Fall Bitch and Swap

Have you thrown your Bitch and Swap yet? What did you get?

Dulcinea Beauty Tip #2: Once a Week

This is a photo of me with dirty hair.

And it's so much more manageable than just-washed hair!

I've been told not to wash my hair more than once a week before, but I never believed. I mean, what's a girl to do if she sweats when she works out? And what about product buildup?

As Aldonza, I didn't wear a wig and I wanted it to look like it hadn't been brushed or washed in years. DJ, our director, even suggested that I clip pieces of straw into the back of it, as if I had been dragged through the stables, but in the end, sometimes more is not, well... So I began to wash it once a week, on my day off.

And I liked my hair better! Even with sweat from running, salt from swimming in the ocean, gel and mousse that I put in it every day, my hair had better texture and felt thicker and smoother and healther and much more manageable. So why go back to washing every day?

The secret is I do get it wet as if I'm going to wash it in the shower but then I add conditioner and leave that on for the remainder of my shower, rinsing before I turn the water off.

Then, whether I leave it wavy or blow it straight, it feels as though I have twice the hair than I would if I had just shampooed it.

Fewer washes=fewer dollars spent on shampoo, not to mention fewer dollars spent on hair color, if that should apply to you...

Thanks, Aldonza!

Dulcinea Beauty Tip #1: The Aldonza Manicure

Okay, this is not really a "beauty tip" and this post would have been better timed before Halloween, but I came up with this idea when I was looking for details to make myself really dirty at the beginning of the show, Man of La Mancha. To become "a creature who'll never do better than crawl", I wanted to be covered in years of gutter grime so my transformation would be more dramatic. I knew we would be "getting dirty" by covering ourselves with burned cork before each show (see upper right photo with Lauren Ford, "Antonia"), but would it stay in the cracks of fingernails and toenails?

For about a year now, black has been back as the trendiest nail polish color, and not just for Emo, Goth or Alt Rockers. During rehearsals, I was wearing black on my nails and as it wore off between manicures, I wondered if I could wipe it off in a way that it looked like residual dirt. I must admit, I was inspired by the makeup in the Lord of the Rings movies (so many closeups of Frodo and the ring couldn't reveal clean hands) and was happy to know that this effect wouldn't require frequent applications of black shoe polish or something worse.

1. Apply one layer of black nail polish all over nails (and toenails if feet are bare).
2. Allow to dry.
3. Soak paper towel or toilet paper in nail polish remover and wipe nails down, avoiding the cuticles, leaving polish on edges only.

Soon, other cast members wanted this "Aldonza Manicure" to add details to their dirtiness. (Pictured here are Sal Sabella, "the Padre", and me out after a show, showing off our gnarly nails)

Who knows? Maybe we'll start a whole new fad!

The Dulcinea Project

It's no secret. I've been away.

And I haven't been blogging.

And I'm sorry.

But sometimes a Renaissance Girl has to take some Me-time, some away time, and get some perspective.

And this time, I got it while playing the filthy, lowest of the low woman-for-sale Aldonza in Man of La Mancha (pictured at right).

I realized that for the past 6 months, though I find pleasure in the creativity and imagination it takes to live well on an artist's budget, I have grown weary of making ends meet, of making just enough to squeak by. And I admit this, knowing that a lot of you are feeling the same way. And it's okay. It's the recession, baby.

But I regret that I stopped writing...

In the next few posts, I will write some beauty tips I discovered and utilized while making my transformation, onstage and off, from cheap jack- of- all trades Aldonza to beautiful superstar Dulcinea, including a dramatic body image change. It took diving into one of the most difficult roles I've ever performed to find myself and to know I've been here all along; I just needed to figure out where to dig and what to shed.

And it still didn't cost a cent, just a gamble.

Maybe I'll call it, The Dulcinea Project.

Three Coat Sales!

No, I haven't posted in a while, but yes, I want you to know about the upcoming Salvation Army Coat Sales!

• Saturday, November 6th 9:30am to 5pm
• Saturday, December 4th 9:30am to 5pm
• Saturday, January 8th 9:30am to 5pm

Check back to my first Coat Sale posting for my tips to navigating these hectic and hilarious events.

And I promise to post again soon!

The OTHER Shakespeare in the Park

Shakespeare in the Park, brought to you by the Public Theater, went back to a wonderful and often unattainable conquest: Rep. Most of the actors perform in both Winters Tale and A Merchant's Tale. Ted and I saw both shows at the Delacorte Theater this summer: Beautiful, ethereal, clever, starstudded...

...and sanitary.

Call me crazy, but I like my Shakespeare (and most theater, for that matter) more hands on, more about human contact and imperfection. So when I went to see New York Classical Theater's production of Much Ado About Nothing (starring my longtime friend and onstage husband, Company, Fred Rose) Saturday night, I was, at long last, sated.

And yes, I am blogging about both because they are free to the public (with a suggested donation, of course) and they are at the top of my list of New York summer adventures, but I have to admit, when I heard that I'd have to sit on the pavement to see Much Ado and then get up and move around to various locations all around Battery Park with a hundred other various strangers, I anticipated the grumpiness that only a long time New Yorker who avoids events like the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting and Macy's Thanksgiving Parade trully knows.

But at least until the word gets out, there is no standing in line starting at 6am for a New York Classical Theater Shakespeare play. Once you know where to meet for the initial scene, you just jump in with the crowd and don't get too comfortable. Which I found to be, unexpectedly, the beauty of this concept.

I joined Benedick, Beatrice, Hero and their friends in Castle Clinton, along with 150 other people of all ages, shapes, colors, and species (Duffy the dog was mezmerized by the fight scenes). Each theatergoer was respectful and eager to find out what happened at the next location (kids ended up in a race), all of which served as a great background for the 1940's seafaring concept.

When the sun went behind the horizon (Battery Park sunsets over Jersey City and the statue of liberty are pretty spectacular) the same assistants that ushered the crowd to the next location held flashlights as spotlights. Occasionally, ambient noise competed with the dialogue, but the actor's vocal work was impressive and the audience seemed to hang on every word of the abbreviated script. The acting and directing was strong and the story prevailed. And I never had a chance to sit and tune out. We were all a part of the experience.

As of next week, Much Ado moves to Central Park at 103rd Street, the exact location is listed on the website. Bring comfortable shoes, shorts/pants that you don't mind getting dirty, something to sit on that you can easily carry from place to place, and friends.

Trees Are Cool

Check out this The Lower East Side Ecology Center's website for instructions on how to safely recycle and for a money saving tip that we should all remember:

"The net cooling effect of one young, healthy tree is equivalent to ten room-sized air conditioners operating 20 hours a day.

How's that for free?

And true. I just returned from the O'Neill Theater Center in Connecticut where I was in a 12 day workshop reading of an amazing new musical called "Clear" written by Paul Stovall and the best place to cool off was under one of the amazing huge trees on the grounds. There are photos of famous actors and playwrights and directors (Woody Allen, August Wilson, etc.) under what was known as the Conference Tree. What an amazing creative meeting place! Holy Ground, as our musical director/cast member Brad Simmons said.

Yay trees!

And yay Lower East Side Ecology Center!