The Citizen Workshops Launch Party is getting close! RSVP ASAP - spots are filling up, and you don't want to miss out on juicy creative community-building.  Here are the details:

When: Wednesday July 8, 2015, 6:30-8:30pm
Where: NoHo Performing Arts Center (NoHo PAC), 11020 Magnolia Blvd. North Hollywood
What: Launch party (champagne and snacks!) and the first meeting of Team Citizen Workshops: a community-building artist support group.  Come to meet, mingle, discuss, make friends, laugh, vent, and get support for your artistic and creative goals.  We'll also have sign up lists so you can stay informed about classes you would like to take (or teach)!
RSVP: Our launch event is FREE to attend!  Just email us (info@citizenworkshops.com) by July 5 to secure a spot. 

Looking forward to seeing you there!  Also, check out this gorgeous sunset in North Hollywood last night - thanks to Brandon for the photo beauty!

My brother Kent suggested an Audra McDonald song for this week's Wednesday Song, and while the fabulous Audra has sung hundreds of amazing renditions, this one will always stick out in my mind. My mom and I went to see an Audra McDonald recital when I was in high school, and I was captivated. Audra was charming, funny, real, and (very importantly to me at the time) was a singer who crossed over between the classical and musical theater worlds. I remember thinking that if Audra could figure out her mixed musical identity, so could I! (Alternatively, I could just shape shift into her.) Although this song is an old standard by Oscar Hammerstein and Jerome Kern from their 1927 musical Show Boat, I heard it for the first time at this recital. She introduced the song "Bill" by telling the audience that she sang this song at a benefit where Bill Cosby was present, and he wasn't so sure the song was a compliment. (Oh, Bill Cosby. If only I had as pure an impression of you as I did when I was a kid. Alas.) But enjoy, and Happy Wednesday Song Day!  ALSO: our Citizen Workshops Launch Party is two short weeks away!  If you haven't RSVPd yet, do so today!!

This Wednesday Song is a classic Stephen Sondheim number from his musical Follies.  When I taught an introduction to acting class to freshmen at San Jose State University, I dedicated a week of the semester to musical theater (because why not?!).  I used this song as an example of the transition of styles between the musical theater of the late 1950s (think "the hills are alive with the sound of music") to the early 1970s (where this character sings about her deep depression).  It's a haunting and beautiful torch song, though.  Enjoy, and happy Wednesday Song day!

Happy Wednesday Song Day!  This week's song brings me back to childhood, when I was always more excited to sing powerful ballads performed by male characters than ones sung by females.  (More examples here.)  But for a Wednesday Song, there are no rules!  So here's one of my favorite musical theater ballads from the show Ragtime, performed by the character Mr. Coalhouse Walker Jr. and made famous by the great singer Brian Stokes Mitchell.  Enjoy!  (And if you're new to Wednesday Songs, check out this blog post for more on where the series started.)

Save the Date for Citizen Workshops' first in-person gathering!  Come to our launch for the first meeting of Team Citizen Workshops: a community-building artist support group. Here are the deets:

When: Wednesday July 8, 2015, 6:30-8:30pm
Where: NoHo Performing Arts Center (NoHo PAC), 11020 Magnolia Blvd. North Hollywood
What: Launch party (champagne and snacks!) and the first meeting of Team Citizen Workshops: a community-building artist support group.  Come to meet, mingle, discuss, make friends, laugh, vent, and get support for your artistic and creative goals.  We'll also have sign up lists so you can stay informed about classes you would like to take (or teach)!
RSVP: Our launch event is FREE to attend!  Just email us (info@citizenworkshops.com) by July 5 to secure a spot. 

Can't wait to see you there!

This week's Wednesday song is "When I Look At You" from The Scarlet Pimpernel by Frank Wildhorn - a song I used for a few auditions while living in NY.  Auditioning, performance, and performance nerves have been on my mind lately.  A couple of weeks ago, I was asked to judge the solo vocal competition in my old school district (the middle school Kiwanis finals for the SMMUSD, for those of you who know it), and the experience brought back a surge of memories.  I took my first voice lessons in preparation for my 8th grade competition (with the fabulous Carol Tingle), and I was sick with nerves.  I sat in my room for hours singing through my Italian song, petrified that I'd forget the words, the music, or how to put my right foot in front of my left.  I didn't even want my parents to come to the performance.  It went fine - I even placed in the competition, something I cared about far less than surviving the 2-minute song, but the experience leading up to the competition is one I'll never forget.  

Years later, I still fought nerves.  In college, a teacher said in a master class that if you were a great singer, your best performances automatically happened in front of an audience.  This nearly ruined me.  At the time (and sometimes even to this day) I felt the opposite: I was great in lessons, practice, or rehearsal, but nerves took hold during auditions and competitions.  I always sang ok, but I never shined or had FUN the way you were "supposed" to.  I recently heard my colleague Diana Rowan address this issue in a brand new way.  Regarding her own experience, she said: "I felt like if I had such bad anxiety, it was a sign I had no talent.  Which now I know is absolutely not true - sometimes it's the opposite."  This was such a lightbulb moment for me!  I suddenly saw my relationship with nerves in a whole new light. (Watch Diana's inspirational video here - it's less than 6 minutes long, and so worth it.)

As I sang through this song this morning for Brandon, I felt the perfectionist creep up in me - it was as if my inner critic had turned into a judge behind a table.  But to share music - to be able to sing for and with others - is a gift beyond words.  So happy Wednesday song day, and enjoy!

Our first in-person gathering is coming soon!!  If you're an artist of any kind who yearns for more community, connection, laughter, and support - join us.  Artists of all levels and stages are welcome: whether you've won 17 Oscars, you take pictures for fun (and Instagram), or you really miss playing trumpet in marching band, come to creatively collaborate with us.  The idea of an artist community is near and dear to my heart.  Since leaving the college bubble many moons ago, I've longed for a place to meet, discuss, vent, make friends, network, laugh, and get support for artistic and creative goals.  So here we go!  Team Citizen Workshops is a community-building artist support group that wants YOU.  Email us to learn more and stay informed.  We're working on securing a location (looking like North Hollywood) and securing treats for the first meeting/launch party (looking like champagne and cheese will be involved).