Ideas

It's probably safe to assume that every one of you have had ideas come to you in the least opportune time. It sucks, right? Especially when there's no paper to write that on or no one is answering your phone calls. Anyway, I haven't been in a very creative mood lately but the other day as I was brushing my teeth this superb idea flaunted into my brain.

It lingered long enough that it tricked me into thinking I would remember the exact details. Then it turned around and stabbed me in the back! All I know now is that I had a great idea when I was brushing my teeth. BLARGH! Anyway, there hasn't been a lot going on in my life. San Jose couldn't be more boring. Well, maybe it could, when the power goes out. Which it did the other week. Two hours it was out, I sat with one candle lit and listened. I mean, REALLY listened. My ears picked up all sorts of rickety outdoorsy sounds.

I couldn't complain actually, it was quite soothing.

The Foreigner opened at San Jose Repertory Theatre and I had the pleasure of experiencing it last saturday. I have NOTHING, absolutely NOTHING bad to say about it...or anything critical. The show was amazing. I highly recommend it if you're in the Bay Area. The actors were superb and had memorable performances. The Tech was fantastic and exuded experience and creativity. I'm likely to see it again. Furthermore, prior to the show I had a terrific conversation with Ken Ruta, a local Bay Area actor who is full of epic stories. I look forward to meeting him again in the future.

Finally, I've managed to get my hands on Adobe Premiere Pro and I have to say, it's quite addicted to work on. It's affecting me the way Photoshop does sometimes, i.e. sleepless nights, nagging ideas, and hunger to improve. The only disappointment I'm feeling is the fact that I haven't auditioned for Live Theatre in such a long time (a couple months at least) because of this awful double edge schedule I'm maintaining with my brother.

Alas, I'll have more chances in the future. In the meantime, I have film, adobe, work and ideas that escape me to keep me looking forward to the next day.

60% versus 100%

Quick entry:

So after an interesting (actually not so much) CALL BACK to Noises Off, I walked back to SJ Rep deep in thought and analytical assessment. There have been a handful of times when I've walked away from an audition where I feel absolutely serene. That's not to say that I landed the role or anything, but the feeling was, for lack of a better word, flavorful.

Today was not the case. It's been 3hrs and 30 mins since I was allowed to leave the CALL BACK and I'm still stewing over how un-explosive/energetic my performance felt. Which brings me to my subject-title. 60% versus 100%. While I practice the habit of "Go to audition, then drop the feeling when it's done", there are singular cases when it's easier said than done. Many times I feel absolutely prepared to read but as soon as I bust out of the gates and utter my first line, BOOM -- my performance energy seems to be at 60% (just a guess in numbers). I want to be at 100%! I want to be at 100%!!

Now...I can keep saying that until the cows come home and there are situations when that has been the case, zoom...0 to 100 in a matter of seconds. Yes, I love it. But due to the limited exposure to auditions here in San Jose, the experience-training isn't very consistent. Which brings me to my final conclusion on the matter. Training. The act of training is slowly moving into a mindset rather than something "to-do". Which is a plus.

Well, that's it. I'm writing on the topic more of a way to vent than anything else. I would like to comment that my scene partner for today's CALL BACK was fun, energetic and a pleasure to read with (even though the particular cut of dialogue was utterly short. We'll name her, Kim. Lol.

Finally, I know I'll be stewing on this for a few days but don't worry about me, it's mostly because I really have nothing to do for the next few days but work and read. Haha--the next audition is right around the corner on July 12th with Renegade Theatre Experiement.

100%....100%....100%....

The Grass is Greener...

...when you're busy watering them.

Right?

Acting is easy. Acting believable is a challenge. I realize I spend a lot of energy every day just scrutinizing how I approach different aspects of acting. Sometimes I think I think too much, which can be a hazard to believable acting. But I'll spare you the boring "la la" of my deep internal struggle to find the next level of creativity.

The grass is greener when you're busy watering them. To say it's greener on the other side is a cliché and rightly so. But, if you think about it, your grass CAN be green too! It just takes work and effort, right? Right! Anyway, although my financial situation as an actor isn't impressive (in the positive way), I'll have to say, being busy with work, auditions, gigs and learning makes for a wonderful way to live life. At least that's the case in my life.

I am currently working on a commercial for a product called Sling Box. It's an interesting device that transmits what you're watching on television to a mobile device. That's the bare bones of it but I know it's a little more complicated than that. At any rate, the production team consists of talented individuals from San Jose State University's RTVF (Radio Television Film) department. It's been a wonderful experience so far. Here are some photos. I'm in the first one, on the bleachers with the fancy hat.






I'll keep you posted as to when or if this ever goes on television or on the internet. Oh and in case you were wondering, it wasn't a paid gig. But it was totally worth being a part of.

This weekend is audition weekend. I wrapped up an interview and an audition today. The interview was with a crew of talented local film makers. I won't go too much into detail about it, but they're a great bunch of folks! Here's a short film of theirs they wrapped up for a 48hr film festival. You're welcome to navigate to their YouTube account page as they have a variety of humorous shorts.



And finally, City Light's Theater Company held their general auditions today and I attended it and with me, a new monologue that I'm happy to have found. It's from a play called Gagarin Way by Gregory Burke, and the character whose monologue is from basically is one of two employees that kidnap and accidentally kill their boss. It's a fun little bit that has such a wonderful range of emotions and possibilities in terms of acting choices.

It was great, I ran into an old cast mate from Pandemonium and Susannah, who was the director for Pandemonium! Overall, it was a fun experience. I actually left the audition without feeling like I could've done better, or nitpicking at how I presented the monologue. That feeling alone is priceless.

Good weekend, and it's not over yet! I have one more tomorrow with Tabard Theatre Company. That's it for now. It sucks not to have (a lot) money, but I feel I would be more miserable if I had no idea what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. But hey, that's just me.

Addition of Auditions

I'm usually a happy camper when I don't have to stay at home and count the amount of times I've counted the times I've counted in my head. Lately, I've been discovering a delicious amount of auditions coming my way. By delicious, I mean, they leave me hungry for more. And before you can point at me and call me a glutton for punishment, pain, and rejection I have to admit I do rather enjoy the whole auditioning process. It's the part after that's usually crummy.

You know, the whole waiting by the phone and hitting refreshing on the web browser part. Hahaha, I only kid. Partially. I enjoy meeting new people, especially individuals who enjoy similar things I do. And although auditions can be a high stress environment, it's always nice to know that you aren't alone in your high stress, haha.

Let me share with you a couple of my 2008 auditions. If you rummage through some of my older posts you'll discover I auditioned for San Jose Repertory Theatre. Now, this would count for my second time with my initial auditioning ending on a high note. However, the second time wasn't too great. In fact, I wasn't scheduled that day...I was influenced by someone (by the wonderful nature of her personality) to go ahead and audition the day before. And even though I had already memorized a couple of monologues, my mental preparation was no where near it's presentation level. What a doozy that audition turned out to be. Luckily I was in good company and the casting director, Bruce Elsperger, was quite to put me to ease. Thanks Bruce, you rock!



Finally, I'd like to note that although it feels like the whole Acting career choice/passion can be overwhelming and that there are countless people who want to take this up, it's great to finally start seeing familiar faces in crowd. Here's to more productive Auditions and less of the sour ones.

Playing Actor

Tabard Theatre Company's "Pandemonium" by Susannah Greenwood, is in the final stretch! Friday & Saturday will be closing weekend and I can't help but label the feeling as bitter sweet (cliché, I know!). I'm satisfied with how the show turned out, I'm happy with the character I've created and most importantly, I'm grateful for all the new friends I made. I especially enjoyed watching my cast mates imbue their characters with life--man...what talent!

*Tasi Alabastro as El Chulla Chaqui

*Calm before the storm

So what's next? Well, Brent (one of my cast mates in Pandemonium) and I attended an audition for some classical plays which will be produced by Deep Impact Theatre and we've just been offered roles. I'm still uncertain if I will be able to lock any of them down as I may have a developing conflict of schedule which requires me to be out of state during the show dates! In case you're curious, I may be flying out to Nashville in late August. I won't go into detail as to why I'll be flying out, but I am looking forward to it.

Other than that I'm planning on just putting in more hours at The Rep. Speaking of which, if you're in the area, be sure to catch our upcoming show, A Strange Case of Jekyll and Hyde. It will be amazing! The cast is fantastic, the story is griping and the artistic direction will be unique and mind-blowing! Trust me. Here's a link to the current write up in the local newspaper:

San Jose Mercury News - Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde




This play / production is going to be HOT HOT HOT!

Selection, not Rejection

Well, today I received word that I was not cast in Picasso at Lapin Agile. A friend told me a few times, we'll call him...Brent, "It's usually the shows you want to be in the most that you'll probably won't be cast in". Haha, how true! While the feeling of rejection feels dominant, I have to shake it off and remember that it's selection and NOT rejection. I know it'll be wonderful production and I can't wait to see it when it opens up.

I'm am, however, grateful to have been called back for a second audition and I look forward to more auditions with them next season. As I've said many times in the past, "Onward!" I'll continue to remain positive.

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

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!

I was choked and had my butt kicked!

Well this will be a short one since I'm recovering from choking during an audition and getting my acting butt kicked! Lol--what, you didn't think I was actually choked and beat up, did you? Awww--you did! Well I appreciate the sentiment. Really I do! In reality, I auditioned at SJREP (Yeah, my place of work!) and unfortunately I fell short.

When I got back to my desk to resume the daily work, I mentally reassessed what happened. I wasn't prepared! Yes, I know...I can see some of you trying to hand me your copy of Stanislavski's "An Actor Prepares". I'll generously wave that down, as I have a copy of it myself. I planned on going tomorrow but instead I was convince by the lovely equity audition moderator to go ahead and swing in today. In retrospect, I should have waited.

I was 3/4 through my monologue when suddenly...BLANK--my throat felt constricted, my palms started to sweat up (believe it or not, I was pretty calm walking in there) and the hairs on my back stood on ends. How could this be?! I've recited/experienced this monologue many times over the past few weeks. Then I realized the key ingredient. This was the FIRST time I've ever performed it to anyone. Oi vey.

If I feel I absolutely must dwell on a poor performance at an audition, I'm in the habit of only allowing myself five to ten minutes, tops. In this case, it rested on my head, chest, abdomen, thighs--gah, everywhere, for a solid two hours. The fact that I work here and that I see and hold conversations with Bruce, our casting director must have confused the butterflies in my stomach to, instead of perform aerial ballet, kamakazi into my stomach lining. It felt weird! To say the least.

The two hours are up, it's time to move on and knock another down for experience, even if it was a smidgen bit embarrassing.

T.G.I.F Indeed!

I wasn't planning on blogging today but I feel I should put this down on paper...cyber paper? Whatever. I had a midterm for my film and t.v. this morning so I was up bright and early so I could buy a scantron and blue book. I made it on campus early enough to have a tasty breakfast of eggs, wheat bread and sausage. Although cereal may have been a great substitute if I had enough time to find some. The actual midterm was relatively easy. A lot of it came to me as common sense as a person who enjoys watching movies and picking them apart. Our class usually wraps up at 1:10pm but I was done with my midterm by 11:30am and I was quite unsure of what else to do with my afternoon.

So I stuck around. I loitered in the hallway and started a conversation with two Austrian women that was visiting their friend, a classmate of mine. They were very friendly and had physical facial features that were uncommon to me which was interesting and another story all together. At any rate, when my friends popped out and we were able to thoroughly discuss the exam that we all completed, I decided it was time to go. On the way out I stopped by one of the computer labs to check on e-mails and myspace.

Finally, I'm all set to head home when I decided to go (here's where it gets interesting) in the opposite direction I'm used to going. Before I could reach the exit doors I overheard something. It was lines that were being read out loud. In fact, it sounded like...well, it sounded like an AUDITION! I began my own private investigation and found a couple of females around the corner who were reading scripts! Oh my! Now we're getting somewhere.

A door opens and out pops what looked to be a director! How did I know he was a director? Pshaw, he had that director glow! Anyway, I introduced myself and said that I'm not an acting student in this institution but somehow accidentally stumbled on an audition in session and that I was an Actor who was interested in, at the very least, turning in a headshot and résumé. He smiled and said, "Oh that's not necessary, why don't you grab a script and look it over and we'll get you in here after her (pointing at one of the other actors in the hallway)". I said, "Great", smiled and started reading the script.

Boy, halfway down the page I was even more excited because the script read wonderfully. When it was finally my turn, I walked in, made myself comfortable and introduced myself and answered some of the director's questions. I suppose he wasn't used to receiving headshots and résumé just yet and insisted I take them back and he didn't want to waste my money. Either he wasn't used to them or I disgusted him thoroughly, lol. I'll take comfort in believing it was the former. The character I read for was delicious and I wanted to keep reading and trying new things but there were other Actors to consider so I said my thanks and walked out graciously.

I'm finally ready to go home...OR maybe not, just as I was leaving I noticed someone putting up fliers on bulletin boards and it read "Audition, room AT113, "Unwritten"". Oh boy! What timing! What are the odds of that happening? Let's recap. I was going to go home early, I walk in the complete opposite direction of where I would usually exit, land myself in an audition and another one just as the first one was done...WOW. T.G.I.F indeed.

The second audition was much different. I didn't see myself in any of the characters but I decided to try anyway. I read for a character labeled only as "Boss" and after my short performance, the expression on the director and his DP surprised even me. They looked like they had seen an angle of their character they had never seen before. I was quite pleased. I remember hearing, "You don't look the part, but your acting is perfect for it..." That's good enough for me, haha. The second part of the audition I found amusing because I've never had the chance to do this before. They handed me a fake pistol and told me to pretend I was going around some fake building (ala CSI) and that I was looking for someone. And pretend I did! I even held the pistol the way I felt the character would if he were chasing someone. Primed, yet finger not quite on the trigger because I was always peaking past corners and wouldn't want to shoot any by-standers.

Well that's it...I wouldn't have blogged today but boy, I had to get that off my chest. Did you know that auditions give me a natural high? No? Well, now you know! It's back to work tomorrow at the Theatre but I can't help but wonder...'gee, what's in store next week?'

Chee-hooo!

Where I grew up shouting "Chee-hooo" would be a the equivalent of yelling "Yeeee-haw"! It went with native dances, it went well when playing sports, heck I've heard it being yelled in a cinema during an action sequence in a movie. In my case, it's the excitement of being cast in my first gig since moving here to San Jose!

I went to two auditions this past weekend. One was for a student film
and the other was for a play called Pandemonium. The student film audition was at a convenient location, De Anza College, where I happened to have class the very day I was scheduled to read. It went well I felt. There was a few minutes when I had an interesting inner monologue going:

"Yeah man, first audition of 2008, let's kick ass! Focus man focus, throw that chewing gum in the trash. What if these guys turn me away at the door...no wait, they wouldn't do that. Oh look, cameras....yeah...YEAH...OH YEAH!!!!!"

I get a natural high during the entire audition process. To say I'm addicted to it is an understatement. However, I find it is entirely important to be able to drop any notion or day dream of being cast as soon as I'm back on the street leaving said auditions. In some cases, (a Coca Cola commercial a couple years ago) the dream tend to linger. Every audition is a new chance to train in, moving on to the next thing available.

According to the directors of the short film, actors will be contacted by the 10th of February.

Moving on- I found the Pandemonium auditions to be quite revitalizing! It was in a small intimate dance studio and it was freezing outside. Luckily, the heat started to creep in as we stretched and mingled among ourselves. The audition was to be done as a group with actors tossed in with different roles to read. I find this style of auditioning highly stimulating because it allows you to be able to react with fresh ideas which bounces around with the other actors.

There were some devilishly talented actors in attendance and in many cases it really bumped the standard of the audition. A previous acting instructor hammered the idea to always commit to your acting decisions and to follow your instinct when approaching a role. It's sometimes difficult to approach that idea because it's not necessarily part of your everyday life. But I threw all caution to the wind and lost myself in the reading.

It was intense. At some point the cold had completely left me and there I was, in the midst of other actors, emotionally naked but very much alive. I thought to myself, "heck, even if I don't get a role, this is fantastic!". By the end of the audition, my back was aching (lol, I should exercise more) but my spirit was in fine form. I gave my sincere appreciation for the opportunity to audition and started home.

Forty-five minutes later as I was stepping out of my bus I felt a sharp buzz in my jeans (no no, not that kind of buzz, perv!). It was a call from one of the artistic minds present at the audition. It started slowly and was starting to sound like so many past audition calls, you know the ones that go, "Thank you for coming, it was good to have you there...". Except, at the end she uttered the words "We would like to extend..." and if it weren't for the fact that I was still on the phone with her, I would've yelled "CHEEE-HOOOOO"! Instead, I held it in until all details were hammered out and I was safely across the street.

CHEEEEEE-HOOOOO! I've landed my first gig in San Jose!