March IS Madness!

Producers Session (Straight to Callbacks) - 3/28/06 - ER

Excellent! Very cool. After 8.5 years in the City of Angels, I finally get to audition for John Levey Casting. Who knew that March would be such a great month for me?

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The power of the internet! Okay, so I decided last week that I would track down my High School Drama Teacher, and send him an e-mail letting him now how much his influence meant to me in the first stages of my “acting career” back in 1990 (*gasp*), and to let him know that I’m still in pursuit of that dream. Low and behold, with just a few clicks of a button (and one click of my mouse), I had an e-mail address for him. I sent him my e-mail, and over the weekend, he replied back with some very encouraging words. He informed me that of the many things he does now, most non-acting related, he’s a participant in the Florida Thespian Festival, in which he said he thought I’d be a “great workshop leader.” (I guess he read about my recent festival experience, which could be why he mentioned it.) He went on to say that “plans for 2006 have been finalized, but he will try to get me and the state director in touch to see if something would develop for 2007.” That would be really cool. It looks like this festival thing might be something I could do in between acting gigs to make some cash, should I decide to leave the day job.

Speaking of Festivals, I just turned down another one for late next month, this time for middle schoolers. Shakespeare again. Drats! That would have been cool to see their interpretation of his words. I remember I was around their age (12 or 13) when I had my first experience with Shakespeare. The summer acting school I begged my parents to send me to, held a Shakespeare in the Park Festival, in which all of us kids dressed up in smelly leotards, scratchy cloaks, and old itchy wigs. We pranced around a park on probably one of the hottest summer days Albuquerque has ever seen, spewing words that we, for the most part, had no clue what they meant. But, through the sweat and dehydration, I think we were able to do a darn good job. Well, at least our parents thought so.

This past Saturday I attended another CD Seminar. This time sponsored by AIA Studios and The Academy Players Directory. I usually don’t go to things like this because they seem like yet another ploy to take more money from “us”. However, surprisingly enough, this event was FREE, and they were to have some big CD’s there, so I decided to take my chances. The event was at the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences/Pickford Center in Hollywood. Let me tell you, they don’t play there. I felt like I was at the airport. They screened us all, searched our purses and bags. We were told no food or drink while we were waiting outside, but I figured things would be cool, so I didn’t make any attempt to trash a clementine I had stashed in my purse. The security guy tripped when he saw it. He was like, “You can take it back to your car, or you can trash it!” I’m thinking, dude, I’m like 7 ½ months pregnant, is there no way I can take a baby orange inside with me in case my sugar drops or something?!? I mean, we were going to be inside for three hours. Crazy! Anyway, I didn’t fight it, I just told him to throw it away, and I continued on inside. Once inside, I met up with Tasia, and a friend of hers. We shot the breeze while we waited for the panel to get started.

The lineup consisted of:

Katy Wallin, CSA (She was the moderator, and is the President and Founder of AIA Studios.
April Webster, CSA (Lost/Alias)
Chemin Bernard, CSA (Martin/Moesha)
Mindy Marin, CSA (Face Off/The Family Stone)
Pamela Rack Guest, CSA (Big Trouble in Little China/Heaven or Vegas)
Wendy O’brien, CSA (Lackawanna Blues/The Longest Yard)
Peggy Kennedy (24/Chicago Hope)

So, all in all, some pretty good people to hear from. It was the usual. They talked about their past, present, and future in the business. They answered the standard, “How do actors get to know you as CD’s?” and “Do you use online services?” questions. They shared heartfelt stories from their life experiences, provided some advice for us, and then we were done. No mingling with them (at least none that I saw), and no collecting of our headshots and resumes.

Later that night, I had every intention of driving back out to Hollywood for a screening of Tasia’s new short film called “LET'S TALK,” (Remember the one I auditioned for last year, and failed miserably?) but my body was saying something completely different.

So that brings me to today. The ER audition. I’m hyped. I was told the scene would be with Sally Field. I have not watched that show in years, so last night I did a little research about her character so I could find out who she is in relation to the rest of the cast. I mean it’s a co-starring role, and maybe I go a little bit overboard with these things sometimes, but I strongly believe that it’s beneficial for me as an actor to know who I’m speaking to and why. It allows me to play with various levels of my voice and inflection as I recite the line or line(s) a bazillion times. As a result, when I go in I’m usually off book, and comfortable with what I need to say. I trip out on those actors who have the ability, or in most cases THINK they have the ability, to come in, grab the sides, scan over them, then proclaim, “Okay, I’m ready!” (I tried that once, and it backfired. See above.) I mean if that works for some people cool, but for me, if I have the time to prepare, I make sure that I do.

With that being said, wish me luck today!

Signing off...