This photo was taken at a Breast Cancer benefit produced by my company Star of the Day Event Productions on Thursday, October 6th at the Allentown Brew Works. Also in the photo is the amazing Christine Hunt-Hjorth.
ife using that poem. When researching the poem I became a huge fan of Frost. His work spoke to me. I came across this poem in my research and was very excited because in high school the Concert Chorale I sang with performed the musical version of this poem. I recognized instantly and many times in my life I have thought of this poem. This is something we all encounter at least once in life, if not more. As a professional performer, I find myself at a crossroads several times a year.
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
two roads diverged in a wood, and I --
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
~Robert Frost
As I continue my journey as a professional performer, I'm faced with hard decisions all the time. My passion for what I do is strong and it fills my heart with such joy. But then I find myself thinking about my non-artistic life and remember the responsibilities that come along with being married, being responsible for two cute kitteh catties, having a home, cars, bills, etc. When gigs aren't line up and I'm left to my part-time work as a prep chef at a dinner theatre and a part-time theater educator and barely making ends meet, my mind retreats to the 'old me' that made a really great steady paycheck and the bills were always paid on time and I never worried about money at all. I'm human, what can I say...I feel like whenever I don't have a gig I'm letting everyone in my life down.
One reason I started 'Star of the Day Event Productions' was to help alleviate some of that financial burden and lift some stress off of me so I can remain healthy in my quest for artistic domination. But, the confident, sassy person I am falls victim to societal pressures that I'm not being responsible and maybe after almost 4 years, it's time to get a 'real' job. There it is again, folks. The argument that the path I've chosen, the hard one, is not a 'REAL' career path. Granted, it's hard and it's not for the weak...but in the past year, I'm beginning to realize that I'm good at what I do. Onstage, offstage, teaching, etc....I'm good at it. I receive emails from parents and students about how I changed their lives, helped their child's shyness or how my work with them on an audition got them a callback...I've shared tears with my students while coaching them one on one with monologues....I've seen my work improve...I was praised by an award-winning international filmmaker regarding my acting in a student film. The short was picked out of a screening as the 'Judges Pick' for both acting and content. So why do I continue to feel like I don't belong in this business? I think I'm beginning to finally see the light.....and it shines like the top of the Chrysler Building folks....I'm here in PA for another 8 months and then I'm getting out of here. I've made some really wonderful friends here but I have to get into NYC. I have to be surrounded by people who are just as serious about this business as I am...who will support my choices to stay the course and who will be willing to throw me a life jacket should my boat spring a leak. Here in PA...I can count on one hand the amount of people who truly want me to succeed at my dreams....everyone else, and I realize this now (Although I've had friends try and convince me of this for months, years), wants to hold me back for their own selfish reasons because if they lose me what the hell will they do? God gave me a voice and a heart and the passion for the arts to share those gifts with the world...and it's about time I get back on that road and follow it to the end. No more detours...no more excuses. I can't share with the world all that I love if I'm stuck in a kitchen chopping tomatoes and scooping ice cream. Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking prep chefs at all....it's just not where God intended me to be. I think all you have to do is look at the first picture in this blog to see the love and passion I have for what I do. A picture is worth a thousand words!
Eh~maybe I'm over sensitive...but no matter what, I've wanted to move to NYC or closer to it for over a year now. So I think it's time to go! And I think I'll take the advice I've been getting about surrounding myself with only positive people. This business is hard enough. I can't surround myself with wishy-washy people, weak-minded people, or jealous people who are set on seeing me fail.
For the wishy-washy: "Choose your friends with caution; plan your future with purpose, and frame your life with faith. " ~Thomas S. Monson
For the weak-minded: “Oh, you weak, beautiful people who give up with such grace. What you need is someone to take hold of you -- gently, with love, and hand your life back to you.”~Tennessee Williams
For the jealous: "The jealous know nothing, suspect much, and fear everything." ~ Curt Goetz
QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
VIDEO OF THE WEEK: (courtesy of Grete Miller)
RECIPE OF THE WEEK: Zero Point "Pumpkin Pie" 
1/2 cup Canned Pumpkin - 0 pts
Splenda(2 or 3 T) - 0 pts
Pumpkin Pie Spice - 0 pts
2 T Cool Whip Free - 0 pts
Combine first 3 ingredients in a bowl, microwave about a minute, top with Cool Whip!
Kirsten Almeida received her B.A. in Theater and Speech from Wagner College
. For twelve years, Kirsten doubled as a professional fundraiser for a large non-profit arts organization and an actor, director, choreographer, and playwright. She is currently performing for the Pines Dinner Theatre 2011 season as Sister Hubert in 'Nunsense' and Mrs. C in 'Happy Days The Musical.' She has performed in more than forty shows all over the U.S. She spent four months touring the country with the Omaha Theater Company's production of 'The Little Engine that Could' as the Red Dress Doll. She performed nearly 80 performances in 36 states. In New York City, Kirsten was part of the cast for the award-winning 'Skin Deep' by Mary Lynn Dobson (Fringe Festival winner 2009) which has won top honors from the 2010 Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival and originated the role of Lavender Blue in the eerily funny 'Professor Von Awesome's Traveling Caravan of Cautionary Warnings.' Kirsten appeared in the U.S. premiere of 'Scandalous! A new musical based on the life of D.H. Lawrence' in New Orleans and appeared at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in the World Premiere musical 'The Butterfly Project' which raised money for children's cancer research. Other credits include Children of Eden (Mama Noah), Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat(Narrator), Hello Dolly!(Minnie Fay), Beauty and the Beast(Silly Girl & Madame de la Grande Bouche), The Sound of Music(Mother Abbess), Annie(Star-to-Be), Oliver!(Widow Corney), How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying(Rosemary), My Fair Lady(Featured Dancer), Promises, Promises!(Featured Dancer), Nunsense I & II(Sister Leo), Gypsy(Tessie Tura), Guys & Dolls(Featured Dancer), Back to the 80s(Debbie Cox), Seussical the Musical(Gertrude), Snoopy!(Sally Brown), Pippin(Featured dancer), Carousel, Godspell, Little Shop of Horrors(Chiffon), and many more.
In film/tv, Kirsten just wrapped up filming on two short films: 'Stabilized' by Grete Miller, a B&W silent film where her solo performance received highest accolades during screenings from Shimon Dotan, award-winning filmmaker with 13 feature films to his credit; recipient of Jury Prize for Best World Documentary at Sundance (Hot House); Silver Bear at the Berlin FF (The Smile of the Lamb); Best Film at the Newport Beach Film Festival (You Can Thank Me Later); numerous Israeli Academy Awards, including Best Film and Best Director (Repeat Dive; The Smile of the Lamb); films presented on HBO, PBS, CBS, ARTE; has taught filmmaking at Tel Aviv U., Concordia U. in Montreal and is teaching political cinema at NYU and 'Threshold'. She appears in the upcoming comedy 'Big Guns' which has received numerous awards on the film festival circuit in 2011. She was also in 'Three Chris'' and the independent short 'Westfield' with Clocktower Productions. She has also appeared in two episodes of 'The World's Most Astonishing News'.
Kirsten has appeared as a guest artist with the Newark Boys Chorus and Triad Ensemble and the Spotlight Cabaret with Allentown Public Theater. She was a founding member of the Boonton Parks & Recreation Theatre Company for young performers where she not only directed and choreographed the shows for the company but also acted as lead fundraiser, costumer, lighting designer, marketing director as well as scenic and props designer. Kirsten also taught dance for the recreation department to children ages 7-12. Kirsten has also dabbled in play writing for children's theater. Her twisted version of "The Three Little Pigs" (a musical from the Big Bad Wolf's perspective) was produced at Playhouse 22 in East Brunswick, NJ.
Kirsten teaches drama classes at the Civic Theater in Allentown, PA to grades Pre-K through 4. She also is the Program Coordinator/Facilitator for the "Reading with Cat in the Hat" literacy promotion program where she tours to at-risk communities and performs as the Cat in the Hat. Kirsten also offers an audition class to high school students which helps students audition confidently. Her effective teaching style is requested by groups in PA and NJ and NY.
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