Measure of Success.

I have talked to many aspiring actors as well as professional actors lately, classmates & friends in this industry. One common denominator each one of them seems to have is that their commitment to acting is unshakable. For example, Jeremy a fellow rehearsing partner gave up everything to follow his passion; as a young & very gifted African American actor and a Phd holder with an engineering degree, he left Tennessee to pursue his dreams. I respect that so much, while many people would think his actions are insane, oddly enough I understand. His passion is acting, with so much talent and passion & sheer dedication, I truly whish him the best. For me, my sacrifices are not even a tiniest measurable to his. First off, I am married woman, and a mother of a 7 years old child. Would I be willing to give all that up or leave my family behind to pursue my dream??? My answer to this is no, never! However, I am still in it for the kill. Competition is fierce, but who cares, I am not worry about it, at least not now. I am me, unique and I can’t spend time worring about my competition. If it is meant to be, it will be. My gut feeling is telling me to go for it. The feeling I carry in my belly, that fire, those butterflies I get before I step on stage, it’s huge! Sometime I feel so little, like someone who is trying to tam a wild lion, but that challenge oddly enough is what makes me even more determined to take a bite at my dreams.

Headshots in baby !

Finally done with my headshots. I spent my morning with Darion, a cool armenian photographer in LA, well Melrose he can be found at http://www.melroseheadshots.com/. His prices are very affordable, I will recommend him to my fellow classmates. I had great time and Darion was quick to put me at ease. I explained to him, that I was shooting for strong characters, like a very serious prosecutor, so my shots were pretty much theatrical, but of course I did get the standard commercial shots as well. What a day, getting to Melrose was a pain even though I am one block away from Melrose Hills, the entire avenue was closed due to the L.A. Aids Marathon. After my headshot session, I headed over to Jeremy's house in Burbank and Germain was also there both of them are in my acting classes, both of them are also very experienced. Germain is Sag and Jermemy is Sag Eligible.. We rehearsed for about one hour, and I am finally back home ! I am so Tired, all I want to do is sleep, but before I doing that I will review once again my pictures so that I may get a few of them retouch and eventually put them on L.A. Casting. L.A. Casting is the most important marketing tool for actors & casting directors.
Anyway, I will repost only the best ones, and after that I will work on getting my final headshots printed ( about 500) should do, but since I am new, it is important for me to gain experience. So my priorities as of the next few months are to work on my craft and rehearse a lot. I won't bother with agencies until I gain some practical experience..but for now, I have to head on to bed.

Soyez vous meme- Just be yourself !

Yesterday was my fourth class at playhouse west. It seems that the more I go, the more I look forward to go back again. At school, I am like a sponge clinging on to every word Tony Savant says. Mr. Savant told us yesterday that we were not in this school to learn to act if anything Playhouse West is non-acting school; it is a school where you learn to be REAL and not a phony. The only obstacle is your ego! Wow, that’s some heavy stuff! Being real (NOT ACTING) under imaginary circumstances, is the chore of the training at playhouse West. Living the moment to the fullest under imaginary circumstance; LISTENING to your partners are chore to the student’s success. The problem is that many people learn their lines & wait in queue for their turn to show the casting director, audience. Although they are prepared & know their lines, that are faking it, that they are not themselves, they are hipsters, wanna be, not themselves. You have to be you, you, and nobody but you under imaginary circumstances, embrace, become that character & own it; TAKE CHARGE OF IT. What a class! All that being said, I have finally been assigned to an activity, so I am thrilled about it, but I must come-up with something ( a task) fairly complicated that will consume me so much that it cause me to ignore my partner ( whoever will be called on stage with me next week). Since I have nobody to rehearse with, I have to do some work, and find myself somebody to rehearse with!!

Rehearsal

Today I had holly ( a student in my class) coming over to my place, we did about one hour of repetition. I must say that I still find myself struggling with this. I feel scrutinized, I guess I have to keep working at it until that becomes second nature, but the exercise itself is confrontational in nature, and it does puts its participants on the defensive. It’s basically a wit contest but spontaneous wit.

Drama at the Playhouse !

Last night class was crazzzzzzy, repetition turned out to be full of drama, I got called a bitch by a partner assigned to me ( during stage rehearsal). It was improvisational repetition. So even though it was a excercise based on repetition, you could NOT predict what was going to come out of the other person's mouth. So this girl calls me a bitch, says I am annoying her, that she wants to slap me, and ofcourse I lashed back at her & called her bluff, I told her to bring it on !!! I am no pussy, and certainly not one to hold back. While, the training really pushes one to their limit, I really don’t think that I reached that level, but I was near to it, just as if we were really arguing in real life. At one time though things became so real, that I believe I might have mad an enemy and that this girl may be holding a grudge against me! Well of course I could also be wrong here, but this was acting after all! But after doing our stage thing, she stepped down and did not look at me in the eyes, I really think she thinks that I am bitch in real life!! lol ! This acting thing can get deep! I had fun with it. The teacher told me to just let my emotions flow, and hell broke loose, she called me annoying and a bitch, so after that I just let the cat out the bag! and what a cat indeed, call it a tiger ! I guess I can be a bitch, but she brought it out of me! I guess the exercise while being under controlled surrounding, was about letting loose and letting our emotions out as opposed to being premeditated & doing robotic idiotic repetition which was what I was doing at first…. I was also being over analytical but things became more second nature towards the end, obviously I said before the bitch within took over !