Author: theactorvist

I love the Theatre. It's my church. It's my joy. I have been performing in plays and musicals for over half of my life, and I would be lost without it. Now more than ever, people are cutting back on everything that is too expensive or unimportant to their lives. As an actor, heck as a person, I don't know of anything that is more important than the arts. Art reflects history. It shows humanity at its worst but also its best. Every day some artistic program is getting cut from a school or a great show goes unseen. Maybe a talented singer isn't able to audition for American Idol. There are a ton of people who live in the South Bay Area of California, who go unseen or unheard. There are many production companies that are just bursting with talent, but people don't see the shows. I will do my best to bring you interviews with local artists of every kind, send out the call for local companies looking to cast people in productions, and much more. Stay tuned because this is only the beginning.

♫ Opportunity Is NOT A Lengthy Visitor ♬♩

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For anyone that loves fairy tales, Disney-esque stories, or just Sondheim’s music, this is a MUST SEE!!!!

Theatre In The Mountains presents INTO THE WOODS

“Into the Woods,” for those not familiar, is a brilliant weaving of several fairy tales into one complex narrative about what it takes to get what you want and the consequences that follow. Act 1 is a light, positive and funny chapter, for lack of a better word, that shows the main characters struggling to make their dreams a reality. From the childless Baker to the poverty stricken Jack, each character wishes that their situations could be fixed. Then, thanks to some magic beans from the Witch’s garden, opportunity strikes. Act 2 is the chapter when the lessons are learned. The songs are a little less jovial, but much more touching and still just as clever.

In this production, director Ian Leonard, has created not just another show, but an experience that is brilliant.

The use of this space and the space around this space and the atmosphere lend themselves fully to the characters who traverse the woods in search of their wishes. The actors stayed in character as they walked from behind the set and into the actual woods around the audience. To watch them as they explored the woods just added that extra layer of complexity. Not only do you get the main focal point of the story which is happening on stage, but you get some of the side story as you watch the actors that are off stage.

The usual way that the show begins is with an older gentleman, known as The Narrator. As I said, that is the usual way. Mr. Leonard changed the dynamic of the story by placing the Narrator position in the hands of a child. The show now becomes a product of imagination rather than a series of events, which I feel draws the audience in even more. It also makes songs like “Witch’s Lament” and “Children Will Listen” that much more moving. Let me tell you, there were several tears to be shed by the end.

But the good things about this show aren’t only the direction and the set, no. They are also the actors themselves. This is one of the strongest casts I’ve seen recently. And that’s including the Faustus cast at the SJRep. But “that’s another story. Never mind – Anyway,” yes, the cast was great! The Princes in their smug yet charming demeanor. The feisty little granny who can skin a wolf.

But let’s break this down a little further. Jeremy Goel, as the Narrator made it so believable that this was just him playing with his toys. At first he was wide eyed and excited as he unpacked his backpack with the toy representation of the characters, but later realizing that even in make believe there are consequences.

Alison Koch, as Cinderella, was wonderful! Her voice just soars in that open space and our hearts break with hers as she realizes that her Prince isn’t as charming as she had hoped.

The naive lad, Jack, played by Stefan Montana had line delivery that was perfection. So hopeful, yet so clueless.

Shawn Bender makes you laugh, hope, cry, then hope again in his turn as the Baker. Fantastic role for him!

Cindy Powell, as the Baker’s Wife, has one of my favorite songs in the show “Moments In The Woods.” She added little subtleties in the delivery and facial expressions that I LOVE to see actors do especially if it hasn’t been done by other people.

Speaking of… That leads me to The Witch. She was amazing! Kristen Hermosillo delivers in this role! As I was saying with Ms. Powell, Ms. Hermosillo interpreted her role uniquely as well. My favorite moment of the play, and there were a lot of them, but absolute fave is when she sings “And then bang! Crash! And the lightning flash! And – Well, that’s another story. Never mind – Anyway,” most people I’ve seen sing this song with fear about the flashes and the noise, but it looked like Ms. Hermosillo, was reveling in it. And then she laughed off the never mind, get back to business – anyway. Sheer magic!

Samantha Stidham and Elizabeth McClelland as Florinda and Lucinda were hilarious!! They combine sass, conceit, haughty into a single diva-licious element and work that stage!

Not to be outdone, as the Stepmother, Kimberly Kay is just as haughty and sassy, but add a gallon of conniving and you have the Mutha of all divas! Just watching her get the shoe onto her daughters’ feet is worth the price of the ticket! Just saying!

Then, there is Brett Carlson that pulls double duty as the Wolf and the Steward. I cannot describe this in a way that doesn’t sound weird. But here goes. Ya know how people get sympathy pains or feel empathy for others? Well, his wolf is SO focused on the deliciousness that will be Little Red Riding Hood that my mouth started to water. Think of it was a mind meld. I know I am weird. Then to see him take the Steward into what I think of as an over-exaggeration of an over-exaggeration of himself. It was brilliant! I hope he doesn’t get mad that I say that.

The plucky sarcasm and attitude that is Little Red Riding Hood was not lost by Lisa Meehan. She had the audience laughing throughout the show and cheering for her after “I Know Things Now.”

I could go on with this for the entire cast, but alas the entry would be too long and I would rather you click the link below to get tickets and see for yourself this fantastic show. It only has 3 more performances: Thursday 7/18, Friday 7/19 and Saturday 7/20 all shows begin at 7PM. Get your tickets here: Theatre In The Mountains

Congrats to Jillian Cummings, the cast and staff of Into The Woods!! You have yourself a true gem!

As Stephen Sondheim says: “Opportunity is NOT a lengthy visitor” Get your tickets now. You only have 3 chances to see the show.

I Just Thought Of Something That Scares Me A Little…

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I spent my 4th of July working on Jesus Christ Superstar and Pippin and a couple of sewing projects while Perry was at work.

I had to make sure to get my concepts on paper, check out when I can interview another person for the Assistant Director position, write out choreography, character, and costume ideas for JCS. I know that if I don’t do this now, I will probably forget what I was thinking.

I’ve been thinking about how I could best go about explaining my directorial debut. Aside from simply blogging about it, I think I will try and record some of the rehearsals with either audio or video devices. For now, I think I should get this first while it is in my head…

As I was compiling my notes for JCS, I began to think about the emails and Facebook messages I’ve gotten from people excited about the auditions and the show itself. I am so happy that people are excited for the show and for my first project in this capacity. I also get just the tiniest bit nervous because that little voice in my smarts-holder starts asking questions. The big one is “What if you can’t pull this off?” or worse “what if the people don’t like working with you in this role?” Gah!!! Shuddup, party-pisser! Its gonna be awesome, because I am Roarsome! I have a shirt to prove it. So there! Thanks Sarah! Anyway, back on track…

Then I began to breakdown the characters and who sings what and I see that while there are many solos to be had, what happens if I get a TON of people to audition and I don’t have parts for them? What’s really playing with my head is what if I have way more good people that are friends than I have parts? How do I tell my friends that I can’t/didn’t cast them? Not only that, what will the backlash be? I suppose I could just make it a REALLY large cast! Kidding. That would be absurd.

Seriously, though. I very nearly had a panic attack while I was sitting at the table holding a glass of water, thinking of the next thing that I had to write down.

It amazes me how quickly and randomly the brain works. I was just looking through the perusal script as I was listening to the soundtrack when BAM! my thoughts take a 90 degree turn at 341 mph and I see my glass start to shake in my hand. For a split second things get a little unfocused because I go in that daydream kind of headspace where I am not really focusing on anything, and I just see all these people being angry with me. So my breath starts to catch and then I hear one of those screaming firework things and it pulls me right out of it. So… thanks for scaring the shit out of me Mr. Neighbor Guy!

You see those eggs up there ⇡? Imagine feeling like that…

ALL AT THE SAME TIME!!!

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But let’s think about things I shan’t be stressing over…

I think I have the majority of my staff!! Woot woot!!

So as of this moment, this is the unconfirmed dream team that will help make JCS frakkin’ amazing!

Music Director: Jean Narunsky

Vocal Director: Judy Steinle

Costumes: Sue Howell (I was just kidding with her saying that she had to build all the costumes from scratch. She didn’t even bat an eye and she said “Oh, I can do that!”)

Stage Manager: Emily Pye!! (She is all kinds of amazing!)

Set Design: Stephen Wathen

Light Design: Mike Munoz (There will be no smoke machines.)

Still figuring out Sound, AD, and Tech Director, but I shall keep you posted on that.

The next thing that I need to do is to find out what the budgeting looks like for this show. I think I have some ideas on how to save some dough without compromising everything that I want. So that calls for a meeting with my Producer ladies, Nancy Kwong and Liz Dale.

Well, now that I am super excited again, I think I am going to go back to work on my “stuffs.”

I think I wanna knit now and listen to a podcast.

It’ll be a nice way to wind down!

If you have any advice on how to let a friend down easy so that I am prepared for auditions, I would LOVE to hear it. All suggestions will be helpful. Even the totally looney ones! Leave a comment below with your ideas. Cheers!

WHAT? The Year Is Halfway Done??…

Last October, at my BFF Sarah’s birthday/dance party, I got a tarot card reading.

For those of you that have never had one, I would equate it with getting unbiased advice from a deck of cards.

I was given a deck of cards to shuffle and as I did so I was asked to think to myself a question that I would like help with. So as shuffled, my mind raced because there are a million questions that I would like help with. My guess is that my subconscious knew the real question that was in my heart.

Here’s the draw that I got

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The bottom row (what I remember anyway, after all it was nearly a year ago) is my foundation. The first card, Chariot, I was told means that I am really good at controlling things that I have control over. Just as in a chariot you have to control the horses and which roads you take all the while you have to make sure you don’t fall off the cart yourself. The second card, Illumination, means that I have a good grasp of the knowledge that I need in my “field of work,” if you will. The third, Trust, means that I am secure in what “path” is.

Here’s where I freaked the hell out.

The second level of this is about your passion. The first card is who you are. And this, THIS is what I drew…

She said this is what you are at the core of your being. And out loud I have never proclaimed or embraced or spouted it to people that I meet. I say I enjoy doing it, but never outright say I am an actor. But to draw this card from on top of a pile of 50 other cards and for it to land where it did, tells me that I need to follow my path. The card after, Guardian, describes the will I “have” to fulfill my need to become the “I AM” card.

The top and final card that was drawn was Compassion. I was told this is the missing piece to what I need to make it all come together. I need compassion for myself. Like most creative types, I am Über-Critical of myself and anything that I am involved with. I drill it into myself that I am not as good as so and so, or not as talented as so and so. What I forget is that I am NOT so and so. And as such can only do what I can do and to know that I am potentially someone else’s “so and so” to which I say, “You, my friend, ARE better than So and So! Now go and show them how good YOU are!”

As my astrological sign begins its rule over the heavens, I look back on these last 9 months and I smile. And to be honest, I have cried in gratitude as well. I feel like I have accomplished a lot! I can feel it in my body. I wake up tired and achy, but in my heart, I am so happy.

The funny thing of it is, as I look back at the last half of the year, I am thinking to myself “You ain’t seen nuthin’ yet, folks!”

The Dragon And The Killing Jar…

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At first, I hadn’t planned on auditioning for the New Play Development Factory. I was too much of a chicken.

It was totally last minute that I found myself hopping into my car and driving over to the Pear Theatre.

I had NO idea what to expect, let alone who I would be auditioning for. But SOMETHING in my thought jelly kept saying “ya gotta do this.”

So I waited in the lobby. I think I was that last one there.

The Factory producer, Jeffery came out to collect the headshot/resume and only gave me one side to read after looking at me. A side, just in case you are unfamiliar with the term is just another word for a scene or section of a scene. At first, my head told me the usual, “oh, he only gave you one side and other people got multiples. You are a courtesy audition.”

Finally, when it was my turn to read, I took a deep breath and said “Welp, let’s see what kind of wacky choices you can make with these pages.” I didn’t care if it was going to make sense.

I was told to look at Mr. De La Cruz for the play The Killing Jar by Jennifer Lynne Roberts. So that’s what I focused my peepers on. At first, in the pages that I had, I could see the good nature of the guy. There was no information about where the scene took place, so I placed it in a large building, in the lobby, and the majority of the chatting was happening while the characters were walking down a long empty hallway. After my first read, they asked me to make it a little more serious. I was happy do do so. So I started off upbeat, but then shifted gears after a third of the way through. I thought I was done after the second read, but then, much to my surprise, they asked me to read one of the other sides.

I didn’t have much time with it, but I feel I made some strong choices that may not have been what they wanted, (I even turned my back to them at one point) but I figured maybe I’ll be weird enough that they would remember me.

After the audition, I went home and continued work on my role as Daphne for “Sugar.” I didn’t hear anything for a few weeks. So I began rehearsals for “9 to 5” and I almost completely forgot about the whole thing.

Then, I got an email.

It was from the director, Heather Noelle Robinson, offering me the part of the guy that I read for the first time. Well! I’ll be a monkey’s uncle! I didn’t think I’d made the cut.

I have been so excited to to participate in the NPDF because it was another new experience. The idea behind the event was to allow Bay Area Playwrights have their work read to the public three times with the chance for feedback and to adjust the script to fix anything that’s unclear or simply didn’t work. So we have one rehearsal during the week. Then we performed the show for an audience. After, the playwright went and worked on suggestions and would come back during the next week and give us any new scenes or pages or cuts to the script. Then we’d rehearse the play. Then repeat the process twice more.

This play is very well constructed and, I feel, clearly shaped with new things being discovered throughout. Some of the feedback that people have is “feeling like there was no closure with (insert character name here)” I know it’s just because I have lived with the script for a month, but I know the closures are there. They are written out. We spoke the words aloud. I honestly ~~felt that~~ feel like this play is ready for production. I believe in it so much that I find myself wishing I had a theatre company of my own to mount this play. Hmmmmmmmm….THAT is something to think about….

For now, I have decided to keep all of my pages and all the new ones to see how much it changed during the event. I cannot wait to see what the finished script looks like.

Congrats on an awesome play, Jennifer!

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Working on this production at the Dragon Theatre was wonderful. We had a number of helping hands, and I got to see my buddy, Jason more times in those 3 weeks than I have in a year or even two! Artistic Director, Meredith Hagedorn, said one of the things that she hoped the actors got out of this project was that the Dragon was a great place to work. Mission Accomplished! I had fun and I can only hope that one day, I’ll make it into one of their main productions!

I think I was so lucky to work with such an amazing cast. It was only 5 people but I had so many laughs and was amazed so many times by these incredible people. If you are curious about who these people are, here’s the list – Michelle Cabinian, Brian Flegel, Chris Gaoiran and Amber Somerfield.

Here’s to more wonderful projects with more wonderful people just like this.

Thank you, Dragon Theatre for the New Play Development Factory!

Using New Eyes To See My World…

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The first rule of improv is to always say “Yes.”

Lots of things have been happening at a much quicker pace than I would like for them to do so, BUT I am taking a page from improv for the time being.
I have been given keys to the nursery! Not sure if it’s a promotion, but I have them.
There’s only three weeks before we open WVLO’s 9-5.
Only one more reading for The Killing Jar for New Play Development Factory over at the Dragon Theatre in Redwood City, then THAT ends.

Before I know it, it will be winter and my work on Jesus Christ Superstar must begin.

Keeping this in mind, I have begun to really watch “my world,” be it at the nursery or in rehearsals for any show, with a special emphasis on interactions.
How do people interact with each other? When they are having a conversation, are they REALLY listening? I watch the eyes so see if the mind is already forming things to say which means that the person isn’t fully engaged. I’ve personally experienced this. Where I have been the one that wasn’t fully listening, that is. When I find myself doing that, I try to have the person repeat what was said if it wasn’t too long.

I used the picture above, because in a way I feel sort of detached as I watch people. Being a “people person,” it makes it hard not to want to connect and be a part of everything.

But, I need to practice my watching skills.

However, in doing so, I have found that some of the interactions I witness are saddening.

In my theatre world, I have been taught that when people are working in the room, one must either pay attention (even if you aren’t the one working) or remove yourself from the room as quietly and without disruption. Anything else is disrespectful.

I am always trying to learn something new so I would be the type to pay attention. Should the need to talk to a fellow cast mate arise, either to ask or answer a question, it will always be done in a whisper so as not to disturb the others.

I would like to say that I find it surprising that people don’t seem to understand these little actions of respect for others are important. Weeellll, I suppose when I really think about it, I realize I shouldn’t be. Our digital age has brought us to the period of “Look at Me! Look at Me!” with the advent of youtube and video recording phones.

I guess what I miss seeing is simple manners.

Whatever happened to them?

All I know is that I am watching and I am going to remember come auditions for JCS.