Friday, June 25, 2010

baby, i'm an anarchist

so, we're going to just gloss right over the last post date on this thing and jump right into life as i know it now.

things have been absolutely crazy the past few months here in chitown. there was a good long while where i was completely unsure of whether i'd stay, and woke up every morning literally in tears, missing the east coast. those mornings are more seldom now (down to maybe just once a week!) and, in spite of headache and heartbreak, i am moving forward here in the windy city.

i'm finishing up stage managing a show down at the dca storefront theater, dead letter office, which opened to less-than-stellar reviews but is nonetheless filled with good people (can't all be five-star shows like punkplay). the run ends july 18th, after which i dive headfirst into another opening. i got an e-mail a week ago for a PSM postion that pays over double what dog & pony is paying me for dead letter. after interviewing and getting the gig, i quit my job - the next day. i'd been moonlighting once again as a head cashier at the barn, slave to member cards and conversion rates - but no longer! i resigned without fully knowing what i was getting myself into with this new show (if we can call it that...), but i was determined to make it as a freelance stage manager! living the dream here, folks.

the show is a literal circus. i'm working under the big top, complete with clowns, sideshow acts and circus freaks. night number 2 of rehearsal, and i've already auditioned a woman named Ammo (short for Ammunition, obviously), who came in wearing some bondage gear, with sleeves full of tattoos, multiple piercings, stripper heels, a shaved head and, of course, a red crinoline skirt. actually, she kind of looked like me in high school. Ammo's talents include fire-breathing, suspension (you know, where you put hooks in your back and hang from the ceiling) and - wait for it - grinding. what is grinding, you dare to ask? well, in case you're not up on your sideshow terminology, it is (by Ammo's definition) when a performer wears a piece of metal over the crotch-area and then grinds a power tool onto that metal, emitting sparks for the crowd's delight. sometimes the performer misses, however, which is how Ammo ended up with scars on her upper thighs (we got to see those during her burlesque number, where she stripped down to just her tassels). what fun! sitting there in my banana republic button down and minnetonka moccasins (thanks, laura!), i felt like i fit right in.

at the end of this show (sept 1) i'll be headed back east for a couple of weeks before steppenwolf starts. that's right, bitches, i'm ASMing at the 'wolf. until then, i'm enjoying my mostly free days and working on my art and on my health. today i tried yoga. one of those bargain kits was on clearance at work, and i felt inspired to renew both my inner and outer self. it's a beginner tape, yoga class with gary bromley. that man is a fucking sadist. he lured me in by helping me to breathe deeply and connect with my navel. he even got me to stretch my neck out and bounce around on the balls of my feet a little bit. we were having fun. then he dove headfirst into sequences of stretching and squats, and some sick chauvinistic pose wherein my ass was right in the air while he watched gleefully from his little blue mat. i turned off the tape a quarter of the way through and went back to real housewives with a tub of ice cream in hand. it's inner beauty that counts, anyway.

well, it's 2 pm and the freelancer in me says it's time for a margarita on the back porch. my friend just texted asking if i want to go see a free burlesque show tonight. i wonder if i'll see any familiar faces.