So I booked the national tour of The Book of Mormon.
There you have it. I guess that’s a great reason for my lack of recent posting. All the other times…
Let’s rewind to the week before I left. I had my final callback on Monday April 8th, and then a shift at Motel Morris that afternoon. However, the gag was, casting said I would need to be available by Tuesday April 9th. You read that right. Naturally, my shift that night was a little more frantic than usual. I think I went to the bathroom to check my phone 176 times.
TUESDAY
I am on the way to Prince Laundromat to drop off my clothes. I need to be at work by 11 am, so of course I leave with a full bag of laundry at 10:40 am. Ooops. Yikes she’s taking a little longer than usual to give me my pickup receipt. Instagram. Facebook. Email. Oh look an email from my agent.
Heart stops.
“There is strong interest in you for BOM. It could start as early as next Tuesday.” Well, that’s one week away. Alright. Strong interest? Hello, I’m strongly interested in touring the country can we hurry this up? How am I supposed to get through my shift this morning? Oh right, if I don’t book this I still need to pay my rent. Let’s go.
WEDNESDAY
I have an appointment for some show I don’t want to do. I need the insurance though. No email from my agent. What the hell is this?
THURSDAY
How many times can I check my email before my phone actually breaks? Is that possible? I have no work or auditions today, so what the hell else am I supposed to do. No really, what am I supposed to do today? Oh. Netflix. Duh.
FRIDAY
Ugh slow start this morning. Guess I’ll read my scriptures and make some breakfast. I should go to the gym. I should watch Netflix. I will watch Netflix. I also will check my email because today is the last business day of the week. If I don’t hear today I guess that means-
12:34 pm. “You’re getting an offer for BOM. I’ll let you know when it comes in.”
Holy shit.
Facetime Mom. Facetime Kristen. Facetime Mom & Kristen. Facetime Mom, Kristen, and Dad. Facetime Tam & Josh. Wait, when do I leave though? Is it really Tuesday?
Ok so I have to now start speaking in past tense because I am truly grappling for memories of these events. The present tense added to the drama though no?
Sometime Friday afternoon my agent called me, which is something she literally never does. She tells me that I do have to be in Pittsburgh on Tuesday. I was already on my way to Motel Morris to basically drink my happiness and then head to see my friend Jesmille in Kiss Me Kate on Broadway. At that point I realized I would have to get all of my earthly possessions out of my apartment in 72 hours.
Oh shit.
Around 6 pm, after three drinks, the Company Manager for the tour calls me and asks me all kinds of professional questions. That was an interesting call. So after that, of course I went to another bar, went to see a Broadway show, (cried of course because my dreams were coming true), went to another bar, and then got back to my apartment pleasantly tipsy to ‘pack’. My sister volunteered to drive to New York from Maryland and then we would drive back with all my stuff in tow.
“We have an hour to pack and get the FUCK out of Abu Dhabi.”
SATURDAY
I put all of my things in trash bags, (because duh), and loaded my sister’s car full of my New York life. Also during that time the Stage Manager called me and to this day I have no clue what that conversation entailed. We got to Maryland, and I had so much paperwork to fill out it hurt. Then I had to figure out how to pack for the upcoming summer months, and that was expertly trying. I had a lot of wine that night.
SUNDAY
I went to church, said goodbye to my family, and then hopped on a train back to New York. I got to Penn Station and the real work began. First stop, I had to drop off my suitcase at Motel Morris and then go buy another suitcase. Next stop, I had to find packing materials to ship boxes to the theatre. Then, I had to figure out how to get all of said stuff from 18th street to 155th street. That was an expensive Uber.
I got to my apartment and broke into a full sweat packing. Also, I realized there were a lot of things I forgot to take home so yay guess you get to go on tour too.
MONDAY
Well this day I had two costume fittings in two different places and of course there was a full monsoon outside. Also, I needed to ship all the boxes to the theatre, deep clean my room, and oh find a person to rent it. That was fun.
Monday night, I said goodbye to the life I’d been dying for since I was a kid, and said hello to the life I’d been dreaming of since graduation six years ago.
TUESDAY
Oh by the way, I hate flying. This was the second time I’d ever flown solo, and needless to say I was not a happy camper. I got to Pittsburgh, got to my hotel, unpacked my belongings, and then headed to my first company meeting. My first company meeting on my first national tour.
I took a deep breath, and bathed myself in that moment.
My moment.