27 October 2008

Pride and Glory opened on Friday, 10/24, and my boyfriend and I went with some friends to see it on Saturday. It was a small group of close friends and it was perfect that way. I think a huge posse of friends would've made me more nervous. I'm still in the midst of sending out postcards to industry and now that I've seen the movie, I feel more comfortable sending the cards because I've seen the scene and I've seen the end credits. I'm still a little bemused at having seen my name (spelled correctly) roll up on that screen at the end, not to mention hearing myself speak and seeing my face. It was a quick scene, but it's there.

Other than that, no news on this front. I was accepted into the program that I had auditioned for (see previous post) and have to begin getting ready for the 3-month prep session and industry meet in February. The fact that I'll be out of the country for a couple of weeks is putting a huge kink in my ability to audition or accept any work for awhile, and the few that I've been able to submit to haven't called yet.

So I keep going with the postcards. There's a small window of opportunity to promote this and have the promotion be relevant, so I'm concentrating on that for now and trying not to let the lack of auditions get to me too much.

02 October 2008

PRIDE AND GLORY (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0482572/) opens on over 2,000 screens on October 24th! Check it out! The movie stars Edward Norton and Colin Farrell, and I play opposite Shea Whigham as his wife.

What else? According to an article I saw today, SAG negotiators are asking for a strike authorization. Not sure what's going to happen over the next few weeks but I hope a resolution is reached soon.

There hasn't been a lot to write about lately, but I did have an audition today at the Manhattan Theatre Club. Whatever the outcome of the audition, it was good to get back up there again.

While auditions are slow, I'm going to be using that time do marketing for the movie. All I can say is...thank goodness for self-adhesive stamps.

17 July 2008

I haven't seen a lot of film work lately and it's starting to bring me down. I've been turning over rocks and peeping under stones and have had some luck finding some to submit to. It's hard to not get discouraged sometimes. It's already pretty difficult to find the work and now it seems that loads of projects are wary of casting until the outcome of the negotiations. We got an update from the Guild today but only to tell us that they met with the studios. It seems that both sides agreed to keep their discussions from today's meeting confidential.

Thank goodness for random movies to keep my spirits up! WALL-E was just too cute, Jeff Dunham and his posse of puppets crack me up, CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON was a visual treat, and THE 5TH ELEMENT is begging to be played. All I have to do is push this little button here...

I have an audition for a web series on Friday evening so I figured I'd make a day out of it in the city and crash an EPA in the morning. Only thing is, I'm starting that new day job next week so this EPA...I may have to turn it down if I got cast. But, past experience tells me the odds of getting seen aren't strongly in my favor anyway! Overall, though, I'm going to have to be more selective of auditions in order to juggle the day job and to do right by my new manager, especially since I'll be taking a week off in November to go to Finland.

Some good news is that PRIDE AND GLORY's release date has been moved back up from 2009 to October 2008. That pushes up my marketing plans if I want it to coincide with the movie's release but I'm glad to do it. Keep an eye out for the movie! Woo hoo!

*push* Oh, look at that! Guess I'll watch THE 5TH ELEMENT until I snooze...

4 July 2008

Happy Independence Day! I'm spending the holiday in Montreal so there may not be fireworks tonight. I've been here for a week so I did see some fireworks go off during their celebration of Canada day. Pretty fireworks. All 2 of them. :(

I've been busy reworking my site and at long last, the new website design has gone live, though not without its share of bugs. I'm still working on the details like anchoring the news, the footer, some resizable boxes, and the mailing list button. The site should be cleaner but I know that my coding isn't perfect yet because it's not rendering properly in all browsers. It looks rather pretty in Firefox but it gets all wonky in IE.

I'll get to it...later.

The negotiations continue, with emails from the unions and other influential Hollywood actors urging us to say 'no' to the ratification to the AFTRA deal and emails urging us to accept the AFTRA deal. The SAG contract expired this past Monday so I'm just concentrating on theatre for now.

I've landed a new consulting contract as a project manager at another global pharmaceutical company. I mourn going back to corporate America but it's great to be able to pay the bills, especially with film jobs being scarce while the union contracts remain in negotiation. I'll still be able to find low-paying theatre jobs in the meantime but since I'm heading to Europe in November and to Sundance in January, this contract is necessary for now.

And last but not least, a final thank you again to everyone who came out to support ATTENTION MUST BE PAID. I'm flattered at how far people traveled to come to the performance and I'm duly grateful.

27 June 2008

It's not too late to catch ATTENTION MUST BE PAID at The Player's Theatre! Two performances down, two more to go. It's been a little nerve-wracking but now that I've got two shows under my belt and have dealt with some of the unexpected situations, I'm starting to relax. We've had lighting miscues, late arrivals, hecklers (which the monologue invites), people talking back at me, and my director was adamant that I respond to it all. I was able to do quick adjustments throughout the monologue to incorporate the situation into my performance without losing my place. I think that had been my biggest concern - to break the 4th wall so completely and improvise while keeping to the script and keeping the performance organic and honest. Since every audience is different, the small fear remains that I'll have an exceptionally unruly crowd that will keep me from the monologue itself.

But so far, so good.

I was told there was a reviewer on opening night. He sat next to my director and she said he enjoyed the performance...hopefully his review will be a good one, if he writes one. I've also had people come from New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Washington D.C., and Canada. I was amazed. It's been great to have them there...but they're also my greatest worry because they might just decide to kill me on that stage. Thankfully, they were kind and caused the kind of trouble I could handle. :)

These performances have been such a rush. If you can, please come! I would love to see you there!

17 June 2008

Come show your support for ATTENTION MUST BE PAID! With 5 one-acts and the limited seating, reserve your tickets now! Call 866.811.4111 or order online at The Shortened Attention Span website. Let me know if you have any questions. And don’t forget to vote for ATTENTION MUST BE PAID for favorite play!

Venue:
Player's Loft Theatre
115 MacDougal Street, 3rd floor
New York, NY

One of my writer friends will be there as well because one of his plays is being done right after my performance. He's coming to show his support for both his show and mine, so I thought it only right to do the same. I've already been given permission to change the end of my monologue so that, in character, I can join the audience and watch the rest of the festival instead of leaving the stage.

New production shots are up in the Gallery!

4 June 2008

JUST A REMINDER that Shy opens a week from tonight as part of Manhattan Repertory’s Summerfest 2008. Come on out to see some original plays!!

And don’t forget about Attention Must Be Paid, running June 26 – 29th in the West Village. I had rehearsal for that tonight and am really looking forward to the show. Each play in the Shortened Attention Span festival will be up for audience vote for Favorite Play, so if you can come out to support the show, please vote for Attention Must Be Paid!

My Wednesday night tangent: Detroit Red Wings' 3-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals! I got home from rehearsal in time to catch the last 10 minutes. It’s been several years since I’ve been able to follow the Wings and in that time, the roster's changed. At least the captaincy was handed off to someone familiar. Current Wings captain, Swedish-born Nicklas Lidstrom, led the team to victory and is the first European captain to win the Cup and previously earned the distinction of "Best European-trained player in the NHL”. Such a graceful player who uses brains instead of brawn.

Congratulations to the Wings! The Penguins made it an amazing playoff.

1 June 2008

I'm working on getting off book for the 2nd play I'm involved in (all the info is below!). You know, it's not so bad if you're studying your script and it's a multi-character play. You just look like you're concentrating on something and mouthing a few words to yourself. Working on a 5-page monologue, however, is nothing BUT talking to yourself. I'm always a little chagrined when I look up to see what train station I'm near and realize that the person sitting across from me has a wary look on their face as they've watched me yammer to myself for the past few minutes.

On the bright side, I'm off book for half of it already and I've still got 4 days before the first rehearsal. Both shows start rehearsals next week, with one of them going up in a couple of weeks. Here's the information:

Manhattan Repertory Theatre's Summerfest 2008
Shy
by Ken Wolf
Dates: June 11 - 13
Venue: Manhattan Repertory Theatre, 303 W. 42nd St, 3rd floor (@ 8th Avenue)
Tickets: $20
Order tickets: 646.329.6588

This is a one-act about 2 people who meet in a bar and despite their growing interest in each other, are too shy to actually speak to each other.

I thought this would be an incredible challenge to do because 90% of this play is non-verbal, leaving it to the actors to tell a compelling story and hold the audience's attention for 20 minutes without words. The cool part is the audience isn't made aware prior to that the show has only a few lines. The writer/director has done this show twice before and every actor has said it's one of the biggest challenges they've taken on. For the audition, I was asked to enter the room and without saying a word, convey to them who I was, where I was, what I was feeling, and what the conflict was.

I was also drawn to this play because of its simple concept. Many of us can probably relate to it. Imagine (not very hard) being intrigued by someone but you're just too nervous or unsure about how to approach the person because you're shy or you don't know what to say, how to break the ice, what if they rebuff you, (insert worry here). Doubts creep in and a million justifications later why approaching that person wouldn't be a good idea, you leave and end up admiring the person only from afar.

That fear can be a hard thing to conquer but for some things, I'll jump off that bridge and put myself out there because I don't want to regret never knowing. It could scare the crap out of me but if whatever it is I have my heart set on is worth the risk, then I have to take it, even if it takes me around the world. It may take heaps of prodding, but...

It's psychologically complex, which makes the simplicity of the play so great. Just because you're outgoing or "go-get 'em" in some aspects of your life doesn't mean you are in all aspects. Some people are surprised that solo curtain calls make me nervous and that I fidget during interviews. I clung to my water bottle during the Q&A session after one of my shows, just to give my hands something to hold on to. As myself and not as a character, I'm usually ok talking to someone one-on-one, but the larger the group gets, the quieter I get.

Shortened Attention Span Festival Attention Must Be Paid
by Bob Ost and directed by Catherine Lamm
Dates: June 26 - 29
Venue: Players Theatre (in the West Village), 115 MacDougal St.
Tickets: $18
Order tickets: 866.811.4111 or www.shortenedattentionspan.com

This is a 1 character, one-act, 5 page monologue about what happens when an oft-scorned actress decides enough is enough. Hopefully I don't draw a blank or lose my place because for 15 minutes, there will be no one to catch me if I have a mental flop. I'll also be breaking the 4th wall on this one and directing most of my lines directly to the audience and potentially interacting with them. That'll be hard to do without losing my place in the script.

The only bad thing right now is that I'm still without a survival job to take care of the bills. I visited some of the friends I worked with at my last survival job the other day, and I had lunch with a Project Management director from Germany. We did some shop talk even though I'm no longer with the company and it was a chance to be social. As he pointed out, people can identify like people and I guess to him, I wasn't quite like the others. I also had a chance to meet one of the PMs from Sweden. Two days of learning more about Sweden and Germany was sooooo fun.

I also tried Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk. Oh. My. God. Cloyingly. Sweet.

I have a callback audition tomorrow for a play that will run for 6 performances at the end of July into the beginning of August. If I get that job, there will be some rehearsals that overlap with Attention Must Be Paid, but I've already discussed this with the folks at the callback and there shouldn't be a problem.

Nothing beats the rush of a live performance and I'm very glad to be working on a couple of good plays right now. At the same time, I do wish the film work would pick up but I may be doing more theatre than film this summer. With SAG still in negotiations with the studios, I think the worry of a strike is increasing. Now that AFTRA has tentatively reached a new agreement with the studios, the pressure is on for SAG to reach one as well. Keep your fingers crossed!

21 May 2008

Since Sunday, it’s been a big wave of BUSY. I had 2 auditions on Sunday and was recommended to an executive director and CFO of a California theatre who is out here in NYC to stage a reading of a film noir inspired play. The callback was Monday along with another audition for another group and I ended up getting cast in one of the festivals that goes up in June. More details to come! For now, all I know is that it will be 4 performances in the one-act festival, and the playwright is doing some rewrites especially for me. This play is a one-character piece, so it seems that it’ll just be me on stage for that play. I should receive the final script and schedule in a few days so will be able to give better information then.

I had another audition tonight that will be part of the Midtown International Theatre Festival and that one goes up in July. If the casting powers-that-be deign to hire me for this festival too, there shouldn’t be any conflicts. I liked the script and the director so I’m hoping for some good news. The rest of tonight is preparing for an EPA audition that I hope to get seen at after I go to a print audition tomorrow morning.

I attended a panel discussion at the SAG building the other night to learn more about the industry and to hear from professionals and their perspective. The panel consisted of 3 actors and their talent agent who shared with us their experiences and opinions. We all know how difficult it is to get into this industry but an even tougher challenge is maintaining longevity. The talent agent especially was able to give us valuable insight and at the end, she generously withstood a barrage of actors who wanted to squeeze in one last question, make an impression, and leave her a headshot. I didn’t have any particular question for her at the moment and had no desire to force one so I just thanked her and gave her my headshot.

I also talked to an actor who is here from Denmark to observe and who is writing an article which will be published next month back in his country. I thought it was so cool that he was here to do such intensive research. He intends to remain in Denmark and make his career there, but he’ll be in the US for another month to complete his research. I didn’t quite catch all of what he said but his business here is in some way related to an initiative that the Princess of Denmark herself is interested in. Way cool.

In other news: The studios are back at the negotiating table with SAG after they called off talks for a couple of weeks. They still have until the end of June before the contract expires but I hope they reach an agreement soon. Extensive negotiations make me ill at ease. I don't even know the details of their negotiation right now but I'm glad they're talking again.

In other other news: I’ve been going through an inexplicable burst of energy and have been working until 2:30am the past two nights and still waking up early, all ready to go. Too bad most of the people I know are sound asleep at that time.

*knock*knock* Anybody home?

Yeah! ME! Up late working for some ridiculous reason!

Anybody who wants to chat, drop me a line because I may still be up and if I am, I would welcome a hello.

In other other other news: I so badly want the Royal Assassin so I can continue The Farseer Trilogy but all I’ve been able to get my hands on this week were Moliere and Chekhov. I’ve read 4 of Chekhov’s plays this week and for the love of all that is good, I need a new book! A fun book, please!

I just finished watching Heaven and Earth and am planning on seeing the new Indiana Jones movie this holiday weekend. It’ll be a much deserved rest. The reviews that I’ve read haven’t been too hot but I don’t care, I’m going to see it. How could you not? I mean, we grew up on Indiana Jones, Star Wars, and the like and you just gotta go see it!

But unfortunately, right now I’ve got to deal with my curmudgeon of a printer who prints in whatever shade of color it decides to and only when it feels like it. Oh. And gotta make dinner. Hungry…

9 May 2008

The performance with Ma-Yi Theatre went well last week and we played to a near full house, though we had some doubts as the doors first opened because there were only a few stragglers milling about outside. One of the actors was really nervous and whenever he was in the dressing room with us, the rest of us tried to distract him from his jitters. I was shaking too, but for an entirely different reason. Despite the theatre being full and those stage lights blazing, I was freezing. The director and writer wanted me to wear something distinctive as the mother since the others were playing teenagers and in jeans and t-shirts. They asked me to wear a black dress that was both sexy and fun since my character works in a “happy ending” massage parlor, and the only one I had that fitted that description was a spaghetti-strapped back-less dress. I also had to put my hair up and it was all I could do not to shiver to pieces as I sat on that stage.

It was a little difficult to get the big picture of my character and my relationship to the others since the script was re-written at every rehearsal. My character underwent the most rewrites and it certainly filled in a lot of the gaps but because it was a reading, we didn’t get to delve into the story nearly as deeply as we could have with a full rehearsal period and run. I think there was a lot we could find in the script to work with, and I hope I get the chance to see the play once the playwright finishes the piece.

I’ve been able to hit more auditions this week because my consulting assignment at my day job finally ended last week. I know the nature of being a consultant but it never gets old, that feeling of being inside a snow globe and someone shaking my world asunder. I’ve finally got my equilibrium back and can face the fact that my life is now twice the job hunt. Were it not for the nagging thought in the back of my head about how I’ll pay the rent, I would be in heaven right now to do nothing but acting. I’ve handled the usual unemployment issues and now I’ve got a small window of opportunity where my only obligation is to my acting career, before finances trumps acting. Suffice to say I’ve been focusing all my energies this week towards that.

I did a voiceover audition for a children’s video game and working in the recording booth was way more fun than I remembered and it broke up the routine of theatre auditions quite nicely. Waiting around at theatre auditions, I finished Assassin’s Apprentice and was all ready to jump into the next Robin Hobb book when I realized I’ve got the books from the next trilogy! So until I get to a bookstore, I’ve got to read that friggin’ CSS book instead. And no matter how comfortable I get, sitting around doing all those submissions makes for a numb tooshy so I went on a 5-mile hike over the weekend. Unfortunately, old holey gym shoes and muddy trails make a bad combination. After a few good soaks in the mud, I’ve resolved to get new shoes before I go to Europe later this year.

25 April 2008

Tonight was our second rehearsal for the staged reading with Ma-Yi Theatre. I was cast as Mother (from the audition I had this past weekend) and it will be a one-night performance at Abingdon Theatre Arts Complex (312 W. 36th Street @ 8th Avenue). The play is an original piece that spans several decades and follows the life of a mother and son and his friends, a mother's sacrifice, the son's desire to connect with someone, and loyalty. This piece is still being workshopped and we've received multiple iterations of the script during our brief rehearsal period. I really enjoy working with this writer and would be interested in reading more of his work. Our last rehearsal is next week with the performance on 1 May 2008. Admission is free so if you have the time, come and check out some new plays!

I'm reading more about CSS during these train rides into the city and I'm dismayed at how much clean-up work I've got to do on codes. It's a daunting undertaking and I don't think I can meet my original goal of launching the new site by the end of this month. Hopefully I can have something by end of May.

That's it for this update. Cool new play. CSS headache. Come see the show on May 1st if you can!

21 April 2008

My audition last week went very well and I got a callback late that same night. I was torn between the need to work and the promise I made to my boss to always give him advanced notice and it was now 9:30pm. I finally decided to give up the callback because it was an unpaid gig and I felt I should only push the limits of his understanding on projects that were worth risking my survival job for. The project itself would've been good and the people involved were great but I have some trips planned for this year and I have to save up the money.

Now that my manager is submitting me to LA projects as well, I felt this was a good time to revisit the topic with my boss and find out exactly how long my leash was. We had a good talk (my boss is amazing) and I now know that I can call him late at night if I have a last-minute audition to go to. I wish I had known that before but as much as it suuuucked to turn down the callback, I feel good about following my conscience. I won't ever abuse that freedom but now that I know, I am so ready to make good use of it. I mean, I can't very well get the projects if I keep stalling on the auditions, right?

I had another audition this weekend but most of my time was spent doing a photo shoot in Central Park and re-designing my website (which will include some of the new shots). I actualy retained a good portion of what I learned about Photoshop and now I also have 2 CSS books to absorb. I had pulled out the content on all of my pages so I could start without any html codes and I realized that between the learn-as-you-go that I did and the extraneous codes that Dreamweaver puts in, my pages were littered with superfluous commands. If I'm successful, the new coding will be much cleaner and long-term maintenance won't be such a pain in the *bleep* because I will be calling a single style sheet instead of updating dozens of pages individually. The books are useful but I can't bring myself to pick them up right now. Mental exhaustion is a very elusive feeling to describe. My body is wide awake and ready to go another 10 hours but my brain is so saturated with codes and commands and shortcuts that I keep zoning out even while writing this.

When I'm done with this website, I'm not going to be able to talk intelligently for a couple of days. Seriously...use small words or at least give me a couple of days to answer your email. My brain doesn't even hurt anymore at this point. It's just sittin' there...

I stayed in NYC all weekend so there was time for some fun. After Central Park, we watched Gone, Baby, Gone, channeled Jeff Dunham (ever see his comedy routine? Awesome ventriloquist.) while we all worked on our respective projects until the wee hours, and then someone made pancakes from scratch the next morning.

I'm working on lining up some auditions for this week and I do need to make time to meet with my manager again. There were a couple of exciting prospects that we had submitted to. I'm not giving up hope yet, but it sure would be nice to get a call about it!

9 April 2008

My callback last week didn't go so well. The first round audition went fine but the second round didn't feel right for several reasons. It's hard to say "Oh well" and move on to the next when I got another call to audition for a different theatre production but I couldn't take the appointment. Normally, I would do it but this week, I'm handling 3 additional accounts at my day job while another project manager is out. There are certain situations where I would ask for more time off even though I just flew back yesterday, but this one wasn't one of those times. I've got bigger fish to fry and I plan to call in my markers then. Still, it was a bitter pill.

Well, at least I saw my family and my fish survived while I was on my trip. And maybe tomorrow will be a better day.

Before I left, I dropped off new headshots to my manager. While I continue my own submissions, I hope to get some audition news from him. Aside from a new web design that's in the works, I don't have anything to work on right now and it's discouraging me. With SAG and AFTRA parting ways and ending the Phase One agreement between the two unions, they will be negotiating separately with the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers (AMPTP). SAG and AMPTP have agreed to begin formal negotiations on Tuesday, 15 April 2008 at 10:00am. I wonder what this will mean in the coming months as far as film work is concerned.

I'm still a little jetlagged from my trip but it's not bad. If something comes my way, I say bring it! Let's keep traveling since my internal clock's already a little wonky. :) Where should I go to next? Hmm? ;)

28 March 2008

This past week has been an exceedingly expensive and sleep-deprived one for me. My poor little car needed some attention so all week I was waking up at nearly the crack of dawn to take care of those details before going to my day job. I’ve been getting home late and working only until 10-11pm instead of my usual wee hours. I haven’t gotten as much done on my submissions as I would’ve liked. Waah.

Plus, little oddities keep happening to me. Over the weekend, I baked some chocolate chip oatmeal cookies from scratch. I had intended to bring them to my day job since everyone seems so down…but …you know how the cookie dough is put on the cookie sheet in a ball and then it flattens out into oh, a cookie shape as it cooks?

Well, my cookies stayed in a perfectly spherical shape.

I made chocolate chip oatmeal cookie…balls.

How…?

But they tasted great! Everyone loved them…after they laughed at me…

But hopefully things are changing now. I’m going to try baking another batch this weekend, I’ve had to turn down a couple of auditions because of conflicts, (I take some comfort in knowing that I’m getting the calls), and I have an audition this Saturday for an interesting original piece composed of 12 vignettes following the lives of people and their relationships to their friends, lovers, and strangers.

While in the city this weekend, I’ll have to get another small set of headshots reproduced because my manager has asked for the color headshots instead of my B/W. Ironically the B/W shot, taken over 6 years ago, looks more like me than the newer color ones do. My friend and I are going to set up a photo session next month to see if we can’t come up with a couple of more color headshot options since the industry really prefers them. We’re also going to put our heads together and brainstorm new website designs.

After I get my taxes done, that is. Waah.

Man, I am aching for work. The callback I went to last weekend didn’t pan out. I hope the audition goes well this weekend because turning down 2 out of 3 auditions this week is not good for my sanity. I’m all focused to work long hours tonight. I got some sleep, I got out of my day job at a decent hour, I’ve got one of the movies that inspires me to keeping plugging away at this, and I’ve got music from that band whose manager I’ve been in contact with in Finland. If all the stars align, I hope to start working on a good project, maybe the vocalist of that band will get in touch with me, and my cookies will turn out cookie-shaped.

16 March 2008

Well, I had my audition for the talent manager and by the end, he said he’d like to represent me! He’s got a limited roster of clients that he works with at any given time, and because he wanted me to feel fully comfortable with my decision, he said he would hold my place until mid-April so that I can do my due diligence research and interview with other managers if I wanted to before making my final decision.

He strikes me as rather knowledgeable about this business, seems to be held in high esteem by both colleagues and those outside the industry, and as I had mentioned before, he and I share some similar philosophies that are important to me. Though I don’t want to make any hasty decisions, my gut feeling tells me this could be a manager I could learn to entrust my career to. He’s a stoic person and not one to be easily impressed, so I was gratified when he told me my dramatic monologue moved him to the point of tearing up.

I had a theatre audition in the city this weekend and halfway through my audition in front of a panel of 4 people, a very loud phone in the room began ringing and pretty much continued for the rest of my monologue.

Ah, live performances.

To everyone’s credit, we all held our respective concentration. I had a call-back audition on Sunday. If I get the job, I’ll have to start rehearsals a few days after I get back from California.

I’m tinkering around with some new ideas for my site, including a new layout and color scheme, new photos and maybe a mailing list. The new site probably won’t happen for another 4-6 months and in the meantime, I updated a few things, so check it out! I wanted to include an official mailing list, but I’m temporarily at the limit of my website knowledge so I’ll have to figure that out. Keep an eye out for a new design in the near future!

9 March 2008

I had a good first interview with the talent manager the other day.

Once I finally got there, that is.

It seemed straightfoward enough. I know where Broadway is. I know where 21st St. is. But it seems that somewhere along the way, Broadway no longer runs between 7th and 8th avenue and instead runs east of 5th avenue.

Whoops.

I was only a couple of minutes late, and like I said, we had a good hour-long interview. It was refreshing to discover we share some similar philosophies. He invited me back to audition for him so I'll be taking some more time off from my day job and going next week. *nervous*

I was able to attend The Cherry Orchard Sequel performance this weekend and show my support for the casting director I had had lunch with a couple of weekends ago. It was good to catch up with him again. The theatre is an experimental theatre club, so I went to the show not knowing entirely what to expect. The new play is written as a continuation of Chekhov's last work, 18 years after the end of The Cherry Orchard. The cast was so solid and I am glad to have seen him perform, despite the horrendous weather tonight. The rain was blowing sideways, and while my umbrella survived the wind, I was nearly taken off my feet several times. It also took me over 2 1/2 hours to get home because some of the trains were down. But again...well worth it and I hope he's able to catch one of my performances one day.

I finished watching Sleepless in Seattle and 3:10 to Yuma, got back into my Assassin's Apprentice book, and got a glimpse of the evening sky in Germany the other day when I was on Skype with my friend. He was there on business and turned the camera out the window. Very cool.

I spoke again to the manager of the band I've been in contact with in Europe. They're going to be in the US for a couple of days and it would've been an opportunity to meet face-to-face after we've been communicating through only email since last year. But the manager said, quite understandably, that since the flights have already been booked, the schedule's a little too tight to squeeze in a side visit. He said maybe another time and hopefully soon. Real nice guy - it's always good to hear from him. It would be great to hear from the vocalist and the band themselves between now and then. Professionally speaking, it'd be great...personally speaking, it would be...beyond great.

Other than my performance the other night in NY, it's just been heaps of submissions and interviews with industry for the past couple of weeks. I'm aching for more work. I'll be heading to northern California at the beginning of April for a few days. I hope by the time I take that trip, more career things will have started falling into place.

The change of scenery will be good, on all counts. One of my co-workers at my day job saw me animatedly talking to the wall last week and thought my sanity was in question.

She couldn't see it, but I really was talking to someone.

I'm still giggling at how alarmed she was when she ran up to me, thinking my job had driven me over the edge. :D

6 March 2008

Pride and Glory was to open next weekend, but its release is being delayed until 2009. Warner Bros. absorbed their New Line Cinema unit last week and the remaining New Line Cinema departments will "integrate their functions with the new parent division to cut costs and improve profitability."

I was disappointed, but I already knew something was amok after I had dinner with my movie "husband" and the producing partner a couple of weeks ago. It's really too bad...but I guess it'll be even stronger under the Warner Bros. flag.

In the meantime, a director who had seen my performance in Chess-Blading several months ago referred me to DnA (Directors and Actors workshop). A scene was emailed to us a few days beforehand so that we could be off book, and my scene partner and I were introduced to each other 15 minutes before the workshop began. There were about 6 directors, and they had 12 minutes each to direct the scene. What made it interesting was each time, neither my partner or I knew what direction the other person received. It was some pretty cool scripted improv with 6 directors with completely different styles.

I have a meeting with a talent manager in the city tomorrow (well, officially today), and I also finally have the chance to pick up my new postcards that have been ready since last Friday. I'm a little nervous about starting to use those cards for the first time. :) How silly am I.

Some 1am randomness: I stopped reading Fool's Errand in the middle because I bought Assassin's Apprentice, which is the first book of the Farseer Trilogy I had originally wanted to get. Now I can start from the beginning and maybe some of the references in Fool's Errand will make more sense. Simple pleasures...

I'm falling asleep at the keyboard!! I just wanted to finish what I started, but it's definitely time for mmmmm....bed.... Are there typos? Did any of this make sense?! :D

P.S. Spring begins two weeks from today!

23 February 2008

I am in Montreal. Sort of. The TSL gang got together for their monthly face-to-face week-long marathon of working on the game, and thanks to webcams and microphones, I can join them virtually since I couldn't make the trip.

I had lunch today with a casting director, out here in New York from LA to perform at a theatre in the East Village. We had a great conversation about work in general, and I hope that he and I continue to keep in touch. His show closes in mid-March, and if I can pull it off, I'd like to be able to show my support before he heads back to California.

I had a lead in to a movie that I would've lo-o-o-ved to have worked on, but since I was based out of New York and not Toronto, I couldn't audition. The casting director had me in mind to read for a particular role, but they were looking in the Toronto area only. I'm still pretty disappointed and am hoping that by writing it out, however vaguely, some of the disappointment will wring out of me so that I can pick myself back up.

Speaking of...as I refocus my energies and my thoughts, I just got an email from the director of that film. That was just the encouragement I needed to concentrate tonight while I work virtually alongside my friends in Montreal.

I feel ready for a long night! :)

5 February 2008

It's been a wonderfully steady week, nothing boring, nothing hair-pulling stress. Over the weekend, I went to a kickboxing lesson up in the Bronx, then down to SoHo to see a friend before his show, and then had dinner with my "husband" from Pride and Glory and Colin's producing partner in this great little Italian restaurant in the East Village. Two very big-hearted people. It was so great to see him again after nearly a year has passed since we filmed our scene. We tried to hang out again before he left NYC, but publicity for the movie went late into the evening on Monday and we couldn't pull it off.

In the middle of all that, I had another audition and have been chatting with a nice guy who is both actor and casting director for video games. We've made tentative plans to meet up in a couple of weeks; he's in town performing in a stage production in the East Village.

I got a call from NYU's Emergency Medicine department because the OSCE coordinator from CCNY referred several of us as actors for another translation case. Unfortunately, my partner from the last translation case wasn't available this round, and since this case requires partners and not very many people speak Thai, it looks like I won't be able to participate in it either.

I have, however, been working on a staged reading with 12 Miles West. It's great to be working with Lenny again, which I haven't done since Fat Pig. I'm very pleased with the script that they're working with; the writer's got a good command of dialogue and character interaction and he's made an 80+ page script very interesting. We've had one brief rehearsal last Sunday and will have our final rehearsal this coming Sunday, a few hours before performance. The play is about a man on Death Row and the concept of understanding creative redemptive good will for all men. I play the lawyer of the man on Death Row.

One Thousand and One by Robert Gulack
12 Miles West Reading series
Sunday, 10 February 2008
7pm
New Jersey School of Dramatic Arts
593 Bloomfield Avenue, Bloomfield, NJ
$5 suggested donation
Q&A with cast and playwright afterwards

21 January 2008

Good news is that I got seen at the Equity auditions on Friday night. Bad news is I don't think I booked the job. :(

The weekend wasn't all bad, though - I was asked to voice two additional characters for The Silver Lining. It was a last minute situation, with the producer sending over the script to us around 5:00pm Sunday evening. The voices had to be recorded as soon as possible since the animation was waiting on the audio. Had it been an hour later, I might've already been on my way back but fortune had it that I was still in Queens at the time, so I stayed to record my two new characters: an endearingly childlike sea nymph (which I think ended up not being needed) and a sultry Black Widow spider.

OK. My skin crawled when I read The Anasi Boys, I yelped when I watched the cave scene in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, I flail against animated spiders on The Legend of Zelda video game with my eyes closed because I'm too freaked to open my eyes, and I run to the other side of the room and hide after I get rid of a spider. So me...providing the voice for an animated spider? Really? Me?? C'MON!!

The irony was lost on the guys at first since they were scrambling to get this put together. In any case, I got it together and read through the script and tried to think of anything but...that. Despite who my character was, the recording session was heaps of fun and we had some good outtakes (which I think were sent to the producer for a few laughs), not to mention one miss by the script editors on a sentence that accidentally turned this game X-rated. Needless to say, a quick rewrite and re-recording were called for.

On a lazier note, I made a plaster masque, watched most of The City of Lost Children this weekend and found out that SAG sent me Hairspray and No Country For Old Men (screening copy) in the mail. I haven't seen either of them, so I have a nice excuse for tonight and tomorrow to stay in and watch movies. I borrowed The Bourne Ultimatum from my friends, so before I submit my ballot for the SAG awards, I can at least chalk up 3 more nominated movies as 'seen'.

Oh, and Pride and Glory comes out in theatres in March. Keep an eye out for it!

17 January 2008

Due to scheduling conflicts, I had to pull out of the production at The Garage Theatre. I have an audition on Friday, though, so hopefully that will lead to something good. I'll keep you posted!

9 January 2008

I got the call an hour after the callback auditions on Thursday! The artistic director of The Garage Theatre called at 10pm to offer me the role of Angel in Rex Knowles' new comedy, The Night Reginald Filbert Called It Quits. The comedy is set in Reginald's apartment as he contemplates suicide for the 1,966th time. He encounters Angel, a young "escort" on the run from a murderous client, and their nonsensical bickering gradually turns into trust and respect, which gives them the strength to make changes in their lives. Appearances by Reginald's ex-fiance and Angel's client culminate in to a showdown in Reginald's living room.

I wanted to wait until I got the entire cast list before I updated everyone, but I figured I'd do it now while I have some time. Check back here soon for updates! Here's the information so far, and I'll keep reminding you as we get closer to opening night.

CAST:
Reginald: To Be Announced
Angel: Tammy Tunyavongs
Ben: Michael Bias
Stephanie: To Be Announced

February 14 - March 2
Thursdays - Saturdays @ 8pm
Sundays @ 3pm

The Garage Theatre (in residence in Becton Theatre)
960 River Road
Teaneck, NJ

Tickets: (available online)
Adults: $35
Students and seniors: $30

I've been studying the script while I wait for rehearsals to start on 21 January. This will be a mini-reunion of the Fat Pig cast, with Frank Licato again in the director's chair. I'm on edge, waiting to get the rehearsal schedule and to find out the rest of the cast, especially since my Fat Pig castmate was up for the part of Reginald. Auditioning with him made us both realize how unbelievably awesome it would be to play opposite each other in this play.

A complete non-sequitur: I got a webcam from my friend for Christmas. I can SEE people and they can see me now. Another friend of mine is off to China again, so I'm going to test out the camera when I talk to him on Skype later this week.

I recently read that the SAG actors, in support of the WGA strike, will not be attending the Golden Globe awards. I wonder how this effects the 14th annual Screen Actors Guild awards show, which is at the end of this month. I received a letter from the Guild along with my ballot to vote for this year's nominees, but it didn't occur to me until now to wonder about if and how the WGA strike effects the SAG awards.

2 January 2008

Happy New Year!!

Hope everyone's New Year began safely. My friends and I holed up in my apartment, cooked dinner, exchanged belated Christmas presents, chatted through a marathon of science fiction, and ushered in the new year with faux champagne (ah, budget) and phone calls to family and friends.

Good lord. I'm watching a magic show and this particular trick is a dancing couple changing elaborate costumes (and wigs) in a blink of an eye...I know it's just a trick, but man...I can't complain about a fast costume change ever again.

I should learn that trick.

Anyway...I've got a callback audition scheduled for later this week. Wish me luck! Here's to a year full of hard work, good friends, family, and success!