"Five-Thirty.... Bitch Raping Time"

Wow.
Sorry I've neglected this blog for so long.
I feel like a bad parent.
But I've been keeping busy.
And work has been stupidly busy and that is when I usually get to post stuff.

Anyways.
Zombie Town has opened and been getting really awesome houses every night, and swell reviews written about it.
It has been so much fun to do this show.
The audience is so into it every night, and the characters just keep getting tighter and more ridiculous as the performances go on.
It has been quite a new experience for me to work on this kind of a show for different reasons.
First, I hadn't worked with any of these people before so that was something new and exciting.
Except for the stage manager, Andrea, I've known that whore for a few years now.
I love that she busts my balls every single day, and constantly refers to me as a stage manager's worse nightmare. Which is only partly true...but whatevs
I love her.
But, I have really enjoyed getting to know Gamal, Kerry, Chris, Zach and Mark.
We are just the most loving, disgusting cast I have been a part of in a long time.
Chris and I have even come up with this game for each other that when we are lying on the ground for the last ten minutes of the play we hide presents underneath the curtain for one another to find.
So far I have received hand made art from one of his students, a self help book, my favorite adult beverage(which was the best present ever because he did indeed hide a huge drink under the curtain for my immediate consumption after the play), and then last night I got a foam jet that you can launch at people.
Awesome.
I have given him a belt buckle that says "Guns & Ammo: Protect your 2nd Amendment Rights", Grease the Musical trading cards (which was inspired from a present that Frannie once gave me!), and candy cigarettes complete with fake tattoos on the inside which Chris put on last night.
I love this game.
Comes close to the "I'll give you a $1 if...." game that Frannie, Lynne and I played a lot during Whorehouse and Superstar....and then again in Cabaret.
It's the little things in life.

The other thing that has made this play different from all I have done is that I never really interact with anyone else on stage.
And we all know how much Natalie thrives off of human contact and eye contact on stage.
So it kind of makes me sad that I never touch anyone on stage.
But I have just taken it upon myself to touch both Chris and Zach at points during the show.
And since I'm deaf it has made actually hearing the show really hard since I NEVER LOOK PEOPLE IN THE EYE TO DO ANY OF MY LINES.
My dolphin method of acting has really come in to good use for this play.

So for all the things I love about ZTown...there are two things I really, truly hate.
Because I change my hair so much throughout the play, I must straighten it to make it easier to deal with, since naturally my hair is crazy and doesn't really make sense.
And because I get blood in my hair every night I have to wash my hair every day, which means I have to straighten it every day too.
BOO!
It takes like an hour and I hate it.
I mainly just hate that after all that hard work, I fuck it up with disgusting fake blood....gross.
And the fake blood. The other thing I hate.
I have lots of it on me....like way too much.
And it's really sticky and gross and it feels just unpleasant.
Last night was a real treat though.
Usually, I have some excess blood that gets on my hands and arms...and a little extra on my face.
Well, last night while I'm waiting backstage with the blood in my mouth, I laugh...and blood...goes all over my face and down my chest.
Covering my ladies.
Attractive. Let me tell you.
It looked really cool, I'm sure...and I guess for some demographic, a girl with boobs covered in blood is probably very sexy...but, ugh, it felt disgusting.
So, in the future, should your mouth be filled with blood....don't laugh.

Tomorrow night the playwright comes to watch the show.
I think it's gonna be stellar.
Andrea thinks he is going to hate me because I'm not work perfect.
I keep telling her that my amazing comedy skills and pigtails are going to make up for my lack of being a responsible actor, but she just rolls her eyes and gives me line notes.
And after this weekend Chris will be taking a hiatus from the show.
We have extended for at least one more weekend and he has to go to a wedding in Cali, so JAMES YEARGAIN will be playing his part.
YAY!
I am very sad that Chris will not be here, because he is awesome and swell at his part, but I am pretty psyched to get to play opposite The James.
He came and watched the show again last night and everyone else in the cast is really quite lovely to him, while I am being an asshole and trying to provoke him and Chris to duel...because they have the same glasses, and because James won't be able to grow the same facial hair that Chris has.
It's been fun for me.
Last night, Gamal was like, "OH it must be really nice that Natalie is in the show because ya'll are so close, and basically all your scenes are together and ya'll can work on stuff outside of the theatre."
And James and I are like, "Nope. Not happening. We barely even like each other, and this show is going to go down like a sinking ship because their isn't one ounce of chemistry between us."

I will say, if he fucks this up, Routhier is holding me responsible because I was the one who suggested James.
So. Yeah.
Don't fuck it up Yeargain.
Or maybe he should, I much prefer things that keep me on my toes during a performance.

Other than doing the show I haven't really done anything.
Except play with the people from the show.
We had a Fourth of July party at my house where people climbed on my roof and I got into a shit ton of trouble with my condo association.
Awesome.

Marshall's birthday was this past Monday.
Casino and sushi...two of my favorite things.
And then Marshall did indeed put on children's suspenders.
I had no idea how they fit him, because Zach....who is about 5'5 tried to put them on and they barely fit...and then Marshall who is 6'8 put them on....and they totally fit and don't snap off.
It was a birthday miracle.


This is a silly, all over the place, rather inarticulate post.
Sorry....I'm working on like 4 hours a sleep a night...so I'm a little hazy.
I drank 2 red bulls yesterday and I started seeing yellow lines across everything.
I think I was having a stroke of some kind....or my brain with melting.
One of the two.

But yeah...if you've already seen Zombie Town, you should go see The Wedding Singer at Le Petit.
I can't wait!
Or if you'd prefer something a little more, I won't say important, because zombies and 80's musicals are very important, but maybe thought provoking...
There is a workshop/practicum thing at the Shakespeare Fest for A Streetcar Named Desire with Harkins, Ashley Ricord, Santos and Aimee Hayes.
And Routhier directed it.
I hear good things about all of this.

So go see some plays.
I promise a good time....and if not a good time, at least a big, sticky kiss from me after the show.


PS
ESPY Awards...?
Yeah.
Go the Saints.
Team of the Year and Athlete of the Year for Drew Brees.
I almost cried.

AND PSS
Jeremy Shockey looked all kinds of good with his newly shorn hair.
A little less like "My eagle tattoo with come to life and capture you while I eat your skull" and a little more "I'll beat you with my empty glass that was once filled with a fine scotch."