in crime Stefan Fisher, who played Hans, the shoemaker.

Based on Rudyard Kipling's collection of the same name, this play dealt with four tales: The Cat who Walked by Himslef, How the Camel got its Hump, How the Whale got its Throat, and How the First Letter was Written. My favorite role by far was the 'stute fish in the whale story. She was an Adelaide-type, with a high nasal NY accent, who swished around the stage with a wiggle, and occasionally forgot what she was doing. It was a lot of fun, and it was nice to be in front of kids again.

I don't even know where to being with this show. I could rave about the amazing cast, the amazing director, the amazing company, or the fact that the entire MN Fringe Festival is amazing. This was a very challenging role for me. Young Isabel was dealing with a lot of issues that I found hard to tackle. I decided with this Claire Chafee play that what I really need to work on as an actor is vulerability, and being able to repeat that vulerability (I'm still working on it). The play itself was also very challenging. I played a character 13 years old in the 1960's, while my older, present day, counter part dealt with the same issues I was. Kate is an amazing peformer, I learned a lot from her, and it was an honor and a thrill being able to be her shadow.

A modified version of Shockzilla, Smogzilla focused on air quality. I was Kaila, the Clean Air Champion. We toured for two weeks in the San Franscisco Bay Area as a pilot so the sponsor could check out the program. The area was beautiful, and we had a lovely 33 hour drive out there!

The physical comedy educational tour in Northern Minnesota. I played Vesta Gator, the investigative reporter trying to solve the mystery of the strange, mysterious creature lurking around town. And during all the chaotic madness me and my partner taught the kids about electrical safety and conservation. This was the third tour I did with NTC, and like the rest I had a lot of fun, and learned a lot about myself.

A two person children's educational tour in Ohio. I played Nikki Neutron, the not so super super-hero. We were the actors, the crew, and the drivers. It was a lot of fun; lots of physical comedy, lots of small children talking back and interacting. I really like these tours because the kids are always such fun. They're always excited to learn, and really ready to be entertained. Rubber chickens are definitely a must. And you really learn a lot about yourself, your limitations, and in my case: character acting.

I played Sophie, in this Neil Simon comedy. Sophie is a backstroke swimming Southern belle, who believes with all her heart that the sun rises and sets on the great nation of the United States. So, when she moves in next door to Andy and Norman, the publishers of a 'subversive' magazine, quite naturally one must fall in love with her because he claims she smells wonderful, and she must fall in love with the other for precisely the same reason. And quite naturally hilarious comedy must ensue. I had a lot of fun in this role. Sophie was a challenge, not only because of her personality, but I worked hard on her 'Georgian' accent. It was also the first time I got to be a 'leading lady'.

I wish I had a picture of this production because it will always be near and dear to my heart. At this time there were four remaining performing apprentices at the Children's Theatre. Our two guys, Erik and David, had their minds set on doing Sam Shepard's True West, and I had the unbelievable fortune of being asked to participate. It was amazing, we got seven toasters to work, a real 'old' refrigerator (which didn't work), and the support of our many wonderful friends at CTC. And, on top of all that we got to trash the set four nights in a row. We worked very hard, especially David and Erik, to put this together, and still workshop, rehearse, and perform for everything we were doing at CTC. And my hat off to Leigh, our last minute director, who helped us enormously. And, once again, I got to play a guy. We did make Saul into Sal (short for Sally), which made some interesting sexual undertones, which we tried to underplay since that was not the original intent.

I consider myself very lucky to have been a part of this production. It crossed so many boundaries concerning live theatre, and in my opinion was exactly what the term 'thinking outside the box' was meant to describe. Alice's 'wonderland' became just that, the floor of the stage became a green 'blue screen' which the live camera hanging from the grid above could film and project onto the huge movie screen on stage. So the audience saw Alice wriggling on the stage on her back at the same time they saw her 'falling' through the rabbit hole on the screen. And that was just one trick.

Another production of which I consider myself very lucky to have been a part. This original show, the brain child of the enormously talented Ruth MacKenzie, was beautifully done. It had some darker tones very reminisant of Grimm's fairy tales. It was about love, and friendship, and was very well adapted from the children's tale for the stage. Ruth's music and lyrics were both haunting and unforgetable. I learned a lot about Nordic music and singing, and I only wish Ruth would put out a CD!