Thursday, August 6, 2015

Talent Crushes. Everywhere.

HI WORLD! I'm so excited to be writing this. If you would have told me six months ago that I would be sitting in my bed writing a blog about the experience of being in my favorite show in my first professional theatre experience, I probably would've laughed in your face and gone back to stressing out about my daily college student struggles. But that's all done now - and here I am. BLOGGING. About being in a professional show!

Hey. My name is Grace Seidel and I'm going to be playing the role of Martha in New Line's upcoming production of Heathers. I enjoy good food, the color pink, taking pictures, dogs (especially my dogs, Lulu and Tess), and theatre. It's extremely hard for me to find a theatrical experience in which I don't find some joy in. It's brought me most of my best friends and some of my absolute favorite memories. I am truly grateful for everything it has been for me in my life.

A background of my relationship with Heathers
So let's start at the beginning. My love for this musical began in winter break 2014. I was driving in the car with my best friend (s/o Matt Redmond) and he was telling me all about this new musical that the Legally Blonde peeps (my guilty pleasure show) had written. He was giving me an intricate plot description and I was quite honestly kind of zoning out but then I started actually listening to the music and became more interested. He gave me his copy of the CD and I listened to it on repeat for six hours as I drove back to school (University of Tulsa) from winter break. I basically forced anyone who rode in my car that semester to listen to it and managed to turn quite a few of my theatre friends into fans as well. So much so that when Broadway World announced that the regional premiere would take place in STL, we jokingly started planning our road trip to go see it.

At that time though, I wasn't sure what my plan was after college graduation. I thought that I might stay in Tulsa. I'm getting married in November (s/o Connor - you rock) so I had this awkward period of six months where I was kind of up in the air until I figured out where Connor and I would ultimately settle. In the end, I decided to move home and live with my parents for six months and take advantage of that free food and free housing for a little bit longer. I had completely forgotten that Heathers was happening in STL though.

So fast forward to May. Matt and I are driving back from visiting our friend in Columbia and somehow we got on the subject of the Heathers auditions. After much persuasion and reassurance from him, I decided to go for it. You never know what could happen, right? I struggled for ages over what song to sing, but ultimately decided to go with "Breathe" from In the Heights. It's one of my favorite songs to sing, and I thought it tied to Martha well while showing off range. 

I printed off the sheet music, did my hair, put on a dress (two, actually - my first one ripped as I was walking out of the door lol thanks dress) and headed to Clayton to audition. Most of the people there I had never met before, but it was fun to chat with some new people and make some friends (acquaintances?). I'm pretty sure I couldn't feel my legs after doing the dance combination so many times, but I left the night feeling good about what I had done to the point where whatever the outcome, I knew I had done my best.

The next day at work I pretty much (illegally, as we aren't supposed to look at our phones at school - sorry work peeps if you're reading this) checked my phone every 10 minutes. I checked Facebook. I checked my email. I checked my call log. I died a little every time I checked. Four minutes before I clocked out, I got a missed call and voicemail from Scott. I FREAKED and called him back immediately when I clocked out, where he told me they wanted to offer me the role of Martha. I tried to keep it cool on the phone but I definitely got off the phone and cried the entire way home out of happiness.

Fast forward an agonizing month and a half and we have officially started rehearsals! Have you ever heard of the phrase "talent crush"? To me, it's basically when you see/hear someone do something really really cool and you're like "wow I really need to meet them and/or be their friend". Well y'all - I'm pretty sure I've got a serious talent crush on this cast. It was pretty amazing to sit in a room with so many talented people and think "Wow. I'm a part of this." Everyone sounds stunning and fits their characters so well. I can't wait to hear more singing and move into the character development and build relationships with these people on and off stage. It's going to be one amazing ride, and I'm tickled pink to be a part of it! I hope you'll join me on my journey back to the halls of high school.

Till next time! -Grace

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