She left the web, she left the loom

In which our Diva boosts a signal

If you follow LizzieSiddal.com and/or the Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood blog, you probably know that the family of their creator, the lovely and dedicated Stephanie Pina, is going through some trying times involving large medical bills.

Enter WAG Screen, producers of the amazing-looking independent film version of The Lady of Shalott that Stephanie has been plugging on her blogs from the beginning. For the next five weeks, 50% of proceeds from DVD sales of the film go to benefit this family in need.

The online community of Pre-Raphaelite enthusiasts is far-flung, and Stephanie's sites are two of the key meeting points. If you've seen her posts or others about the film and thought about checking it out, or if this is the first you've heard of it, now is the perfect time to order it and help give back to one of our own.

Live from Sour Apple

In which our Diva appears on a talk show in a very small, very cute car

Life has been so busy recently, I completely forgot about this until I looked at Derek Dow's blog this morning. Live From Sour Apple is not actually live (as you can tell by our summery attire!), but was recorded in "Sour Apple," as Derek christened the Fiesta he drove as one of the promotional agents Ford selected in a nationwide competition. Sour Apple has returned home now, but Derek's clever talk show lives on, with a number of installments still on the schedule, featuring a variety of Chicago entertainers and creative folk.

He's a dizzyingly busy guy, seizing every opportunity for an up-and-coming filmmaker that comes his way, with his biggest project right now being a master's degree at USC Film School. Looking forward to seeing him become a big-name director!

Babes With Blades beginner workshops!

In which our Diva encourages you to get violent

For anyone who's wanted to dip their toe in without committing the time/money/risk-of-intimidation for a full college course or what-have-you, the ever-awesome Babes have just the ticket!

Stage Combat Basics For Adults

Sunday, August 1
10 am - 1 pm
Interested in playing with swords onstage, but never had a chance to take a stage combat class?

Well, here's your chance!
We're going back to the basics - all beginners (over 15) welcome!
$30 - minimum age 15.
Under 18 - signature of parent/guardian required for participation.

Stage Combat Basics for Kids

Sunday, August 8
10 am - 12 pm
Beginner class for kids - $25 - open to ages 10-16.
Signature of parent/guardian required.

If parent/guardian cannot be present the day of the workshop to sign the permission form and waiver, give us a call - we'll try to work something out!

Both workshops will be at Chase Park
4701 N. Ashland Ave.
Chicago, IL 60640

Call to register: 773.904.0391

or go to http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/116261

Questions? Want to hear about the next one? Please email workshop@babeswithblades.org

Song for today: "Cross the Line" by Superchick, because it makes me want to get my swords out and play!

Drive-by book plug

J.A. Cummings now has book 2 of her "Clans" series available in e-format.

(Full disclosure compels me to point out that this particular author happens to be my college roommate, maid of honor and one of my best buds. This does not make her books any less awesome. It does, however, mean I can testify that she used "clans" before White Wolf did. *g*)

Go forth and read.

One night to get it right

In which our Diva climbs aboard yet another electronic bandwagon



The nifty little widget you see above is generated by IndieGoGo, a site where independent filmmakers can promote and get grass-roots support for their projects. This particular one leads to the page for One Night, the project I start shooting next week as Sheila the waitress.

If for some reason you don't see the nifty little widget above (I know not all browser settings are created equal, even if a lot of designers these days don't seem to!), click here and support independent film!

Of ballet, blades, and bloodthirsty walking dead

In which our Diva has busy and talented friends

Once again, I find myself with several friends' shows I really want to see nearing the end of their runs. Gotta figure out how to slide them in around auditions, singing, and other friends' weddings...

n.u.f.a.n. ensemble's world premiere of Caliban, Dancing reunites Mary Czerwinski and Adam Krause (our Mina and Jonathan in GreenMan's Dracula) in a story of relationships woven around two of my favorite things, ballet (Giselle, even, my all-time favorite!) and Shakespeare. I didn't even realize until just now that it's directed by Jim Heatherly, whom I'll love forever for seeing Jekyll & Hyde the same way I do, and undoing some of the tweaks that should never have happened between out-of-town and Broadway. And, just for the home run, it's running at Chicago Actors Studio, where I train when I can commit to the consecutive weeks of a session.

Caliban, Dancing runs Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm, Sundays at 3 pm, through May 24.

It's not exaggerating to say that Babes With Blades are one of the reasons I moved to Chicago, and working with them in Horror Academy was every bit a dream come true. The stars weren't aligned for a repeat with their current all-female production of Macbeth, but I'm determined to be there in the audience. The Babes are deservedly getting ever-increasing notice for bringing the dramatic goods, and still delivering the action that made their reputation. This show also sees them in partnership with The Viola Project, a fantastic workshop program building girls into powerful women through the vehicle of Shakespeare. (Of which one of the cofounders is a dear friend of an old friend from Columbus. I love this town!)

Macbeth runs Thursdays - Saturdays at 8 pm, Sundays at 3 pm, through May 30.

Last but far from least, WildClaw Theatre is getting raves all over the place for their Midwest premiere of The Revenants. Their tagline, "A relationship drama -- with zombies" pretty much says it all. Aaron Christensen (or, as he's known in Chicago horror-fan circles, Dr. AC) served as fight choreographer on this one, and he and his WildClaw colleagues are at the forefront of what seems to be a burgeoning horror theatre scene. It's smart stuff (last fall's stage adaptation of Lovecraft's The Dreams in the Witch House was not to be missed), and if the momentum keeps up, it'll be right up there in visibility with the physical theatre that's exploded in the last few years (at companies like the House and Lookingglass). Chicago has great improv, but there's a LOT of other stuff going on here! Did I mention that I love this town?

The Revenants runs Thursdays - Saturday at 7:30 pm, Sundays at 3 pm, through May 24.

The rundown

In which lists are easy to  make when our Diva feels a little run down

Random waking-up thought of the day: "I can't control the buruzim!"  (No, I have no idea what they are.  Or why I'm so sure they're a "they.")

Song for today: "Day N Nite" by Kid Cudi.  Every time I think nobody's making creative videos anymore, I see something like this!  Trippy.

Inspiring person of the day: Derek "Pretty Boy" Dow.  (Yes, the guy from the Ford contest video. Coolest person I've met in ages.)  Order Family Values on DVD and support independent film in Chicago!

Last day in Hell

In which our Diva bids a fond farewell to Intrepid Reporter Tara Kyles

Whew! Very physical shoot yesterday -- lots of running and action. So! Much! Fun! Just like being eight years old and rampaging the neighborhood with my friends playing Charlie's Angels, except with a camera and a boom mike and crew running right behind me! Craziness.

Shoutouts and BIG thank-you to Darren, Derek, Nicole, Angela, Sharon, and all my fellow actors (especially the three cutest demons EVER)! I can't wait to see this one...

Speaking of Derek, our awesome DP and up-and-coming Force To Be Reckoned With on the Chicago film scene, check out his video for the Ford Fiesta contest:

I'd love to see him win it, so tell your friends and get him those hits!

Song for today: "The Girl in 14G," which I'll be opening with at Villa Verone tonight. Come on out from 6 to 8 and enjoy great Italian food and fantastic entertainment from the artists of Elgin Opera!

Dracula Does Chicagoland (now in at least four flavors!)

In which our Diva flies her fang-geek flag

Not that they don't spring up like mushrooms this time every year, but (a) the variety of adaptations on the local theatre scene this year seems unusual, though that may be simply because (b) I have connections to three out of the four I know about.

• The Building Stage (9/18 - 10/18) opens first, and is also the only one to which I have no connection. Original adaptation. I'm always skeptical of the Drac-as-misunderstood-hero angle, but the multimedia approach sounds promising. I've been curious about it since I saw the audition notice a couple months back -- this seems to be another group joining the burgeoning physicality-heavy theatre scene, which has been rapidly gaining traction with the success of companies like the House and Lookingglass. I've been watching the trend with no little interest, and it would not displease me in the least to see it become as identified with Chicago as improv is.
  
• Theatre-Hikes (9/27 - 10/26) is where I did Shrew this summer. It's TheGodawfulHamiltonDeanePlay, but I have faith in Frank's ability to make something watchable out of it, and actually suspect that the hike format will ameliorate some of my structural gripes with that script. Also, there is no such thing as a bad reason to spend a couple hours in the amazingly gorgeous Morton Arboretum.
  
• First Folio Shakespeare Festival (10/1 - 11/2) has opted for The Passion of Dracula, a tongue-in-cheek take that premiered in the late 70s. I've read it once, years ago, but never seen it produced. Tricky script -- either too much camp or too much seriousness will smash it flat. I haven't actually seen anything Alison Vesely has directed, but I've heard good things about how she handles Shakespeare comedy, which implies she knows how to trust the text. So it should be fun. Plus their Mina is a friend of mine from a couple past shows, and they're about ten minutes from Office of Doom (in the opposite direction from the next one on the list).
  
• Last but of course not least, GreenMan Theatre (10/17 - 11/2) takes on Steven Dietz's 1995 adaptation, which I like more every time I read it. And you'll all be sick of hearing about my Fun With Trying To Eat Jonathan Harker soon enough, so I'll leave it there. *g*