It has officially been nine months since I have been involved in a musical or show. Nine. Months. I am initially a very busy person and when I do not have a show occupying my time, I tend to slump into a funk. Like a bad funk. But for the first time, in a very long time I believe, I was brought out of this funk by something that didn't involve me belting as loud as I could on a stage. Last week, my ITO's and I traveled to New York City TOGETHER and advocated about the arts as well as working the Broadway Flea Market. From back stage tours to meetings with very distinguished individuals, I can not possibly think of a better weekend. I started my journey by meeting up with Dany and having to call a car to pick us up, which is more difficult in practice.
soon as we reached the hotel, we left our bag with the luggage man and we were off to pour first meeting. Soon we had a 15 minute break at the hotel, and then we were off to see Pippin with my boyfriend, KYLE DEAN MASSEY (Kyle is not actually my boyfriend, I just find him very attractive). And so the scheduled stay at that pace the next couple days. It's so interesting because we were all working so hard with little to no downtime, but it does't feel like work. The thing I appreciate the most about my fellow ITO's is that I don't feel like I'm ever fighting to get my voice heard or debating over decisions. Things just flow, it's a conversation, and by the time the conversation is done we've produced two different kinds of workshops. And just as easily we can leave the room and laugh about a little girl calling pigeons chickens for hours. I'm so thankful for moments like this. I'm so thankful that we were able to work the Broadway Flea Market and I can hear things like, "We've been looking for this for years." Or see a little girl over joyed after we sold her a Matilda Script. But my favorite phrase I heard that day was, "I was a Thespian!" HOLY. COW. THERE ARE A LOT OF THESPIANS OUT THERE. We gave away literally every thespian Alumni button we had and it just really puts into perspective how large this organization is, how many people it has reached, and how much it has helped them on their path to adulthood.
In short, this weekend was exactly what I needed. I could not be more grateful to be apart of such a fabulous group.
Alex, Dany, Alyssa, Liz, and Tracie. I love you all, thank you for being my friends. Being able to sit at the same table as you guys and just talk blows my mind every time. Ms. Carr, Swils, and Ms. Karen, thank you for keeping us all in line, safe, and making sure that our needs as people were met. Thank you so much to our BC/EFA liaison, Morgan, who I'm convinced is the reason none of our stuff was stolen. Thank you for the awesome pictures, Mark! And finally, thank you to Joe Norton, Alex Sarian, and Jason Daunter for taking time to talk to us, answer our questions, and walk us through this amazing opportunity.
The Flea Market was amazing, I highly highly HIGHLY recommend going. Thank you again EdTA and everyone in between(: