Kissing history

In which our Diva endeavors once again to kick-start a long-dormant project

Those of you following me on Twitter may have noticed some cryptic comments the last couple days about "Lizzie," and wondered what the heck I was on about. Or possibly you didn't care, which is also perfectly fine. (The cryptic thing is one of the reasons I've finally caved and climbed aboard yet another electronic bandwagon -- 140-character-or-less nibbles of people's lives are astonishingly addictive, and I'm finding the more opaque ones to be the most compelling. But I'm weird like that.)

In any case, it all started with this self-portrait of Elizabeth Siddal, when I first saw it about 20 years ago (eeep!) in the now out-of-print Pre-Raphaelite Women by Jan Marsh. I vividly remember flipping through it in the bookstore and stopping dead to stare at this image for what seemed like minutes. I instantly wanted to know who this woman was, and how she could possibly be the same person painted by William Holman Hunt, or Dante Gabriel Rossetti, or most famously by John Everett Millais. I've read everything I could get my hands on about her ever since, and a few years ago hatched the crazy idea of developing a one-woman show about her.

There are certain images crystal-clear in my head, threads the notion hangs by when I hit a writing wall and think I can't do this... but I want to put these images on stage! With all the crazy-busy of the last year or so, with my career suddenly growing in different directions, I haven't even been doing the little dribs and drabs of work on it that I had been. Now something's gone *sproing* and I'm getting back to it. Not much concrete yet, maybe, but a shift in my way of thinking that makes me realize some of the things that have been stopping me are really irrelevant to this project.

See, I want to get her "right." And I didn't realize how much I hadn't let go of the notion that it needs to be factually accurate. I'll let the scholars duke that one out, as they have for over a century. This is a work of theatre, and it needs to be the Lizzie that's right for how her work and her words and others' images of her and words about her come together and come down to me.

It doesn't matter whether her death by laudanum overdose was accident or suicide. It matters whether she wanted to die. (Do I know the answer to that? Not yet, but now I think I'm asking the right question.)

It doesn't matter what the actual clinical diagnosis of her chronic ailments might have been. It matters that she was an intensely creative person who persistently lacked the strength to create. (I can barely imagine the frustration of that, but have several dear friends who live it every day.)

I don't have this trouble when it's just about acting. I'll research a historical figure in as much depth as I possibly can, mostly because it's an excuse to research. (Seriously, my ideal day job is dramaturgy. Too bad there's even less call for that on a full-time basis than for acting!) I've posted here before about that process when I played Lucy Hale. And I read more about Catherine de Valois than anyone would think I possibly needed to know just to play Princess Katherine, with her broken English and her whole adult life ahead of her. But surely even that girl, listening bewilderedly to Harry's clumsy so-called wooing, must have something in her of the woman who would outlive him and remarry to become the mother of the tempestuous Tudor dynasty!

But I've always started with Doug Hoehn's Lucy, Shakespeare's Katherine, William Gibson's Anne Hathaway. They gave me the words, and I made them my own. This time, the words are mine.

I knew that was harder than it looked, but damn.

Here's to keeping momentum going this time! Let's see where it takes me...

New Cyrus promo

In which our Diva is actually in this one!

None of my lines, but you can spot me just past the halfway point, munching away on a "Road Kill Burger." (It's the bright sunny shot with no blood. *g* As opposed to the most of the rest of the video.)

Check it out on MySpace!

Hopefully you can't tell I'm freezing my tushie off in that cute little rayon dress!

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.

Cyrus on the market

Just found out that Cyrus is one of two movies the distributor, Moonstone, is screening at the Marché at Cannes. One of the three screenings was this evening. Hopefully it'll get snapped up... Can't wait to say I'm coming soon to a theatre near you! *fingers and toes crossed* And I can't wait to see it myself!

Seems like we're steadily getting more feature production in Chicago, and Michigan is really hopping. Those tax credits are doing their job. Keep the work coming, filmmakers!

Sunday evening change of venue

In which our Diva is singing for scholarships instead of her supper this week

Elgin Opera is partnering with Highland Christian Academy to raise Scholarship Funds for both organizations. Please come out for a wonderful evening of Opera, showcasing several vocalists and young students who have a love for singing.

When
Sunday, May 17th, 6:30-9:00 PM

Where
Highland Christian Academy 2250 W. Highland Ave. Elgin – 847-741-5530

Cost
$5.00 per ticket, donations/offering accepted at the concert

Call For Tickets & Reservations
847-695-5014 (Elgin Opera) or 847-741-5530 (Highland)

Donations
An offering plus a Silent-Live Auction will be a part of the evening (All Donations Tax Deductible)

Highland Christian Academy is the school under the umbrella of Highland Fellowship Church, where our resident tenor/Elvis impersonator (and my waltz partner in Fledermaus recently), Jeorge Holmes, is senior pastor. And if you read this blog at all, I don't need to explain Elgin Opera. We have a terrific program of opera and musical theatre favorites lined up -- hope to see you there!

Summer of Shakespeare?

In which our Diva ponders the potentialities

I've been jonesing to do some Shakespeare again for a few years now.  Stepping in for a weekend as the Widow in Taming of the Shrew last year really just whetted my appetite.  So I was delighted when I read the sides for the callback I had last week -- not Shakespeare, but a pretty darn good pastiche, in perfectly respectable iambic pentameter with some nice wordplay.  (Bonus: the callback was at North Lakeside Cultural Center, so I got to get in some nice Lake Michigan shoreline time in Berger Park on a gorgeous sunny day.  I didn't grow up around water at all, and now I have a pretty little creek with a nice strip of woods a block and a half away, a gorgeous scenic river six blocks away, and a whole freshwater inland sea smack-dab against a lot of places I go.  All of them just amazing.)

Yesterday I got (and this is going to sound odd, but it's not ironic or facetious at all) the best rejection email EVER from the director of that show.  I love people like that -- he knows I'm a professional and I know the odds, that when you have three or more awesome actresses and two female roles something's gotta give, and that something is as likely to be me as anyone else, but he still took the time to write me a nice personal note and promise to keep me in mind for future projects and recommend me to other directors.  It's such a simple thing to do, and shows so much class.

I didn't even have time to be disappointed (and I am, a little, but there's never time to wallow for long around here!), because not ten minutes later I got another email -- based on a recommendation from the Shrew director -- inviting me to audition for a really cool-sounding project that is Shakespeare, but with a very intriguing twist (on a play I've done no less than three times in various capacities).  That'll be coming up in the next couple weeks, and I'm excited to learn more about it.

And then, this morning, an email from the director of last fall's Dracula, announcing auditions for the As You Like It he's directing this summer.  With all this going on, it just might be that somehow, somewhere, I'm going to get to feed that jones soon!

Time to get the Titania "forgeries of jealousy" speech solidly back in my voice and body for auditions.  I don't think I'll ever get tired of that one, and it blows my mind how often it gets cut to the bone in productions.  All that amazing imagery, and most importantly of all the arc that tells you so much about her and about their relationship: Nature is going berserk, and it's all your fault... and there's this terrible thing, and this terrible thing, and it's your fault, your fault... our fault.  "We are their parents and original."  And then, of course, Oberon opens his big mouth and blows it, because fairies are contrary that way (kinda like humans -- funny, that!).  But for that moment, there's honesty and taking responsibility and... just wow.

And GreenMan, the company where I did Dracula, is opening this fall with Pride and Prejudice. Talk about a solution to the "too many awesome actresses" problem!  Of course, at this point even my much-younger-than-my-real-age playing range (which is a bit more elastic for stage, but still) is really too old for any of the Bennet girls except maybe Jane.  And even according to my birth certificate I'm still too young for Mrs. Bennet and much too young for Lady Catherine.  Caroline Bingley could be fun (especially if I float the idea of the Lost in Austen subtext, which I still say explains an awful lot about her).  Charlotte...  hmm. Maybe.  Perhaps not coincidentally, GreenMan's season wrap-up party is tonight, so I'll be able to get the skinny on it and the rest of the upcoming season there.  I had such a great time in Dracula, and I'd love to work with them again.

Mozart and Yeston and Strauss, oh my!

In which our Diva had a marvelously operatic weekend

Die Flederflöte... okay, "Love & Fairy Tales" had three smashingly successful performances, plus one delightful school matinee of our abridged version of The Magic Flute, all capped off with singing for a wonderful crowd at Villa Verone, most of them fresh from either our Sunday matinee or the Elgin Symphony's Bernstein concert.

Even the surprise insertion of "This Place Is Mine" into the zany midst of our standalone adaption of Act 2 of Die Fledermaus went over well. I can say now that I was a little worried about it -- what were they going to think of me randomly busting out this crazy opera-parody number from the Maury Yeston version of Phantom? Sure, it was a big hit at the Halloween benefit, but that's one thing and shoehorning it into a full-fledged stage production quite another. Luckily, Lady Diva (sort of Solange's alter ego, dating back to one of the company's early semi-dramatized concerts -- that's the persona I'm sending up with this number) knows our audience, and I got enough compliments on it that my head might have swelled to fill up my big pile o' hair if I didn't watch it! (And it was a big pile o' hair, especially Sunday. Nothing beats good old-fashioned foam rollers.) As it turned out, it fit into the craziness just fine. Which I guess makes sense, because that Phantom is a very champagne-operetta score anyway.

Soooooo tired yesterday, pretty much back to normal today. Just in time to restart voice lessons (on hold for a few weeks due to both Solange's and my rehearsal schedule) and swing right back into honing the rep I'm hoping to have ready in time for the vocal competition in June. (Not to mention switching mental gears from German and English to Italian and French. Which isn't just about diction -- there are subtle but important differences in technique too.) Musical theatre? Not a problem. Aria and art song? I have some serious work cut out for me. The art song -- I'm probably going to do a Fauré one called "Adieu" -- is way harder on Planet Val, which makes most classical singers I know look at me funny. I guess opera just makes more sense to my brain because it has a clearer acting component.

My aria will most likely be "Senza mamma" from Suor Angelica. I'm so happy that my voice has shaped up in the last couple years to be suited to Puccini, because he just makes sense to me, musically and dramatically. Sometimes I wonder if it has anything to do with growing up on Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals. I've lost count of the number of times I've heard/read someone comparing him to Puccini (or just flat-out accusing him of ripping Puccini off), and I can hear where they're coming from. They appeal to me as a singer for a lot of the same reasons. One of those is one of my primary challenges with "Senza mamma" -- tempi and dynamics and such are constantly in flux, but you can't just randomly speed up and slow down or get louder and softer or whatever. To some extent it's marked on the score, but there's a lot of it that just has to feel right. (Try that after weeks of Mozart!) I have that sense internalized almost to the point of instinct for musical theatre, and especially for certain composers (ALW, Frank Wildhorn, Stephen Schwartz), but I'm still developing it for opera.

Also, floating that pianissimo high A at the end is kicking my ass.

Check out the queen of pianissimo, Montserrat Caballé, showing how it's done:

By the company I keep

In which our Diva did say she probably wouldn't blog again before opening night

There's at least one moment at every rehearsal where I'm just struck by the fantastic performers I get to work with in this show. A few of them have material online to show you what I mean...

Teppei Kono was our Belcore last year in L'Elisir d'Amore, and he's back with us as Papageno in The Magic Flute and Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus. If I had to name only one person I know who should be a star, this guy is it. Gorgeous voice and superb actor, all in one easygoing and totally professional package. He has some audio and video clips on his website, and for a change of pace, I ran across this clip on YouTube of a classic song from the Philippines:



Solange Sior, our beloved Artistic-Director-of-Many-Hats (and my voice teacher) loves to tell how, when Paula Mrazek joined the Opera Training Ensemble, she was bowled over by this gorgeous mezzo voice coming out of the group, and had to all but force its uncertain owner to take on solos. That was then, this is now, as I'm sure you'll agree when you see her Prince Orlofsky. She's no slouch with musical theatre either, as she demonstrated at our fundraising dinner last Halloween (the song starts just before the two-minute mark):



If you come by Villa Verone for our Sunday evening cabaret performances, you might be treated to a tableside serenade by Jeorge Holmes, who likes to take arias like "La donna e mobile" and "Che gelida manina" on walkabout through the dining room. On other occasions, you might catch one of his solo programs, featuring his best selections from Elvis and Sinatra alongside all that Italian. And while most of us have day jobs to work around, he has just a bit more than that as pastor of Highland Fellowship Church. I couldn't ask for a better waltz partner.



And that's just the tip of the talent iceberg. Solange is never anything but amazing, and her Rosalinda is no exception. Paul Scavone has comedy chops to spare as Eisenstein. Susan Dennis' Adele is adorable. Matthew and Heather Giebel are the loveliest of young lovers in Flute, and Kristin Johnson is an exquisitely scary (scarily exquisite?) Queen of the Night. And Katherine Dalin is wearing more than a few hats herself, keeping the office running, stage-directing Flute, and turning in a darling Papagena.

Love & Fairy Tales runs this weekend only, May 1-3, bringing you close to the story on three sides in the black-box space at the Rider Center, on the campus of Elgin Academy. Don't miss it!

Objects on calendar may be closer than they appear

Whew!  I can't believe it's only a few days to tech week!  Rehearsals are a blast, but busybusybusy, so this will probably be the last moment I grab to blog before Die Zaubermaus... er, Love & Fairy Tales opens May 1.  We're doing a school matinee of just the Magic Flute half that day too, which I'm equally excited about.  Almost like doing children's theatre again!  Which most people seem to think of as one of those things you have to live through on the way to being a Real Actor, but I've always loved it as its own thing.

At this point, I have the show music running through my head constantly -- good thing I like it!  Oh, and the "champagne toast" from the Fledermaus finale keeps segueing somehow into "The Night They Invented Champagne" from Gigi. Which, y'know, how can you go wrong with Leslie Caron?  She was my number one idol for a while there when I was about eleven, and I still love her to bits.  So elegant and whimsical all at the same time.

But I think I'm gonna want some rock 'n' roll when this thing is done.  *g*

Shiny things for your Thursday

I have decided that "Love & Fairy Tales" is an okay name, but we should have called it Die Flederflöte. Or Die Zaubermaus.

Watch: Harper's Island, premiering tonight at 10 Eastern on CBS in the US and Global in Canada. I started out looking forward to it because it means Gina Holden on my TV, and she blogged a bit about it during filming. Now I'm looking forward to it because it looks really nifty in general, and in particular because I love that a major US network is experimenting with the British model of telling a full-season story with a definite end.

Read: The "Hollows" series by Kim Harrison, starting with Dead Witch Walking. We're up to our eyebrows in kickass urban fantasy heroines these days -- not that you'll catch me complaining! -- but Rachel Morgan is easily my favorite (at least of those whose authors haven't moved on to other worlds). I have a thing for protagonists who really really really want to do the right thing, but who need to be grabbed and firmly shaken on a fairly regular basis. Rachel is definitely that, and Harrison's universe is a seriously nifty place to tell stories in.

Listen: The Secret Garden. Still the most shimmeringly gorgeous score ever composed for Broadway, with an amazing cast including Mandy Patinkin, Rebecca Luker, and (pre-Hedwig) John Cameron Mitchell.

Eat: Southwestern BBQ Chicken Salad from Portillo's. Yum!

Thus endeth my plugging for today. :-D

Hell the King trailer

In which our Diva loves the not-quite-instant-but-still-pretty-darn-fast gratification of DV

First glimpse of Intrepid Reporter Tara Kyles in action!  :-)

Almost more awesome than the "Dragostea Din Tei" ballerina

In which our Diva cannot stop grinning

There are a bunch of cynical comments on the YouTube page about its being an advertising stunt, as if that ruins it somehow.  Let me get this straight: Some phone company decided to spend money on something really fun to witness.  And the problem with this would be...?

Join the opera!

It's sort of like joining the circus, only not.  :-)

Elgin Opera needs supernumeraries (don't trip -- it's just the opera term for extras) for scenes from The Magic Flute and Die Fledermaus.  Adults and children are needed for performances May 1-3.  If you're in the Chicago area and you're interested, please contact the office at (847) 695-5014 or office@elginopera.org.  These are volunteer positions with a minimal rehearsal commitment.

Rehearsals have been a lot of fun, and it's shaping up into a great evening.  Hope you can make it!

I actually get a bit of a breather this week -- church gigs are a staple for many of our singers, and Holy Week keeps 'em hoppin' like Peter Cottontail, so it's not practical to schedule any rehearsals.  So I have a little time to scrutinize my headshot proofs, do some updating on my website, spend some quality time with my very patient and supportive hubby, and maybe even do a spot or two of spring cleaning.  The first quarter of 2009 has been insanely busy, even by my standards, so this is very welcome indeed!

Song for today: "Beauty" by Shaye.  For the many, friends and strangers alike, walking in the toughest of places.

Little Toy Gun

In which our Diva reflects on her day as Creepy Mystery Woman

Random waking-up thought of the day: "Acting is what happens inside the curves."

No clue, but it sounds kinda profound, huh?

Great day on The Storm yesterday with a whole new set of cool Chicago film people.  Thanks to the two JRs of JR2 productions, Whitney the Clark Kent of directors, Nate the action man, Stephanie the chess goddess, and the whole crew.  I had a longish day, but everyone else had two VERY long days, and they're all champs!  (Hopefully they're all safely sleeping in right now!)

I think (hope?) Blue will surprise you when you see her.  She's all stillness and economy of movement, which is a challenge for perky-fidgety Val!  The stillness made it all the more important to find her default posture, and I was having a little trouble with that at first, until I tilted my head down a little bit to peer through my hair.  (It was a big deal in their concept of the character that her hair partially obscured her face, which was another challenge.   Not just because of what bits of expression might be lost, but because having my hair anywhere near my eyes drives me nuts.)  And *click*, there she was!  Funny how sometimes all it takes is the tiniest adjustment.  From the reactions of people on set, I think (hope?) she came across right.  Did I succeed in making real someone so very different from me?  We shall see...

Once again, forgot my camera, and I was doubly kicking myself for it when I saw what an awesome location Michael Reese Hospital is.  It closed last summer, though apparently it's connected somehow to other buildings that are still open.  But it has parts that look maybe a little dated but could be cleaned up easily enough to look like a working hospital... and parts that look like the zombies are waiting to grab you if you step off the elevator!  Chicago location scouts, take note!  (And get it while you can.  Apparently the property is slated as part of the Olympic Village if we get the 2016 games.  Which I want mostly for the proposed augmented public transit service in the burbs.)

It seems obvious to me, but people always seem surprised when I tell them I've done a little bit of target range shooting in addition to stage-combat firearms basics.  I have no interest at all in ever touching a real gun anywhere but on a range under qualified supervision, but it's such an incredibly valuable experience to have.  Ninety percent of convincing gun handling is not being afraid of the prop.  Which you can get from a stage-combat class firing blanks, along with valuable sense impressions like just how loud it really is, and how heavy it really is, and the smell of the metal and how stays on your hands.  (I don't even have a very good sense of smell, and that's a key thing for me.)  But when there's an actual projectile coming out of the thing and that force kicks back into your arm or shoulder, when "Don't point the barrel at anything you want to keep" is Rule Number One for much more immediate reasons, everything feels completely different.  If you're an actor (or a writer, for that matter), find a good basic class and take it.  There is no substitute. 

Also, I have big pieces of paper in a box around here somewhere with holes in them that say "Look! I can hit things with a .38!  And occasionally with a 9mm!"  Which is really very cool.

Also also, shoulder holsters are very uncomfortable.

I was off to the side during a shot setup, wrapping myself up in Blue's music, when one of the PAs (who's also an actress) asked what I was listening to.  She and another girl seemed surprised/impressed that I'd made a playlist just for the character, and they're going to keep it in mind.  So yay, I shared one of my favorite tools with other people!  And a nice reminder that what other people learn from you doesn't have to be any great stroke of genius, just something useful that's new to them.  I know it's true of some of the things I've learned from other people, when I gush at them about it and they give me this look that says "Um, yeah, okay..."

Here's Blue's playlist on MySpace.   (It's an imperfect way of sharing these, since I have a lot of older and/or obscure stuff, so something is always missing.  In this case, three or four songs, plus one substitution -- my preferred Snake River Conspiracy cover of "How Soon Is Now" isn't available, but t.A.T.u.'s is.  But it gives you the general idea, and it's convenient.)

Give it a listen, and then think about going from that person to operetta silliness for Die Fledermaus rehearsal this afternoon.  If Prince Orlovsky wants to keep from being bored, he should try that!  :-D

Score!

Blue has a biker jacket.  It's polyester, not leather, but should read okay on camera.  I was hoping for a nice beat-up one, but I went on my lunch hour yesterday to my best beloved thrift store and it's GONE!  :-(

With opera rehearsal last night, that left me running around like a crazy person this evening, and discovering no jackets to speak of at the thrift stores near my house.  I found one I really liked the looks of at H & M, but even a couple sizes up the sleeves were just too tight.  Blue is a practical kinda girl, and I need to be able to move!  So I got the windbreaker one at Forever 21, which ought to do the job.  (Sometimes I work for people who have budget for wardrobe.  This is not one of those times.  This is one of the times when my own skills in that department come in handy.  Such is life.)

Song for today: "Strange Little Girl" by Tori Amos.  Creepy mystery woman tomorrow, sassy operetta diva at rehearsal Sunday... Guess you could call that pretty strange!

Winter wonderland

In which our Diva stays inside where it's warm a little while longer

Rehearsal for The Storm (working title of the HD short I mentioned the other day) rescheduled due to a family emergency for the director.  I'm eager to get to work on it, but still a little relieved -- check out the view from my back door to see why:

Still have to venture out for an audition later, unless they decide to reschedule too.  Which wouldn't surprise me a whole lot -- it's in the Loop, where they have six inches and still falling.  Chicago is situated such that the full brunt of lake effect is mostly on the South Shore in Indiana, and up toward Milwaukee.  We've gotten spoiled in the last couple weeks, but there was bound to be a last gasp of winter still coming.  Hopefully this is really the last!

Song for today: "Little Toy Gun" by honeyhoney.  Fun video directed by Kiefer Sutherland.  First song going on the playlist for Blue.  I don't always do them (last one was the "Vixen Mix" for Dracula, which was a big hit when I burned CDs for everyone), but this character really calls for one.

I can has brains?

In which our Diva is (re)animated

I checked in with the folks from the zombie voiceover gig, and the website isn't live yet, but one of the clips I worked on (as both female voices) is up on Vimeo:

Mall Hell 2 from 5-Minute Meter Productions on Vimeo.

Braaaaaaaaiiiiiiiinnnnnnzzzzzzzzzz.

Small films, big ideas

In which our Diva has a shiny new character to play and a tangent to wander off on

A pretty nifty first yesterday: Landing a gig on the basis of my reel, with no audition as such. \o/ Just a great meeting, chatting at Starbucks with the director, writer/producer and leading man of an HD short with a very interesting story to tell. I'm playing a mystery woman named Blue, with some definitely challenging aspects! It's funny -- I've been fretting about having so little dialogue to put on my reel, but that ends up being a big part of why it stood out, because this project is going to have a lot of nonverbal storytelling. (There she goes with the broken record again!)

Without giving too much away, I can say it involves one man, one woman, and one set. Not a romance, but a connection between two isolated people that could only happen this way under these circumstances.


And in formulating that description in my head, I was reminded of a completely different film, telling a completely different story, that nonetheless fits the same description, which I hadn't thought about in quite a while: The Cold Equations. (I know a lot of people consider it inferior to the New Twilight Zone episode that adapted the same short story, but the movie version gets the benefit of first impression with me. Although I mostly ignore the stuff about the Big Bad Company, which seems to be what most people object to.) In 1996, I don't think "Sci-Fi Channel Original Movie" was even a label yet, let alone one with the baggage it carries now. There was just this little film that popped up on their schedule one day, with no whiz-bang or fanfare, and kinda blew my mind. It showcased facets of Billy Campbell we hadn't really seen before, and introduced Poppy Montgomery to American living rooms in a far more lasting impression than the high-profile college comedy that landed her in the multiplexes the following summer. (I don't even remember what that was called. Just that her face was either sideways or upside-down on the poster.)

A dizzying number of independent movies have been collected and stamped with that "original" label since then. Occasionally they're even still good ones -- if you missed Splinter recently, you missed one of the best old-school horror flicks anyone's made in ages. But the Sci-Fi Channel hasn't been that Sci-Fi Channel for a long, long time. So its imminent rebranding as "Syfy" is just style matching substance. (Though, Mr. Howe? The focus-group folks who told you they'd text it that way? Have to have been frakking with you.) It's no big surprise that they don't really get it, when even the final behind-the-scenes special for Battlestar Galactica had talking heads banging the same old tired drum: "It's sci-fi, but it's about people!" As if that were something amazingly new and innovative!

I'm going to let you in on what is apparently still a secret to many: Good sci-fi has always been about people. Good fantasy has always been about people. Good horror has always been about people. Rayguns and magic mirrors and fangs, robots and pointy hats and the plural of apocalypse: All just trappings. Means to an end, and that end is telling a story. And stories? Are about people. Pretty much by definition.

I'm really rambling now, but I guess the point is that I'm getting more interested in where the "little films that could" go, now that I'm increasingly the one working in them. A lot of it is happening online, of course, on YouTube and MySpace and Vimeo. And we're up to our eyeballs in film festivals these days. I wonder what else is going on that I know nothing about? Here's to learning!

Song for today (and lots of days!): "One More" by Superchick. Another booked-up weekend coming up... Take those vitamins!

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!

Ballerina, reporter, queen

In which our Diva has a lot to blog about today

Flitting about online doing research for Magic Flute and also for Fledermaus -- as of today I'll be playing Sally in that. It's a small role, but she's the sister of Adele (the soubrette lead, who sings the famous "Laughing Song"), and she's a dancer at the opera! What was I just saying the other day about needing to get back to ballet class? :-D There may also be a surprise solo moment...

Also watching The Queen. It's been sitting here from Netflix for almost two weeks, but I've had too much going on to sit down and watch it until tonight. Can I be Helen Mirren when I grow up? She just blows me away in everything she does.

Opera rehearsal tomorrow, audition for a webseries Friday, and then back to shooting Hell the King on Saturday. If all goes as planned, we'll wrap that day. It's just a short film, but I'm having so much fun with my reporter character Tara Kyles. She does some things you might not expect, and I've had the best time creating who she is and why those things make sense! This is the first project I've been in that had digital effects, which means I probably won't see the finished film for a while. I can't wait to see how cool it all turns out!

Brand V

In which our Diva's Adventures in Self-Marketing continue apace

Headshots get woefully outdated so fast!  I've been shopping around for a photographer for new ones, and finally settled on the amusingly-named but well-reputed Socko.  (Warning: website is a little Flash-happy for my tastes.)  Also meeting soon with what will hopefully become my commercial agency.

I'm slowly getting used to having my "look" be the first thing people talk about.  I still wince a little bit inside, but after all these years in theatre, I can tell you it's no less true there.  On-camera people are just more honest about it, which I'm actually kind of starting to like.  And I'm having to consciously remind myself less and less that, yes, it's about being interesting to watch, not just being a "smokin hot babe" or whatever the term of choice is these days in the bikini mags.  Just because they're  never going to be ringing my agent's phone off the hook doesn't mean I'm not going to work!

Dreamed in web design all last night (weeeeird!). Reallyreallyreally wanted to get out in the incredibly beautiful weather yesterday, but too much work chaining me to the computer desk. Back down in the 40s today, but I might go for a walk along the little creek at the end of the block later anyway.

Song for today: "Motion" by Plumb.  Dance wherever you choose!

Another amazing dancer

In which our Diva is in awe

I saw this on Superstars of Dance about six weeks ago, but the sprawling discussion of cultural appropriation and race in sci-fi/fantasy currently going on in the fannish blogosphere tangentially reminded me that I wanted to post about it.

Mamela Nyamza as the Dying Swan:

(For comparison, check out this archival film of Anna Pavlova, for whom the piece was originally choreographed, and present-day star Uliana Lopatkina.  Also, to clarify, it's a standalone number, to a piece by Saint-Saens.  It's a separate entity from the Tchaikovsky story ballet Swan Lake, with which it gets confused about 98% of the time.)

Stop before you get to the part with the judges, because they're crazy.  I love this so much.  It's such an amazing fusion, and her physical perfection and emotional power just blow me away.  As a friend pointed out, it's a great big challenge to the traditional "pretty" portrayals of death and suffering, especially women's.  And I lovelovelove that it's a black artist doing a little cultural appropriation of her own.

I almost didn't watch the show, what with Simon Cowell's tacky "reality" competition fingerprints all over it, but I couldn't resist the lure of getting to see this awesome smorgasbord of dancers even in that context.  And I'm not sorry (though it was really hard to stick with ignoring the lame competition aspect), because I wouldn't have heard of most of them any other way, and they were all worth watching.  I really need to get back into dance class; I feel like such a slug since the end of Dracula with all its cool movement work.

And posting all these videos lately makes it look like I'm not doing anything but surfing the Internet!  Which is only partly true -- I'm in research mode, working on the storytelling bits for The Magic Flute.  Where, as well as being the storyteller, I'm once again playing an imaginary creature, one of the "Spirits" that lead Papageno and Papagena together at the end.  In the last year, I've been a fairy, a vampire, and now a forest spirit.  Oh, and several zombies in this oddball voiceover gig last fall.  (I should nag them about getting a copy of that -- it looked like it was going to be really fun when the animation was done!)

So, back to the fairy tales.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Wow.

Via my friend Sarah, check out this gorgeous short film:


World Builder from Bruce Branit on Vimeo.

When I'm combing the breakdowns and sending out the headshots and driving to the auditions, it's always with the hope of being part of something this beautifully crafted and heartfelt. And talk about a great example of nonverbal storytelling! I know I'm kind of a broken record about that sometimes, but when I see something like this... Wow.

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. ;-)

Music to conquer the world by

In which our Diva remembers when this involved lots of time and cassettes

What's better than plotting out your own personal soundtrack?  Sharing it!

I've been building a playlist called "Go Girl" (just 'cause the phrase amuses me) for about a month now.  It started out with three or four songs that make me want to go out and take on the world, which I've gotten into the habit of playing on the way to auditions.  Since that generally involves longer than three or four songs in Chicago traffic, I started collecting recommendations from my friends, and, after lots of tweaking and twiddling, finalized a 71-minute, 19-track playlist of grade-A go-get-'em-ness.  (My friends being made entirely of awesome, I have discovered WAY more fantastic music in the past month or so than I needed.  Yay, lots of fresh tunes on the Zen!)

Eighteen of those tracks are now set up on this public MySpace playlist.  The missing song is Emilie Autumn's "How Strange," which is unfortunately not one of the handful of tracks on her MySpace Music page.  (It should be between "One Step Ahead" and "Rock What You Got.")  My advice is to hie yourself to your purveyor of choice and pick up or download her album Enchant.  (Also featuring "Rose Red," a spooky riff on the folk song, which I dare you to get out of your head once you hear it.)

My musical tastes are crazy-eclectic, so there's everything from early Madonna (my first-choice song for inspiration in high school -- I wore out my cassette playing it, well, over and over) to the latest release from Superchick.  With, yes, Debbie Gibson and even a couple country tracks along the way.  They might not all be up your alley, but there's plenty to choose from.  Enjoy!

Spring fever!

In which our Diva turns with seasons of the natural and professional varieties


The last couple of amazingly beautiful days have had me looking longingly out my window at Office of Doom. Can't wait until the trails along the Fox River are green and gorgeous, and I can grab a little time to take my bike or even just my feet over there. Schlepping into the city can be crazy-making, but living in Elgin definitely has its advantages!





And with any luck, I'll have a chance or two again this summer to take in some time by the lake. Love to sit on the shoreline rocks behind the North Lakeside Cultural Center. This week is the first I've heard birds singing in the morning, too. Sooo ready for winter to be done!



After a month or so of spin-cycle auditions -- I seriously lost count! -- the spring student film casting blitz looks to be finally winding down. I think the one I had tonight will be it for a while. Don't know yet if any more gigs are coming my way from it; one director mentioned that she would be in touch next week, but the rest are anybody's guess. In the meantime, I got to read some very cool stuff and meet a lot of great people.


Looking at tomorrow's forecast, it seems Intrepid Reporter Tara Kyles might be extra intrepid in the rain! Though if it's too bad, they'll probably push the exterior stuff back to next weekend. Very jazzed about this one -- the script is lots of slightly twisted fun, and I even get some actiony stuff that I didn't know about until I went to the table read! Can't wait to see how it all comes together.


Once Hell the King is done, time to get the brain back in opera mode for a while. Elgin Opera's spring production has now been dubbed Love and Fairy Tales, featuring excerpts from Die Fledermaus and The Magic Flute. I'm doing double duty as singer and narrator, connecting the dots of Flute's somewhat twisty tale. That's happening the first weekend of May at the Rider Center. Keep an eye on the website and the new Elgin Opera Blog for the latest!


Well, I'm up bright and early tomorrow for Intrepid Reporting, so it's off to bed with me, to dream of sunshine and lush leafy trees!

Where's that "smite" key?

In which our Diva is unimpressed

As much as I hate it when talent scammers waste my valuable time, I just about sprained something laughing at the sloppy boilerplate email I got from one of them this morning.  They want me in their "roaster!"  Talk about truth in advertising...

It can never be said enough, because there will always be hopeful people who don't know: NEVER EVER EVER pay a penny upfront for representation!  The ones who get you in their office and hard-sell classes and photos and whatever are still around, but now you also have outfits like this Talent Watchers, where you can sign up for free, but then find out your profile isn't visible to casting people until you pay for it.  By, naturally, giving them your credit card info.  New technology, same old tricks.  (Though usually the brick-and-mortar ones can spell!)

A quick visit to Google gave me a new blog to follow, as she just posted about this same scam (under a different company name - more red flags!)  a couple days ago:

http://castingscoop.blogspot.com/2009/02/beware-of-acting-and-modeling-scams.html

She also has links to other great resources on the topic, including the FTC's advice on avoiding acting/modeling scams, and (in the comments) one to an older column of Bonnie Gillespie's on the same topic.

Roaster.  Man, if you wrote that in fiction, nobody would believe it.

From every toilet bowl to every leading role

In which there is Full Diva Mode, with tongue firmly planted in cheek

Video clips from the October fundraiser are up! It was a crazy day for me -- I bailed on curtain call at the Dracula matinee to change in a flurry and drive like the wind back to Elgin in time to sing "This Place Is Mine." (There's a minute or so of Larry's emcee thing before the number starts.)



For those who don't already know, this was done in loving parody of our many-hats-wearing artistic director, and was in fact her idea. I'm wearing one of her costumes from Traviata a couple years back. (And yes, the song is funnier when it ends on the B, but I'm not the boss. I just play her at parties.)

Oscar Night Festival of Singers

Elgin Opera and Villa Verone present a delicious musical alternative to spending your night in front of the TV! Our singers are dressing to the nines for a red-carpet event featuring music from (and about!) the movies, all in an intimate cabaret atmosphere.Join us from 6-8 this evening at Villa Verone Ristorante Italiano at 13 Douglas Avenue in downtown Elgin for great food and great music with an extra dash of Hollywood glamor! There's no cover, but reservations are recommended - call (847) 742-0263.

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!

Houston, we have a reel

In which our Diva wails a number of Naughty Words at her computer for two weeks, but only one in the finished product

\o/

Keep on movin' movin'

In which our Diva has a scattering of Sunday morning thoughts

Busy week on tap -- a couple new auditions, and table read for Hell the King, the dark comedy short I'll be shooting in a couple weeks. I put a news item on my website, but hadn't gotten around to saying anything about it here. Every actress (especially if she's an old comics geek!) should get to play an Intrepid Reporter, and now I get mine. Her name is Tara Kyles, and she's on the scene with the latest as the minions of Satan go on strike. Can't wait to see how this one comes together!

Backstage at the Elgin Opera gala last weekend, one of the other choristers mentioned how impressed his wife was with my performance at a recent Festival of Singers night at Villa Verone. He quoted her as saying "There's something about the way she sings that just compels you to listen." Wow!! How often do we get a compliment like that? I wanted to throw my arms around her and hug her, if she'd been there in person. More importantly, though, how often do we remember the compliments? Something that gobsmacking, sure -- it instantly went into my arsenal of Amazing Things People Have Said To Me that I use as talismans when the negative mental soundtrack cranks up. But the most trivial stuff goes onto the negative soundtrack, while I have probably half a dozen talismans. They're powerful ones, crystal-clear memories of these amazing things people have said to me at various times, and their faces and the environment when they said them. But so many other wonderful little gifts are heard and accepted and don't go into the arsenal, except for a vague notion that "people said nice things." Maybe that's its own talisman, I don't know.

Still going great guns on That Other Stuff, still having fun. Even when software does not entirely cooperate. My reel is now edited, and I'm experimenting with the best ways to get it up online for all the world to see! And yeah, there's a little bit of quaking in the boots about that. In theatre, there's a finite number of people in a finite time frame who see your work and have an opinion about it. Put your acting not only on film/digital but on the Internet, and anyone could stumble by. There's not nearly as much quaking as excitement, though, because, hey, look! We live in a world where we can put our work in pixel form on the Internet for anyone who stumbles by, and how cool is that?

I had a small epiphany over in the comments on Sandra Joseph's blog this morning -- something that's been happening in my head for a while, but it crystallized in the process of putting it into words, which so often happens: I'm working on training myself out of saying "I should have done this years ago." I've been saying it a lot -- about moving to Chicago, about getting more seriously into film -- but the truth is I should be doing this now. That's the lesson of so many exciting things starting to bear fruit. (Incidentally, if you're not reading her, you have a hole in your positivity-generating blogosphere. She doesn't update terribly often, but it's always worth the wait. I was about to say I wish I'd gotten to know her better in college, but pursuant to the rest of this paragraph, the truth is we're meant to be reading and learning from one another now!)

In closing, I leave you with the single most awesome thing I have seen in weeks:

May we all share this much joy in what we do.

Under Construction

In which our Diva is in Career Development Mode

I always feel a little antsy when I don't have any Exciting News!! or Crunchy Process Goodness to post about.  Which is a bit silly, since it seems unlikely that anyone outside of my immediate social circle reads this blog anyway.   But hey, maybe you're reading this at some future point when I am That Chick From Those Movies and you followed some links out of curiosity.  Or maybe you're a fellow dreamer-and-doer who's stumbled across my meanderings and found a kindred spirit.  (If so, hey, shout out!  Support networks are made of win!)  Or maybe nobody's reading it at all, and that's okay too.

The lack of Crunchy Process Goodness makes me antsier than the lack of Exciting News!!, because I'm very much a believer in the notion that an actor should always be doing some kind of acting, be it performance-oriented or training or whatever.  I've done several film auditions lately, but that's pretty much it -- on the craft side.

What I've mostly been doing instead (around the mortgage-and-groceries-driven reality of Office of Doom)  is That Other Stuff most of us hate.

I knew long before I started reading casting director Bonnie Gillespie's fantastic weekly Column "The Actor's Voice" that the self-promotion portion of an actor's job never stops.  But man, it's  nice to have that weekly kick in the pants of "So do it already!!"  To that end, I made a commitment at the turn of 2009: No auditioning for theatre until I have my website and representation ducks in a row.  The goal was to get the site up and submissions out to two or three agents before the end of January, and then maybe think about committing to three or four months of rehearsals and performances.  Because, whatever my intentions at the outset, That Other Stuff just never ever gets done during a show process.  Ever.

The funny thing is, once I got going, I've actually had a great time, and might even make that goal.   It helps that I have a rather broad DIY streak anyway, but darned if it hasn't also just been fun.  I finally swallowed my "only hand-coded HTML will do!" geek-girl pride, accepted that I'm not going to get around to learning to build CSS from scratch in the foreseeable future, and went down the dark path of canned Joomla! templates.  And the results aren't half bad, if I do say so myself.  There's plenty more to do, of course, but for starters, it made me finally write a proper PR bio (have I mentioned I hate writing bios?), with the side effect of having said bio punching up my IMDb page too.

I still have lots of theatre photos to scan in, but for now there's a sampling of the fabulous ones Ken Beach took at the final dress for Dracula.  Probably most time-consuming was going through many hundreds of shots from three photo shoots for the "Publicity" folder.  Which is arguably the most frivolous area of the site.  But y'know, when you're not a big star or model material, and you have a documentedly problematic relationship with still photos of yourself?  It's a nice shot of confidence to not only have, but have put together yourself, a decently professional, polished presentation of some really cool ones!  Shoutouts to photographers Todd Jackson, David Grelck, and Mike Smith, with thanks for making that possible by actually asking me to pose for them!  (Also glad that, unlike my outdated HTML, my Photoshop skills have stayed in good form.  Never underestimate the importance of cropping and color correction in the digital age.) 

Still on the agenda: Editing reel material and authoring a suitably professional DVD, so it's ready to send out to agents and casting agents when they ask for it.  (Which requires me to get resumes and cover letters out to them first, which is happening THIS WEEK.  You saw it here first -- don't be afraid to hold me to it, even if we've never met!)  This is helped by the prompt receipt of my copy of a recent student film by Devan McGrath, who gets a thumbs-up shoutout for professional communication, a fun but efficient set, and did I mention actually sending copies to actors, all in refreshing defiance of every horror story you've ever heard about working in student films.  :: blows kisses to Mal Corazon compadres ::  Watch for clips from that and The Cancer Jean on my website, my Actors Access profile, and assorted other places I should have had video up ages ago.

Dreaming-and-doing actors?  We don't have the money.  We gotta MAKE the time.  Do it.  You will not be sorry.

Singing for my supper - January edition

Tonight and next Sunday (1/11 and 1/18), 6-8 pm at Villa Verone Ristorante Italiano. I'll post next month's dates as soon as I have them.

Great food, great music, all in an intimate cabaret setting. What more could you want?

Villa Verone is located at 13 Douglas Avenue in downtown Elgin. Reservations are recommended - call (847) 742-0263.

Hope to see you there!

Trial of a Time-Lord-to-be

I wasn't going to post about the Eleventh Doctor casting news, because I didn't really think I had anything to add. And I don't, not about the casting choice itself, except for a minor misgiving that he's not a bigger change in physical type from David Tennant. Which just means he'll need to make up for it with a big persona shift, because regeneration is more than just recasting -- the Doctor is not Darren Stephens. But that's not what made me decide to post after all.

At the risk of sounding condescending, I have no problem with fandom freaking on spec. That's just one of the things fandom does, and if people didn't have fun with it, I sincerely hope they wouldn't do it. Not my personal bag, but no skin off my nose either.

I am, however, observing it in a superficial sort of way, and keep being struck by some of the underlying assumptions -- at a couple different positions in the discussion -- about acting and age. And here's the thing that I think people are missing: Acting is all about being what we are not. (Generally speaking, we get there by building it out of pieces of what we are, but it's still all about getting there.)

I've personally known several, and am familiar with the work of several more, very young actors whom I would consider perfectly capable of bringing the whole package: the class clown, the Lonely God, the unknown quantity, the Oncoming Storm. We're talking about building a 900-year-old Time Lord here. In that realm, the difference between the life experiences of a 25-year-old and those of someone twice that age is a whole lot less than you might think.

On the other side of the coin, I've personally known several, and am familiar with the work of several more, middle-aged actors perfectly capable of keeping up with the physical demands of the Doctor's role in its current form. Richard Dean Anderson started playing Jack O'Neill at 47. Patrick Swayze, at 56 (not to mention, y'know, in treatment for pancreatic cancer!), has been dubbed "Superman" by his younger colleagues on The Beast.

These people are exceptions, yes. But any star is, by definition, an exception. Heck, statistically speaking, any time you book a gig you are an exception.

The Doctor, of all characters, is nothing if not the ultimate exception.

One more thought... We're all grownups. We all know that the story of the casting process as told in the Doctor Who Confidential special is already packaged, polished, and sprinkled with PR fairy dust. That's how these things work. But there's one thing I see no reason not to believe happened exactly as Stephen Moffat tells it: Matt Smith walked in on the first day and knocked their socks off, and they couldn't get him out of their heads.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is called being a star.

Dracula quote list

In which our Diva records the lighter backstage side of her last theatrical endeavor

Missing my Dracula peeps tonight. It really was one of those special casts. And how can you not miss people who say stuff like this...

Dracula Quote List
GreenMan Theatre Troupe, Fall 2008

You're like his pocket Vixens.
-- That's the only time I've ever been referred to as anyone's pocket anything.

The necks on her mark are gone!

Can I have both of them?

What'd you bring us from England, Daddy?

But you've mastered your fear. Jedi vampire.

You are for the ages.
-- He says that to all the girls.

I have experience stripping people that fast.
-- I heard that about you.

Be right with you, Sewie.
-- Soo-ee!

The complacent man!

I see. A gift from an ancient enemy.
-- *beat* Yes. It is.

Vampire domestic violence yay!

Don't worry. You're perfectly sane here.

So it is a cross in his pocket.
-- And he's not at all happy to see her.

Get used to that sofa, Jonathan.

I seen it with mine own toon eyes!

I am not... going to... keep talking.

You're probably gonna give him a creepy stare. And then you'll run away like a little bitch.

Stunt Lucy!

In the name of the Father.
-- *silence*
-- And of the Son.
-- *silence*
-- And of the Holy Ghost.
-- *beat* Oh, I'm sorry. *unholy shriek*

I just call it his bag of tricks. God knows what he's got in there. Van Helsing and his bong.

There's a clown loose in this room with a knife!
-- Disguised as a pen!

That is disturbing.
-- Jonathan "Hara-Kiri" Harker.

You ought to talk to Bluebeard about that locking-us-up thing. It never ends well.

Crash. Bang. Lighting effect.

Wow. You have read ALL of the Sparkle!Crack. I applaud you.

I don't do body fluids.
-- And yet you're in this show.

Every time I do this, I injure you.

I mean, he can just use his Jedi mind trick, and there goes the door.

NOOOOOOOO!! ... Sorry.

Maybe it's sort of crablike.
-- We're going to be everything in the animal kingdom by the time this show is done.

Have not his outbursts coincided with Miss Lucy's... whatever?

There we shall cut off her head and stuff her mouth with garlic.
-- How about driving a stake through her heart first?
-- THEN we will cut off her head and stuff her mouth with garlic.
-- There's no garlic.
-- Do you want some garlic bread?

The tools, Mr. Harker!
-- Power drill.

Now you can procure a ship, Seward.
-- I'll procure a ship and... be a sailor. Line.

I wear the pants in this relationship.
-- Which makes us the garter belt.

And you must be... Mmmmmmina. *squeak* I suck!

I have baby in my hair.

Let's take it from the Seward toss.

Go, Christina!
-- Now we know what this show is about.
-- Where's the riding crop?

So, Mina, we'll hook you up to nobody here. It's a magic transfusion.

He's just a wanton toddler with a violin.

I knew there would be a place for me in your kingdom, a holy *kak*.

It's like I'm catching you and throwing you, all with one hand.
-- Catch and release.

That can't be right. I haven't been to Budapest.

You've got a soup bowl there.
-- I do?
-- The big gold thing.
-- I thought it was a chamberpot.

With what power do you lure the living shit?

Is that what happens? You die, go to heaven, and become a Vixen?

Let's hope you're down in there, so I can go without going.
-- Go without going. Let's not pursue that thought too far.

I wanna bite you.
-- Please?

Can I have some crypt movers?

I'm having fang envy. Yours are bigger than mine.

No more projectile fang incidents!

You mean you don't have three hands?
-- I could do it with my foot. Then we'll see how coordinated I am.
-- It's like rubbing your tummy and patting your head.
-- And chewing gum.

Does she look naked to you?
-- Not naked enough.

There's going to be stuff in that rat. Try not to get it in your eyes.

It's as close to real blood as you can get and still be edible.
-- Real blood is edible.

What flavor are they?
-- Christ-flavored.
-- I can't believe it's not Christ.

And the Vixens give "baby wipes" a whole new meaning.

Can you try to stand steady while the cross is burning?

I feel like we're giving blood. Except I don't get a cookie, dammit!

I'm singing lullabies to the tortillas. That's really all I can do.

Welcome! I am pantsless! *evil laugh*

I give you full permission to do whatever you want. And I don't say that to many men.

I can store everything in here. It's the breast place for it.

There's a whole new meaning to "sucking chest wound."
-- It's more licking.
-- Slurping.

You let someone see your ass?
-- I let him touch it. I didn't let him see it.

You are weak now, but here is roofies.

She can slip me anything she wants.

Who am I kidding? I'm the most anti-deadpan guy I know.
-- Are you undeadpan?

Elgin Opera Festival of Singers is back!

In which our Diva is once again singing for her supper

Every Sunday in December, 6-8 pm, Villa Verone Ristorante Italiano 13 Douglas Avenue in downtown Elgin.

Come out and enjoy a great Italian meal and classics of opera, Broadway and the holiday season with artists of Elgin OPERA. No cover, but reservations are recommended - call (847) 742-0263.

I'll be missing next Sunday, the 14th, but will be performing at the rest, as well as emceeing on the 21st.

Great food, great music... What more could you want?

Random tidbits of Hollywood Midwest

In which our Diva's illustrious movie career moves a step up the ladder with Cyrus

In no particular order:

• Patricia Belcher is down-to-earth, professional, and an all-around class act. I am now officially a fan, and am privileged to have spent a day on set eating stone cold hamburgers with her.
  
• I know "interior" does not necessarily preclude "freezing frickin' cold." I KNOW this. Next time I neglect to pack longjohns? Shoot me.
  
• SAG "ultra low budget" (which has a specific definition that determines requirements for pay levels, how many non-union actors you can employ, etc.) is still "way more resources than almost anything else I've ever been in." Which is just...so much less stressful a way to work, I can't even begin to tell you. For a zillion little completely practical reasons. I could totally get used to working in that sort of environment, lemme tell ya. I don't need some big wasteful blockbuster loaded with superstars with a zillion frivolous riders on their contracts. Just a nice professional set with a good day's work to do.
  
• Favorite moment: Brian Krause (who was directing second unit while I was there; he plays the title character in the present day) bounding into the talent trailer announcing "I just made a hamburger on camera!" Which was immensely cool because "usually they hand you the stuff already done, but I don't think I ever actually put food together on camera before. This is so going on my reel!" (I, of course, was thinking "Well, maybe if Piper hadn't been quite so possessive of her kitchen..." Because I pride myself on my professionalism, but I will never not be a geek on the inside.)
  
• Runner-up favorite moment: While getting my makeup done, listening to a conversation between an assistant director and the SFX makeup guy that started with "We need to kill someone with a pitchfork," and wended its way through "All the extras want to get killed." -- "Wouldn't you?" to "One guy wants to be decapitated" and everyone in the trailer cracking up. Yes, there are limits to the magic, folks, at least on location on the spur of the moment. Sad but true.
  
• I missed Lance Henriksen by about three hours, which makes me sad. My current wishlist involves some sort of premiere party where I will get to shake his hand and think "Dude, I am IN A MOVIE WITH LANCE HENRIKSEN." Because that's just not going to stop being cool anytime soon.
  
• Though of course the people I actually worked with are no less cool, cast and crew alike, and I would work with any of them again in a heartbeat under pretty much any circumstances. I wish it had been for more than one shooting day!
  
• Joel Castleberg is, like, the complete opposite of the Hollywood producer stereotype. He was right out there with us in the cold, always upbeat and personable and just plain nice.
  
• When I took my leave of the wrap party (which, judging by the pictures, I'm really sorry to have missed most of on account of having to drive back early the next day), the director, Mark Vadik, thanked me for "making my job easy." Considering the company I was in, I can't think of anything better for him to have said. If there's anything I want to get a reputation for, that's it: I do my job, do it well, and don't create bumps in the road to getting the day in the can. That's the thing that will get me hired again, and just incidentally the way I actually enjoy working all day. And his saying that helps me believe this wasn't just a fluke, and motivates me to keep putting myself out there for more and better.

There's probably stuff I'm forgetting, but mostly I'm just happy to have felt so at home and felt like I did decent work. It just felt like the right place to be working. I learned so so much, but wasn't so green I didn't belong. It was perfect.

Dear Universe: More, please?

Requiem for a dreamer

In which our Diva remembers a friend gone too soon, and refuses to gnash her teeth

Penguins and Johnny Cash. La Femme Nikita and Britney Spears. Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the Facts of Life theme. Abby's eccentric body of fannish music videos certainly doesn't say everything about her by any means, but somehow it seems like the right place to start.

I'm not the first to say I don't remember for sure when I first met her in person, though I'm fairly sure it was before MediaWest*Con in '98, with her attitude-dripping Cordy impersonation in our Buffy skit for the masquerade, and the chorus of beep beep beeps warning bystanders every time she backed up her chair. If that was the first time, it didn't feel like it, as so often happened with Sunnydale Slayers or FORKNI-L folks. As Merlin Missy so eloquently reminds us in her newest column, the bonds in the fandom community are about far, far more than our shared love of a show or book series or movie.

I don't remember the name of the author or the book that introduced the notion of modern Western women forming "tribes," or which of the Horsechicks of the Apocalypse pointed it out as applying to us. My "tribe" is around the intersection of college friends, fandom, and acting, with the Horsechicks a solid chunk of it. When apocalyptic designations were being claimed (I'm still not sure how I got away with Madness all to myself!), Abby dubbed herself the Stable Girl. And for all that she was rightfully known for her wicked and wacky humor, occasionally leading to the nickname being altered to (Un)Stable Girl, she was about as stable as it got. That sense of perspective -- not that the "little things" never bothered her, or that she didn't gripe about them once in a while, but she knew how to keep them in their place. As an old Reader's Digest anecdote I dimly remember put it, she knew the difference between a problem and an inconvenience. (Check out the articles she and her mom wrote following the Apocalypse that descended upon Las Vegas to celebrate the 30th birthday everyone once assumed she'd never see.) And a problem had to be a real problem to qualify, and the inconveniences just weren't worth energy that was better spent elsewhere. We should all be so wise.

That double meaning of "Stable Girl" led to a ridiculous mental cartoon image I've had for years, of the whole giggling gaggle of us piled in an inverted human pyramid on her chair, careening through an unsuspecting crowd, possibly in the dealer's room at a con. (It's only the number of passengers that's ridiculous in that scenario. Just ask Perri.)

Like others, I see her now, standing tall, striding strong, dancing as she always dreamed. But I have to think she also has the fastest, most maneuverable, most badass hot-rod of a power chair EVER to play with sometimes. Just for fun. And an excuse to beep.

"And then Teal'c took off his shirt."