Thursday, May 25, 2006
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Great Quote from one of my Acting Websites...
Fame is relative. And, for now, fleeting.
They say don’t believe your own reviews. I say, don’t Google yourself.
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Buffalo Flats
This past weekend I treked on up to Taft, CA and worked a short film that I was cast in. I wish I had pictures, but I never remember the camera unless it is a major life event! (sometimes not even then...) The movie takes place in the 50's in west Texas and they put me in a cute little waitress costume. It was very typical of the type I always play, so it was right up my alley and a lot of fun.
They were night shoots, so now I'm very very sleepy.
They were night shoots, so now I'm very very sleepy.
Saturday, May 13, 2006
Long Beach State TheatreFest
I took my Norwalk High theatre students to a Festival earlier this month. The Festival is at Cal State Long Beach and they spend two days performing scenes & monologues for judges and attending workshops. This is our third year attending this festival and it is always an enlightening experience.
The first year they attended, their drama teacher brought a handful of kids who showed up on campus at CSULB with nothin' but their scenes and their own booties. They stood there and watched buses pull up with 30 or 40 theatre students climbing out of them, unloading huge set pieces and chanting like the Marine Corps. "We felt so ghetto," was what they told me later about the experience.
Well, three years later not much has changed. Since this was my primary responsibility this year (I quit directing the plays because it was taking up too much of my time), I really tried to throw my all into it. I gave them a ton of scenes and started out with about 12 students. By the time the Festival rolled around I had 5 students (it was 6 up until about five days prior) performing three scenes and two monologues, 1 parent and me. Now we sit on our blankets on the grass, watching the buses unload huge amounts of theatre students who all trek in with tents, costumes, set pieces, etc. and we still feel "very ghetto."
Then we get into the judging room and things change. You see, in those rooms are only the judges, the performers, and a few spectators. In those rooms, it is all about the work. Whether your school can supply buses or whether your program can attract dozens all seems to fade when you're in the room. In the room, it's all about theatre-in-the-raw. Something that ghetto Norwalkian Thespians have in the bag.
The students are judged twice and then Saturday afternoon is the final round. I am VERY proud to say that every single one of my students made the final round. All the pieces except one made it, but each student had at least one of their pieces make the finals. Norwalk High is the ultimate underdog. It's especially meaningful to me because I don't choose scenes with festival "success" in mind, per se. I try to choose scenes that will challenge the students and make them grow, not necessarily ones that will "wow" the judges. And this year, there was a lot of growth... a TON of growth.
These festivals are so great for my kids. These kids come from a background where so few people believe in them. Many of their parents do not believe in them, the school does not fund our program (sometimes we can barely get the administrators to attend the plays), theatre is not the "cool" thing to do. But they come to these festivals and they see other kids like them, they are affirmed for their work and they have a great time. They leave knowing they are worth something, they have significance and they have somewhere to go in life. And I leave feeling very proud of my students and remembering why I do theatre in the first place.
The first year they attended, their drama teacher brought a handful of kids who showed up on campus at CSULB with nothin' but their scenes and their own booties. They stood there and watched buses pull up with 30 or 40 theatre students climbing out of them, unloading huge set pieces and chanting like the Marine Corps. "We felt so ghetto," was what they told me later about the experience.
Well, three years later not much has changed. Since this was my primary responsibility this year (I quit directing the plays because it was taking up too much of my time), I really tried to throw my all into it. I gave them a ton of scenes and started out with about 12 students. By the time the Festival rolled around I had 5 students (it was 6 up until about five days prior) performing three scenes and two monologues, 1 parent and me. Now we sit on our blankets on the grass, watching the buses unload huge amounts of theatre students who all trek in with tents, costumes, set pieces, etc. and we still feel "very ghetto."
Then we get into the judging room and things change. You see, in those rooms are only the judges, the performers, and a few spectators. In those rooms, it is all about the work. Whether your school can supply buses or whether your program can attract dozens all seems to fade when you're in the room. In the room, it's all about theatre-in-the-raw. Something that ghetto Norwalkian Thespians have in the bag.
The students are judged twice and then Saturday afternoon is the final round. I am VERY proud to say that every single one of my students made the final round. All the pieces except one made it, but each student had at least one of their pieces make the finals. Norwalk High is the ultimate underdog. It's especially meaningful to me because I don't choose scenes with festival "success" in mind, per se. I try to choose scenes that will challenge the students and make them grow, not necessarily ones that will "wow" the judges. And this year, there was a lot of growth... a TON of growth.
These festivals are so great for my kids. These kids come from a background where so few people believe in them. Many of their parents do not believe in them, the school does not fund our program (sometimes we can barely get the administrators to attend the plays), theatre is not the "cool" thing to do. But they come to these festivals and they see other kids like them, they are affirmed for their work and they have a great time. They leave knowing they are worth something, they have significance and they have somewhere to go in life. And I leave feeling very proud of my students and remembering why I do theatre in the first place.
Monday, May 08, 2006
THE ASSOCIATION
There are wonderful pictures and a far more interesting & detailed description of the shoot on Andy's blog.
Monday, May 01, 2006
What a Weekend!
As many of you know, we finally shot Andy's teaser trailer this weekend. I can't believe it's actually through! I am thoroughly exhausted. On top of having a crazy-busy week preparing for it + day jobs + my own auditions & callbacks, I also got really sick. Today is Monday, so I've been sick for officially a week now. My body really needs a rest (so does Andy's), but we both feel that now we need to work extra at our day jobs because we've missed so much work for this project. Ah! It never ends!
We viewed some of the footage Saturday night and it looked really great! All the actors are so good! The camera work is really beautiful, too. It is definitely worth all the money we spent! Andy's DP, Tom, is really fantastic. I don't think we had any real problems. No personality conflicts, or anything like that. The crew was unbelievably hard-working and polite & kind.
I was pretty busy most of the time with the food. Between craft services & catering, it was a HUGE job! Much bigger than I had realized. My parents were helping me the whole time with it-- they were amazing.
We should get some pictures up here soon!
We viewed some of the footage Saturday night and it looked really great! All the actors are so good! The camera work is really beautiful, too. It is definitely worth all the money we spent! Andy's DP, Tom, is really fantastic. I don't think we had any real problems. No personality conflicts, or anything like that. The crew was unbelievably hard-working and polite & kind.
I was pretty busy most of the time with the food. Between craft services & catering, it was a HUGE job! Much bigger than I had realized. My parents were helping me the whole time with it-- they were amazing.
We should get some pictures up here soon!
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