The Feed

Yesterday I spent 11 hours pulling costumes for OLIVER!. Yes, eleven hours. You may be wondering why anyone would spend an entire day digging through racks of clothing, and the answer is simple: our original plan to get most of our costumes from PCPA fell through. We can still pull from them, but not until June 26, which is getting awfully close to opening night when you're trying to costume an entire musical. So I did what theater people do when faced with a problem…I starte

Yesterday felt like the longest rehearsal day yet. The room was unbelievably hot, everyone was tired, and by the end of the day we had been going for what felt like forever. But somehow this cast just keeps showing up and giving everything they have. Despite the heat and exhaustion, we successfully ran two entire sections of the show, and seeing those pieces finally come together was pretty amazing. There is still a lot of work ahead of us, but moments like yesterday remind m

I am absolutely exhausted. Not the kind of tired that a good night's sleep fixes, but the kind that settles into your bones after weeks of rehearsals, emails, fundraising, costume hunting, set building, problem solving, and carrying a hundred little details around in your head at all times. There are moments when it feels like I'm juggling an entire production with one hand while trying not to drop everything else in my life with the other. And yet, every time I walk into reh

As we continue building OLIVER!, I find myself thinking about how grateful I am that I reached out to the Herman family and encouraged them to audition. From the very beginning, they were thoughtful, enthusiastic, and incredibly kind. Before auditions, they asked if we could do a group phone call so they could learn more about the production. They came prepared with questions, and it was immediately clear that this was a family that cared deeply about theater and wanted to be

One of the things I love most about the theater community is how people show up for one another when it's needed most. For the last few weeks, I've been quietly stressing about costumes for OLIVER! and trying to figure out how we were going to make everything work. Today, I got some wonderful news: Marcy from Gilbert & Sullivan has graciously agreed to let us borrow some costumes, which takes a huge weight off our shoulders. It's amazing how quickly a situation that feels ove

Today’s small-town adventure involved spending far too much time searching for my keys. I checked the shop, my rehearsal bag, every pocket I could think of, and was starting to wonder if I was slowly losing my mind. After a lengthy investigation worthy of a detective novel, I finally discovered the keys exactly where I had left them….in the ignition. Apparently they had been there long enough to drain the battery completely. So not only had I found my missing keys, but I had

I want to give a special shout-out to Debora and Larry Bolef, who have been such a bright spot during my time back in San Luis Obispo. One of the unexpected gifts of returning is getting to reconnect with people who make you feel like you've never been away. Larry is our master carpenter and the creative force helping bring the world of OLIVER! to life. Every time I walk into the shop, I'm amazed by what he's built. His talent, craftsmanship, and willingness to tackle whateve

There's something very Gilmore Girls about being back in San Luis Obispo. You run into Target for one thing, just one thing, and somehow 45 minutes later you've seen your third former cast member, a parent from a show you directed ten years ago, someone you worked with at a theater, and a person who asks, "Wait... are you still doing productions?" In a bigger city, you can disappear into a crowd. In SLO, a quick trip to Target turns into a reunion tour. It's funny how a place

Today I had lunch with one of my favorite people in the world, Sandy Schwarer. There are some people who come into your life and make it better simply by being themselves, and Sandy is one of those people. I absolutely adore this woman. She has always been so kind, supportive, thoughtful, and full of wisdom. Spending time with her is like getting a warm hug for your soul. She's like a grandmother to me, and I treasure every conversation, every laugh, and every moment we get t

Well, apparently at some point while working at the scene shop, I stepped on a nail. I could barely walk last night and was convinced I was headed for some sort of dramatic medical emergency. This morning, however, we're staging choreography for Oliver! and, as they say, the show must go on. Several people immediately told me I needed to get a tetanus shot. I was preparing for a full blown crisis, except my mother, the former ICU nurse who somehow still knows everything, remi

We've built the cast, started rehearsals, learned music, blocked scenes, painted scenery, created schedules, and poured countless hours into bringing OLIVER! to life. The show is shaping up to be something really special, but now comes the part that every producer worries about: raising the money to pay for it all. The reality is that ticket sales cover less than half of the production costs, and without sponsors, donations, and program advertisers, all of this wonderful craz

I'm going to be honest: I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed by OLIVER! right now. Producing a show of this size is a massive undertaking, and there are moments when it feels like I'm carrying the weight of a lot of people and a lot of responsibilities on my shoulders. Between rehearsals, schedules, fundraising, sponsorships, sets, costumes, emails, and a thousand other details that nobody ever sees, I'm tired. Really tired. The funny thing is that I absolutely believe in this prod

Tonight I'm having Jordan choreograph "Be Back Soon" for OLIVER!, and honestly, I couldn't be happier about it. One of the most important lessons I've learned over the years is that you don't have to do everything yourself. Jordan is incredibly talented, has great instincts, and I know whatever he creates will be better than anything I would have come up with on my own. Sometimes leadership isn't about holding on to every responsibility—it's about trusting the people around y

Today my mom and I took a drive all the way up to San Simeon. It's funny because I grew up on the Central Coast, have driven past Hearst Castle countless times, and somehow had never stopped to see the elephant seals before. First of all, San Simeon is a lot farther away than I remember. Second, after all these years, I wasn't exactly sure what to expect. Hundreds of giant elephant seals sprawled across the beach? Sure. What I didn't expect was that most of them looked comple

My Bayou Buddies group chat suddenly came back to life yesterday after months of relative silence. At first I thought someone had accidentally sat on their phone or discovered a long-lost alligator in their backyard. Nope. Turns out SeaWorld announced auditions for Howl-O-Scream already. Already?! I feel like we just finished last season. The messages started flying immediately. Who's auditioning? Who's coming back? What's the theme? Who's ready to spend another season wander

I was convinced today was finally going to be the day I got Firestone. I even grabbed my mom and headed downtown with visions of tri-tip sandwiches dancing in my head. Unfortunately, so did half of San Luis Obispo. The line was so long that by the time we found parking and saw the crowd, we decided to abort the mission and head down the street to The Habit instead. Now, The Habit is one of those places you can find almost anywhere, so it wasn't exactly the exciting local food

I got a text from my mom today saying she was coming to San Luis Obispo. Now, that may not sound particularly exciting, but my mom almost never comes to SLO anymore, so it definitely caught me by surprise. My first thought was, "Wait... why?" As it turns out, she's making the trip to help her friend Mitch's mom. I found that kind of interesting. In a world where everyone seems so busy, there's something really nice about someone driving several hours simply to help a friend a

There’s something about this moment that feels bigger than logistics, bigger than timing, bigger than the practical “can I make this work” conversations. I’ve been thinking a lot about why Oliver showed up right now, right when life already feels in motion in a dozen different directions. And honestly, I don’t think it’s random. It feels like one of those rare commitments that pulls you out of your own head and drops you into something communal, something alive, something tha

Not in the greatest mood today because the Oliver! schedule is currently held together with Scotch tape, prayer, and passive aggression. Kristina suddenly has another appointment even though music was originally on her placeholder, and somehow Korey and I are now trying to rework an entire evening while 50-plus people are showing up tonight expecting organized theater. Adorable. Also I drove all the way to Atascadero in the rain to pick up scripts, which if you know me at all

Today was chaos from beginning to end. I drove all the way to San Luis Obispo waiting for scripts that were supposed to be dropped off in Atascadero, which is somehow always farther away than you remember. I sat around all morning thinking they were coming and eventually realized absolutely nobody was showing up. Thankfully Larry came through and printed emergency copies because at that point we were basically producing Oliver! through prayer and office supplies. Then I got t