Forbidden Broadway

Update! Currently in rehearsals for Forbidden Broadway at Le Petit Theatre in New Orleans! Working with a fantastic cast: Leslie Castay, Vatican Lokey and Cliff Thompson. Under the direction of Bill Selby. We are having a fantastic time! I have lots and lots of words to learn. Even if I know the song we are parodying, learning the lyrics to the parody is proving to be a challenge. But we are up for it!!

Tickets are available now on the theatre's web site or by calling 504-522-2081.

The beat will go on.

Sunday marked the closing of Hairspray. It was a bittersweet day. This cast and this show absolutely touched my heart. The beauty behind this show was magnified by the love we, as a cast, had for each other and the show itself.

Tracy Turnblad spreads joy and the hope of unity regardless of skin color or size. This is something we can all relate to in our own lives. As actors, we are given the unique opportunity to step into the life of a character. We experience their ups and their downs, their shortcomings and their triumphs. The cast of Hairspray dove head first into the world of Baltimore, 1962, and we emerged with a greater understanding of love, compassion and what it's like to have a dream.

I'm so thankful to be blessed with such an amazing cast and production crew. Thank you everyone for your hard work and dedication. I'm putting Tracy Turnblad away for now, but hopefully she and I will be reunited soon.

"When we win, I'll give thanks to my God cause I know where I've been."

Welcome to the 60s!!!

I've been cast as Tracy in Hairspray at Le Petit Theatre in New Orleans. I am so excited!! I haven't performed in New Orleans since I worked at Six Flags in 2005. My last show here was Seussical in January of 05! It's been over five years, and I'm so glad to be back home and doing such a fantastic show!!

My family is going nuts. I don't think I've ever seen them so excited for something I've done. They have bought about 30 tickets for opening night already. Family members from Texas are making plans to come in. I'm so happy that they are so excited about this production!

I'm looking forward to working with people I haven't worked with in a while!! I get to work with Blake Coheley and Jefferson Turner. They played such a huge role in my early theatre life, and I'm glad to be working with them again! I'm also incredibly excited to be working with people I haven't worked with before. In college you work with a lot of the same people, so I'm really looking forward to this.

Each day is a gift. We work hard. We fight hard. Good things come our way. I'm so grateful for this opportunity.

Inspiration can come at any time...

Today I was babysitting a 9 and 7-year-old. Part of their daily routine is to take 30 minutes to read anything they'd like. When I announced that it was Reading Time, I expected them to put up a fight, but they quickly ran to their books, picked a seat and immersed themselves in their reading. I decided I should probably read as well, so I went to the bookshelf to look for a book. For some reason, a book of Shel Silverstein poems caught my eye. About halfway through our Reading Time, I came across the following poem. I really think it sends an incredible message to me and many of my peers at this point in our lives. Each and every day I hear people make negative comments about what I have chosen to do with my life. But I really don't see it as a choice. This is what I was put here to do. Each of us has been given a gift that we need to share with the world. Our journey will not always be easy, but with the knowledge that this is all we are here to do... we will succeed. We will be strong. We will prove the Mustn'ts, the Don'ts, the Shouldn'ts, the Impossibles, the Won'ts and the Never Haves that anything can be.

Listen to Mustn'ts, child,

Listen to the Don'ts.
Listen to the Shouldn'ts, the Impossibles, the Won'ts.
Listen to the Never Haves,

then listen close to me.
Anything can happen, child,

Anything can be.

- Shel Silverstein

Moving in before getting out.

It's official. I have moved back in with my parents. Temporarily, but still... it's a strange feeling. Today my mom and I unloaded the last bit of stuff from my car. I immediately purged through my clothes, tossing away anything I haven't worn in a while. Anything that looks like a 23-year-old shouldn't be wearing anymore... gone. Then I felt like Andy from Toy Story 3. We made boxes of things to donate: dolls, purses, etc. I couldn't bear to donate my Mickey Mouse stuffed animal. That cannot go. I did give up Tweety Bird though. Then I came across my NSYNC marionettes. They are in perfect condition, just a little dusty. They aren't going anywhere for a while though. I came across so many pictures from high school. Why did we think it was cool to carry around a stack of wallet-sized photos of each other? I have a stack of close to 350 pictures that I know I carried around in my school bag.

So now what?? Well I'm planning to move to NYC in the fall. Auditioning for LePetit Theatre's "Hairspray" on July 17, so we shall see what happens with that. Life is a journey. It takes unexpected twists and turns, and we just have to be ready to go along for the ride.

You just got iced...

So if you haven't heard of "icing", it is definitely something that you should look into. The SummerTide cast has taken a liking to it. "Icing" is a viral drinking game that has given many of us a reason to buy Smirnoff Ice.

The rules are simple:

1. Buy Smirnoff Ice.

2. Hide the Smirnoff Ice where an unsuspecting friend may unfortunately stumble upon it.

3. When a Smirnoff Ice is found, the finder must drop to one knee and chug.

4. If you stumble upon a Smirnoff Ice and you happen to have one on your person, you are able to block being "iced" and either move it or leave it for the next person.

5. It is very fun to have a camera on hand.

So go for it. Ice some folks, y'all....

We grew up undeniably...

We only have one week left in Gulf Shores! I will be very sad to see the Bee close. This show has been an absolute JOY to do six days a week. Our audiences have been very responsive. It's an incredible feeling to look out into the audience during our epilogues and see a smile on every single person's face. This just reminds me how much I love doing what I do. If I can be a part of what is making those people smile, I am doing my job.

The Bee Begins...

Well, tonight is the official opening night of SummerTide Theatre's production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. On Sunday, the cast moved down to Gulf Shores, Ala., and into our condo. We have a gorgeous living space on the beach on Fort Morgan. To date there has been no oil on the beach, although some cast members said some sticks had been washed on shore today with oil on them.

Last night we had a preview night for press and the Chamber of Commerce. The show went really well. One of the best things about this show is the volunteer spellers. Last night was the first time we had volunteers who none of us knew. It is so unpredictable! I got nervous before the show last night, mainly because I was worried about how the volunteers would react to the situation they were about to be put in. They were great!!! We had a teenage girl, a really tall, buff man and a mother who had her family in the audience. They loved it. In addition to spelling, we drag them around the stage in two musical numbers. The rest of the audience applauds them for their ability to keep up and follow the directions we yell at them under the music.

If you are in the Gulf Shores area, you should definitely come check out our production! The cast is fantastic!

Leaf Coneybear- Bobby Becher (@bobbybecher)

Chip Tolentino- Bentley Black (@BentleyBlack)

Marcy Park- Katie Burton (@Katie_A_Burton)

William Barfee- Lawson Hangarter (@law_son)

Olive Ostrovsky- Erica Hansen (@EricaLHansen)

Mitch Mahoney- Michael Luwoye (@prettyboy14)

Douglas Panch- Nick Shabel (@ohthisistoomuch)

Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre- Caroline Schmidt (@CaroSchmidtty)

And I play Rona Lisa Peretti.

The show runs every night Tuesday-Sunday at 8 PM at the George C. Meyer Performing Arts Center if Gulf Shores, Ala.

It seems we're living out our dreams...

Someone's in the dryer with Nanna...

We move to the beach tomorrow. Tonight is my last night in my apartment, The Jungle. With only 11 channels on my TV, we had to improvise...

Nailed it.

Doing great!!

Can't handle the fun!

Bring on the Beach

I move to the beach in 4 days! I can't wait for this to be what greets me every single day.

Fit in by standing out...

This Saturday, my beautiful cousin Danielle tied the knot! The wedding was absolutely beautiful. She got married at sunset outside of Houmas House in Darrow, Louisiana. Jake Hougaboom, shown in picture, accompanied me to the wedding. As you can tell by the picture, he fit in just fine. Most of the night one could find him in line at the bar or on the stage pelvic-thrusting the drummer of The Bucktown All-Stars.
The Bucktown All-Stars were incredible! At the beginning of the night they were all looking good in their suits. Ties and coats on, shirts tucked in and buttoned up. By the end of the night, they were untucked and unbuttoned and rocking out! They would come out onto the dance floor and dance with us. My favorite part of the night was when they came onto the dance floor during "Brick House" with their trumpets and surrounded MawMaw. They wanted her to "shake it down, shake it down now". She replied, "I'm 80-frickin-years-old!"
The night ended with a second line from the reception area to the front of the Houmas House. The guests were given sparklers and the newlyweds ran down the aisle. That's where the picture above came into play. The bride was not ready to leave yet, so we continued to dance. Jake assisted the band.
The wedding was a complete success! They had to open up an extra bar for us. After all... we are the Duffys.

Dolly Duffy

This is Dolly. The biggest shitzu in the world. 29 pounds of love. Miss that bitch!

New Blog

So I decided to start a blog. Here it goes.

I haven't really decided what this blog will include, or how formal/informal I will make it. Part of me wants to tell tales of tonight and the stripper who showed up at the bar we went to, but part of me thinks that might not be the best story to tell for my first blog post....

I am currently rehearsing for The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. We move down to Gulf Shores on Sunday! I cannot wait! The show is going to be FANTASTIC! Tomorrow night is our Tuscaloosa preview, so I'm looking forward to an audience.

Right now I'm sitting on my couch watching Celebrity Apprentice from two weeks ago. Not a fan of Bret Michaels. Something about the bandana and the eyeliner that I can't get over...

Roll Tide.