No longer in the play

OMG I almost forgot some news I can actually share. I am no longer in the play Pimps in the Pulpit. Why? Well the bottom line is because I was too sick to attend a photo shoot, so I was excused from the play. Now I've been trying very hard to keep my thoughts to myself but this is my blog and I haven't signed anything which prohibits me from speaking my peace so *heavy sigh of relief*
Let's take it back to the very beginning...Basim asked me if I as going to audition for this play and I said no, I listed several reasons why and left it at that. I never revisited the play or auditioning for it until a friend of mind reminded me. Now I believe I wrote about that previously so I'm not going to go too hard into it. But I auditioned and I made it (although the cocky part of me is like DUH) Fast forward to me having to purchase the book. Now I know several people read how much I enjoyed it (which I don't think I was nearly as honest about just how much I enjoyed *cough* this book) but I don't think too many people knew how ticked off I was at having to purchase the book. It's not the actual act of purchasing the book which angered me, it was the principal of the matter. While yes I auditioned to be in your play, the least you should do (in my humble opinion) is supply the proper tools necessary for me to do the *cough* contracted job. But no, after being told it was mandatory I read the book, I was not given a copy. Instead I was told I could purchase one from SBP or some local retailers. NOW with local retailers the disclaimer should have been it was print on demand only. Meaning they would not have copies readily available but I would have to order the book & wait for it to arrive. There was only 1 place who physically had a copy of the book and I think they're worth the shout out Black & Nobel 
Now I must mention that my lovely fiance was kind enough to go get the book and when he arrived asking for the book, the proprietor looked somewhat amazed that no one else had been there. Apparently, he was aware his store was the only store with physical copies for those who hadn't purchased from SBP directly. It appeared, from Basims account, that he was also aware no one had been informed. Sidebar: why can't we as black folks help each other out? I think it would have been wonderful to have used the collaboration to better both businesses.
Fast forward after the picnic, I was told I was going to get a contract by Sept 10...now for a while I was just not feeling things with this play. I can't quite lay my finger on it but nothing seemed to sit right with me. There are a few alleged celebrities (and I won't be rude and just tell you) who I question whether or not they'll actually be in the play. The venue has changed (which just happened but hey) and just overall a few things. Now I like to talk a lot...more than the average person. However, I do believe in concise communication thus when sending an email I make sure I only have to send one. PERIOD! I try to keep the email short and concise with all relevant information provided. HOWEVER I can't even begin to count how many emails I received, in one day...on the same thing but the following email would have clarification for the first email...or the fifth email would have clarification to the preceding emails. Now I don't mean to dog out SBP but 1. this is my blog 2. I hope that we can all learn from our mistakes. Please don't inundate me with meaningless info which could/should have been condensed and then proofread on the first attempt. Additionally, the service they used Constant Contact allows you to edit your email, schedule your email and a few other wonderful things PRIOR to sending the email. Once you send an email blast, you can track who's opened the email, interacted with it (if you put links in it) and some other cool metrics. But the point is you KNOW who's listening.
So after being sent countless emails, I also received text & voicemails..now if you know me you know how I feel about voicemails. But if you send me a text, followed with a voicemail AFTER sending me 30 emails-you've gotten on my nerves quite successfully. I'm not even going to go into how stupid the voicemail message was because it was...well my 3 month old niece could have left me a better SCRIPTED message.
 At any rate after all that I was still going to participate in the play provided the contract was to my liking. Now I just looked through the many emails I received to see when exactly I was told about the contract-August 8/19 I was told to email someone to obtain my contract. Let me just interject I didn't appreciate that either. I'm in your play, yes I work for you..but the whole notion that everyone must come to you for things you should provide is just perplexing to me. I noticed one day she put out a call for graphic designers and as people were giving her suggestions-she wanted the designers to email her directly. Ummm you need THEM not the other way around. So when I saw that I knew it wasn't going to be easy for me because that's just not my style. I believe in being humbly cocky-meaning there is a time for both but the key is to know when to be what.
I digress...so I emailed 8/23 asking for a copy of my contract and was told eventually I'd receive it along with my confidentiality agreement prior to our photo shoot so we could bring the physical copies with us to the shoot. Now this shoot also gave my angst because I never understood the reason behind it. I'm sure you're reading this thinking every production has a photo shoot which I'll agree to. However, the photo shoot was for headshots that were already provided when we auditioned because they weren't satisfied with those headshots. Ok that's fine too....so what's my issue? Asking me to pay for said photo shoot! I don't care how much it is, it's the principal. So right about then is when I got really aggitated. My spidey sense was tingling saying "if you have to pay to be in a production it's a scam"
There's way more but I don't feel like writing about this anymore...maybe I'll revisit...