What a great day. Woke up NOT sweating for the first time since I got here; there was actually nice weather all day long!
Slept in. Took the subway to the Equity office to sign up to audition for a play at Manhattan Theatre Club. Couldn't get an appointment till mid afternoon, so I went back home and (hooray) went up to the roofdeck of my building and spent some time tanning (today was the first day it wasn't too hot to be outside on purpose). Phone rang after a few minutes, my good friend BP from Brooklyn scored free tickets to the matinee of "Rock of Ages." Ran in, grabbed my stuff, rode the subway BACK to the Equity office to reschedule my appointment to the end of the day, then walked to the theatre and met my friend.
OMG "Rock of Ages" is a GREAT show. I don't say that about too many shows. I've never had so much fun on a Wednesday afternoon. Seriously, go see it if you're in town. And that Constantine guy from American Idol (which I don't watch) was a terrific actor and singer. He did a surprisingly good job. The show is fun and soo funny.
So I left a Broadway show and walked two blocks to audition for a Broadway show (awesome). I performed my monologue, which has been getting GREAT response repeatedly. Unlike my chorus auditions....
OK I better just say it. I have no interest in the chorus. I'm not being a snob. I'm just not the stereotypical cookie-cutter chorus girl, and the amount of work that it would take for me to act like one is just not worth it to me, because I honestly don't enjoy the work. I like to actually ACT (you know, with real emotions) and sing with my regular healthy voice. I've done enough fake-smiling and giggling and belting in my life. It's not my favorite. So today was my first day of deliberately avoiding all Chorus Calls, no matter how big the show. Just so you don't think I'm completely nuts, the last chorus call I attended I had to sit next to a girl who was telling the story of how she's missed the last round of auditions because she had to have surgery to scrape the nodes (aka vocal damage from broadway belting) off of her vocal cords. Her story was met with the whole group of girls nearby comparing their own stories of surgery for nodes and nodules. Lame. When I quit dancing as a chorus girl, it was because I was so scared of how many careers were ended by one little injury. I've (so far) never heard of anyone who acted too hard and suffered a career-ending consequence.
Anyway, I left the play audition and hurried downtown for a workshop with a film casting director. I got to "cold-read" a very long movie scene with a partner. When we were done, the casting director told the group that my performance was "absolutely perfect" and that they should be paying attention. I was really thankful and flattered. My picture is going "in her files," which means that she'll call me to audition whenever a project that needs my type comes along. (Hope she likes videotaped auditions from California)...
Watching some of the other actors in the workshop was painful. Not many actors GET film acting here in New York. They do this weird over-the-top stage acting and think they did a great job.
So now here's the bottom line: I've come all the way across the country to discover, time and again, that the most marketable (and enjoyable) thing that I do the best is...Hollywood acting. Thank you folks, I'll be here all week.
I will say that it is going to be hard leaving my small pond of New York film and television and returning to the over-populated Hollywood scene. I'm spoiled by how excited they get here to see any talent at all.
After the workshop and the awesome compliments from the casting director, I decided to take advantage of the cool weather and walk the 75 blocks home. Ended up in front of the Lincoln Center Theatre where my friend's son is in "South Pacific." Decided to watch it. His understudy was on instead. But the new Nellie Forbush was Laura Osnes, the girl that won the TV Show a couple of years ago called "You're the One That I Want." I loved her voice in Grease, so that was exciting. South Pacific is a LONGGGGG show (read: boringgggg). I got yelled at by an usher who was mad at me for texting during the intermission music before the entr'acte lights dimmed. I was in the back row, and no one was near me to be bothered. ugh. I think the ushers at Lincoln Center take themselves more seriously than other Broadway ushers; it's like the thing with SAG extras and AFTRA extras.
(nice call-back, huh?)
Bed soon, tomorrow is a day off I think, then Friday and Saturday in DC to see my friend Luis perform with Comedy Sportz and to play tourist. Fun.
One time in the early days of Comedy Sportz, a girl "melted" off the stage and got hurt. Perhaps this is your example of someone who had a career ending acting accident. Whatever ended up happening to her, I don't know. But, I know that a direct result of her incident is that now all Comedy Sportz performers have to pay an insurance fee in case they are the next person to "melt" off the stage.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, I wouldn't hire her again- that qualifies as a career-ending acting incident. At least, until she changes her stage name.
ReplyDeleteThe argument might be made that Heath Ledger died from acting too much. But I admit that drug use is not a direct consequence of acting a lot. It is a correlation, however.
ReplyDeleteMore likely it is bad movie choices that lead to a career ending.