Resolutions

Another year and suddenly so much is happening that the holidays seem a million years away.  But time for reflection.  After Christmas my beloved and I dashed out to Phoenix for a few days for a family celebration.  I was born in that city and lived there until I was 15.  But you can never go home again, as the saying goes.  The neighborhood that was once an Erma Bombeck suburb of pastel houses and tidy green lawns has given way to a dreary place where grass is not seen for blocks and the houses are all in varying shades the same color as the earth. My old elementary school has been knocked down and replaced with windowless, prison-block architecture and the grassy playground paved over with asphalt.   There should be a law against doing that to children.

Then it was off to San Juan and the Virgin Islands for a few days of warmth and sunshine and resting up.  I love this photo of my husband looking out onto the sea.  He spent a lot of time sitting and reading and watching the ocean (you can see his Kindle in the photo).  It's good to relax.

Now another plunge onto the stage.  Don't Dress for Dinner is a frothy sex farce that requires lots of energy and perfect timing.  I love the role of the wife, Jacqueline.  She's rather arch and funnily vengeful, even though she's in the dark about much of the goings on until the very end.  Hot costumes!  Especially my white negligee that looks very close to the one worn by Patricia Kalember in the Broadway production last year.  Still waiting to hear about a call back for a wonderful play that has a short New York run in July.  That one is very intense and dramatic, so it will require a complete gear-change from DDFD - if I get the part. 

Sending out new headshots and calculating expenses for the tax man.  Blew the transmission on my Ford Focus two weeks ago, so in the process of being sensible and trading it in on a Toyota Camry.  Oh bother. So much distraction. Brings to mind an old cartoon caption: "Just once I'd like to have an entourage."

Resolutions this year:  Develop a concise career plan.  Fewer classes, but more targeted ones.  More film auditions.  More networking with other actresses (trying to organize a regular lunch).  More work outside of the DC-Baltimore area.  This is the third largest market for film and the second largest for theater, but there are great things going on in Philadelphia, Richmond, North Carolina, New Orleans (if I could get there), so it's time to branch out.