It's September almost October!

HEY!

Did you know that It's almost October? WOW! I absolutely love the fall! Well let me brief you all on the past two weeks since I didn't have a chance to blog last week.

Last week Tuesday our family received some not so fun news that my Grandpa, my mom's dad, had passed away. Now, this was a particularly hard news to get the first thing in the morning, and then try to go to all of your classes. My Grandpa had lead a wonderful life of 87 years, WOW! I can't even imagine making it to 30, let alone 87. This was my first grandparent to die. I was sad at first and I still am; But then I remembered that I have had all four of my grandparents for 20 years of my life, not many people can say that! What a blessing, and what a blessing to have 3 amazing grandparents now! My grandpa's funeral was the Friday after he passed, and it was a beautiful ceremony honoring his life!

We started our 3rd week of rehearsal for "The Wedding Singer" and we now have most of the music learned and we are working on the choreography for the show! Coming up next the leads start blocking out the scenes! Get your tickets soon www.ksu.edu/mccain.

On Wednesday of this week I got the opportunity to work the load-in for the national tour of BLUE MAN GROUP! This was an amazing opportunity to see how a huge production moves from one city to the next. We had to be at McCain Auditorium at 5:45am to clock in and get ready for the 6 semi-trucks and 2 tour busses to get there by 6:00am! My particular duty was a "loader" which is someone who stays at the truck while it is docked and moves the items from the truck to the dock, then the "pushers" take the equipment from there to the stage where other stagehands put the scenery, sound, lighting and props in their correct placement. It took us until 2:00pm, yes in the afternoon, to unload the 6 semi-trucks. I wasn't able to see the the BLUE MAN GROUP because I had rehearsal both nights the show was in town. That was a bummer! This next week I believe I will be working two other shows coming into McCain Auditorium. Make sure to see their season lineup at www.ksu.edu/mccain! All of the shows presented by the McCain Performance Series (Minus the McCain Student Showcase) are professional shows from New York, Kansas City, and Other major entertainment cities as well as from foreign countries!

See you next week! Hopefully I will have the blog up in a timely matter (between Sun-Tues)!

Love you all!
Jon Strom

First Rehearsal & Perks of Being A Wallflower.

Hello!

Today has been the perfect Sunday! I Started the day by sleeping in 'till noon--I may have forgotten to set an alarm for church--and then I listened to music, read for my acting classes, then went to the first rehearsal for "The Wedding Singer". The first rehearsal is always fun. Getting to meet the new cast members, seeing friends, and most of all reading/singing through the script/score! We all knew our parts but we--the ensemble members--found out our tracking (Tracking is a fancy way of saying that we play multiple parts in a show). I can't wait for you all to see this show! Just a warning to not bring your children under the age of 8. After all it is based on the Adam Sandler movie, which is PG-13, and the musical is as well.

Also, over the past 2 weeks I've been reading--and just finished--Stephen Chbosky's Perks of Being A Wallflower and wow. I have never really considered myself a reader or book worm, but this book was by far the best book I have ever read. I will confess and say that I saw the movie before the book, but that prompted me to go buy the book and read it. I'm really bad at writing reviews of anything because I don't remember much of the book because really live in the moment of whats happening in the book. I'm like this with movies and stage shows as well. I do want to encourage everyone to read this book. It is in the same spirit of Catcher in the Rye where a young person finds themselves, or finds themselves, finding their self. That didn't make much sense. But It's 1:45 in the AM and I'm not wanting to re-word anything right now.

That's all for now. But I will say that I will try and up-date this blog once a week at the least. It will contain a lot of wedding singer content and rehearsal updates. But it will also contain up-dates about what I'm reading, or doing other than rehearsals!

Thanks for reading,
Jon

New Semester!

Greetings one and all!

It's been 3 weeks since I've started my 3rd year of college. And lets just say that this year is going to be the best! There are a few things I'm wanting to tell you, but can't because the paperwork isn't done yet. If you know what I mean. No, seriously, there is actual paper work that needs to be done in order to tell you the big announcement. Well maybe it's not that big. but hey.

I can tell you that I've been cast in the Ensemble of Kansas State University's school of Music, Theatre and Dance production of "The Wedding Singer!" I am so excited to be apart of this show. I'm actually taking a break in studying the show to write this blog post! The show is so energetic and fun that everyone who comes out to see the show will love it. Oh, and yes, it is based of the 1998 Adam Sandler movie of the same title.

Also I'm pumped to say that over spring break '14, I will be making a second trek to New York City. This trip is to gain audition experience and well, you know, just be in the city that I love. It truly is a home-away-from-home. I can honestly say NYC if the first city that has ever felt like home. I guess I'm trying to say that, even the first time I was there it felt like a home! I cannot wait to visit and see my future home!

So now you have it. What's going on in Jon's life. Also I will be starting a website for myself in the near future. Just to start advertising myself as an actor/singer!

I will try to post once a week on here. Hopefully my life is exciting enough for you to read about it!

Love always,
Jon