Full Gallop in the south one week (’phibs at the Modern last weekend), ‘phibs working on their own in the north the next (JP Matthews and David A. Miller bring A Lesson in Art & The Oral Tradition to the West End Theater in NYC this coming weekend!) …
We had the first round of preliminary auditions for Gutenberg! The Musical! – Amphibian’s July production — and let me tell you…there was enough Comedy Gold in that room to make a director such as me feel rich. Every actor who came in to audition brought so many great, hilarious ideas into the room. It was a joy to spend the afternoon with such comedy.
As a director, the auditions are generally the first time that I have the chance to realize the script on stage. In an audition room, I have the chance to see multiple interpretations of a character and the tone of a play and make multiple attempts to articulate what is at the heart of the play. At the heart of Gutenberg! is a particular brand of comedy — the brand that actors weak of spirit may fear to attempt: the energetic and earnest but entirely misguided “acting” of Bud Davenport and Doug Simon that often leaps from sound logic to the brink of embarrassment…
Usually when a famous person dies I feel badly for the families and go about my day just as I would if I heard anyone I didn’t know just died. While sitting in a Los Angeles court house during jury selection I got a text message from my sister, the words: “Heath Ledger has died”. I was stunned sitting on that bench. I looked up at the strangers serving with me and wanted to reach out for comfort. When there was none there, I had to turn away as tears swelled in my eyes. I was baffled…why am I reacting so strongly to a person I don’t know? Maybe it’s because we’re the same age, maybe because I know that stretch of Broome Street where his apartment is and miss it dearly, maybe because Heath and I are actors, maybe it was his beautiful daughter, maybe getting older allows you to feel your own mortality…I’m not sure. But please bear with me while I get this off my chest.
I saw “Monster’s Ball” after the academy award was given to Halle Berry and thought…why the hub-bub over Halle? Heath’s the real genius in this film. I auditioned for the role of Heath’s daughter in “Broke Back Mountain” (the role went to Kate Mara…lucky gal). After seeing it I told my husband that I have to find a way to work with Heath Ledger…he’s just…perfection. Then this past Christmas my husband’s cousin and I watched the preview for “Batman” on his computer and talked for a good while about what an artist and an inspiration Heath is. We said, “I bet he’ll get an Oscar nod for this and he’ll explode in Hollywood.”
Whatever the reason, I am immensely saddened over the death of Heath Ledger. One of the most brilliant performers of our generation is now gone from this world too soon and it’s a damn damn shame. I didn’t know you but I will miss you. Rest in peace Heath.
At the risk of being a huge sap, I just wanted to say how privileged I am to know you all and have worked with many of you. I miss you all and love you greatly.
Hey folks! My sincerest apologies for my poor showing in the blog department…I was fulfilling my civic duty and completing time sitting on a jury. Afterwards I had to do the day job stuff leaving very little time for much of anything else. The stink of it was the dude was 100% guilty and it was a total waste of time for the trial to take place. Just a word of advice to all you out there…if you do something wrong, just fess up and take the heat. Don’t waste people’s time, energy and tax dollars trying to defend the un-defendable. PLEA BARGAIN!
I am an actor in Los Angeles. And when I moved here, I got this advice: 1. get new headshots 2. go to Sam French and get a Ross Reports 3. submit your picture to all the agents (make sure to get the see-through envelopes – you want to take the guess work out of an agent actually opening your submission) 4. get into an acting class 5. do workshops.
I took this advice and spent too much time wondering why I wasn’t working. It was bad advice! Well…almost…
New photos are always good and psychologically make me feel renewed and ready to start battle again. Sam French is always a good resource for all things industry…but there’s more there than a Ross Report. Submitting headshots to agents makes you feel like you’re being proactive in your career (I’m about to do it again for what feels like the billionth time). Acting classes can be really helpful especially to the newbies. It feels like you’re learning something and keeping the creative juices flowing and workshops can introduce you to some powerful people. So…what’s the bad advice? Well…none of this is actual works. You spend a lot of time and a lot of money not really acting…not creating anything but a big headache for yourself.
Agents usually don’t open unsolicited submission envelopes, acting classes aren’t always the best (and the good ones will take your life savings for a 6 week course and offer questionable “techniques”– more on this later) and workshops are just a really expensive audition for the casting director’s assistance’s assistant.
So, after step one, skip the rest of these steps and move on to a secret step…step 6…99 seat theatre. Sure there are TONS of 99 seat theatres in Los Angeles; but once you wade through all the crappy showcases and ‘plays’ where only industry people are invited, you will witness a bustling community of professionals doing great work. One of the best parts of this community is that it’s not exclusive to the struggling actor. On the contrary, the majority of these theatres have working actors (some with bonafide celebrity status) acting in their plays and you get to act right along beside them and benefit from their experience. They also offer amazing, accomplished and famous directors, designers, writers, etc etc etc. This community is rather tight, but once you break the bubble, everyone knows everyone and a world of opportunity opens.
UPDATE: Auditioned for “9 to 5” here in Los Angeles (totally rocked it out!) – they aren’t calling anyone back until they’ve auditioned in New York (you lucky ducks). Auditioned for “Beaverquest: The Musical” and got a callback (and no, it’s not about that…). Auditioned for a Best Buy commercial…no callback.
Yes, we have closed, and yes, I am sad because i have been working on this play since August, but I couldn’t help but do one last blog just to wrap things up. The last of the funnies, provided mostly by the wonderful Chris Sarandon. I wish I could remember all of them, but I can’t sadly. I do remember a few things and these are all willingly comments from Mr. Sarandon, dedicated to the cadets and my friend Martha. Thank you Chris!
Chris Sarandon came up to the Cadets upstage left and said in the most serious voice, “Alright who is going to be my poodle?” There was silence and I pointed to Stephen and said “He is!” Chris said, “Great! Meet me in my tent in five minutes!” and then he marched up the stairs as if he had given an order…Hilarious!”Parcheesey anyone? Who’s up for parcheesey? Alright meet me in my tent!”"Well…Who wants to play beach blanket bingo? Anyone?!”"Alright! Who’s got the condoms? I point to Macintyre Dixon…and Chris Sarandon says, “Great! meet me in my tent!”"Alright! Who’s got Roxanne’s hymen!” “Come on cought it up!”"Let’s see….Who wants to be stripsearched first?” We all shake our heads then point to Macintyre Dixon and Sarandon says, “Great! he’s first, then your next!”"Ok, Here’s the deal. I am taking you all to a spa for a treatment. I imagine it’s been a long time.” 
There were many more…but I can’t end this blog with out mentioning this, and if you are reading this blog and you might be, you had to know I would write about it.. some people felt some of the things I wrote in this blog were too personal, and private. I assure everyone who has read this blog, that this blog was only meant to serve as a way to share my first broadway experience, no harm or malice or revelation of one’s privacy was intended to anyone. I was even asked to stop writing if you can imagine that, and the way I was approached and handled after this “call to the principal’s office,” was less than professional let alone thought out. Little do these persons know that everything that was written in this blog was seen by those they thought they were protecting, and little do they know these things were said to me specifically to be put in the blog!!!…But I digress…and that is all I will ever say about that again.My blog was about the positive experience I had on Broadway with some very REAL, generous, kind, and talented artists. I was so fortunate to be a part of such a great experience, and to share it with so many warm souls. I learned a great deal from the veterans to the more than 10 of us that had our broadway debut. It was so much fun and I will sorely miss it. All good things must come to a close. I won’t lie. I sobbed. Sobbed and sobbed some more. It was a play for the ages, and anyone that has seen our Cyrano, cannot deny that.
Hello Amphibians! This is my first time blogging on the amphibian wordpress site and I must say that I’m a bit intimidated after the reading all the excitement Carman and Jonathan have been experiencing as of late. It’s been an absolute pleasure to read and they are exactly where every actor wants to be…working! I’m so sad I haven’t been able to make it to NYC to see the shows…Erin, Carman, Jonathan…well…everyone! We have some amazingly talented folks associated with amphibian and I’m so proud to be a member!!
My personal excitement is the airing of a Verizon commercial I shot back in November. It aired for the first time on January 1st during the Sugar Bowl and I immediately started getting text messages, phone calls, emails…some from folks I haven’t seen since I was 10 years old…CRAZY! I’m not getting my hopes up too high because Verizon spots are notorious for only running the normal 13 week cycle and then being replaced by another spot. But if you see it, send good vibes so it will play and play and play!!
The shoot was super fun. You can’t really see it in the spot but the Verizon guy (Paul) and I had to match movement…and in the back of a cab, on a flatbed trailer, with a billion cameras in your face, pretending to be in labor is a pretty hilarious task. The director of the commercial was Craig Guillespie who recently directed “Lars and the Real Girl” (if you haven’t seen it…see it…it’s wonderful). This was my first national commercial and definitely more than I could have asked for. Big set (although you can’t see it), big production, 300+ extras (although you can’t see them), funny amazing cast and crew…very supportive. The day lasted 16 hours and flew by! Now that it’s airing I’m pumped up and want to do another one immediately!
In the next coming week I have an audition for the Broadway production of “9 to 5″ (yup…the Dolly Parton movie) and a new musical called “Beaverquest” written by Padraig Duffy (Patrick Duffy’s son…yup the guy from “Dallas”). Everything is for pop voices so I need to get the belting pipes a-workin’.
More later!
So the PBS crew is here and everything is a bit brighter, shinier and lustier so the cameras can pick us up. They will be shooting us for a few days. It’s kind of exciting to have these extra crew men here in the last week of performance. There is definitly an air of excitement permeating the theater as they get ready to shoot us tonight. The producers and the director also returned for tonight’s performance. 
The cast was sharing their thoughts about how the night went and it was definitly a wonky night. Jennifer slipped twice in the same spot, same day, two different shows, and both times at the curtain call. The audience gasped, but of course the Garner bounded up with such grace. Kevin Kline comes in after her to take a bow, and he would mime slipping to take the focus off what could have been a disaster. The audience responded both times with cheers and applause.This January 2nd performance also marked the first time the entire cast was back. We haven’t been together for a while, due to illness, injury, and or vacations, but it was great to have the entire energy of the cast restored.
Another incident happened during my on stage fight with Mr. Kline. As soon as our swords connected at the time I attack him, just before I die, Cyrano’s sword broke off and flung into the onstage crowd, smacking an actress in the face. So, Kevin is left with the hilt of the sword in his hand, and he mimes a stab to my chest. At that point I have a sword and he does not. What was I supposed to do? I just drop my sword, fall down and he mimes a stab to my chest! I wanted to giggle about it, but I was to busy writhing across the stage to see where the damn sword flew! No one stage was moving, so I figured nothing was wrong, so I roll over and die. We get off stage and I see this actress holding her face. The sword smacked her but luckily did not cut her. She was clearly shaken, as was I. Thank God, it wasn’t worse. The show continued and we still got the usual standing O!
We love Baylen Thomas. Especially when he came back as the Marquis de Cuigy. In Act 2 he came in and shouted the wrong line. “The chair and Porters!” Then he stops and stays still for a bit, and shakes his hands and says “A message from De Guiche” It was probably one of the funniest moments on stage I’ve ever been a part of. We all were laughing hysterically. What was hard is that it was a time in the show when we all are supposed to be serious. It was so funny. Nobody could look at anyone. Poor Baylen. He got ribbed so much but was a good sport about it. He said he couldn’t remember De Guiche’s name! So with Baylen back in the Marquis role, we had Daniel Sunjata back, it was good to have the cast back together again. 
The fog seems to want a role in this show. Sometimes it is too much, other times it is too little, sometimes too high, and sometimes not on stage enough. It’s definitly been interested in having a say. Yesterday, the fog blew up in Jennifer Garner’s face when she was looking out in to the battlefield. Not just a little bit of smoke, an absurd amount, poofed into her face at a very dramatic moment. We all had a giggle offstage watching her try to negotiate the dramatics as well as the smoke.In my first scene as Valvert, Jennifer is insistant that we are here to watch O-KLA-HO-MA. Chris Saranadon always asks her what are we watching today and she tells him a different play everyday. We’ve gotten August:Osage County, Ibsen, Moliere, and a few others…but Oklahoma came back today. Meanwhile Kevin was warming up to Chubby Checker’s “Twist”, warming up like it was a piece of literature from an Edith Skinner book. He was even correcting the lyrics..”Let’s twist again, like we did last summer!”(in a “Shakespearean voice”) Then he says “Chubby!, it’s AS not LIKE!” Sooo funny. He was using it as a vocal warm up. 
While Carman is celebrating Christmas in NY, I’ve been down in Fort Worth enjoying the Yule season. A few days ago I met up with Artistic Director Kathleen Culebro, Dramaturg Judy Norman and our Interim Managing Director Melissa Mitchell. Melissa is wonderful and I look forward to her guidance in helping the company grow.
After lunch at Lucille’s ( I recommend the chicken fried steak) we saw the new office spaces at the Community Arts Center. They are quaint and quiet (at least when I was there) and they will serve the company well. I was also delighted to hear that both of our main-stage shows will both be at the C.A.C. This should bring us and our audiences several advantages!
