Remedy for Anxious Frustration: Bourbon & Pork Chops.

Currently have a pork chop cooking in the skillet on the stove top.  One side has been seasoned with black pepper & Tony Chachere's Seasoning, the other with black pepper and Chipotle "Salsa Shaker."

The latter is from a seasoning set my dear friend Kevin brought back for me when he was in Mexico with his family for spring break.  There's a Chipotle, a Habanero, and a Jalapeno -- which is more than just an appropriate gift for someone who enjoys cooking.  Kevin is one half of MyMK47 -- he and his best friend Mike Soviero (also my dear friend) have been writing and creating together for about two years now, and I was honored to be able to perform with them for a combined 11 months in New York City -- first a hilarious sketch show which played at the Under St. Marks Theatre -- then a 9-month run at The Broadway Comedy Club, with new sketches every other week, all written by Mike & Kevin.

One of the sketches was called "Are You Hot?" in which I played a uptight woman, sunning herself in the backyard, when suddenly she hears a voice from beyond the fence call out...."Hey lady...Are You Hot??"  Part of the sketch was Kevin, Mike & our friend Eric asking me, if I were a pepper -- what kind would I be?  Was I "jalapeno hot?  Habanero hot?"

And so, the spices are a reference to a sketch that was a constant crowd-pleaser, and also to my love for cooking (and for Mexican food, which, being from CA, I of course love).

At any rate.


Today got really frustrating near the end.  I had called rehearsal from 5:30-7:30 -- a full cast run-through of Act One.  At 5:45, the main character and two of the larger supporting roles weren't there.  I couldn't work.  I looked through the script, trying to find a scene that didn't have one of those three characters...nothing.  So we waited.  And at 6:35 we finally started the run-through.

Yes.  A FULL HOUR after the run-through had been scheduled, we finally started.

Needless to say, we did not get through the first act.

HOWEVER.

I feel responsible for this in some ways, and let me tell you why:
1)  I am too lenient.  I don't show my nearly-non-existent iron fist enough.  These kids should know by now (three weeks into it) that when I mean business, my attitude and actions should tell them they too better mean business, or ELSE.
2)  All this week, we've been working only Act One...we probably should have tried to work the whole show.  That way we could have a few stop/start run-throughs of each act next week, before full-show run-throughs start.
3)  I told them they didn't have to be off-book for Act One til Oct. 19th (Mon.) and for Act Two til Oct. 23 (Fri.)  That leaves them only TWO WEEKS working off-book...which is really not enough.  Here, again, I was being too lenient.  See--these are all really good kids at heart, who, for the most part, have A LOT on their plates (quite a few seniors, four water polo kids, two mock-trial kids, multiple people in choir, a girl in marching band, etc...they have a LOT of plates spinning.  Some of them leave their house at 6:45am and don't get back until 9:30pm) -- and I didn't want to push too terribly hard, and I know that--for me, at least--rehearsal is what helps one learn lines.  It's the muscle memory tied into the cues -- you can sit and read lines at home, or with a friend, but once you get on your feet & are worrying about others, it changes.  So the repetition of rehearsal really helps to cement it.......anyways...

So, we only got through half of Act One.  And I was pissed off.  But I was also aware that these are teenagers, who are doing this as much to have fun and experience it as they are anything else.  And the lessons I've learned in the past 10 years---well, they haven't learned them yet.  Being professional is more of a concept and less of a tenet for them -- not because they don't care, but because they are still far away, in some aspects, from "the big picture."

I don't know.

All I know is, it frustrated me and made me ask "what was in MY power to prevent this from happening, and what do I learn from this?" and it also made my not-having-eaten-since-12:45 hunger more intense.  So I came home and began cooking the pork chop, and mixed some bourbon in with sugar-free black cherry soda.  And now....now I feel better.

Bourbon & pork & blogging....cures all that ails ya'.