Catch Up Blog #2

After not that much sleep, it was the morning of June 10th! My Wedding day! I could hardly believe it was finally here.  Matt and I spent months working around the clock on the decorations, the music, the theatricality of the ceremony, etc. All of the decorations were loaded in the night before by a wonderful group of friends that helped us get everything up. All that we had to do on the day of the wedding was to have breakfast with my family, then go to the theatre for final decoration preparation, then a final rehearsal before the cocktail hour started.
The breakfast was a good idea, since I really didn't get to eat much that whole day. It was also so wonderful to get to actually spend time with and see my family.  The breakfast was at Luna Grill and Diner, Matt's former restaurant that he used to manage.
When we arrived there, the restaurant had put up balloons and flowers for our wedding breakfast with the family.  This was really incredible of them, and until Mom sent me these photos, I had forgotten that detail. So everyone go eat at Luna Grill and Diner in Shirlington.  They are great people. Here are some photos from the Wedding Breakfast...

 Here are some shots of me and Matt with various family members, including my brother and his wife and their children, Tessa and Ian,  my Aunt Gloria, and her friend, Larry, and my Aunt Val and Uncle Tom. I think that I ate half of my breakfast, as my stomach was starting to get upset. While I was enjoying having breakfast, I was starting to feel like I was running out of time to get things done in time. I took the remains of my breakfast with me, in case I had time to eat it for lunch (which I believe I did, if memory serves at all), and headed over to the theatre, with my family in tow.

 After sizing up what needed to be done, I got to work, with help from my family, as they wandered through our half finished "carnival" in awe.  They couldn't believe what we had done so far. It really was a sight to behold, when I think back on the many months of midnight crafting in our living room, and to see all of this and know that WE did it ourselves.  It was a satisfying feeling. Amy McWilliams had designed and sewed together these fabric panels of different black and white materials.  I went from thrift shop to thrift shop looking for any sheets or curtains that I could buy for this purpose. She took all of these pieces and made these sweeping fabric panels that we hung to give a "big top" feel.  Amy's work was impeccable, and I can't thank her enough! My brother and I helped secure these, as they started falling a bit due to the air conditioning blowing on them. As we worked on these banners, Tessa and Ian had fun pretending to be rock stars on the

mini stage in the lobby, that we dubbed "The Sideshow".  They rocked the afternoon away as we continued our decorations prep.

 The Oceana Group provided the most elegant and exquisite flowers. Here are two of the arrangements...

 Ian and Tessa made their way over to the House of Horros, but decided that it wasn't that scary in the daylight.

 I made sure that all of the Ballyhoo flags were secured in place, as they were the first things that guests would see as they entered...these were made with felt, dowel rods, a wooden ball on top, gold spray paint, wire hangers, ribbon, and much patience.

 At the top of the stairs, there was a gift table, and a ticket booth. The take home gifts were these little brown mystery grab bags that were everywhere as you came into the theatre.

 As we finished our decoration prep, it was time to go and rehearse, and for other members of the family to go and take a nap before the festivities were to begin...

  Coming Soon - The 7PM Cocktails and Sideshow!
xoxoSGS

A Journey to the Cemetery

The wig sat on the kitchen table on a wig head. The raincoat had just come back from the dry cleaners and was hanging in my closet. Karissa was almost to my house, and I stood in the dining room for a moment, unsure of what to do. I had not been to my Nana's grave since she was buried there, due to my own irrational fears, and I suddenly felt that I was wearing the wrong thing for such an occasion. I looked down at the shorts, flip flops and tee shirt and thought that something a little more appropriate was in order. I changed into a black suit and tie. I packed my bag full of batteries for the camera, the camera itself, water bottles and the ice breaker mints that I am addicted to. I was ready to go.

Karissa arrived and started putting on her make up, and I told her that I had to take Buddha out before we left. As I walked my little puglet, my mind was racing. I was about to go to my Nana's grave for the first time in seventeen years. I was also taking Karissa, dressed in full Barbara wear to the cemetery for a photo shoot. These things combined were making my mind reel.
I have been working on this show off and on for the past eight years. Suddenly, due to Matt Conner's recent involvement with the project, it is all becoming a reality. Suddenly I was driving Barbara to the cemetery.

I had looked around for a cemetery to take her to, and it turned out that the one that my Nana was buried in happened to be the closest to me. I had only just discovered that the cemetery was right around the corner from one of my places of employment, ArtSpace Falls Church. That alone had made me think, "Hmmm. There's Nana, trying to bring me closer to her." When a google search yielded her cemetery as the best location for the photo shoot, I sighed and thought, ok Nana. I hear you. It's about time to make that trip out to see you.

I'm not sure why, beyond the obvious reasons, that I developed such an acute fear of graveyards, funeral parlors, and the like. Perhaps the film that I am musicalizing is at the heart of it, but I'm not so convinced of that. The person that I lost at 15 was one of the closest people to my heart. The loss I felt was so severe that I equated everything to do with the funeral and burial as horrific beyond belief. Every time that my parents would come down to visit me and go to Nana's grave, they would ask me if I wanted to come. I always found an excuse not to. I don't know why I kept doing this, but I thought to myself that seeing the finality of that gravestone would rip open the seams of an old wound that took a very long time to heal. So I always politely declined. This time, Nana was having none of it. If I needed to shoot pictures in a cemetery, it was clearly going to be hers.

I finished walking Buddha and walked into the apartment, and Karissa stood in the dining room with the wig on, and her make up done. I almost fell over. Vincent A. Hill had gorgeously cut and styled a fall that matched Karissa to a tee. It looked the spitting image of the fall worn by Judith O'Dea in the film. Karissa had done a "mod" style make up and looked exquisite. Next came the raincoat. I almost passed out at this point. It was so close to the original that it was shocking. The time on the clock said 6:35pm. It was time to get going if we wanted to arrive at the right time to get some shots at dusk. So off we went.

I think that the only way to break the curse of my fear was to combine this photo shoot with the first time back to the cemetery. That was the right formula to put an end to the bugaboo that had hid in my mind for so many years.

As we neared the cemetery, I started to feel my body tense up again. I immediately decided to fight this with the joy of my project. I put the cassette tape of the soundtrack to Night of the Living Dead into the tape player and the music that plays when they are driving up the hill to the cemetery started to play. This helped.

We pulled into the gate.

There it all was again. Just as I remembered it. I turned left on instinct and passed the fountain. The music from the film was playing, and I looked over at Karissa/Barbara and everything at once was all too surreal. She asked me, "Do you know where it is?"...not quite the line from the film (which happens to be "Which row is it in?"), but close enough to snap me out of my trance.

This place didn't seem so scary. It actually seemed quite peaceful and gorgeous. The fountains and statues in the grounds are quite beautiful. I knew that I would never find the flat marker on my own, so I called my Mom and asked her where to look. After some confusion on my part about which spigot to park by (I parked at the first, turns out I wanted the second one), I ended up on the right side of the hill.

Right at about that time, I heard Karissa/Barbara call over to me, "She's here! I found her!".

And there she was.

I didn't feel that ripping and tearing at my heart that I thought I would. I only briefly felt my eyes gain some moisture as I said, "Hi, Nan...it's been a long time." And just like that, the curse was broken. This wasn't as scary as I thought it was going to be, and not so terrible to revisit. I was finally able to concur my fear and break the spell. But now, I had work to do. I said, "I'll be back, Nan, I've got some pictures to take!" And we went to the top of the hill to begin our shoot.

The pictures came out incredibly well, and I love the blurriness of some of them. They have a ghostlike quality that I find eerie. These photos have all been edited now to look like they are film grain black and white. As we shot, I noticed that moon was brighter than usual, and the sky was totally clear. I was ten years old again. There in my photo lens was Barbara/Karissa. It could not have been more perfect. Here are the shots that we took...

I was very happy with what we shot, and it was getting dark. We walked back to Nana's marker before we left. I talked briefly with her, telling her what craziness I was up to traipsing all about the cemetery with a camera and a girl in a wig and raincoat. I'm sure she got a kick out of it. I said my goodbyes, and promised her that I would be back again, and that it wouldn't be another seventeen years until I did. And then we drove away.

I can't tell you how relieved I felt, knowing that I had done this. Leaving, I felt happy about the photos, but happier that I had been able to conquer my fear and face it down. It was an evening full of accomplishments.

Good to see you Nan. Thanks for helping me back to you.

xoxox

sgs

Twins.

Chris and I in our matching coats.

Explanation? When Chris's father retired, he got a whole bunch of giveaways from the company he worked for, including several Carhartt jackets. He got one for both me and Chris in a very thoughtful gesture.

Hence the picture. Next winter, we are really going to have to coordinate which jacket we are wearing on which day, for fear that this will actually happen.

Either that, or become a dynamic duo, fighting crime around Seminary Road.

Hmmm.

The Stairway to Nowhere

My Mom took these pictures and emailed them to me. My parents are in the process of renovating their back porch, and one of the things being replaced was the stairs that go up to the porch. After removing the stairs, my dad hauled them down to the "burn pile" to be disposed of. Seeing this image, and knowing that I would get a kick out of it (I love that she knows my twisted sense of humour so well) she took these photos to send to me. She called it "The Stairway to Nowhere", which is exactly what I call it and have named this post. Thanks, Mom. And, uh...Dad - be careful up there! That looks a bit dangerous...

TGIF

Hey all - WHEW! Busy day - had a callback for a straight play at a very cool and hip downtown theatre this morning, and it went very well. Then went and recorded 6 songs for a composer friend, then went to the gym, then went to do Many Moons at Falls Church Art Space. Very long day.

To the left is a picture of Sean with his dogs, Lady and Albert, along with Buddha. He has been back in the area of late, as Phantom is now in Baltimore. It has been nice as always to see him and spend time with him, and I miss him so very much.

Buddha misses the dogs, and that much is certain. Albert and he go WAY back and Lady is pretty much his new girl.

In other news, this is the last weekend of Many Moons at Falls Church Art Space. We have 2 shows tomorrow - at 2pm and 7:30pm, and 2 shows on Sunday - at 2pm and 4pm. Please come and see this adorable show. It only runs about 35 minutes, and tickets are a mere $10.

Visit www.creativecauldron.org for details.

After this show closes, the next time you will be able to catch me onstage is in a DC Fringe Festival show entitle Claudio World. The premise is a video game musical that mirrors Super Mario Brothers, and I am the Mario, Sam Ludwig is the Luigi, and Lauren Williams is the Princess. This is a multimedia piece, and the script is hysterical. More details will follow as they become available to me. Also forthcoming are photos from the Parade reading and rehearsals.

I hope you all have a great weekend, and I will chat with you soon!

xoxo

SGS

The Journey to Ian Panwei

My brother and his wife and my niece, Tessa are currently in the air over Russia, en route to China to meet their newly adopted son, Ian Panwei!! They will land in about 3 hours, and I will keep you posted on their journey as I hear of it. This is where their flight is located, according to Continental Airlines. More to come!
xoxo
sgs

4431 South 36th St. 2003-2009. RIP.

Today we handed in our keys to the old place. I walked around the old place one last time taking in the memories that these walls held. All of the things that have happened here in the past six years. It was a little overwhelming.
In case you didn't know, Matt, Ryan and I moved to this place in late December 2003, after our house on 16th Street burned down. We paid the deposit/first month's rent with money that the cast of Signature's "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" gathered together. It was furnished with furniture that our friends fave us. Furniture that Signature Theatre gave us. Furniture that my clients with Happy Hounds gave us. We were truly rescued, and this home was our safety net that we landed in.








Random memories that just floated back with that:
...Sitting on my then inflatable bed with Tracy Olivera as it slowly deflated (it never held air that good) as she had a meltdown over holiday shopping yet to be done. After much discussion I took her to the Target and between the two of us we got it all done. The popular song of the time was No Doubt's "It's My Life". I recall that blaring in my car as we drove down the road...

...Realizing that I had kind of missed decorating for Christmas that year, since the fire was December 5th, and putting up my boughs of lighted garland on the railway of the steps to downstairs, reasoning that it was kind of wintry and January-esque and could stay up for awhile. Thus beginning a tradition of putting the lighted garland up first ( like on Thanksgiving) and taking it down last (like on February 1st)...





...Moving all our gifted furniture in and what an incredibly hard job that was...and then sitting there and looking at all of the furniture and seeing not furniture, but friends and loved ones who gave these pieces out of the kindness of their hearts. It was another truly overwhelming moment....

















This house was home to Matt Conner, Ryan Dean Halbrook, Stephen Gregory Smith and Buddha the pug. It had its ups and downs along the way...
RANDOM MEMORY
The flood of Summer 2006, later dubbed the "300 Year Flood". Our entire downstairs (where Matt and I lived) was underwater. We were relegated to our living room, sleeping on the floor for weeks after, until we took matters into our own hands, ripped the carpet up and took it out ourselves, as we feared that we would get sick from the growing black mold festering in the ruined carpet one floor below us. The flood hit on Pride Night during a performance of Assassins. It's sudden onslaught and aftermath will never be forgotten to me...



...But it was our home. Period. It's backyard lent me millions of hours of delight. Watching tv out there, planning the water garden. I loved every second of this back yard.








...All of the holiday decorations that this place harbored. The pumpkin carving parties, the Easter egg coloring parties, the Christmas get togethers...















I refinished many a piece of furniture in this backyard, did many a craft project here, read many a book here. ...reading The Ruins jumps out to me...then The Stand. And growing lily pads in our aquatic garden...and laying in my big boy chair...
How many discussions of new shows or cabarets took place there? Hundreds.












We always lived at the mercy of our friends' fellowship. They were always there. We loved each and every one of you, and our door loved your shadows.







...Eleasha and I singing in the basement rehearsing for Ebony and Ivory 1 and 2, her voice ringing through the rafters...


It is hard to let go of such a place. Even if it was not always the best, It offered so much fun and great times. We had/have the best of friends who always came out and had a great time with us.
So here we are on tidy endings. And it is very emotional for me. All over again. I have not lived there since April, and it was very hard to let go of all of this. But that is always it, isn't it? The letting go. In the final analysis, I thank 4431. All of the love it gave. All of the hope it gave. It was fun while it lasted. But now it is done. And I have to be ok with that. Which I am. Thank you 4431. For everything. Goodbye, Fairlington.

Shots of the New Pad.

So here are some random photos of the new apartment. We are settled in nicely, and every day it is feeling a little more like home. It is taking Buddha a little bit of time to adjust, but he will roll with it and keep barking, as he always does.
First off here we have the breakfast nook in the kitchen.
Black and White plus a hint of Yellow = French Provincial. Martha taught me that.














My bedroom.














































Buddha enjoying dinner next to the fireplace.























And the balcony.
xoxoxo
SGS