I joined community theatre when I was fourteen. I had played sports my entire life. Playing sports with the same group of girls my entire life was competitive, caddy, and miserable. And then I joined the theatre world. Yes, the theatre world is competitive, and there are many people who can be caddy, but it was different here: there was an entirely new aspect to this: a sense of family. They were a shoulder to cry on when I needed it, they supported me when I was in shows elsewhere, they were there. It was the first non-biological family that I had formed myself, and that was the first time I realized I would never leave theatre.

Making friends is not always easy for people. Sometimes you just can't think of the right conversation starter. Sometimes you crave a more interesting introduction at a table read or meet up than 'Name, Role, Fun Fact about yourself'. If you're like me, you don't know what fact about yourself would be considered fun. You can learn a lot about someone as a person and as a performer if you just ask the right ice breakers. I've learned more about cast mates and fellow crew members from talking to them and asking these questions than any random fun fact could ever bring me. These are a few favorites of mine, including answers from yours truly (Because why not take this opportunity to introduce myself)! Here we go!

Theatre can be such a competitive industry, and at times it feels like you are under constant scrutiny.

This week over at the Theatre Institute at Sage, we staged Backbeard's big visit to the tailor shop, where two ostentatious tailors are given the fashion challenge of their lives -- Backbeard, who has been restricted by the Pirate Council to wearing only clothing without color, needs new clothes after his pants rip during his birthday fight. The tailors give him just that, and they send the colorfully-clad pirate on his way with a little pink pig to replace his missing parrot. Challenge accepted and conquered.

The last two Sundays, Christchurch's Court Theatre has been filled with the shared stories and boisterous laughter of two solid staples of New Zealand theatre. It is easy to see why a viewing of Ali Harper's one-woman show 'The Doris Day Special' is such a charming mix of tears and laughter with these two talented and powerful women at the helm.

Everyone has their own pre-show rituals that they need to do before a show. This year I especially became extremely interested in seeing how other people prepare for shows.

At a normal social gathering your sister is having you would thing you would be allowed to bring a guest. Now, what if that guest is an imaginary six-and-a-half-tall rabbit? Well that's the case in 'Harvey,' which is currently playing at Elgin Community College (ECC). Elwood P. Dowd (Nathan Mann) insist on having his rabbit Harvey at all of his sister's social gatherings, but when Elwood's sister Veta Louis Simon (Alissa Teadt) and her daughter Myrtle Mae (Karen Almanza) decide to have Elwood committed to a sanitarium (mental institution) some interruptions occur along the way.

Today, I am posting a video blog that will take you behind the scenes of Angry Psycho Princesses, which runs April 26 - May 1, 2016 at the Buchanan Center for Performing Arts on the University of Wyoming Campus.

I think it is safe to say that all actors hate auditions. No matter how big or how small, there is nothing relaxing about standing in front of a table of people whose jobs are to sit there and judge you. Although auditions are not fun, it is something that we all have to endure in order to make it into shows (unless you're Idina Menzel and can just get roles thrown at you all the time. But sadly there is only one Idina).

According to page 136, paragraph four, subsection C of the Pirate Handbook, on a pirate's 'older-than-ninth birthday,' his trusty crew must grant him a fight! That is exactly what happened this week at the Theatre Institute at Sage in our staging of Backbeard's own birthday fight, an exciting 10-pirate quarrel with the hairiest pirate who ever lived at the center of it all.

As I take a seat at the back of the theatre, the cast of Through My Father's Eyes start practicing their songs. Peseta conducts with a flavour and style ingrained within him, powerfully finding the light and shade, making every word of the beautiful language understandable to those who can't speak it. When they make it to the peak, there is such strength in their passion for the song that it almost brings me to tears. But the true power is within the quiet moments; the palpable fragility, that makes you listen so closely and feel so deeply.

We've just finished our first week of music rehearsals for Backbeard at the Theatre Institute at Sage! Because Backbeard has been workshopped with our department a couple of times now, most of the cast is already very familiar with the music, so the trajectory of our music rehearsals was naturally a bit different than it would have been if we were rehearsing a licensed show. The familiarity that the cast has with the material already allows for the polishing of the music earlier in the rehearsal process than is standard, and this musical stability will assist with the fluidity of rehearsal once staging begins.

I love reading/watching the 'Day in the Life' videos on Broadway World! And now I get to do one!

Hi there! Welcome to my first BroadwayWorld blog! My name is Amanda & I am currently an ensemble member in my college's production of Sweeney Todd. I'm here to tell you a little bit about my experience being part of an incredible cast in a production in a tiny little town called Sparkill, NY.

Perfection: Something that everyone desperately craves, but no one can ever actually attain. Why is society so obsessed with striving for such an unreachable goal?

Welcome to Laramie, Wyoming, home of the University of Wyoming, the only four year university in the state, and also home to The Laramie Project. I promise that we aren't homophobic bigots. (Side note: two of my professors at the university were in that movie).

The arrival of warm weather in the Northeast means for most college students that the semester is winding down and that summer break is drawing nearer; however, for theatre majors at Russell Sage College, the warm weather is an exciting indicator for us that our summer production is just around the corner! The summer show is the most unique slot in the Theatre Institute at Sage's season, as actors and technicians who work on the summer show stay on campus up to a month and a half after the semester ends to put up what is always a fun and exhilarating children's theatre piece without the additional responsibility of academic work-a rare and valuable opportunity for a college theatre student.

Growing up in New Zealand, many hurdles challenge genuine and talented purveyors of the arts achieving success both nationally and overseas. These can include lack of resources or funding, sparse education institutions, or the term I have personally heard more than once: 'This is New Zealand, not bloody America!' If one finally breaks past these barriers and tries to make their dreams reality, there is suddenly the greatest hurdle in their path: Tall Poppy Syndrome.

John Donne once wrote, 'No man is an island entire of itself'; this statement is something I always try to keep in the back of my mind, especially when working in the theatre.

Ever since I was a little toddler in a tutu every adult I have come in contact with has told me to 'reach for the stars', and that 'I can do anything I set my mind to'.

Until this point, my blog has been all about what happens when an actor has a job, but now it's time to cover all the wonderful things that happen when an actor enters a magical time called 'Unemployment.'

Unfortunately, all good things must eventually come to an end, and Assassins is no different.

After doing six shows a week, you begin to settle into a production; the scenes seem to run smoothly, most actor's seem to be making similar choices in each performance, everyone can recite their lines at the drop of a hat, there's nothing to worry about, right? Wrong.

Well, here we are; we finally made it to opening night.

INTIMATE APPAREL, a play described by Nottage as a 'quiet play' in which 'every scene takes place in some sort of boudoir,' is in it's heart about the private relationships between those close to us and those we wish were closer.