July was nice. It was productive, it was reflective and it has inspired me to do more for the second half of the year. BOOYAH!
It all started with TAFTA National Acting Intensive which was recommended to me by Kym Jackson (author of The Hollywood Survival Guide) which I can’t believe I didn’t know about when I moved down. It's perfect. You meet a lot of Casting Directors straight up and all in the course of a week. I had only ever met one of the CDs that taught in my whole year and a half living in Sydney and within a week I had met 10 more all from prominent casting houses. If you're new to the industry DO IT and if you're not DO IT. You spend the same amount on all of the workshops separately so why not do it all in one go and show your pants off? It's hella intense because of lack of sleep and some of the full-timers even stayed overnight but it's well worth it. Put in the work, be yourself and there's no real audition stress because even though you are auditioning for key figures in the industry it has that nice learning-workshop feel going on. I have also heard that if you do well at the TAFTA course, you will definitely get work. I’ll let you know how that pans out for myself. Check out the line up!!!
Impro Arena also finished up at the start of the month. I’d never played the format before and it was a great experience getting up there with players I hadn’t worked with before. I look forward to doing more with the troupe.
It’s Book Week time again which means I'm learning lines. Scenes are one thing but when you have to memorise a two hander that goes for an hour, it’s a bit harder. Lucky I have my pet rat to help me out. Remi, chef and actor, as seen in Ratatouille. Last year I did Space Jump the Musical for schools in Queensland but now I'm on my new home turf in Sydney with Worlds Apart, two stories in one, about Molly in 1914 and Edward in 2014. Wanna know more??? Enrol back to primary school. I remember I was so exhausted after the last tour I did that I swore it would be the last. But alas I was wrong, here I am again with a new touring partner, director, new songs and script. Never say never (Thanks Justin Beiber and/or Energizer).
Hey remember how I write/ wrote songs? If you didn’t, I do/ did. I got approached by a Music Producer who was interested in what I could do, so that’s exciting. I went into the studio, talked (about what... you will never know) and I got to demo some stuff I wrote back in the day. I even got to improv two songs up on the spot cos he said ‘go for it’. He said I could be the next Bjork. CALM DOWN EVERYBODY! He also reminded me that it’s possible to have both careers. I know it’s not huge anymore but remember Barbara Streisand and Bette Midler. That could be me guys. I have the hair! It might be coming back too with hits like Les Miserables and musical movies being the new thing. I always pushed my singing desires to the side, but he got me really excited about it and we will see where that heads.
WINGMAN'S ONLINE!!! It's sooooooo good. You can watch the whole series in one sitting because each episode is around 3 minutes long. This show has such a great concept and I am so proud to have been apart of it. Guy Edmonds is the lead and a multitude of great female actresses play the women he tries to sleep with. Don’t miss it. I’m in Episode 8. Check it out now.
I headed to Melbourne for a break. Got to see my homegirl Emily Langridge entrancing the audience as Cosette in Les Miserables. Just great! Jean. Valjean. Was. The. Best. Only thing I would say is with this theatre (Her Majesty's) DO get balcony seats or front seats. DO NOT by any means buy any of the seats under the balcony. The theatre is stupidly designed so that if you are under the balcony half the stage is cut off – ie couldn’t see the 'Les Miserables' writing unless you bobbed down or any of the verandah parts. And the sound doesn’t travel there either. I'm just saying my experience could have been phenomenal but due to my seats, it was just great.
I also saw The King and I impromptuly because we had 3 hours before we had to head to the airport. Holey Moley go see it! I wanted to see it for ages but I just didn’t do it because I'M AN IDIOT but it is glorious. The stage shines with glitter on everything, Lisa McCuneis fabulous from the get go. The dresses... oh the dresses! Such a great ensemble casts and such a strong leading lady. I frikken loved it. I also managed to have some friends be apart of it so I feel extra special. Matthew Nguyen (Cast) and Callum Mansfield (Musical Staging).
Oh and last night I saw The Lion King. Speechless.
Apart from that I’m back with Equity, I had a falling out earlier this year because I am an actor and am poor but I signed up again because who knows when I'm gonna need them. Lucky I did too just in time for a Comedy Workshop with the President of UK's Equity Malcolm Sinclair. He popped in and ran a class with a few of us and we went through some Ayckbourn texts. British comedy plays are so witty. I wish everything was so witty. I also have a Miranda Harcourtworkshop on this weekend to attend. She has done heaps of work as an Actor, Coach, Writer, Director, everything.
And that’s it! Rehearsals start for Book Week next week, still doing kids parties every weekend, getting back into Stand Up in the coming weeks, creating some web-comedy-content soon and have to do my tax.
Hope you had a Merry Chritmas in July.
xx May