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!

Fakies

And no, I don't mean silicon chest implants. I mean, fake friends. I dislike them, gee, who would like them anyway? I'm the type of person who will occasionally talk to strangers on the streets--and the type to shoot a "hello, how are you" to someone I met months ago. I am not, however, the type to schmooze it up, only because it's convenient for me at the time.

Although this entry seems ambiguous, it is brought to the table because of some recent events, which I will not shine any more light on. I just needed to get it out of my system.

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

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.