Year 26: 26 pieces of art in one year

The night before I turned 24, I made a list of 24 things I wanted to do while I was 24. It was a bucket list of sorts. All though I did not complete every thing on the list, I really enjoyed having that list through out the year. It challenged me to do something more for myself. 

In that same vein, I'm going to make a "bucket list" for the year I am 26. Year 25's "bucket list" was "Get to New York and Figure Out How to Stay"- it's a work in progress challenge. This year  I am challenging myself to do 26 pieces of art through out the entire year. Basically one new piece of art every two weeks. Does that sound crazy?

Well it is. But I want the challenge. I recently visited the Carnegie Mellon University Drama Department. I have made it no secret that I want to go to Grad School, and right now CMU is my top choice. The very kind faculty encouraged me do to more art on my own and to go to more museums- to immerse myself with more art. I am embracing their advice and making my own challenge and goal. This time next year, I will be in the process of interviewing for schools and I will hopefully have lots more personal artwork to show in my applications. I want to be a better artist, better student, better designer. This is my own way of challenging myself to be those things. 

So here we go Year 26. Bring it on!

Oh, and Happy Birthday to ME!!!

PS. 26 different pieces of art... I am open to suggestions, inspirations, and encouragements. 

It's the Best day of the Year!

I, normally, am award show obsessed. I'll see all the movies, watch all the shows and know exactly who is going to win in every category. This year has been different. With movie tickets the prices that they are in New York City, I haven't gone to the theatre much. In fact, of all the movies nominated this year in every category, I've only seen 4. So this year will be interesting. I'll make my normal predictions, but I don't expect to be as accurate as I have been in the past. I'm also watching the show for the first time with another person. That might sound nutty, but I normally hate having an audience while watching the Oscars. But not having a TV kind of forces you to share the night with someone. I'm very excited to be watching with Mary. I think it will be a lot of fun. Maybe her predictions will be more accurate than mine- she's at least seen more than a handful of movies this year.

Best Film: 12 Years A Slave
Best Director: Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity
Best Actor: Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club
Best Actress: Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
Best Supporting Actor: Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club
Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle
Best Animated Feature: Frozen
Best Cinematography: Gravity
Best Costume Design: 12 Years A Slave
Best Film Editing: Gravity
Best Foreign Film: The Great Beauty
Best Make-up and Hairstyling: Dallas Buyers Club
Best Original Score: Gravity
Best Original Song: "Let It Go," Frozen
Best Production Design: The Great Gatsby
Best Sound Editing: Gravity
Best Sound Mixing: Gravity
Best Visual Effects: Gravity
Best Adapted Screenplay: 12 Years A Slave
Best Original Screenplay: Her

Ups and Downs and In Betweens

I love living in New York. I really do. It isn't easy and I don't want to mislead anyone in thinking that I'm living a grand life up here. But it really doesn't suck.

Lots has happened since I last posted. November 2013 was a blur. I worked on a TV show pilot called Mozart in the Jungle that is now airing on Amazon.com. Go check it out! I worked as a Wardrobe Supervisor to a new play called The Cottage in Queens. And then I went back to Beautiful: The Carole King Musical as a shopper right before it started previews on Broadway.

It was so exciting, but then no work for all of December. Not to worry, I networked as I could and enjoyed getting to go back to North Carolina for Christmas. When I came back to New York I brought some friends with me, and I had a job waiting.

My best friend since I was 4, KK and two of the girls I lived with in college, Amanda and Dorothy, all roadtripped with me from NC to VA to NY for New Years in New York City... except we decided to bail on celebrating in Times Square (we're not that crazy). We grabbed another friend that happened to be in the city for the holiday, Kelly, and went to Long Island to meet up with two more friends from college, Emily and Kate, to celebrate New Year's together. Definitely one of my most memorable celebrations of the holiday. Waywards* + KK know how to have fun and we most certainly did.

The job waiting for me was that of assistant to the Costume Designer to a production of Les Miserables. Don't get too excited! -it not the production of Les Mis that's about to open on Broadway. No, this production is in California. The designer gave me all of his renderings and told me to go find the fabrics he wanted. It was so much fun! Literally everyday I would go out to the fabric district and go shopping for fabrics. Not everyone would think this is fun, but for me it is- even if it's the polar vortex outside and it's snowed for days on end.

I picked up work as a stitcher for two days on an show called Queen of the Night. It's experimental, immersive theatre. Looks like a fascinating show- and super expensive. And then Beautiful called again. I've been working as a shopper for them since they opened on Broadway as well as shopper for a production of The Sound of Music in Chicago.

Oh and did you hear? Beautiful opened on Broadway and has gotten fantastic reviews! I got to go to the opening party. Talk about a star-studded affair! I met William Ivey Long, famed Broadway Costume Designer who has the most Tony Awards than anyone (6!). Nathan Lane almost photobombed a picture I was taking. And I got to meet Sara Bareillis! A dream come true.

I've seen lots of shows in the last few months: Beautiful, Matilda, After Midnight, Wicked, Pippin, Cinderella; and have had lots of visits with friends. Amina and Kate being in town from their respective ships was another Wayward reunion. Kate has been in town every weekend as her ship docks in the city, but Amina I haven't seen since 2012! Gosh it was fun being with them. Midday Margaritas with Regina was a surprise delight! And visiting with Terri and her girls when they came up for the weekend was an especially awesome treat. It was like having family come to visit which made it even better. I love living in a city that people want to visit, but its even more exciting and special when they want to include me in their fun.

I've always been a person who doesn't know how to stay in one place for longer than 4 weeks, and having not left New York since Christmas, I've been getting a little anxious. So, I bought a ticket and I'm going to Pittsburg to see my college roommate Mary and her husband Ashwin the first weekend of March. We called ourselves Lucy and Ethel in college so it will be a fun visit. I'm especially excited to get to visit Carnegie Mellon as I've been considering it for grad school. Mary has been a great friend since I moved to New York, always checking on me to make sure I'm safe (she's a cop - it's her nature). I'm glad to get some time away with her.

This coming week I don't have any work, so I'll be networking again and being on the search for the next opportunity. I've been very lucky with work thus far in 2014, so I'm a little nervous not to have anything on the horizon for a bit. Valentine's Day was especially crappy this year, but I was reminded that I have truly awesome friends, and great parents too - even if for the first time in their life they forgot to send me a Valentine!

One thing that I am quite over in this city is the cold. As Sydney constantly struggles with as she prepares for her dates (her love life is more active than mine these days), HOW DO YOU DRESS CUTE WHEN IT'S SO COLD?! The snow is pretty and all, but after a few inches, it's rather annoying. And this Southern girl is used to staying inside when it snows and all things shutting down. But New York never quits, and lately it seems that the snow doesn't either. Looking forward to March as I always am. Not only does it bring Spring, and flowers and colors and warmth, but it also brings my birthday. And I love a good birthday in the city :)

-A

*Waywards is what a group of my friends from college like to call ourselves. In Greenville, NC there is a house that Amanda has lived in for several years, with various female roommates moving in and out. We call the house The Home for Wayward Women and we call ourselves Waywards for short as we have all at some point lived in the house. Since I moved to New York, I have housed 5 Waywards as they have come to visit. Amanda recently declared my apartment the Stainback Home for Wayward Women - I cannot tell you how honored I felt to have this name bestowed on my apartment. We are ridiculous women, but we do have fun together.

What happened to November?

I realize of course that November is only a couple of weeks in, but I could have sworn yesterday was October. October went very slowly for me. I had very little work, and had very little to do to occupy my days. November is already drastically different by comparison and quickly getting away from me.

I was hired to run wardrobe for a show in Queens back in October, but it wasn't until last week that I started working on the show. The show is a new play called The Cottage, similar in style to some of Noel Coward's plays from the 1930s. It is a hilarious show about sex, murder and violence - it's very witty and sharp. And the costumes are beautiful. I'm having a lot of fun working on this show.

About the same time that I started working in Queens, I was asked to come interview for an internship on a TV show pilot. My schedule was a bit weird at the time because of tech week in Queens, but they rescheduled my interview 5 times! By the time I finally went in for my interview I was a bit skeptical, as they were the ones who kept rescheduling. But when I arrived, they informed me that they had gotten so busy they realized they didn't have the time to actually conduct interviews. They liked my resume the best so instead of interviewing, I immediately started training. It was about an hour into the job before I was even able to ask what the TV show pilot was about. I'm not really sure how much I am able to divulge about the series, since its still so much in its beginning stages. There hasn't been a lot of press about the show - at least not yet, so I don't want to spill the beans. Let's just say it's a very exciting idea for a show, also an "anna will like this" kind of show; it will get a lot of press if it gets picked up because it will be the first of its kind; some big names are cast and at least one of the cast members is someone I've admired for all of my life and I might DIE if I actually get to meet them on set.

Working on a TV show is so different from working on a Broadway musical. I knew it would be, and on my first day I asked a lot of questions. But I didn't expect it to feel so different, its similar in a lot of ways, but it seems more relaxed, even though there is still just as much pressure, and less time to do things. But I'm having a lot of fun. The people I'm working with want me to ask questions, they want me to learn - and that's a nice feeling. If the series gets picked up it will HOPEFULLY mean a lot more exciting things to look forward to.

This is my November. I work on the TV show for 3 days and then The Cottage for 3 days. In theory I have Sundays off, but those have gotten busy as well. I literally don't have any more days off between now and when I go home for Thanksgiving. Both the show and the TV show will wrap by that point, so I still don't know what December will look like. But right now it just seems like everything's coming up roses.

Jumping off cliffs

My decision to move to New York City starts almost a year ago now. In 2012 I had been thinking of visiting the city for a while and finally decided to convince my best friend that we needed to take a road trip to the city. It would be my first time back in the city since 2004, a fact I am embarrassed to admit. I was looking forward to a vacation with my best friend, but for me, the trip turned out to be a lot more. When Kristen and I got on the bus back to New Jersey our last night in the city and when we got in the car the next morning to drive back home, I was overcome with sadness. I simply didn't want to leave.

Three months later I returned for a birthday trip for myself. I was going to see some friends, some shows, some museums, but most importantly I was going to figure out if I could live in NYC. My friend Sydney and I had talked about moving to the city before in the abstract, and she came to visit while I was in the city for my birthday. We decided then that moving to the city was absolutely what we wanted to do and we wanted to do it together.

After that, I started making plans. I applied for an internship at the Juilliard School. After several successful phone interviews I returned to New York City for a face to face interview. In that last trip to NYC in May it was all but a done deal - No matter what happened with the interview, I would move to the city in the fall. Several weeks later I got the disappointing phone call that I was not chosen to work at Juilliard. It was a set back, but I was determined to still get to New York.

Fast-forward through my summer in West Virginia. I had barely slept in a week and all I wanted was a Corona, an ocean and sand in between my toes. I woke up at 7am to drive to the beach and we were less than 10 miles from our final destination, almost 6pm when I checked my cellphone and had an email from an unknown address. Talk about emails changing your life: The associate designer to a new Broadway musical, Beautiful, was wondering if I would be interested in a design internship starting the next week. Turns out Juilliard was still impressed with me and sent along my information. I turned to my mom barely able to form words and read her the email. My mother said the best two words any mother could say at that exact moment: "Well shit!"

To say this was a once in a lifetime opportunity is an understatement and even though I had been looking forward to that beach vacation for over a year, I was not about to miss this. The next day I called the designer and agreed to be his intern starting the very next week and then I called my friend Jamie for help finding a place to stay. Jamie found me a place to sublet in 2 hours (God, I love that girl) and then I was booking a flight. I packed two bags and was all ready to go fly up on Monday morning and start on Wednesday. Then life happens.

It wasn't covered much on the news because luckily no one was hurt, but on the afternoon of July 22, there was a crash landing at LaGuardia airport (I had actually looked at booking that flight oddly enough). All flights to LaGuardia were cancelled and all flights to surrounding airports quickly filled up. I got in a nice long line of angry travelers to rebook my flight and try to get back home. If you want to see people's true colors, take them to an international airport and tell them all flights to their final destination are full. It was like the world had ended. Where as I was just grateful that I had not been on the plane that had crashed and I was going to get to sleep in bed that night- but maybe I'm just a glass half-full kind of girl.

Of all places to get stranded, I was stuck in Charlotte- so close and yet not home. After leaving Greensboro at 10:30 that morning, I returned to Greensboro at 11:30 that night. And then next morning I returned to Greensboro at 11am. The flight attendants even recognized me. I was so ready to get to New York. I waved goodbye to my Dad and went to my gate. I decided this would be the right time to tweet something from my phone about "on the road again." And then the worst feeling in the world overcomes me: Where's my phone?

With minutes until my first flight leaves I realize that I am without my cell phone. I have no idea where it is but it is not in my purse - my one carry-on item. My Dad has surely already left the airport and I do not know what to do, except cry. All my fears coming to a head: I'm moving to arguable the biggest city in the world, where I know few people, about to start a brand new job with big named people, none of whom I've ever met, without a cellphone. I cried most of that day. Luckily I had my iPad, but airport internet is shotty at best. I contacted Jamie, my angel in hipster clothing, over facebook to call my parents, not that it will do any good at this point, but my flights were getting more and more delayed and I was supposed to meet with Jamie once I landed. I got off the plane got in a cab, walked in Jamie's apartment, cried some more, called my cell phone on the off chance I had accidentally packed in my suitcase - to no avail, and finally got a hold of my parents, who at this point were standing in their living room holding my cell phone that had just rung. I was relieved the phone wasn't actually lost and Mom ran to FedEx right then to overnight the phone to Jamie. Then Jamie took me to a Mexican restaurant and bought me some much needed booze and food. Jamie also helped me find my sublet apartment and carry my luggage across Brooklyn - again, my angel.

The next morning I arrived to a Costume Shop in the theatre district and started my new job. Within one week I knew all the fabric stores in the fashion district, where the best Costume Shops are and met so many important people it was hard to keep them all straight. None better than the designer and associate designer of Beautiful, who made me feel like a part of the design team and were always so much fun to work with. Everyday I went to work with a smile on my face. I never knew what I would be doing that day - fabric shopping, shoe shopping, fittings, rehearsals - it was so great.

The internship ended in September. Beautiful did it's pre-Broadway run in San Francisco and has gotten some wonderful reviews. It will return to Broadway in November and officially open in January.  Since I got here I've met so many people. I now live in Manhattan - Washington Heights/Harlem (Sydney and I don't agree with which neighborhood we actually live in), in a beautiful apartment that we all feel very lucky to find. I have two roommates: Sydney is one of the best people I have ever met. She is a props artisan, crazy talented and well just a little crazy. We wouldn't have done this move without each other and I'm so lucky that I get to come home everyday and hang out with her. Our third roommate is Matt, an actor and web designer, also Sydney's older brother. Our apartment still needs a little love and care, but we love it.

I haven't been working consistently since the internship ended. In NYC, everything is 10x pricier than it should be so I've become an expert budgeter. I get hit on everyday, even when I look like a man, wearing sweats and no make-up. I have to leave an hour before I have to be anywhere in case something happens on the subway. Basically, living in New York is not as romantic as the movies make it seem sometimes. But even so, I could not be happier. There's always an adventure outside my door, and we all know I live for adventures. I live in one of the best cities in the world, with one of my best friends in the world, doing theatre with the best in the business. What isn't to love?

...

The first weekend Sydney and I were both officially living in the city (we had not quite yet found our current apartment), we went to Times Square and took this picture. Moving to the city together was our dream and we we did it. Without jobs, without a place to live and with very little money between us, we jumped off a cliff and followed our dreams.

Summer 2013

What a summer it has been for me!

I left my job at Centre a few weeks early at the beginning of May to return the Wild and Wonderful West Virginia. Theatre West Virginia offered me the position of Costume Consultant and Costume Designer for 3 of their shows this summer. I was very excited to return, and bring some of my students with me. 

I was in West Virginia for two weeks helping them get started with their season. When I left, my friend Leslie (a Godsend if ever there was one) returned to Kentucky with me to help pack up my apartment and say goodbye. (The girl took a week off of work to pack up boxes of someone else's stuff in an un-air-conditioned apartment. I'll never stop thanking her for that!). 

Then I came back home to North Carolina. I was so excited to have a summer in North Carolina. Even though I would be working in West Virginia, most of my summer was to be spent at home. But life sure is what happens when you are making plans... I spent about a week and a half at home (trying to unpack all of my furniture and things from Kentucky and designing The Wizard of Oz for TWV) and then I went back to West Virginia for the opening of their season. It became clear that Oz was going to be a massive under taking and I was going to need to be in West Virginia longer than the 3 weeks I was suppose to be. I went back home for a week, well maybe 5 days, and then returned to West Virginia to get the party to Oz started. 

The Wizard of Oz is a massive show to produce and manage in all aspects: cast, scenery, props, lights, pyro and costumes, no matter where you are.  No one had an easy time working on this show this summer. There were nights of no sleep, there were nights of tears and there were nights of frustration and anger. And yet somehow we did a show for 1200 people on opening night, and the audience was none the wiser of all the blood sweat and tears that had gone into the show, literally the hour before we opened. As a designer, I am not supposed to be backstage during performances. The wardrobe supervisor and dressers are supposed to take care of costume backstage without the interference of the designer. Well, during our second night of dress rehearsals, both of our dressers hurt themselves to the point where they couldn't run the show and I had to step in as a dresser for opening night. To say I wasn't pleased is an understatement, but the show must go on and you gotta do what you gotta do. 

As emotionally and physically draining as The Wizard of Oz was, I was a little sad to leave. They were going to start working on the next show without me, and I was a sad not to be a part of it. And no matter how hard I try to kill myself at TWV, I really love that theatre and the people there. Plus I had to say goodbye to my students - my time at Centre was really coming to an end when that happened. But as sad as I was to leave, nothing anyone could say or do was going to keep me there an hour longer than I needed to be. The next morning I packed my bags, bright and early, and drove back to North Carolina to go on the beach vacation I had been looking forward to for 2 years. Nothing was going to keep me away...

Until an hour before we get to the beach house I got an offer to intern on a new Broadway Musical in NYC the very next week...

Life. Gotta love it. 

Next Post: Getting to NYC when a plane crashes, you forget your cellphone and starting a new job when you have no idea where you are or what you are doing. And everything else that happens when you decide to jump off a cliff and follow your dreams. :)

Post Script:

From May 4 to August 23, I lived out of a suitcase and I never stayed in one place longer than 3 weeks. That makes for quite an adventurous summer. I never really noticed that I can't sit still. I've signed a lease for NYC that's longer than a year and it freaks me out a little. Living in one place longer than a year!? Weird. 

My Ole Kentucky Home

As I'm sure everyone has gathered from Facebook, I no longer live in Kentucky. Nope, I've moved on to another state - but that's a another post for another time.

Even though this post comes a few months late, I wanted to write something to acknowledge the time I spent in Kentucky. I'm very grateful for the time I spent there because I learned a lot about myself. I learned that I love to cook and bake. I learned that I hate living alone. I learned that I am actually good at managing a shop and teaching students. I learned that I am a city girl at heart. It wasn't really a secret that I wasn't very happy in Kentucky. No, Kentucky wasn't the place to me. But even so, I can't say anything bad about Kentucky. In fact, now that I've been away for a few months, I'm a bit surprised by how much I miss it. Well, not so much it, as much as the people.

The people of Kentucky are bay far some of the nicest people I have ever met. My students were really great and I loved getting to know them. Now that they are back in classes again, I want to talk to them to hear about their summers and talk about their new classes. I really enjoyed hanging out with them and I liked being someone that many of them felt they could come and talk to. I hope that puns and back-offs live on in the Costume Shop because they were some of my most favorite memories (especially the puns that annoyed Matthew).

Speaking of the boss man, I probably miss him the most. I can say with confidence that I will never have another boss that is as supportive and understanding as Matthew. By working with him every day I learned so much about theatre, design and art. I genuinely think he is the smartest man working in theatre and I am eternally grateful for the opportunities he gave me. It was a comfort to know I had someone looking out for me as a peer and as a friend. I'll never really be able to fully express my gratitude to him. Basically, he's just a really awesome guy. Also, I really miss the white pizza ;).

Even though I miss it a lot these days, I know in my heart I made the best decision for me to leave Kentucky. But no matter how far I go, I will think of my old Kentucky home with fondness.