Acting Debut

Singers during sound check


"It's called...A looooooophole!"



"I have a caller who would like to comment on the fact that it took 3 days to find Jesus!"

"O.J. Simpson, Sarah Palin, all on the back burner tonight folks. Buckle up! It's Nancy Gracious!"

"Uh Vinny...you have no idea where to find this 'loophole' do you?!"

This weekend was my acting debut. Yes, you heard me right. My debut. As in, I'm not counting the Sunday School Musicals at Bethel Temple during elementary school, even when I had the lead. I mean seriously. About 100 people came to those, and they were the parents of the participants.


This was different.


I've had this nagging little dream in the back of my mind that I never allowed out. Not the "I want to be a doctor" one. No, I'm talking about the "I want to be on Broadway" one. I remember watching an Oprah a long time ago and she had people write in about their un-realized dreams and then she made them happen. One lady wanted to be an NFL cheerleader. One lady wanted to record and then sing a song for a huge audience, and one lady wanted to be in a broadway musical. I could totally relate to her.


So, it's not broadway, but for my current circumstances, it's the best chance I've got! You've heard of Rush Hour, I've been singing in it for almost 2 years. That in and of itself has been a fantastic growing experience for me. I have been challenged to be uncomfortable and crank on solos, and dance and lead the crowd in energy (ok, I was the mascot in high school-I guess it's not that much of a stretch)


This weekend I got to act! I am cast as a 7th grade cheerleader who is the class president, is up on current trends, but is a little insecure. She's supposed to be confident, a little pushy, a little sarcastic, but pretty grounded. Gee......


Yesterday was our church's "Family Fun Day" at our brand new campus. There were jump-castles, free hot dogs, kiddie carnival booths, free concerts by the Katinas and two 45-minute Rush Hour performances. Over 2000 people came to check everything out and the energy was amazing!


Then this morning, we had our official "kickoff Sunday" at the new building. We really didn't know what to expect, we only knew that about 400 people from the Niwot campus were planning to make the Frederick campus their home. We had 1400 people show up!! All the kids classrooms were at capacity, the worhsip auditorium was full and Rush Hour was packed.


Now what??? I think our staff is thanking God and yet trying to figure out how we're going to handle all of these people! It will be interesting to see if the numbers stay high over the next few weeks, or if they were from lots of "looky-lous".


So, on to Rush Hour. The pictures are from today's rehearsal right before the live show.


The story: I spied on my cheerleading competition b/c I had heard they had stolen our super cool cheer moves. My parents caught and grounded me, and I snuck out again, (dressed as Carmen Sandiego?) just to go see the regional cheer tournament. I solicited the help of my friend Vinny (played by June's husband Greg) and he decides to help me find a "loophole" to get out of my grounding. And for some reason, he needs to do it dressed as a pirate. All of his dialogue was pirate-sounding..."Help you I will, as we thunder across the rampaging seas in search of this hidden treasure" "Uh Vinny? I don't think seas actually rampage. Can we just get on with it?"


In the middle of the character's story, we take a break and move to a bible story. That's when I played Nancy Grace-shus. I interview Ben-ya-min, the uncle who was traveling with Mary and Joseph when they so "conveniently" lost Jesus at the Temple. I pretty much assume that Mary and Joseph are neglectful parents and that they meant to do it on purpose. Much like the real Nancy Grace interviews...


It was a blast! People had really good things to say to me afterward and I'm glad I auditioned.