Trailers and festivals

In which various of our Diva's projects are coming to light

Film is a delayed-gratification world. You work intensely for a short time -- days, weeks -- and then comes the waiting. Which sounds sort of awful, except you then have nifty surprises trickling out all through the the post-production PR process. Maybe it's just me, but shiny things in which I look all professional and stuff are that much more exciting when they pop up on my computer as I'm sitting here in my PJs with scrungy hair.

A quick rundown of the things I've been excited to see come to light lately:

Rose White continues to get fantastic reviews across the indie film blogosphere, and will soon be coming to a festival screen near, well, some of you. It's an official selection at the Nevermore Film Festival in Durham, North Carolina, February 22-24 (keep an eye on their website for the full schedule). More festival dates are expected soon, and will be posted to the film's Facebook page and Twitter feed.

I've only seen a rough cut myself, but even in that form it's absolutely stunning, and I'm all kinds of proud to be a part of it.

Speaking of festivals, Words Like Knives will be screened at Blood at the Beach in Virginia Beach, May 10-12. (It's not yet listed on their Events page, but I expect that'll be updated soon.) It's already garnered a couple of great reviews too, including one over at The Critic's Word that really qualified as one of those surprises that make my day:

Michael Wexler and Valerie Meachum delivered spot on performances as Mr. and Mrs. Price. What I found most impressive was how both actors handled themselves on screen, body language plays a big role to a great performance, and both actors showed a good display of that.

Can hardly ask for more than that!

Finally, I'm over the moon about how Witchfinder is coming together. The rough cut I've seen of it looks amazing, and I'm so proud of the team for realizing this ambitious 17th-century vision on an absolute shoestring. The trailer hit the web this week, and I can't wait to see the finished film.

It's here!

In which our Diva is available on podcast and DVD

Two and half years after our time at the Icebox Inn (not unusual for an indie feature), Cyrus: Mind of a Serial Killer is out on DVD today! I'm honored to be part of such a knockout cast, and proud to have played sidekick to the fabulous Patricia Belcher.

My friend (and fellow Resonance collaborator) Mary Czerwinski is co-host of DVD Geeks on Fearless Radio, and she was kind enough to invite me on for a brief interview to go with their review of the flick on this week's show. Check out the podcast on their site. Mary and John have the skinny on the new releases every Monday night, and I can guarantee you they know their stuff!

Speaking of Resonance, we're planning plots and plotting plans for new Chicago story content and clues in a couple different formats. Look for a link or two by the weekend, and be sure to follow the Twitter feed or Facebook page to keep up with the latest developments.

Pride and Publicity

In which our Diva isn't sure three years qualify as "many," but isn't looking a nice writeup in the mouth

Pioneer Press: Theatre takes 'Pride' in Jane Austen classic

Eight days to opening night! Buy your tickets here.

CYRUS official website

Check it out!

See the skeeeeeery trailer, read Mark's cool writer/director notes, and register for the forum to keep up with the news!

And yes, I'm bouncing dorktastically at the thought that I am officially a cast member posting on a fan forum. Deal. ;-)

Movie sign!

In which our Diva has way too many Google News Alerts set up

Cyrus is starting to turn up on horror news sites/blogs. Looks like it's thanks to the distributor, Moonstone Entertainment, which is making a preliminary promo image available. Always good to have a visual when you're trying to start generating buzz.

They're shooting some additional pickups (there's a posting on the Craigslist gigs section today for extras to play more victims, as well as poster models), so now it's that post-production period of "OMG I wanna seeeeee iiiiit!" that always seems to go on forever. But, yay, promos!

Chicago Tribune Online video piece on World of Faeries

In which our Diva is briefly visible in a winged purple form

I was going to be all fancy and imbed it, but their code is a bit annoying and I don't want their commercial starting automatically on my main blog page, thanks. So I'll link to it instead.

Hoping to have pictures soon. I had spirit gum in the crevices of my ears for two days, man. And the gig paid, but not that well. I deserve good pictures!

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

Two nice bits of press today, in the Herald and the Courier News. The Herald also had this article earlier in the week.

Will have to remember to thank John for the comment about the chorus. Last year we had similar praise from the guest conductor who handled the night Francesco had a prior commitment, and who also happens to be a former chorus master from the Lyric. Quality and professionalism in a chorus means, to some extent, that you shouldn't notice. (Not always easy to take!) So it's nice to have them recognized by people who know their stuff.

One thing I love about opera that NEVER happens in other theatre: We get tonight off! *happy sigh* There's something to be said for a discipline with a tradition of recognizing that the body needs a break to perform its best...