No make-up and unkempt hair to play a mom figure with 3 kids for a short film audition shooting in Oakland so I'm crossing my fingers because I'd get to visit fam bam in the Bay once again and who complains about that! The interesting aspect of this audition was that there were sides for the other roles but none for this character so a monologue was requested and since I had no monologues off the cuff for this particular role I decided an impromptu, improv monologue was in order. When I first got the message I was at work and skimmed the message on Saturday with no time because of an upcoming audition the next day with the Actors Studio in L.A. I took more of a gander Sunday evening to realize the audition was to be sent in via self submission by Monday evening 11:59pm. I decided the most I could do was research and the only research avail was to look at the sides for all the other characters to see what I could come up with. After reading the roles I took the evening to just let that sink in and went about my Monday morning until I had an idea about what I may say during the process of washing dishes. Didn't think too much about it, just decided with the idea and to let the camera roll to capture whatever came out of my mouth for this moment...no written reminders just some off the top of my head things to create. Times like these I'm happy I trained at the places I went to and especially to Lifebook/Allen Levin for creating dramatic/comedic grounded into reality, improv activities to keep us up on things that could happen at any time for any audition. I stopped my first take after a minute because I thought it wasn't going anywhere, stopped the second take at the beginning because I felt a bit off and within minutes let the 3rd take roll and decided to keep going. No more than 3 takes...had to let it go and this is what I came up with off an idea and a morning - since it's mine for an audition I'm able to share.
Over 10 years ago I was referred to try out for the Actors Studio L.A. as in "Inside the Actors Studio" in New York but I just convinced myself I wasn't good enough...not even to audition. These last few years I've worked with quite a few encouraging directors/actors that pressed upon me to look into the place without knowing my back story with my feelings on this school. So about a year ago I submitted my cover letter etc and finally heard back from them about 3 months ago letting me know my application was accepted and to confirm whether I wanted a Sept. or Oct. audition. I chose Sept but then booked a play that was stating it would start and upon looking at the production schedule, I would be performing on the day of the audition so I had to send another note stating I had to switch months if they were still open to that because of the play. Of course the play was pushed and I didn't want to recontact them so I kept my Oct. date. I already had the idea to do a scene from the play "Closer" with Anna and Larry (played by Clive Owen & Julia Roberts in the feature,) because of the stakes involved however with 5 minutes, the scene has to take off immediately because of what it gets into. Me and Michael (Huddy) meet up just to read the scene/feel it out/push the scene a couple of times a week for 2 weeks and then the week of intense rehearsals start in of just going in Sun/Tues-Thurs/Sat with the audition timed out for Sunday at 2:50p. We go from 7-8 minutes to getting it at 4:45 and we're both confident that this scene plays well to both of our strengths. We practice physicality, hits, mental buttons to push and it's absolutely draining for the most part plus I had to drive an hour there, an hour plus back (405 traffic) and an hour for rehearsals. I don't want the scene to be anything like the movie so I decided to make the character more stronger, yes, she still breaks down but her stance during the adversity is to fight back. I have her standing toe to toe with her guy to claw for her way out and Huddy with his amazing intimidating frame, uses every bit of his ego in the scene. I feel we're ready and it's Sunday, we meet about 40 minutes before our time, run lines, get into our flow and off to the races we go. I feel the scene has everything we need from touch, to changes, to a sense of danger, to imploding, to exploding and we execute. Got stuck behind the couch for a minute but it didn't change anything about the scene, I felt we were in and I felt we went to places most are afraid to explore. They never yelled cut, I ended up calling scene and we exited quickly. We celebrated with hugs since this was such a huge feat for me to finally have auditioned for this place when we noticed all the markings on Huddy's body from my pushes to slaps (his skin was way more sensitive but the marks were fading as we were leaving - whew)...of course he had slapped first but again, I wanted Anna stronger than what she was portrayed as. I felt safe every time we worked out the grabs/hits...so important for this to not only be rehearsed but that you feel comfortable and safe with your scene partner. I choose Huddy because I knew although we were going into some dark places that he was just as aware of the physicality as I was during those moments. No fear, just our art speaking and we left it in the room...I could care less about the outcome, I was just happy I finally accomplished a fear. Although I heard the next day that they liked me but the scene wasn't all they wanted - which is too bad because with 5 minutes, they got a small bit of laughs/bewilderment, sadness, fear, anger, confusion as well as lots of touch mixed in. I'm suppose to wait another year to reapply which would mean 2 more years before auditioning again but I'm set to audition again next year, so here's to another year of coming up with another scene that'll give them more laughs that take a more sharp turn into the dramatics because that's the only thing I could think of that was possibly missing from our scene! New challenge accepted because it is one of my goals in life to be there now...I deserve that, my art deserves it and I'm not taking no for an answer on this. See ya in a year Actors Studio...
With all the craziness of the world today, me and the beast decided to support a local restaurant in the Woodland Hills area that was having a buffet style dinner in support of Autism at his spot, Curry Up Cafe. We played video games...I got the high score - I had too, because that's how I roll when I see Ms. Pac Man...we ate and ate and ate...took home the Hawaiian bread pudding that had to be eaten on another day but tasted just as delish as the night I grabbed it all while donating to charity. Chef Wongie was gracious and there were plenty of cute kiddos around to remind you what life is all about. Finally made it to a spot I've seen nothing but great food pictures of and I can't wait to be able to hit it back up again! 
In 6 more days these beautiful shows will premiere and I can't wait for you guys to see them...
and...Discovery ID's Married with Secrets with stills from the upcoming episodes and behind the scenes thanks to the camera operator/dp Thomas Jacobi...2 stills of our episode comes in around 4:15 seconds - enjoy and tune in Oct. 25th, then tell me what you think if you're ever so inclined!
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