So here's some things.

I realize I never finished my blog about Brownville, that will be coming soon. But its been a little over a month since we all left and everyone is doing that sentimental thing, so I will too. The truth is I have been horribly depressed and missing everyone terribly. I miss having records and playing drinking games. I miss always having someone around. I miss all of those stories we all knew of each other's so well and hated hearing, but loved at the same time. I miss the OC, I miss Fifty Shades of Grey, I miss Doc. I miss everything being broken, because the truth is, everything is broken here too. But the reason it's broken here is because none of you are with me. I know most of us will see each other soon at KCACTF but I wish we could find a way to create theatre we love year round with each other. I hope all of you are doing well and  that we will stay in touch as well as we have been.

Week 9

Monday: Today Michael and I went into Omaha for a date. He wanted to get sushi, little did I know that he had never eaten it before. We tried this place I had heard was good, and I ended up ordering for both of it. He was a really good sport about it and tried all of what we ordered. Overall he said he liked it and would eat it again, so I guess it was a success. After we got dinner we walked around and shopped. We also went into a pub for a bit before meeting up with his sister and her finance. It was a good date.

Tuesday and wednesday: We had special performances of And then I wrote these days. We go to the theater at 1 and worked on stuff that we will offer up at the auction at the end of the season. Wednesday night we had Christmas in July, complete with Santa.  We also did a secret Santa gift exchange and it was amazing how well we all really knew each other and what to get for what person. We really have become a lot like a family. I will miss them when I leave.

Thursday: Tonight there was a performance of And then I wrote. It went well and our shift into the next show wasn't too long so we got out with enough time to be able to have fun and hang out.

Friday: Tonight was the show Kindly leave the stage. I am not in that one, so my night was rather uneventful. The show went well and once again, the shift did not take long so we were out early. Michael and I went out to the bar and then hung out with his friends after I got off of work.

Saturday: Today we did The prevalence of Ms. Seal and And then I wrote. The shows went well and miraculously the shift between shows wasn't too bad or stressful. We are really getting good at doing midday shifts. The Blanke's (the people who founded the Theatre) came to the shows today and had nothing but good things to say to us. It makes me really happy to see them, and have them compliment our shows so much. After work we went over to Shooter's because Mitch's friends were in town and they all wanted to hang out.  We saw the people who work at the Lyceum there and hung out with them. They were a lot of fun to talk to and be around. Its sort of cool to be making friends who live here. It makes me feel like if I choose to come back next year, I will definitely know people.

Sunday: Today we did Look Who's Laughing and The Apple Tree. We had large audiences for both shows. It was really nice to have almost full houses. Michael came with some of his friends to see Look Who's Laughing and they all really liked it. Both shows went really well and after work we went home to celebrate Layne's 24th birthday. Tomorrow we will be going to Omaha to play and drink.

It was a good week here in Brownville.

Johanna and I "peeking" under our "Christmas Tree"

Michael and I on date night.

Week 8

This Monday I also had off and I spent it with mom at the Zoo and going around the Old Market of Omaha. She seemed to really like the Zoo although it was very hot out. She seemed to really like the Old Market as well. We went to the newly opened Joe's Crab shack for dinner. It was so yummy and both of us left happy and full.

We had 3 special performances this week. They were all And then I wrote. This weekend's shows went well and we had pretty good sized audiences.

Layne holding Spook.

The Flowers in Brownville are beautiful

I also started seeing this guy Michael. He is pretty cool. We went and got some food, and on Thursday night we saw the Dark Knight Rises with some other friends. We are planning on going out on Monday again. He's pretty dorky and sort of cheesy, but he's a nice guy.

Week 7

On my first day off I slept in and then just stayed around the house. I went out to eat with my friend Mike who lives in Peru and goes to the school there. I met him at KCACTF. We went and got barbecue. Also a group of us went to Nebraska City to see the movie Brave. I liked it a lot. It was a cute story and was really well done. Overall it was a really good day off.

The second day off I went to Worlds of Fun with some of the other company members. We had a blast. I got a little sunburned but I didn't mind. We went on a lot of water rides because it was really hot out. All of the rides were super fun, and it was great to be out with my new family having fun. We were so glad to be able to just be off of work and free to do what we wanted to. After the amusement park we had dinner in Kansas City at Tom Foolerys. The food was great and so was the beer. Overall it was a wonderful "weekend" and going back to work shouldn't be too bad. On the bright side my mom is coming to visit this weekend.

Week 7: We came back to the theater and did a special performance of And then I Wrote. It went well. When we got home we cleaned our house really well because a lot of us had family coming this weekend.  The next day we cleaned the theater really well and made it look all pretty again.

Mom came this weekend and I showed her around. I think she really liked it. I took her around to the different shops and of course I took her to the bar we usually go to. She met the locals who are always there and I think she was a little worried about it, but she did well hanging with the crowd.

Weeks 5 and 6

Week 5: This week we started rehearsal for The Prevalence of Ms. Seal. Jarvis, our tech director is our director for this show. It is really funny and we have a lot of different and obscure characters. We have been having a lot of fun during this rehearsal process, and the set looks like it is in a Castle. Jarvis and the scene shop crew really did a great job. My character looks like a china doll and is rather ditzy and empty headed.

Brownville is really starting to grow on me. I have found this boutique called Neil Madison and it has a bunch of chic and trendy clothes. I think I am going to buy one of the vests next week after I cash a paycheck. There are a ton of really cool shoes in the store but none of them fit my small feet.

Week 6: Rehearsals for our last show of the season started this week. It is the show I am stage managing. And then I Wrote is a story about a young writer who is trying to make it on the Broadway scene with his new play. We had a long and ridiculous rehearsal process. There were really only 4 days to rehearse because fourth of July fell right in the middle of our rehearsal process. After 10 or 11 pm everyone's brains went out the window and rehearsals would become hysterical. We had a lot of fun and the show ended up opening nicely.

This weekend both And then I Wrote and The Prevalence of Ms. Seal opened. We had pretty good crowds for all of the shows and we were happy. This means that all of our shows are open and we will have Monday and Tuesday off.

The fourth of July was lots of fun. We had the night off and everyone pitched in to help make food. We also lit off fireworks along with going down by the river to watch Brownville's fireworks display. It was really cool but a little sad because we knew our summer was already half over.

Mitch Layne and I in The Prevalence of Ms. Seal

Just being goofy before The Prevalence of Ms. Seal

Weeks 3 and 4

Week 3: This week we started rehearsing Kindly Leave the Stage. I am not in the show and so I have been able to whole heatedly focus on getting props for all of the rest of the shows. We are making good headway on getting everything done for the musical The Apple Tree. We are also in music rehearsals for The Apple Tree right now. I can't wait to start rehearsing for it. I have been really sick this week, even after going to the doctor. If it stays bad I will go on Monday.

So fun story,  Kindly Leave the Stage  opened on Friday night. All through the week I was sick, I missed several days of work because I could not keep anything down. It was really scary. I also had a bunch of bumps and blisters. Saturday was our dress rehearsal for Look Who's Laughing. And while we were running lines for it I got super sick and the bumps kept spreading. So our director Josh and his Wife Devon, who is our costumer took me to the Emergency Room after we ate lunch. They determined that I was allergic to the amoxicillin that they gave me to treat my upper respiratory infection. Fun! So now I will have to make sure when I get home, but I currently have to say I am allergic to any "cillin"


Before I got sick I was going running rather frequently and I found a really pretty gazebo near the cemetery here. If you're up there at night there is a really great view of the stars.

Week 4: This week was much better. After I took my Z-pak that I was given after going back to the doctor, I got a lot better. Thank god for that! We started rehearsals for The Apple Tree this week. It has been so much fun. The cool thing is that each of the 3 acts tells a different story about love and desire. We are having so much fun here. I actually got added into the 3rd act as a chorus member as well, so yay, more fun!! 

Karaoke night

I looked around the town more this week and I went into this store called "The Antiquarium". It is a really large bookstore in the old school house. The man who owns the store is named Tom and he is really awesome and has so much knowledge. I love going there just to talk to him and look around at all of the books. 

The first things.

So this summer is over half over and has totally flown by. I know I should have been doing this all along but I didn't because it is really hard for me to remember to write down the things that happened in my day. The good news is I wrote down most of it and have a pretty decent memory so far. So this post will be a work in progress and the rest of the posts will happen as is necessary. 


The first week: When we got here we all experienced quite a bit of culture shock. It was so different from anything I had ever known. Here in Brownville we have one main street and the highway. There are no stoplights, doctors, pharmacies, gas stations or fast food restaurants. There is one stop sign on either side of the highway. We also had no internet and VERY limited cell phone connection here. We were almost convinced that if the zombie Apocalypse happened we would be screwed because after all we had no access to the media. We entertained ourselves with movies and reading books out loud to each other. When we met we were all instantly a family, and are still very close to each other. I love this new family I have found.


Also this weekend the flea market came into town and it was fantastic. There were so many weird people and there was a lot of great opportunities to people watch. I bought a sign and a statue of Beast from Beauty and the Beast.

Rachel at the Flea market

Week 2: We got internet!!! Yay. We were all able to get in touch with our families and send pictures and what not. We also started working on our first show, Look who's laughing. It is the first of the shows I am in and I love it. It is a very different process from anything I have ever known before. We are using a process called wood shedding. In this process the show is broken down in to lots of sections and you run those sections 6 times and then move on to the next section. After you do 6 sections you then run combinations of them. Our director is super fun and he lives around here an teaches at the local college Peru State College. I have had this annoying cough and I am hoping that me going to to the doctor and getting some amoxicillin will have helped. A big thanks to Mitch Bean for letting me use his car. 

Mitch at music rehearsal

Me as "Joanie" in Look Who's Laughing.