Actors' Equity

Ah, the elusive equity card.

We're all striving for it whether or not we claim to.

So many of us have been told to stay non-union for as long as possible. Don't become equity. But deep down we all want access to that lounge and the ability to add our names to official lists at auditions.

Here is the run down.
If you're not union, like me, you can wake up as early as you want. Be the first person on line before any audition. You could have been waiting out in the cold or rain (like i did yesterday) since 7:30 in the morning. When the doors finally open and you're allowed in, ALL equity members get to sign up first.

Thats how it works. So if you're lucky you get seen. If too many equity members show up you have no shot at even auditioning. So you get to add your headshot to an ever increasing pile of young starving artists.


Some theaters and companies hold non-union auditions. Which WE LOVE. THANK YOU!

But how to become equity? How can you do it when the only way to be seen is to be a part of the union. And the only way to be a part of the union is to get in a union show? The great Actor Catch 22.

Of course there truly is plenty of non-union work out there. And i love theater enough to do it. But my goal is to be able to support myself working as an actor. Only a few things pay enough for me to take some extra time off of my horrid day job. But for the most part I'm working interminably long hours for no pay. And often times no recognition.

I wouldn't give up this life for anything. But i'm ready for the next tier of my career. I just don't know how to get there yet.

So for now i continue to wait in lines on cold rainy days praying I'll be seen and then be worth enough for the producers to allow me in.

I'll see you in line.

Penny Dreadful

Penny Dreadful
Episode 3:
The Great Switcheroo

This past January I had the pleasure of working on Episode 3 of this 12 part series being performed at the brick theater. I appeared as the famous escape artist and magician Harry Houdini in "Penny Dreadful: The Great Switcheroo."

What is Penny dreadful? (Quoted from the Penny Site:)

" Inspired by the adventure-filled dime novels of the 19th and early 20th century, PENNY DREADFUL is an innovative epic for the stage co-created for Williamsburg's Brick Theater by Matt Gray and Bryan Enk. Like the original novels, PENNY DREADFUL has been serialized into 12 monthly installments with Chapter One beginning in November 2007. Audiences will be able to follow the labyrinthine plot twists and re-experience the cliffhanger endings through video downloads of each episode following their live performance, available on the Third Lows Productions official website (www.thirdlows.com/pennydreadful).

The year is 1909 and the discovery of a bloodless body has San Francisco abuzz. It will be up to a second-rate showman and an oddball detective of the supernatural to put together the clues - a mysterious hearing aid, a missing creature from the darkest corner of the earth, a secret society bent on world domination, a man who can control earthquakes, and the greatest magic trick ever performed. PENNY DREADFUL is a twelve-part tale of mystery and horror that takes place in the first decade of the twentieth century and guest stars a parade of notable historical figures such as Theodore Roosevelt and Thomas Edison as they weave in and out of the suspenseful tale."

Now I know you are all regretting missing this piece, so fear not my friends, the performance was filmed and is now online for your viewing pleasure.

So please, click here for all your Penny Dreadful Needs:

Or click here for episode 3 directly. Cause you know you want to see me perform!

The Great Switcheroo!

Penny Dreadful: Created By Matt Gray and Brian Enk
Starring:
Patrick Pizzolorusso as Harry Houdini
Clive Dobbs as The Magical Mr. E.
Sarah brodsky as The Mannequin
Jessica Savage as Penny
Fred Backus as Simeon Viernikovac
Matt Gray as Leslie Caldwell
Aaron Baker as Robert Ford
Clay Drinko as Artemus Forbes
Valentine lyashenko as Horace Torque

Enjoy the show everyone.
And thank you for all of your support.
Always.

New Websites and things

So for all of you 3 people who read this blog, 2 of whom found your way here by accident, the month of January has ended with a bang. This has been the best beginning to 2008 and now I just have to try to keep up the momentum.

In review:

-The first project to hit the internets was SUNDAY TIMES. A Film by Kevin Keiser, a local up and coming film maker. The short tells the story of a man, Kevin Sebastian, being pulled into several stock film genres. Of course the big pay off is at the end..i wont give it away for all you short-film-fanatics out there. On the project breakout site it was cast in 9th place. (of course we all feel it deserved better, as did the voting public) You can see me in the orange shirt dancin like a fool.

-The next project was Bitch MacBeth. This 3rd iteration of Do What Now's re-imagining of the Macbeth tale played for a month at the Brick Theater in beautiful warehousey Metropolitan Ave in Brooklyn. At least the gator was near by.

-Also at the Brick this past month i had the pleasure to be a part of the Third Low's Penny dreadful series. I appeared as Houdini in Episode #3: The Great Switcheroo, of their 12 part series....Penny Dreadful. Soon enough the episode will be online. But in the meantime check out the first two episodes so you can catch up.

-Yet another project...i told you i was busy. Inner Children. I worked this past weekend with Lisa Gilardi on her short film Inner Children. Its the story of a simple boy meets girl, but with their child like selves providing commentary to everything the adults do. No i wasn't the child. Very funny. It was one of the easiest and most fun shoots I've worked on and I can't wait to see the finished product. As I'm sure all of you are. I give it a month? We'll see.

And now for updates:
-My website is up and running. Go, explore, point and laugh at the pictures. Hooray for my website!!! Constructive criticism welcome. I said Constructive!

-And Link wise on the right side of this screen i've added a new friend. The ever Impressive Samantha Mason and her professional website. Poke around a bit. She wont mind.

-And coming up in the next few months will be rehearsals for the Wild Wild Women of Wakki-NuNu. The next piece by Do What Not Theatrics. This crazy tropical adventure was written and will be directed and produced by Frank Cwiklik. (I guess they like me, they invited me back.)

And I think thats it for now. I promise, and i know I always do, to update this more. Perhaps with a website I'll be a little more proactive.

On Tour, New Link, CNN-Worthy...

The Tour is going so very well. We've travelled all over the country. From Sea to shining sea..if you will. In our wake we've left a lot of laughs and some randoms controversey. First things, the tour is soon at an end. We close next thursday, the 10/25. Its a welcomed end and return to my bed. But i shall miss it. The producer came to see tonight's show and was happy as always with the performance. So we haven't started sucking. Great!

Before we get to the good stuff, please first check out the new link i have. The Winger. Its a dance blog filled with jobs and great inside stories. gotta love it!



But in this tour there has been national news! Yes ladies and gentlemen we, a small band of travelling players made national news in Arizona!

Higley district halts Shakespearean production
Hayley Ringle, Tribune
Forty minutes into a two-hour comedy, the Higley Unified School District decided a Shakespearean-themed play was “not to be” for about 700 sixth- through 12th-graders because the content and language were “inappropriate.”Monday morning, the students were watching “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)” at the Higley Center for the Performing Arts, when Tara Kissane, the district’s director of visual and performing arts, halted the show. “We stopped the show because we feel that this was inappropriate and not a kind of performance that we want them to see,” Kissane said. “There was inappropriate language and the content was very suggestive. I don’t care what students hear on the streets, that’s not what we believe in presenting to our students.” Kissane would not give any specific examples of what she deemed inappropriate. The Shakespeare play was produced by a New-York based touring company, Windwood Theatricals. According to a play description on the theatrical group’s Web site, Windwood Theatricals, the play “is a whirlwind roller coaster tribute to the immortal bard. Three actors take on the daunting task of performing 37 plays and 154 sonnets in under two hours, illuminating the world of Shakespeare through the use of football, swordplay and hip-hop music.” Fountain Hills Community Theater artistic director Peter Hill, whose company performed this play in March, said the first part of the play is about “Romeo and Juliet” and part of the joke is two guys “plant a big ol’ kiss” on each other. That’s the only thing he could think of that might be deemed inappropriate in the first 40 minutes. “The biggest thing about the show is it lends itself to ad-libbing, and who knows what this particular company was doing with it,” Hill said. Hill teaches a summer camp for high school-aged students and said he shows a commercially-available DVD of this play to the students. “It has innuendo, but that’s it,” Hill said. “I can’t imagine, unless they would take the same offense at the actual Shakespeare. He did write for adults and some of his stuff is pretty bawdy.” Students paid $5 to be bused to the arts center for the voluntary field trip. Kissane said the students will be reimbursed. Kissane said after she announced her decision to stop the play, she was “booed pretty loudly.” “Some of them might have been enjoying the show,” however, “there were a couple of high-schoolers that thanked me as they left. They said they felt uncomfortable,” Kissane said. The district chose the play after recommendations from other unnamed school districts and performing arts groups who had seen it, said “they loved it” and thought “it was fun,” Kissane said. “I thought it was great for college-aged students,” Kissane said. “I just thought it was over some of our kids’ heads, and it wasn’t appropriate for our kids. If I’m going to err on the side of anything, I’m erring on the side of caution.” Kissane said the theater group thought they were performing in front of a “more mature audience” and there must have been some “miscommunication.” “They thought it was appropriate for high-schoolers, but again you have to look at the difference in communities,” Kissane said. “Maybe it is appropriate for New York students, but I don’t think it’s appropriate for Higley students.” The Windwood Theatricals group was not available for comment. A New York Daily News quote from a review of the play posted on the theatrical group’s Web site mentions high school: “Where were these guys when you needed them in high school? … Those who yawned through required Shakespeare classes will appreciate how (Shakespeare Abridged) breezes through his long body of work in a series of frenetically funny sketches … A goofy parody that even Elizabethan Audiences would have enjoyed.” Kissane said all in all “it was a disappointing day. “We wanted our kids to really understand Shakespeare, and it just didn’t happen,” Kissane said. “It just wasn’t what we had anticipated or what we had heard from other people.”

Now this was slightly blown out of proportion. It was cancelled not because shakespeare is evil, but because the school board decided to invite very young kids to this show. We were told this was a high school audience. Not middle school and possibly younger. But still, we made national news for a short time. Go us! A simple band of travelling players got kicked out of Arizona...well, not really, but it sounds better that way.

Basically, the people that run our nation's schools are idiots.

Complete works of William Shakespreare {Abridged} Tour…..

Its been a while since i've updated this. Not for lack of work, but because i'm lazy. Damn lazy. I worked this summer down at the South Street Sea Port in a production of 12th night. it wasn't a bad piece and i managed to make a lot of good friends in it. Goo networking.

But the Seaport. We were in the SPACE gallery which during the day is a great art gallery. But to ask an audience to sit through three hours of Shakespeare without A/C is not fun. Plus it takes at least an hour, if not more, to get anywhere from the Seaport. Especially late at night.

And now, I'm working on the Complete Works Of William Shakespeare Abridged with WindWood Productions.

Going to Frostburg Maryland. Rolling hills and such. My ears popped like crazy going up and down the roads cut through the hills. But I’m officially on the road and enjoying it. In fact I am writing this little message from my hotel room. It’s a Best Western, nothing special, but the rooms are big enough that my roommate and I aren’t crowding each other. And I spent tonight after rehearsal relaxing in the hot tub.

Yeah, being an actor is great.

So the show..The complete works. Really, what is there to say? It’s physically draining and rewarding. And of course it’s a wonderful love letter the Bard. Plus this is a wonderful company to be working for.

So here I am in Maryland. Working…or so they say.

I’m getting paid for this

The Long Christmas Ride Home

The first weekend of performances is under our belt. Aside from the usual little bumps and hic-ups the show is going really well. I'm insanely proud of my work in it. Of course there are places where i feel i could better myself. But its theater and always a work in progress.

The process of this project has been such a wonderful ride. This has been by far the most challenging project i've worked on since coming to NY. Its been a very long and rough road but i'm happy with the outcome.

The cast I'm working with is phenominally talented. Not to mention the fact that we all get along. For all of you out there who have worked in the theater here in NY, or anywhere for that matter, there is always that one person or aspect of the show that drives you insane. This show? Everyone gets a long and there are no negative feelings towards anyone or any aspect of the show...who knew? Of course we all wish we had more rehearsal time. But who doesn't.

One of the most impressive aspects of the show are the puppets. The play calls for our best western interpretation of Japanese Bunraku puppets. I think we do a pretty damn good job. During rehearsals it got to the point where the puppets were soo much more interesting and life-like that we paid attention to them more than eachother and fellow actors. Its amazing how your eyes are drawn so quickly to a little wodden person being operated by a team of puppeteers. Not to mention the fact that I can now confidently put puppetry on my resume knowing full well that i can operate the damn things.

And it would be a crime to not mention the lesbian shadow puppets. Thank you Paula Vogel.

So the show has one more weekend and the hardest judges of all, my parents, are coming. So we shall see what they think. But i predict tears. Just a few, but tears all the same.

EYE CANDY Video, Red Fern, Capes...

Well, it has been a while sice I posted. Not because I have been slacking in my auditions, mainly because I just have no time to sit down and write. Part of my resolution is to write more, so here I go.

The past several months have seen me cranking up the auditioning volume on my life.

The last 2 months of 2006 i was in an amazing class at Capes Coaching. The class is designed to help you set goals and find ways to follow through and achieve those goals. (writing being a means to an end, or more possibilities I hope) I would highly recommend these amazing people to anyone. I feel so empowered and confident in the direction my career is going. I can only thank these women for pushing me and opening my eyes.

I have been auditioning non-stop these past few months. And happily all this hard work has paid off. I have just been cast in a production of The Long Christmas Ride Home by Paula Vogel with the Red Fern Theatre Company. I'll post more info about the production and the company as soon as I get some.


And for all you Eye Candy fans, I have found a posting on YouTube of a section of the show from the original production in the fall of 2005. The clip below is of Billy Keiffer and Maria Colaco. Watch and Enjoy.


And..Look for a Patrick and Pam production coming to a computer near you soon.....