And We're Off

Unofficial, official rehearsal has commenced! Cupid & Psyche is underway! Hooray!!

Although we did a few things before the holiday break, Wednesday night kicked off the new year and the year in which this play will be fully staged. Again... Hooray!

Thankfully, I was off-book for the scenes we were working. The goal of the rehearsal was to block the last scene leading into intermission & begin playing with the opening scene after. Both extremely physical and fun! My amazing leading man caught me as I jumped into his arms over and over and over again. What girl doesn't want to do that?!

Good start to this adventure. Woke up fairly sore the next morning, and was reminded of muscles I'd forgotten. Time to change up my fitness routine. Yoga last night was both wonderful and painful. Truth be told, I love being sore, in that self-punishing way :) Makes me very aware and grateful for my body and all it's elements!

Day 1

23 hours into the New Year & it's going pretty darn good!

After spending 8 hours with five pre-teens counting down to midnight, I think this is a New Years Eve I won't soon forget. Not the typical way many New Yorkers ring in the new year, but I had a blast with these goofballs! Good kids... with too much stuff.

Once the parents returned from a concert --performed by one of our other guests-- I was relieved of my duties a little after 2 A.M. Praise the Lord, I was granted permission to sleep (really a glorified nap) at the hotel. Although it was a short 4 hours in the room, I loved every minute of it. And my commute to work was amazing in the morning.

The challenge of the day: Wish everyone a happy new year. Pretty close to 100%. Survived with surprising energy; after work gathered research for a film I'm shooting in Feb; home to run lines with my fellow lead for my play on Valentine's weekend & now...bed.

If this first day is any indication of how my year will be, all I can say is YES!!! Happy 2014!

The Power of REST

"Yeah, you look really good. Very well-rested." Due to signing a confidentiality agreement, I cannot say what beautiful man spoke those words to me, but it's one who would make you blush if he smiled at you. But I felt equally elated when another co-worker said almost the exact same thing to me as I was passing through the kitchen at work today.

Good Lord, I must've been pretty worn out before leaving for my Christmas break. Yes, I had the luxury of 10 days away from the grind of NYC. I lounged- I indulged- I exercised (once)- I slept in- I stayed up late- I worked on my play- I spent time with friend- I spent time with my dog- I had more than enough family time & yet still can't get enough of them.

I. Am. Blessed.

And so I returned to the big City in time to watch my beloved Cowboys let their playoff hopes drift away. There is an article circulating on the book of faces about the difficulty of living in the City and pursuing life as an artist. It echoes a chorus of complaints I shared with folks back home & feeling the need to readjust life here. How can I expect my acting career to grow when there is literally NO free space in my schedule? It's the constant struggle between being a starving artist vs. an artist that is starving for creativity.

2013 could be classified as a year without auditions but full of work. Again, I count my good fortune with being offered many projects from folks I've previously worked with and know what I'm capable of. Such a fun way to move through the year, but my final project of the year (that will actually be staged in Feb 2014) I did have to earn the part. The opportunity presented by a dear friend and amazingly talented actor, but I had to work for the part.

I'd like for this trend to continue in the coming year. New & challenging works with talented people at a higher level of professionalism than projects past but with as much heart behind them & demanding more of my artistic self and loving every struggle/discovery along the way. This is my prayer for 2014. Maybe a few more posts in the new year too :)

Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Subway

As I waited for the NQ train on the platform at Union Square, I gently placed my Trader Joe's bag on the ground. Feeling a bit peckish, I reached for my recently purchased dried mangoes. These puppies are not cheap, not terribly pricey either, but I'm a poor actor so everything is precious.

As I tear the first piece in half and find absolute delight that these dried mangoes are juicy and flavorful, a middle-aged woman rounds the pillar and glances down at my bag. Feeling my recently purchased items from Trader Joe's may be snatched before my very eyes, I quickly (and subtly) grab the bag. At this, she turns to me and looks at the piece of mango in my hand and points at it...(?) I just look at her confusedly. She then points to herself, then back to the piece of dried mango in my hand, then back to herself...(?) Again, my face reads absolute confusion. She then gestures to the bag of mangoes in my bag. Why she is not using words, I cannot understand...(?)

Finally, I just say, "You want my food?!" To which she energetically nods her head like this is a normal request. Unable to control myself, I just started laughing at the absurdity of this moment. It's like walking up to a person in a restaurant and asking to try a bite of their steak. Luckily a train pulled up shortly thereafter & ended this rather awkward and dumbfounding moment.

I love knowing that no matter how long I live in New York, I will experience something completely new & totally strange at any given moment.

Fall Photos

My dream.

Well... do ya?

Under the High Line

Not Banksy. Just hilarious!

Tribeca mornings

New roommie!!

Rooftop rehearsal

Volleyball

New York.

Goodnight O'Flats

Me & Banksy

Following Thru...

I've reached a new benchmark in my journey to become a "real New Yorker". I'm more poor than I've ever been & a little financially panicked. Don't worry, Grandpa, I'm not in the red or anything but things are tight and I'm passing on cups of coffee as a way to save every little penny.

My roommate of nearly 3 years, the amazing Jacob Banser, has left me for his girlfriend. Fine! So long sucker! Truly I wish him well. Two things came from this, I get the whole apt to myself before my new roomie moves in & I get do cover rent all by myself til my new roomie moves in. The good and the bad are equal here. However, this new level of poverty allows me to get creative & very practical about how I spend that precious green.

Lots of time in the apt to write. Lots of time to clean, to read, to rearrange the whole apt (which I've done twice already). Basically, life has slowed down because I can't afford to do all I normally do. I know this month is going to be extremely reflective but also observant. Below areas few pictures of just things I've found along the way. Life in this City constantly provides such a variety of visual images that are only mine. I try to capture them when I can. This is a bit rambly, but so be it!

Ok technical difficulties, so pics will come later when I'm back to my computer! Now off to Blue Man Group!

That's a Wrap!!!

"Corpse" is officially (kinda) wrapped!

This wonderfully unique, creative undertaking concluded principal photography yesterday in a basement bar in Brooklyn (nice alliteration). The experience of this film has been nothing short of wonderful! Let me back up a little and explain why this stands out.

My involvement came about from a dear friend reaching out to a small group of people presenting an opportunity to make an independent film with a fella she'd worked with on an earlier project. Naturally, I jumped on it, as I'm dying to get back to more film work. So I went to meet with the director... at 1515 Broadway. The Viacom building (aka MTV- oh yeah, he's a producer there). Good sign! Sitting with Chris in his office, he explained the concept of an ensemble piece with some overlapping storyline, some characters will never encounter each other, and we won't know the full story and how it all connects. The whole Exquisite Corpse idea (google it).

Absolutely! I signed on basically right away. What Chris asked of us actors was to provide an idea for a character- which could be as broad or specific as we wanted. I won't go into the specifics of my concept, but Chris used it to create an amazing back story for my character & even added stuff I was already considering! We were on the same page for this character.

Our first table read only included myself and two other actors. We have a shared history in the film and our overall narrative arch climaxed with the three of us. We received our breakdown and a scene outline for our individual characters. It felt like we were taking a test and I couldn't let the person sitting next to me see my paper, cause I didn't want them to know about my character. We met the next day to do improvised interviews in character. The three of us are a research team developing nanotechnology dealing with epigenetics... basically we're super smart :)

For the next few weeks we'd meet with a version of the script to rehearse, and within that rehearsal we were encouraged to improvise, give feedback, offer suggestions for re-writes-- artistic freedom! Amazing to be given the gift of our voice. This does not often happen for film-- I'm getting spoiled! This rehearsal process and script/character development instilled such a sense of ownership for this film!

Last night marked the first time all 6 actors in the film were on set together! Some would eavesdrop on other scenes while they filmed, learning bits of information about story lines that never intersected and some still wished to remain completely in the dark. We all agreed to get together in a couple weeks for a full cast read thru of the entire script. The director promised to send us all the full script once we finish shooting, but this seems like the most satisfying way to know what happens. Our first full cast table read will take place after we've filmed the whole movie. Kinda backwards, but like I said, this has been incredibly unique from the start!