Callbacks are hot!

Hearing someone say "We'd like you at the Callbacks" is probably one of the hottest things an actor (or performer) can hear, well...second to "You're hired, rehearsals start at..." I went to an audition the other day for Northside Theatre Company's "Picasso at Lapin Agile". The play is about the evening Albert Einstein meets Pablo Picasso in a bar in France. There's a wonderful array of characters and the one I ended up reading for was for Charles Dabernow Schmendimen, an idiot inventor, who provides additional comic relief to an already laugh out loud show.

At any rate, I attended the Callbacks today ran into one other person (that I was aware of) that read for the role. At the end, I wasn't feeling too great about my chances. It felt like I could've done more while on stage--but in practice I always allow myself five to ten minutes to really dwell on it before moving on. Onward, as I've mentioned in the past. Onward.

I had plenty of fun with it though, the fact that two cast mates AND the director of my current show, Pandemonium, were present really made for a comfortable atmosphere. The three of us, sans-director, ended up dining at Pasta Pomodoro. The latter being useless information. Aside from this exciting event, I've been spending my days squeezing some creative juices into Photoshop and listening to some old school Mariah Carey. YES....Mariah Carey. What? She was great! Well--whatever, I'm going to post a video of hers and you're going to like it! So there, neener neener neener.

Mariah Carey - Heartbreaker ft. Jay-Z

Condensed like soup

Wow...busy busy busy! So much has happened since the last blog, but I'll try and keep it short and to the point. In fact, why don't I just put the "haps" in bulletin style format?

• Pandemonium had a fabulous opening night, despite a few odds and ends.
• I bought a skateboard--the guy at store said he'd put it together in 30 mins, I come back, and it's untouched! I give him another 30. I return and he's selling another skateboard to some kid and promises to have mine completed by a different sales rep. Okay. I come back 30 mins later and the other sales rep is completing the skateboard the kid after me purchased! OKAY--I ask for a refund and they politely with a dash of embarrassment oblige.
• I bought a camera!
• I had an audition with Northside Theatre Company--they had a mind blowing set for "Who's afraid of Virginia Wolf?"
• I'm back to exercising
• I had some wonderful photos taken by talented Jillian Kay, some of which I will be posting
• I burned through all the episodes of Firefly and I've become quite a fan

Well, that's it! That's as condensed as it could be without leaving out too much. All in all, it's been busy but enjoyable.


Photos by Jillian Kay

It's Karma-ing back to me!

I believe in karma. And I'd like to think that Karma believes in me. Cheesy? Yep. Sincere? Definitely. Today on the bus, people were starting to pack it in like sardines so at some point I offered an older woman my seat. It seemed common enough for me, considering that, where I grew up, if I hadn't offered my seat, I could expect a swift smack on the noggin.

Later, when I reached my stop, I hopped out and continued on my merry way. I'm incredibly fortunate that I wasn't wearing my headphones because not ten seconds after I've jumped off, I heard someone yelling for me. He had, in his hand, my monthly bus pass! I guess it slipped out of my pocket somehow. This gentleman was kind enough to (probably) yell at the driver to quickly stop the bus so he could return my pass. Wow...It's been a while since I've actually had a sense of karma give me the reach around. Seriously.

So what's the moral of my story? Always keep a better eye on your sh*t. Oh wait, that's not it. Um...oh, help others because you never know, someone else may help you.


And keep a better eye on your sh*t.

of Zombies and Fanny Packs

It was another amusing week of bus rides, rehearsals and work place happenings. I hope I'm not giving off the impression that there's always something interesting happening in my every day life, because there aren't...BUT, there is always something worth writing about every week.

Rehearsals are going well, we're fast approaching opening night and I'm anxious to expose the Chulla Chaqui to unsuspecting audience members! And no, that's not an innuendo for something else. The other characters are coming along well too; I really enjoy watching everyone develop their characters.

Today as I was sitting at work with my fellow box office staff, a HORDE of ZOMBIES appeared (almost without any noticeable early warning) from out of the blue! They lumbered, trudged, and dragged their bloody, mutilated, moaning and groaning selves across the Paseo. Wow...where did they come from? Where are they going? Better yet, where do I sign up to do that next time?! Of course, to break from the 'reality' of their moment, a few of them looked fine! Fine as in, they didn't have a limp. Sure they were bloodied, but they showed no indication of pain, anguish, or even decay! It was surreal because from inside the box office, looking out, you could either imagine you were watching this on television OR that they were coming to claw our eyes out and feast on your BRAINSSSSS!

A WEEK IN PUBLIC TRANSPORATION

1. I broke the string that attaches to the "STOP REQUESTED" device. Whoops, I guess I don't know my own strength?
2. Heh, this one was amusing--imagine this: tall, grizzly looking, hat wearing-fanny packing-steel toeing shoeing Caucasian male steps onto the bus and makes his way to the seat directly in front of me. He starts chatting it up to this Asian fella opposite of him. Wow, he starts going on about how plastic comes from oil, and oil is from Iraq! He then proceeds to tell the Asian fella that there are little black boxes inside the bus that record everyone's stops and that it helps the government enlist younger people into the Army.

HOLY COW!

(#2 cont.) By this time, Mr. Asian guy is sweating bullets and looking for any way to escape this one-sided conversation. (I'm watching this as it unfolds) A few stops later, another "interesting" character hops on the bus and IMMEDIATELY starts to conversate with Mr. Fanny Packing Fella. Imagine, come on try, two cars heading in the same direction on a collision course...except, instead of hitting each other, they both hit brick walls only yards apart. That's how it felt. Both of them "chitchatyammered" it up, yet their conversations had nothing to do with each other! I glance over at Mr. Asian Fella and there's this look of relief on his face for the brief reprieve. Soon, Mr. Fanny Pack and Other fella were out of the bus, leaving Mr. Asian Fella to digest the ear-raping he just received.

Now THAT was worth the bus ride. Who needs a car when you can ride the bus and come home with pages worth of interesting, vibrant characters?

Beep, beep!

The case for space...

...rehearsal space that is. A few of my rehearsals for Pandemonium were moved to the actual space we will be using for the show. It was a bag of mixed emotions. At first it was excitement. Then I spent an entire rehearsal a bit lost. Then it at the next rehearsal I was more comfortable. At the last rehearsal, it felt as if I had full reign of space and boy, everything seemed more organic. I enjoyed watching (the parts I did manage to see) my cast mates reaction as they follow my character deep into the forest.

Nathan, who is playing the lead character, Epimetheus, seemed to enjoy all the physical behaviors associated with the scene. And hey, whatever I can do to make it easier for my cast mates to perform at max potential, I'll explore it. I'm slightly miffed that the rehearsal scheduled on friday will NOT be at the theatre but rather, at the old dance studio which doubled as the space we used for the original auditions.

Hopefully the energy will remain the same, despite the space being a load of blah. I suppose I could always rebuild the stage in my mind and work it out that way. On a separate note, I've resumed work on the first screenplay I've decided to write. I lost interest in it a while ago, and it was probably because the characters didn't grab me in the gonads, but I'm planning on re-writing one of the main characters and actually starting an outline of the story.

If you're interested in reading what I've written so far, leave me your e-mail address and I'll be sure to shoot it over.

Frisky Business

What an amusing week! In addition to my usual banter on blogger, I'm going to add "A week in Public Transportation" and it will include waiting for the bus/train, the actual rides and things that have stood out, and of course all the interesting characters that seem to make every morning, afternoon and evening trip more colorful.

1. I was FRISKED for weapons while I was waiting for the bus a few days ago. Apparently someone held up a furniture store two blocks from where I lived and I somehow fit the description. HOW AMUSING! I'm dressed in mostly black, with a hoodie on and my hands were dug deep into my pockets. A solid black patrol car, sans sirens, pulls up and asks me directly, "Do you have any weapons on you? Anything, a screwdriver? Can you please put your hands behind your back?" Oh man, oh man, IT WAS GREAT! I was so compliant, not because of fear, but because, heck this is amusing me. It was two detectives, and halfway through the driver-detective chuckled and admitted that I'm probably not the one. Well, gee, what if I was? There WAS a trash can nearby, I could've tossed said weapon, but yeah...I didn't say that out loud though. They drove off soon after, and not five minutes later my bus arrived. I ESCAPED WITH THE MONIES! I'm kidding...or am I?
2. There was a fella the other day who kept pacing back and forth in the bus playing his harmonica. A woman nearby chatted loudly in language I was not familiar with, and every time he passed her by, he'd play his harmonica louder! Hehe, I chuckled every time.
3. This evening, on the way home from an audition--four lesbian couples boarded the bus from Santana Row. How...interesting. Not every day does this type of thing occur. I mean, noisy riders, stinky people, hacking & coughing groups--sure, they're almost common place. But...a herd? pack? What do you call a group of people traveling together, anyway? I was the only other person in the bus, save for the driver. I caught some of their eyes and we respectfully smiled at each other. Cool. I live to fight another day.

As I mentioned in item #3, I had an audition. It was fantastic! The audition was for the Heritage Community Theatre in Campbell. They are currently looking to build a company of actors to pool from. How exciting! It went well, I felt. In fact, I was ecstatic the entire time. The casting directors were quick to put me at ease, and establish a very warm line of communication. I'm eager to see where this will lead. I performed two contrasting monologues and felt that I did my very best, and they were quite receptive.

What a wonderful Friday! I have two other auditions I'm looking forward to. One is with Northside Theatre Company and the other one is the much anticipated Kaiser Permanente Performer's program. Tally ho!

Le Sigh

The photo project I was contacted to be a part of for over a month now wrote to me today. They regret to inform me that they have decided to go another direction. I'm completely bummed. I was looking forward to this project for over a month. I think that's what I'm having difficulty coping with: The fact that they contacted me over a month ago and said, it was a green light project. Then to push the shoot dates back, only now to mention that, they've gone a different direction...ugh.

Well...I guess that's a lesson learned the hard way. No hard feelings, in fact, I hope at some point I can work with the Agency who contacted me. Good luck to them. Onwards now, onwards.

[The project was for a facility maintenance company's marketing campaign which entailed flyers, posters, a website and other marketing paraphernalia]

Of rehearsals and gigs

Rehearsals for Pandemonium are rolling along well. I'm off-book about two weeks ahead of schedule so I'm feeling OK with everything. Everyone seems to be doing really well also, I'm excited to see this show when it's ready to go. In my scene in particular, I tossed and turned for a few nights trying to make sense of the blocking. My scene takes place in the Peruvian Rainforest and my character is very physical. The character's name is Chullachaqui What bothered me the most initially was the blocking. It's not that I couldn't get it right, it's that I felt awkward doing it the way I was.

The position didn't seem right, the angle, everything. Today, instead of having rehearsals at the dance studio, we were able to use the actual stage the play will be presented! Wow, if ever there was a moment of clarity, this would be it. I took one look at it and knew a few modifications to the blocking and I would feel much more comfortable on stage. And lo' and behold, when time came for my scene--it was spot on. It's a shame I won't be seeing that space for another few weeks, unless of course, we get lucky again. *crosses fingers*

I had a paid gig the other day. It was for a student production at San Jose State University. The entire production was based on television shows and the director (her name is Kelly) who cast me initially planned on a movie review show but changed it at the last minute to a Outdoor Hiking show. Prior to actually shooting it, we went out and discussed the dialogue and I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to, without hesitation, answer these outdoor survival related questions. THANK YOU DISCOVERY CHANNEL! The character I played was Ken Matsumura, Forest Ranger/Survival Expert who is on the show to promote his book. It was a fun gig!

I've sent out for a few auditions, hopefully I can keep these gigs rolling in. NAP TIME!