Check out the video below on our college summer stock production of HAIRSPRAY!

I just remodeled a house. I know what you're thinking: this article belongs on some HGTV forum about flipping houses with your family. But hear me out.

This week I had the pleasure of discussing the progress of The Comedy of Errors as well as the progress of our Summer Youth Theatre production of Les Miserables School Edition, with West Haven Council on the Arts President, Barth McNeil. He has been a part of the Council on the Arts since it was first established in 2007.

At the beginning of the summer, I thought that moving from Atlanta to New Hampshire was a huge feat, but my 'journey' is chump change compared to the distance Giulia Dunes has traveled in order to be at Interlakes this summer. Giulia Dunes is a native of Holland, who is quickly learning how to become a native New Yorker. This summer she is taking on the huge task of Assistant Directing a show that she is performing in, while simultaneously rehearsing for her lead role in the next show of the season. Did you follow that? Me neither. Let me break it down. Giulia is performing as 'Missy' in 9 to 5 while rehearsing for her role as 'Ulla' in The Producers. The constant character switch is enough to give anyone an identity crisis, and on top of that, English is not Giulia's first language. I had to sit down and talk to her to find out how she handles all of this insanity and chaos with such grace.

Diving into week three of rehearsals with a bang! Between running lines and research to rehearsals with the whole cast, I discover new things about Luciana every single time. There are so many elements that come into play when trying to figure out a character.

'And God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light. And then there was nothing else. Just 120 degrees of scorching hellfire, and a job in retail. And woman saw that it was not good.'--The Book of Genesis, retold (trying her hardest not to encourage blasphemy) by a restless college student

As I head into my third week of summer stock, my coffee addiction seems to be at an all time high. The amount of energy needed to power through the daily schedule here is probably equivalent to the amount of energy needed to power the entire city of Las Vegas (a little dramatic?

I walked into the Randolph Theatre this morning to see the whole cast and production team of Footloose gearing up for the day. In the audience, some cast members were reuniting after a week off while others were going over lines. By the stage, director/choreographer Lisa Stevens, co-choreographer Jeff Dimitriou and music director Mark Camillleri were chatting with our stage manager, Alice Ferreya. New faces entered the room, all contributors to the project. The buzz was extremely exciting. The best event to compare it to is the first day of school. Ironically, the space resembled our first day at Randolph almost two years ago. This theatre was the place where our group congregated for the very first time. And now, here we are!

Welcome to the first behind the scenes article for The Comedy of Errors, presented by West Haven Council on the Arts. This production is being put on by the adult theatre group called Theater West. This program has been in place for about seven years and most recently has gotten into doing an annual Shakespeare production on the green in West Haven, CT.

National tours are a beautiful, wonderful thing. They bring Broadway plays and musicals around North America so those who cannot afford to visit New York City or missed the show before it closed have a chance to live through Broadway magic. In Canada, the only regions that have touring productions visit on a regular basis are Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa, Ontario and Edmonton. The rest of Canada may have productions stop by every so often, but it isn't enough!

Any thespian worth his or her salt knows that there is always more than one side to any story worth telling. The same can be said of working in a summer company. The ensemble here at Interlakes Theatre is comprised of actors of all different ages from all across the country, and we all bring our own unique perspectives to this process. This week I decided to give another actress a turn at talking about the in's and out's of life at summer stock, my new college and friend, Dana Rose. Dana is a rising senior at The Hartt School, and like me, she is making her summer stock debut.

On Sunday, we closed the world premiere of Backbeard: A New Musical at the Theatre Institute at Sage after a short two-week run. It came and went too quickly, and I do not know that any of us could have anticipated just how profoundly this sweet little musical would move us, how deeply it would nestle itself into our hearts.

It finally happened. The cast list got posted and you are cast. Congratulations! Now what's the next step? Prep work. It's time to get familiar with the character you are going to portray. Here are some of the key steps to getting to know your character, so that you can make your performance the best it can be.

A chilling start to their 46th season, Prairie Repertory Theatre opened their first show last week: Don't Hug Me. Despite the ninety plus degree weather outside, the cast bundled up, sang their hearts out, and left audiences rolling in the aisles.

As I begin this new job, I find myself stuck in this odd adult-but-not-quite limbo. For those readers who aren't familiar with the term 'summer stock', it is a period of about two or three months during which a group of young emerging artists are sent to a remote, usually rustic, location to perform a handful of shows in rapid-fire succession.

There's no getting around it: Broadway is expensive. For a broke soon-to-be college student like myself, the prospect of scrounging up enough dollar bills to purchase a ticket to Something Rotten is a daunting one. So what are those of us without the means to experience professional theatre to do? In some cases, all we have to do is switch on the television or take a trip to the movie theater to see a musical come to life.

9. Alex Brightman and the cast of School of Rock-The Musical:

Whether it be for a job interview, a sports team try out, or auditions for a show, we've all been kept waiting anxiously for results. 'Did I do well enough?' 'Did they like it?' 'It would have been better if I had done this.' Cue 'I Hope I Get It' from A Chorus Line. You begin to over analyze the performance you gave. You crave a sense of approval and validation. The audition haunts you until you get that email, phone call, see the physical list posted on a bulletin board, or however the director shares the information. I don't like thinking that things are a 'sure thing'. If it's my first time auditioning for a group/director or they are a close friend of mine that I've sung for dozens of times, I always make sure to bring my A game and the nerves are still there. How do we deal with post audition anxiety? How do we deal with the waiting? Cue Sutton Foster singing that C# for a near fourteen counts in 'I Know It's Today' from Shrek the Musical.

The hardest lesson to learn as a newly graduated theatre nerd, is that actors do not get a summer vacation.

When I first joined my theater group at school, I had no idea I was going to find a second family. Every single person in my theater group has such a special bond. No one is ever left out. From day one, everyone just clicked. When I walked in as a freshman, I had no idea who was going to even talk to me. Everyone right away came up to me and introduced themselves to me and we were instantly talking like we've known each other for years.

Introducing our production of Footloose to you involved some mental math. As a refresher, the show was announced in January, auditions were held in April and rehearsals will soon start at the end of June. That's six months of project checkpoints, with the last stages of our Randolph training being a steady source of continuity. Perhaps distinct from other systems with an imminent end, our training is amping up as opposed to wrapping up. How so? I offer three ways: Integration Assignments, MTP SS and Panels.

Backbeard: A New Musical found its first audiences this past Wednesday, and we were tremendously busy leading up the first performance. Regardless of what time of day it was, a plethora of artists were working around the clock to see the visions of Backbeard's creators through to opening day. The final week before opening was an integral period of growth for artists, creators, designers, and technical staff. After weeks (or in Backbeard's case, years) of immersion in the text and the projected visions of artists, the final stretch presented the actualization of the piece, and the monstrous effort of a family of artists was realized.

We all have our proudest moments. They may not always be the day you got the 'starring role', but maybe it is. Everyone has that one instant in their life that makes them smile. This week, we're going to talk about your proudest moment in theater. Whether you pursued theater your entire life, only did it in high school, or maybe still getting your feet wet; your experience in theater has an everlasting impact on your life whether you realize it or not. I love asking questions and I love getting to know people, so I went out and found out people's proudest moments in theater.

And just like that, the school year goes by in a blink. If you're anything like me, you always had a show. Whenever one show ended, another show began. This year was a record for the most shows I had done in the course of a year. Now all of my school shows are done and I await the next audition announcement. I know what you're thinking, 'Wow, that's great! You finally have a break to just relax and have fun!' Wrong. I went from doing four back to back (and some overlapping) productions fall semester, to doing three productions spring semester (again back to back and overlapping), to nothing. Some people spend so much time balancing a busy schedule that they don't really know what to do with free time. I am one of those people. Not to worry friends, we'll get through this together!

Struggles of being a small town Broadway fan in a Top 12 list